DATE=1/14/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=OGATA AFRICA TRIP PREVIEW (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258083
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, Sadako Ogata, flies to Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania Sunday at the start of a 10-day visit to
three countries in Africa. Lisa Schlein in Geneva
reports the visit will coincide with the start of new
peace negotiations to end Burundi's civil war.
TEXT: Sadako Ogata will not attend the peace
negotiations in Arusha, Tanzania. But, she will be
involved in another critical aspect of the Burundi
conflict. The U-N High Commissioner will meet with
senior government officials in Dar es Salaam and will
visit the Karago Refugee Camp in the country's Kibondo
district.
Her spokesman, Ron Redmond, says this area is of
particular concern because it is overflowing with
refugees from Burundi. He says nearly one thousand
people have been arriving in Tanzania daily. And,
since the beginning of the year, more than 10-thousand
Burundian refugees have crossed into Kibondo district
from communes in eastern Burundi. He says the
refugees have settled into the newly opened Karago
Camp site.
/// REDMOND ACT ///
Within three weeks of its opening, Karago had
already reached nearly half its capacity. That
capacity is 45 to 50-thousand. The situation
there because of this steady rate of arrival is
very worrying, particularly if the refugees
continue to arrive at the rate we've seen in the
last few weeks. We've already utilized all the
sites that have been provided to us by the
Tanzanian government. And, there are no
additional sites, even for contingencies.
/// END ACT ///
/// Opt /// Burundi's brutal six-year long civil war
has intensified in the last six months. Late last
year, the Tutsi-led government began herding hundreds
of thousands of mainly Hutu civilians into so-called
regroupment camps to prevent them giving food and
support to the rebels. At least 200-thousand people
have been killed in Burundi since October 1993. ///
End Opt ///
The latest influx of refugees into Tanzania is in
addition to a quarter-million other Burundians who
fled there some time ago.
After Tanzania, U-N High Commissioner Ogata will
travel to South Africa, where she will meet with
President Thabo Mbeki and other officials.
She will end her African visit in Lusaka, Zambia.
Among her other activities, she will visit Angolan
refugees in camps in southwestern Zambia. (Signed)
NEB/LS/GE/ENE/JP
14-Jan-2000 13:41 PM EDT (14-Jan-2000 1841 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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