Refugees Stream Back to Rwanda From Tanzania
Hundreds of thousands of Rwandan refugees were crossing home Sunday after a 2 1/2-year exile in Tanzania, their will to remain broken by a few well-aimed blows from Tanzanian soldiers.
“There are over 300,000 people crossing, and more are on the way,” said an official of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees at this border post.
Hutu refugees said that Tanzanian soldiers entered the sprawling Benaco camp, 10 miles from the frontier, and ordered everyone to leave.
“Some of the young men and some of the leaders refused and shouted for all of us to stay,” Claude Ntaramere said. “But then they started hitting those who wanted to stay, and they changed their minds.”
Ntaramere said he had not wanted to leave, but once his neighbors decided to go, he joined them.
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