Thousands of Rwandan Refugees at Land’s End as Zaire Closes Border : Africa: Order halts stream of humanity fleeing across bridge in advance of French pullout. U.N. officials protest closure.

Facing a mounting refugee tide, Zaire closed its border with Rwanda on Saturday, sending a ripple of panic through tens of thousands of escaping Rwandans.

After 24 hours of vague warnings, the Zairian government at 2 p.m. abruptly halted the stream of refugees shuffling across a one-lane bridge from Rwanda into Bukavu. They had been crossing at the rate of about 100 a minute since the border was opened at its regular time of 6 a.m.

Perhaps two dozen refugees plunged into the dark blue current of the Rusizi River and swam the 40 yards to Zaire, some pulling their cattle with them. At least one small child was rescued from drowning. Dozens more refugees piled into overloaded fishing boats to make the crossing.

A handful of Zairian soldiers threw up barriers on the rickety bridge and enforced the closure with whistles and brandished guns.

The sight sent thousands of panicked Rwandans surging against French troops providing security on the Rwandan side of the bridge, but the French were able to stop the advance.

Within an hour, calm was restored. The 15,000 or more refugees left behind merely stood on the edge of their country, some with their belongings balanced on their heads. They stared blankly across the river to where nearly 80,000 of their compatriots had already escaped.

A few gathered water and went about their everyday chores, but most seemed overcome with uncertainty. Virtually all of these people have been on the run for weeks, drifting from northern villages into the Rwandan border area where the French have maintained a “safe zone.”

On Saturday, two truckloads of Ethiopian troops under U.N. command arrived at the bridge to relieve some of the French troops, who are preparing to pull out of Rwanda at midnight tonight. Refugees have voiced great mistrust of the United Nations, and many had timed their flight to Zaire in advance of the French pullout.

U.N. officials protested the closure of the border and expressed dismay that countless families were separated. Many refugees had grown accustomed to free movement here; they frequently sent one or two family members back into Rwanda for firewood, which is in short supply in Bukavu.

Late Saturday, Zaire issued a statement indicating that an infusion of international aid into the frontier zone might persuade it to reopen the border.

The government had ordered the closure to prevent another Goma, the border town 70 miles north of here where a million Rwandans have gathered, spreading disease and disorder in the region.

Already, the population of Bukavu has swelled 50% from the migration of refugees, foreshadowing another health crisis. Up to 100,000 refugees are massed on the city’s sidewalks, traffic circles, parks and front yards. There are virtually no sanitation facilities; as fast as relief workers can dig trench latrines, periodic downpours fill them up.

Outlying space for refugee camps is already jammed. And officials said there is nowhere except downtown Bukavu to direct the incoming stream of Rwandans until at least Tuesday, when a new but distant camp is supposed to be ready for occupancy. But the heavy rains already threaten the dirt access road to that camp.

Perhaps 40,000 people have died already in camps in Goma, and the United Nations and many humanitarian groups here have argued that Rwandans are better off in their own country than as squatters in Zaire.

But that sentiment was not evident in the faces of the thousands stopped at the bridge over the Rusizi. Many, fearing they will be mistreated or killed under the new government that has taken over their country, had walked for days to make their escape--only to be halted just yards from their goal.

Even more poignant was the sight of a young man who was not to be daunted by the sight of Zairian soldiers. From a flat bank on the Rwandan side of the river, the man bundled his goods in a scarf. He waded into the water, where the current carried him 200 yards downstream. There, on a rock, he rested.

Thousands of refugees on both sides of the border began to cheer him on. He plunged into the water and swam again. A soldier, waving a gun, scrambled down the 200-foot embankment in chase.

“Left! Go left!” the crowd in Rwanda shouted. The man scrambled to the left. With the soldier closing in, he climbed a steep rock, heaved his bundle ahead of him and melted into a crowd of fellow Rwandans as a thunderous cheer rose from both sides of the river.