Military

DATE=9/8/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CONGO-BENIN REFUGEES L-O
NUMBER=2-253608
BYLINE=JOHN PITMAN
DATELINE=ABIDJAN
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:  Several hundred ethnic Tutsi refugees from 
Congo-Kinshasa have arrived in (the West African 
country of) Benin.  They moved as part of a U-S led 
effort to gain temporary asylum for Congolese Tutsis 
who have been the victims of ethnic violence in the 
war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  V-O-A's John 
Pitman reports from our West Africa Bureau.
TEXT:  The United Nations refugee agency - U-N-H-C-R - 
says 370 ethnic Tutsi refugees from Congo-Kinshasa 
have already arrived in Benin.
Benin has agreed to grant temporary asylum to as many 
as 500 Tutsis from Congo.  They are eventually 
expected to be resettled in the United States.
Oumar Bah heads the U-N-H-C-R liaison office in 
Benin's capital, Cotonou.
            //BAH ACT//
      From here (Benin), they will be resettled either 
      in the United States, or if they have family 
      links in Belgium, they will go to Belgium.
            //END ACT//
This resettlement program was launched by the United 
States and several other countries after ethnic Tutsis 
in Congo came under attack during the early months of 
Congo's civil war last year.
Rebels fighting to unseat Congolese President Laurent 
Kabila have been backed by Rwanda's Tutsi-dominated 
government.  As a result, many Congolese Tutsis were 
beaten or killed as alleged collaborators or spies.
//OPT// At the height of the anti-Tutsi violence, 
Congolese government propaganda actively encouraged 
the persecution of Tutsis.  The Kinshasa government 
denies it officially sanctioned the killing of 
Congolese Tutsis. //END OPT//
The Kinshasa government eventually detained thousands 
of Tutsis in what it called "protective custody" 
centers in the capital and in the southern city of 
Lubumbashi.
In all, the U-N-H-C-R's Oumar Bah says up to two-
thousand Congolese Tutsis will benefit from the 
resettlement program, although not all of them will be 
processed in Benin.
He says those refugees already in Benin will likely be 
resettled in the United States or Europe within six 
months.  After that, he says, it remains unclear 
whether - or when - the refugees might return to the 
Congo.
NEB/JP/JO
08-Sep-1999 14:54 PM EDT (08-Sep-1999 1854 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
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