220,000 Refugees Reportedly Fleeing

Fighting between Zairian troops and ethnic Tutsis has reportedly prompted more than 220,000 Hutu refugees to flee camps in eastern Zaire. U.N. refugee agency spokesman Paul Stromberg said Zairian troops hired by the United Nations to protect the refugees reported that all 12 camps near the town of Uvira were empty and that nearby villages were abandoned after a third day of heavy fighting in the area. Most of the refugees had originally fled ethnic violence in Burundi.