Rwanda, Zaire Pledge to Work Together to Return Refugees

Rwanda and Zaire pledged Thursday to help an estimated 1.2 million Hutu refugees return to their homeland in Rwanda from wretched camps in eastern Zaire, and Zaire urged that they return by the end of this month.

Filippo Grandi, the field chief for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Goma, said it was “a big achievement” that both countries had agreed to work together.

“The meeting does give a ray of hope that we can solve the refugee problem in the near future,” Grandi said after Rwandan and Zairian ministers initialed their agreement.

Earlier, Rwanda’s new Tutsi-led government invited Hutu refugee leaders to come to Kigali, the Rwandan capital, to help draw up plans to repatriate the refugees.

U.N. officials said they were pleased by the outcome of the meeting here, but cautioned against expecting any immediate resolution of the refugee problem.

The joint statement adopts the U.N. stand that any repatriation should be voluntary, but the Rwandan government wants Zaire to help convince the Hutus that it is safe to go home.

More than 1.2 million Hutu refugees fled the advancing army of the Tutsi rebels now in power in Rwanda, and more than 800,000 more are in other countries.

The new government says Hutu refugees can return without fear but promises to punish anyone involved in the spring’s ethnic massacres.