Rwanda Revolts

Negotiators for Zaire's warring factions sounded diplomatic Saturday at the start of their first face-to-face talks, throwing out terms like "peace" and "democracy." But the rebels, who control a third of the country and are still taking ground, seemed unwilling to compromise, and government negotiators stared stonily ahead when rebels said: "We want freedom, and we shall never negotiate that."

At least 120 Rwandan refugees are dying every day in two camps sheltering 80,000 people in territory held by Zairian rebels, according to the United Nations. Pam O'Toole, spokeswoman in Geneva for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said tens of thousands are stranded south of rebel-held Kisangani. The crisis prompted the U.N. Security Council on Friday night to call on the rebels to grant aid workers immediate and free access to the refugees.

After six months and nearly 600 miles, a long-missing group of Rwandan Hutu refugees has reached the end of the road in a sad, strange odyssey. Here in Zaire's jungle gloom, where towering trees and thick foliage block the equatorial sun, most of the refugees--who fled deeper into Zaire last year instead of returning home with hundreds of thousands of their brethren--say they have been on the run long enough. Now they want to go home.

The Rwandan army has launched major operations against Hutu militants it says are responsible for recent massacres and assassinations of local officials, foreign aid workers and survivors of previous genocide, officials said Sunday.

Senior United Nations and other international aid officials meeting here Thursday suddenly froze in stunned silence when a U.N. security officer angrily accosted others at the table. "How many bodies do you want?" he said emotionally. "We're soft targets! And we make headlines." The outburst highlighted the anguished debate that has erupted here over the role and responsibilities of international aid workers. At issue is whether Rwanda suddenly has become too dangerous for the U.N.

Citing a deadly surge of attacks on humanitarian aid groups, the United Nations withdrew hundreds of expatriate and Rwandan relief workers from western Rwanda in armed convoys Wednesday and sharply curtailed operations in the rest of this increasingly tense country. The emergency pullout from four provinces followed the brutal ambush Tuesday of five U.N.

The army struck back at Hutu insurgents in northwestern Rwanda, killing as many as 350 people in a series of attacks, aid workers and residents said. The military operations were intended to flush out Hutu militants accused of slaying 50 people, including three Spanish aid workers.

Gunmen reportedly killed at least 20 unarmed civilians on a night patrol in northern Rwanda, and Hutu rebels warned foreigners to "get out of the way" of their fight against the army. The attack on Monday capped a spate of violence that has left more than 100 people dead in recent weeks, U.N. human rights investigators said. U.N. monitors said 20 people were killed when gunmen fired on the civilian patrol in northwestern Ruhengari prefecture.

Aid workers packed to leave this northwestern town Sunday after Hutu militants executed three of their Spanish colleagues and wounded an American in the most serious rebel assault in Rwanda in more than two years. The victims of Saturday night's attack on three aid offices were medical volunteers with the Spanish branch of Doctors of the World. Three Rwandan soldiers also died. There was no report of casualties from the other two aid groups hit--Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children.

A former Hutu mayor used the respect his position commanded to order the killing of 2,000 Tutsis, prosecutors argued in opening a U.N. tribunal's first case against a suspect in Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Jean-Paul Akayesu has pleaded not guilty to 12 counts of torture, murder and genocide. Akayesu's lawyers said they intend to challenge the credibility of the 31 prosecution witnesses.