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U.S. Committee for Refugees World Refugee Survey 1997 - Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire)

Zaire hosted about 455,000 refugees at the end of 1996: an estimated 200,000 from Rwanda, some 100,000 from Angola, approximately 100,000 from Sudan, about 40,000 from Burundi, and some 15,000 from Uganda.

Some 115,000 Zairians were refugees at year’s end, including about 40,000 Zairian refugees in Tanzania, approximately 20,000 in Uganda, 20,000 in Zambia, 15,000 in Rwanda, 10,000 in Burundi, and nearly 10,000 in Angola. Several thousand Zairian asylum seekers were present in South Africa.

Approximately 400,000 Zairians were believed to be internally displaced, although some estimates put the number much higher. Many parts of Zaire were virtually inaccessible, making estimates of local population displacement difficult.

Refugees in Zaire dominated world headlines in late 1996. As civil war erupted in eastern Zaire, a million Rwandan and Burundian refugees left their camps there and repatriated or fled to other areas of Zaire. Major donor nations and relief agencies argued about the best strategies to assist those refugees who remained in Zaire.

As the country’s civil war gained momentum late in the year, concern grew that Zaire might be on the verge of a political and social disintegration that many observers have long dreaded.

Pre-1996 Rwandan Refugees Following a genocide and civil war in Rwanda in mid-1994, about one million Rwandans fled to Zaire in a span of a few days. It was one of the most rapid refugee influxes of its size the world had ever seen.

The overwhelming majority of refugees were ethnic Hutu. Their extremist leaders had committed the genocide in Rwanda against ethnic Tutsi and had lost the civil war. Many Rwandans fled to Zaire fearing retribution for the genocide, in which some of them participated. Others fled to Zaire because they were forced to do so by their own leaders, who were also fleeing.

During 1994-95, only a small percentage of refugees repatriated. Conditions in Rwanda made some refugees afraid to return home, and a relentless campaign of intimidation and propaganda by refugee leaders effectively blocked others from repatriating. Significant numbers of refugees were virtual “hostages,” held in the camps against their will by extremist leaders, according to relief workers.

Up to 50,000 former Rwandan soldiers and armed militia remained active in the refugee camps. They used the camps as military bases to destabilize Rwanda and parts of Zaire. The level of intimidation and control exercised by extremist leaders “created unusual security problems for refugees and relief agencies” in the camps, UNHCR reported in 1995. UNHCR took the unusual step of funding a special contingent of 1,500 Zairian soldiers to police the camps. The Zairian troops curtailed crime but did not eliminate the strong control exerted by camp extremists.

An estimated 50,000 to 70,000 refugees died almost immediately after their arrival in Zaire due to cholera and other diseases. By 1995, health conditions among the refugees were generally good. About 70 international aid organizations provided a range of services.

Two thirds of the Rwandan refugee population lived in overcrowded camps in the North Kivu region of Zaire, near the town of Goma. About one third occupied camps located in the South Kivu region, near the towns of Bukavu and Uvira.

Zairian troops forcibly expelled 15,000 refugees back to Rwanda in August 1995. Zaire ceased its expulsions in exchange for UNHCR’s pledge to encourage more voluntary repatriation. Although precise estimates are difficult, less than 20 percent of the Rwandan Hutu refugee population - approximately 150,000 to 200,000 refugees - voluntarily repatriated during 1994-95.

Rwandan Refugee Camps - 1996 The actual size of the Rwandan refugee population became a controversial issue during the year. The best estimate at the start of 1996 suggested that about 900,000 Rwandans occupied refugee camps in Zaire. UNHCR and some NGOs estimated that the size of the refugee population was significantly higher, at 1.1 million.

Most refugees continued to live in and around the five massive refugee camps near Goma. The largest camp there, Katale, officially contained nearly 200,000 refugees. An additional 300,000 refugees resided in a series of 23 camps near Bukavu. Some 70,000 Rwandans dwelled in at least 12 refugee sites near Uvira.

The huge refugee population averaged more than 800 births per week. Refugees in Goma-area camps blocked UNHCR’s attempts to conduct an accurate census. Groups of refugees destroyed census booths, stoned relief vehicles, and spread rumors that the census procedures would infect refugees with the virus that causes AIDS. UNHCR temporarily curtailed its programs in the Goma camps in response to the census boycott. Most observers were convinced that refugee leaders were inflating refugee numbers in order to divert excess relief food to soldiers or for economic gain.

Camps in the Goma area were located on rugged terrain, amid active volcanoes. The lava-hard ground made drilling for water and digging latrines difficult. The 190,000 occupants of one camp relied on 1.6 million liters of water trucked in daily. Refugees’ daily search for 1,000 tons of firewood caused serious environmental degradation. Torrential rains in April destroyed hundreds of refugee shelters in three Goma camps. UNHCR appealed to international donors in January for $70 million to rehabilitate the environment and infrastructure of Zaire and other countries hosting Rwandan refugees.

Despite the harsh camp conditions and cutbacks in food rations during the year, health conditions among the refugees were generally good.

UNHCR placed most of the camp’s unaccompanied children with other family members or with guardians in other refugee families. In 1994, 22,000 unaccompanied children were housed in 63 centers that were often poorly operated. By mid-1996, fewer than 1,000 children were housed in five centers.

As in previous years, extremist refugee leaders continued to exert strong control over the refugee population. In February, UNHCR urged Zaire’s officials “to expedite the process of separation of the intimidators and, most importantly, to eliminate the political grip of former political and military leaders on the bona-fide segments of the refugee population.”

Zairian authorities reportedly detained some 40 intimidators in the first half of the year and sent them to Kinshasa, but the action brought no discernible change in the situation. A March 1996 study funded by 20 donor governments, including the United States, suggested that 4,000 refugees might have died as a result of violence at the hands of intimidators, Zairian soldiers, and other refugees during the first two years in the camps.

Many refugees reportedly were forced to pay the equivalent of up to $10 per month in “war taxes” to camp leaders. According to a UN study, camp leaders forced refugees to contribute relief supplies as well as portions of income earned by refugees employed by international relief organizations. The tax on refugees enabled camp leaders to purchase arms to sustain their military attacks against Rwanda. Zairian officials facilitated the arms flow in violation of an international embargo, a UN investigation and independent human rights agencies concluded.

The general insecurity affected relief operations as well. Two attacks on NGO vehicles in May caused 14 deaths.

Attempts to encourage repatriation intensified during the year. UNHCR, relief agencies, Zairian officials, and international diplomats disagreed on the best tactics to promote a large-scale return to Rwanda, however. An agreement in December 1995 between officials of Zaire and Rwanda vowed to speed repatriation by gradually closing the camps. In January 1996, Zaire’s interior minister stated that camps would close soon.

In February, a meeting of 50 nations sponsored by the OAU and UNHCR recommended “the removal of intimidators and political activists obstructing voluntary repatriation,” and urged steps “to curb commercial and other economic activities which motivate refugees to remain in exile.”

Zairian troops surrounded two refugee camps in February in an effort to restrict refugees’ activities and pressure them to repatriate. Zairian authorities directed businesses in the camps to close and pressed humanitarian agencies to curtail services. Two Zairian government ministers met with refugee leaders to encourage them to return to Rwanda.

Refugee leaders responded by directing the refugee population to stay in the camps and hide their weapons, according to UNHCR. No significant repatriation occurred. Zairian soldiers withdrew two weeks later. UNHCR called the repatriation results “disappointing.”

UNHCR attempted to encourage greater repatriation by initiating a mass information campaign. The agency prepared videotapes showing scenes of current-day Rwanda, interviews with recent returnees to Rwanda, and information about repatriation procedures. UNHCR broadcast the videos in specially constructed “video centers.” The mass information campaign stimulated small amounts of voluntary repatriation.

In August, Rwandan and Zairian officials reiterated their earlier agreements that camps should close one-by-one to facilitate rapid, organized repatriation. Zaire again pledged to separate intimidators from the rest of the refugee population and disarm soldiers and militia based in the camps. Zairian officials again did not fulfill the agreement.

In October, then-U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher stated, “We believe it is time to close the camps closest to the Rwandan border that pose the greatest security threat.... Refugees should be encouraged to return voluntarily to Rwanda, which we believe most can now do safely.”

USCR helped members of Congress draft a congressional resolution regarding the refugee situation. The resolution, introduced in the U.S. House in March, said that Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko “repeatedly failed to honor promises and commitments he has made to cooperate with international efforts to stabilize the refugee crisis in eastern Zaire.”

