RWANDA: HUTU REFUGEES CROSS BORDER FROM TANZANIA UPDATE

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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Swahili/English/Nat Over 56-thousand Rwandan Hutu refugees crossed the border from Tanzania into Rwanda Monday. Tanzanian officials were using guns, helicopters, and trucks to keep the Rwandan Hutus on the road back home. They want all of the 535-thousand Rwandans out of the country by the end of the year. Rwandan Hutu refugees filled the road that links Tanzania to Rwanda as far as the eye could see, returning home after two and a half years of life in camps. By Monday evening, more than 100-thousand had crossed the border. The refugees streamed across the bridge over the Kagera River into Rwanda. They were crossing at the rate of about three thousand per hour. Some 22-thousand had crossed on Sunday. Tanzania is serious about getting Rwandan refugees out of the country. The Tanzanian government wants all of the 535-thousand Rwandan Hutus out by 31 December. Authorities fired guns into the air to urge the refugees to return home. Police also patrolled the roads and skies overhead to keep stragglers moving. Some refugees reported that Tanzanian police also used tear gas and beat them with sticks to move them along yesterday. Red Cross officials with megaphones welcomed the refugees back Monday. And the Rwandan President, Pasteur Bizimungu, also turned out to greet them. SOUNDBITE: (English) "I welcome everybody. The extremists, those that orchestrated the genocide will be dealt with by justice " SUPER CAPTION: Pasteur Bizimungu, Rwandan president In Tanzania, Red Cross workers had bound children to their mothers with yellow twine to keep them from getting lost on the road. Tanzania barred U-N aid workers and journalists from the road clogged with returning Hutus. Only the International Committee of the Red Cross and Oxfam were allowed access to refugees. Some refugees claimed that between three and 60 people have died in the turmoil, but other refugees dismissed those claims. The Red Cross could not confirm reports of deaths caused by the forcible repatriation, and Tanzanian authorities refused to speak to reporters. But some U-N officers denied the claims. SOUNDBITE (English) "Tanzanian army is not using force." SUPER CAPTION: Roman Urasa, head of mission in Rwanda for UNHCR The refugees fled from Rwanda to Tanzania in 1994, when more than a million Rwandan Hutus scattered into neighbouring countries, including Zaire and Tanzania. They feared retribution for a Hutu-led genocide of 500-thousand minority Tutsis. Last month, 640-thousand Rwandan refugees returned home from eastern Zaire when attacks by Zairean rebels freed them from Hutu militia control. Despite the Tanzanian campaign to force them home, aid workers reported that thousands of refugees were continuing to flee from the border. Hutu extremists who had controlled the camps tried to keep the refugees from returning by spreading rumours that the new Tutsi-led government was killing returning Hutus. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) " We were scared to come. There were many rumours in the camp about what would happen to us if we came back." SUPER CAPTION: VOXPOP, refugee Once across the border, refugees flowed peacefully back to their communities in a 15- mile line. A Red Cross official said he expected the exodus to be over before the end of the week. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/0c4b37950523189c50e394270032a4e6 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork