Relief Workers Fear Ethnic War

Aid workers say they fear all-out war in eastern Zaire after a one-week ultimatum from Zairian authorities for an estimated 200,000 ethnic Tutsis to leave. “The situation is explosive,” a U.N. official said. Zairian officials said the Banyamulenge Tutsis were bent on destabilizing eastern Zaire, and any Banyamulenge Tutsi failing to leave would be attacked by troops. The Banyamulenge are ethnic Tutsis who arrived as many as 200 years ago from what are now neighboring Rwanda and Burundi. Observers fear conflict could spread as the mainly Tutsi armies in Rwanda and Burundi may decide to support their kinfolk. Meanwhile, Zairian doctors allege that Banyamulenge Tutsi rebels slaughtered 34 patients and six staff at a hospital last weekend.