A USCR report in mid-1996 urged that “Zairian troops should disarm and arrest the soldiers and militia members operating in the refugee camps.” USCR warned that “disarmament...may prove difficult and dangerous, but is necessary if regional stability is to be achieved.” USCR recommended that “Zaire and UNHCR should move the Goma refugee camps” away from the Zaire-Rwanda border to improve refugee protection and weaken the control of camp extremists.

A USCR analysis published in the Washington Post said that “UNHCR needs international funding and diplomatic support to close the refugee camps in Goma and transfer them to a more benign location. Killers in the camps should be identified and should at least be expelled, if not arrested.”

In October, USCR provided a written analysis to U.S. congressional staff warning that “the current refugee camps cannot and should not be sustained as they are.” USCR reiterated its call for camp relocation and the deployment of a special international force to police the operation.

Rwandan refugees suddenly repatriated in massive numbers in November. Their repatriation occurred, however, under circumstances virtually no one had foreseen. (See “Rwandan Refugees Disperse” below.)

Masisi Violence Violence afflicted the densely populated Masisi zone of North Kivu province in eastern Zaire during 1993-96.

The sporadic but intense conflict claimed 6,000 to 40,000 lives during the period, including several thousand deaths in 1996. The number of persons uprooted was even more difficult to measure. Various sources estimated that a quarter-million Zairians were internally displaced in the region, including 60,000 or more who became uprooted during March-June 1996. Tens of thousands fled to Rwanda.

The area’s violence escalated in 1996, driven by several factors: long-standing inter-ethnic rivalries over economic and political power; efforts by Rwandan Hutu refugee leaders to force local populations out of the Masisi zone in order to resettle themselves in the area; and efforts by Zairian government officials to inflame tensions in order to expel political opponents.

USCR issued an alert in May warning that “most Tutsi residents have now been ethnically cleansed from northeast Zaire.” USCR warned that 3,000 Tutsi residents who remained in the general Masisi area were surrounded by attackers “and face imminent death or expulsion.”

“The presence of some 600,000 Rwandan Hutu refugees in the [Masisi] region...has greatly exacerbated the situation,” USCR stated in a mid-1996 report, Masisi, Down the Road from Goma: Ethnic Cleansing and Displacement in Eastern Zaire. USCR’s site visit to the conflict area found “strong indications” that militia and former Rwandan soldiers operating out of the nearby refugee camps “have access to sophisticated new weapons, are participating directly in the fighting, and are facilitating the ethnic cleansing of the area.” Zairian troops also participated in the violence, USCR and other investigators concluded.

The upheaval affected members of six ethnic groups. The conflict virtually destroyed the region’s network of health clinics and schools. More than 80 percent of the area’s economically important cattle herds were lost. Farming in the Masisi area - one of Zaire’s most productive agricultural zones - was decimated. One relief agency reported child malnutrition rates near 40 percent in the worst affected areas.

Attackers routinely burned homes, making return by the owners difficult even when tensions eased in August. Zairian troops reportedly extorted money before allowing families to reclaim their properties.

USCR published a lengthy analysis of the Masisi violence in the Washington Post. USCR’s published article, “Zaire’s Haven for Murderers,” stated that the violence “pushed thousands of new Zairian refugees into two neighboring countries” and warned that “the international community has been slow to recognize the full scope and ruthlessness of this newest ethnic cleansing strategy.”

USCR warned in its report and in public briefings that the violence in Masisi was “an infectious disease” that could spill into other areas of Zaire and other countries in the region. USCR urged the international community to pressure Zairian authorities to dampen the violence and disarm ethnic militia who were instigating the conflict.

“The international community should...station military observers in North Kivu to monitor activities of Zairian troops,” USCR recommended. “The UN should deploy human rights monitors.” USCR also urged Zairian officials to resolve citizenship disputes that lay “at the core of the conflict.”

Civil War Full-scale civil war erupted in eastern Zaire in October. By year’s end, rebel troops captured a 400-mile long swath of territory along Zaire’s border with Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.

