(27 Apr 1995) English/Nat
Rwanda's president Thursday announced he plans to set up an independent inquiry into last weekend's massacre at the Kibeho refugee camp.
Pasteur Bizimungu made the announcement during a visit to Kibeho where he ordered the bodies of the dead to be exhumed.
The Rwandan government still claims almost 400 refugees were killed at Kibeho - the official UN toll stands at two thousand
Laid out to prove a point, the bodies of the Hutu refugees slaughtered last Saturday.
The Rwandan government is sticking by its figure of less than 400 dead and has ordered Kibeho's mass graves to be reopened so the number of casualties can be confirmed.
The U-N puts the number of those killed last weekend at two thousand.
But there are claims that the numbers massacred are nearer eight thousand.
President Pasteur Bizimungu Thursday challenged those claims, indignant at suggestions that more bodies lay undiscovered in the camp's latrines.
SOUNDBITE:
"Let's go now. We are on the spot. Let's go. To visit those latrines. If those latrines exist anyway."
SUPER CAPTION: Pasteur Bizimungu - President of Rwanda.
The president, foreign diplomats and the U-N special envoy to Rwanda, Shaharyar Khan, went to Kibeho Thursday to try to persuade the remaining refugees to move on.
SOUNDBITE:
"Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. There are 15 ambassadors here. We are seeing everything that is going on here. We can assure you that you will not be harmed."
SUPER CAPTION: Shaharyar Khan - UN special envoy to Rwanda
So far, the refugees have ignored deadlines to leave and have rejected U-N offers of transport out.
They have demanded free passage to refugee camps in Zaire - a demand that has been turned down flat.
Without food and water for three days, overcrowded and in filthy conditions, the Hutus still refuse to budge.
Unless so weakened they have to be carried out by aid workers, who are the only lifeline these people now have.
And as the U-N continues to question the Rwandan version of what happened at Kibeho, the dead are left lying - human evidence of human tragedy.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
