Thousands of Burundian Hutus Flee Zairian Camp After Attack

About 20,000 Hutu refugees from Burundi fled their camp in eastern Zaire on Sunday after it was attacked by armed men who killed four of them, aid officials said.

The assailants were believed to be Banyamulenge, a Tutsi clan recently ordered out of Zaire by provincial authorities after up to 200 years of living abroad, some of the sources said.

“Four refugees were killed and six wounded in the attack on Runingo camp,” a U.N. source said.

“About 20,000 refugees, almost the whole camp, is moving from Runingo to camps further northward,” an aid worker said.

The attack on Runingo camp, the first of its kind, marked a further deterioration in the already critical security situation in Zaire’s South and North Kivu provinces.

Zaire’s ragged army is fighting Banyamulenge guerrillas who are resisting the order to leave Zaire.

Zairian troops, apparently incensed by casualties from fighting the guerrillas, went on a looting spree last week in Uvira, the lakeside town on the other side of the border from Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura.

In Bujumbura, meanwhile, ceremonies Sunday marking the 35th anniversary of the assassination of Tutsi Prince Louis Rwagasore, regarded as independent Burundi’s founding father, revealed the fear and suspicion that haunt the nation.

Armed presidential guards were posted both inside and outside Regina Mundi Cathedral at the packed Mass for Rwagasore. However, former Maj. Pierre Buyoya, installed as president in a military coup July 25, failed to appear there despite the heavy security and instead placed a wreath at the prince’s tomb in the hills overlooking the city.