The war originated in the South Kivu region of eastern Zaire when government authorities attempted to expel some 400,000 local ethnic Tutsi, known as Banyamulenge, who had been in Zaire for generations. Authorities formally nullified the Zairian citizenship of Banyamulenge in 1981. In 1996, officials intensified their claims that the Banyamulenge were not legitimate citizens. A local official warned that all Banyamulenge must leave the country within a week and threatened to confiscate their property. Violence gradually increased throughout September, as Zairian troops and civilian mobs attacked the homes and businesses of the Banyamulenge community.

The Banyamulenge armed themselves and counterattacked. By mid-October, Zairian troops were in retreat and large areas rapidly fell into rebel hands. The rebels stated that their movement, known as the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (ADFL), included Banyamulenge as well as members of other political and ethnic groups opposed to the decades of corrupt and abusive mismanagement by Zaire’s government and army.

The quick advance of ADFL troops, initially estimated to number 3,000 to 10,000 combatants, caused Rwandan refugees to flee from their camps in the conflict zone. ADFL rebels regarded soldiers and militia of the former Rwandan government in the camps as enemies, and attacked the camps as military bases. “Combatants should stop attacking refugees,” UNHCR stated. Virtually all refugee camps in the Uvira area reportedly emptied by October 21. Most camps in the Bukavu area were vacated two weeks later.

The war reached the Goma area of North Kivu in late October. Kibumba refugee camp came under attack on October 25. Katale camp was attacked a day later. By mid-November, most refugee camps in the Goma area were empty. Hundreds of thousands of refugees congregated near Mugunga camp, where the exiled Rwandan military and militia attempted to halt the rebel advance. The rebels attacked Mugunga camp in mid-November, routing the armed elements.

Numerous NGO workers on the ground and international diplomats charged that Rwandan and Ugandan government troops crossed into Zaire and participated in the rebels’ military offensive, contributing mightily to its rapid success. Rwandan and Ugandan officials acknowledged sending troops into Zaire on a limited basis.

Firm estimates of the death toll were difficult. Local relief workers reported finding 2,700 corpses in the Goma area - roughly half were believed to be Rwandan refugees, half were Zairians. ICRC reported finding several hundred bodies in Mugunga camp. A UNHCR official stated that relief workers in the Goma area discovered some 4,000 bodies of refugees - many of them dumped in latrines. He alleged that refugee leaders might have committed the murders, but the charge remained unconfirmed. Estimates of much higher death tolls ranging in the tens of thousands remained unconfirmed at year’s end.

Combatants on all sides committed abuses. Zairian soldiers raped, pillaged, and killed civilians as they retreated. Civilians in some towns attacked and disarmed unruly Zairian troops who were ostensibly stationed in the towns to defend the local population.

International human rights workers accused ADFL rebels of massacring large numbers of Rwandan refugees and Zairians. The rebels allegedly targeted many male adult refugees for execution, according to human rights workers. The U.S. government expressed concern “about the allegations of political murders and human rights abuses...by elements of the rebel alliance.” Other Rwandan refugees, however, reported that rebel soldiers helped them escape from the fighting.

Despite the outbreak of civil war, former Rwandan soldiers and militia fleeing refugee camps continued to exert brutal control over the rest of the refugee population. Refugees reported that their camp leaders killed many refugees who attempted to return to Rwanda. ICRC reported that refugees suffered wounds from machetes, bullets, and stones inflicted by their own leaders when the refugees attempted to escape.

The war decimated relief efforts. UNHCR and its partner agencies reported losing 400 vehicles, 121,000 blankets, and more than 500 tons of soap in the violence and the ensuing evacuation of relief personnel.

USCR conducted a site visit to the war zone in November and engaged in extensive discussions with the ADFL rebel leader to assess his political and military objectives. In testimony at a U.S. Congress committee hearing in December, USCR reported that the rebel movement appeared to have sufficient military capacity and support among some sectors of the local population to warrant attention from international diplomats.

The rebels were continuing their military offensive as 1996 ended.

Rwandan Refugees Disperse The civil war caused a major population upheaval in the final three months of 1996. At least 1.5 million Rwandan and Burundian refugees and local Zairians attempted to leave the widening conflict area.

Most dramatic was the sudden repatriation of more than a half-million Rwandan refugees in a span of four days in mid-November, after rebel attacks drove away refugee leaders and intimidators. The refugees trekked on foot back into Rwanda in a mass of humanity that captured international attention. Many refugees, separated from the control of their leaders for the first time in more than two years, repatriated willingly. Others returned primarily to escape the conflict in Zaire or because they could find no other options.

USCR staff witnessed the repatriation on both sides of the border as it occurred. UNHCR described it as the “largest and swiftest” repatriation in memory. Tens of thousands more refugees flowed back into their Rwanda homeland throughout December, as Zaire’s civil war raged around them.

At least 200,000 other Rwandan refugees did not return to Rwanda, however. They headed deeper into forest areas of Zaire that were inaccessible to large relief operations. Significant numbers of former Rwandan soldiers and armed militia members were among the refugees.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata broadcast a radio message to the refugees encouraging them to repatriate rather than wander into remote areas of Zaire. Her broadcast assured refugees that recent returnees to Rwanda “are now busy resuming normal lives.”

The size, health, location, and identity of the refugee population became a matter of intense debate among diplomats and relief agencies. “There is an unprecedented paucity of information on the condition of the refugees in the current crisis,” the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs lamented.

Some relief workers and diplomats estimated that the refugee population totaled as many as 800,000 persons. UNHCR stated that 700,000 refugees remained in Zaire. USCR issued an estimate in November that the most likely number of Rwandans was probably about 300,000 or fewer, plus up to 100,000 Burundian refugees. USCR noted that the Rwandan population remaining in Zaire included many soldiers of the ex-Rwandan government, militia members, and other individuals who might not qualify as bona fide refugees because of crimes they committed in Rwanda. “The confusion over the number of Rwandan refugees still in eastern Zaire has been one of several factors undermining assistance plans,” USCR stated.

Dense forests in the region complicated attempts to locate and count the refugees by plane or satellite reconnaissance. “We are...heading toward a humanitarian catastrophe,” UNHCR stated. Several relief agencies speculated that thousands of refugees were probably dying daily of starvation and disease. Other relief workers and journalists able to reach refugee populations, however, reported that general health conditions were surprisingly adequate.

Eighteen U.S. NGOs urged the UN to deploy a multinational military force to provide “sufficient security to permit refugees to be assisted in Zaire.” USCR warned that sending international troops into Zaire “would be misguided” unless the force was authorized “to confront and disarm soldiers and militia members controlled by Rwandan extremists. A military intervention without that mandate risks being counterproductive,” USCR said. In a private analysis to the U.S. Department of State, USCR explained that “not all refugee groups on the ground in eastern Zaire share the same access or security problems.”

The UN Security Council authorized the deployment of an international force. U.S. officials, however, prohibited the force from entering conflict areas or separating refugees from their intimidators. Ultimately, international troops did not deploy in Zaire. The repatriation of hundreds of thousands of refugees in mid-November, and sustained confusion about the situation in Zaire, persuaded world leaders to cancel the military operation.

By the end of 1996, an estimated 200,000 Rwandan refugees and 40,000 Burundian refugees remained in Zaire, primarily at three locations inaccessible to large relief operations due to poor roads, poor airports, and insecurity caused by the war. The continued presence of armed intimidators among the refugees also slowed relief efforts.

Zairians Flee Uprooted Zairians were the virtually forgotten victims of their country’s widening civil war.

An estimated three million Zairians lived in the conflict zones. An estimated 400,000 became internally displaced, and approximately 50,000 others became new refugees in Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda. An additional 1,000 or more Zairian or Rwandan Tutsi fled to neighboring Congo to escape anti-Tutsi violence in the Zairian capital, Kinshasa.

In addition to the new Zairian refugees created during 1996, tens of thousands of Zairians remained refugees from previous years.

Zairians faced a variety of threats during the final three months of the year. Some were driven from their homes by rampaging Zairian troops who engaged in wholesale looting, burning, and abuses as they retreated from rebel forces. Some Zairians welcomed the arrival of rebel soldiers, while others fled. In some towns, rumors of a pending counterattack by the Zairian military persuaded populations to flee, even though the rumors proved inaccurate.

Some Zairians reportedly left their homes to escape contact with large groups of disruptive Rwandan refugees who were themselves fleeing camps. Rwandan refugee militia leaders allegedly murdered many Zairian civilians and abducted others, forcing them to march westward, according to some sources

It appeared that many internally displaced Zairians fled relatively short distances and returned to their homes several days or weeks later, when calm returned to their localities. Others, however, fled farther from their homes as the rebel advance continued. In mid-November, relief workers reported that settlements were nearly empty along a 120-mile stretch of road near the front line of the civil war. Some 60,000 displaced Zairians reached the main regional city of Kisangani in November, UNHCR reported.

As the year ended, most displaced Zairians remained beyond the reach of humanitarian workers. UN aid workers reported “extremely poor health” among uprooted Zairians in some locations. Malaria and diarrhea were on the rise.

USCR reported in November that “a significant number of people are uprooted or war-affected in eastern Zaire and need humanitarian assistance.” USCR told a U.S. congressional hearing that the international community should “provide humanitarian assistance...rapidly” with proper monitoring to ensure appropriate use of relief items. USCR urged Zairian rebels to facilitate more humanitarian access to internally displaced Zairians and refugees.

Burundian Refugees Approximately 100,000 Burundian refugees were in Zaire at the start of the year, due to civil war and ethnic violence in their own country. Burundi’s continued violence pushed tens of thousands of additional Burundians into Zaire in the first half of 1996, even though Zairian officials officially closed the border and Zairian troops reportedly harassed many new arrivals.

By October, an estimated 140,000 Burundian refugees were in Zaire. Most were ethnic Hutu. Burundian rebels used refugee sites in Zaire as bases to wage civil war inside Burundi. When the Tutsi-dominated Zairian rebel forces began their military offensive in October, Burundian refugee camps were early military targets. An attack against a refugee camp 15 miles northwest of the town of Uvira on October 13 was one of the first major military actions by Zaire’s rebels.

Up to 70,000 Burundians were forced back into Burundi by the Zairian rebel offensive. In some cases, the rebels deliberately expelled refugees directly into the hands of Burundian soldiers, according to Amnesty International. An estimated 10,000 Burundian refugees fled from Zaire into Tanzania, often by boat across Lake Tanganyika. An estimated 40,000 Burundians remained dispersed in Zaire at year’s end.

Angolan Refugees The overwhelming majority of the 100,000 or more Angolan refugees in Zaire were selfsettled, living in the western provinces bordering Angola, and in Kinshasa, the Zairian capital. A mid-1996 census indicated that more than 45,000 Angolan refugees were living in the province of Bas Zaire, more than 30,000 were living in Kinshasa, and nearly 28,000 were living in three UNHCR-assisted settlements in the southern province of Shaba.

The only Angolan refugees in Zaire who received food assistance during 1996 were those who lived in the Shaba settlements.

UNHCR indicated in 1995 that it would begin transporting refugees from the Shaba camps to Angola in mid-1996. In late 1995, USCR conducted a site visit to Angola, Zaire, and Zambia, and recommended that UNHCR should reevaluate its repatriation planning in light of delays in Angola’s peace process. USCR said that plans to complete the movement phase of the repatriation by the end of 1996 were “unrealistic” and “unsafe.”

During 1996, USCR wrote to UNHCR on numerous occasions to express concern about premature repatriation from Zaire. UNHCR subsequently postponed the organized repatriation of Angolan refugees until May 1997.

Despite the postponement of the formal repatriation program, more than 21,000 Angolan refugees reportedly repatriated from Zaire during 1996. All but 63 of them repatriated spontaneously.

Sudanese Refugees Sudanese refugees, numbering about 100,000, lived in settlement areas in extreme northeastern Zaire, near the Sudan border. About 10,000 arrived in Zaire during 1996; others fled to Zaire in previous years to escape Sudan’s civil war.

New arrivals automatically qualified for food assistance for six months. After six months, UNHCR regarded most Sudanese refugees as largely self-sufficient. The area’s fertile soil and three-month harvest cycles facilitated refugee farming. Relief workers provided medical assistance, education, and sanitation services on a regular basis. UNHCR and other agencies provided resources to improve roads and service delivery in the isolated area.

Protection of the Sudanese refugees was a significant concern. Zaire’s civil war edged closer to the refugee settlement sites in December. In addition, rebels and government forces from Sudan reportedly used the remote corner of Zaire as a base for their military operations, endangering refugees.

Ugandan Refugees About 15,000 Ugandan refugees lived primarily in northeast Zaire as the year ended. Some 6,000 returned to Uganda with UNHCR assistance during 1995-96. About 4,000 of those who repatriated returned to Zaire in mid-1996.