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Argentina bomb case setback

Tuesday 23 August 1994 23:02 BST
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BUKAVU, Zaire (Reuter) - Thousands of Rwandan refugees packed their bags and headed out of Bukavu yesterday as tempers in the increasingly filthy and congested town become more and more frayed. From 7am there was a steady flow of Hutus out of the city centre and towards Hongo, a new camp site opening up for 80,000 people on the shores of Lake Kivu.

As the Bukavu squatters set out on foot, trucks laid on by aid agencies ferried batches of refugees waiting on the Rwandan side of the Ruzizi river across the frontier and towards Nyamanangwe, another new camp.

After initially closing its main border crossing on Saturday on the grounds that it did not want a repeat of last month's Goma catastrophe, Zaire agreed under pressure from the aid agencies to open a less-frequented bridge further south. The aim was to force the refugees to bypass central Bukavu, and settle in the camps. No Hutus were being allowed to walk across the Ruzizi bridge - instead they were being carefully herded on to trucks laid on by the Care charity, heading directly to the camps. 'If we let them come in on foot they will disperse and settle in the area near the bridge, which is what we want to avoid,' said an immigration official.

There are about 360,000 refugees, mostly Hutus, around the Bukavu area, of whom 100,000 are in the city itself and around 60,000 in refugee camps. About 50,000 refugees are said to be waiting to cross into Zaire.

LAGOS (Reuter) - A federal high court judge yesterday reinstated oil-union leaders sacked by General Sanni Abacha, the military ruler, in an attempt to end a pro-democracy strike.

Judge Mamman Kolo said that leaders of Nupeng should remain in office until 31 August, when he will hear an appeal against their dismissal.

'The association's executive body dissolved by government should have its original status quo maintained until then,' he said.

General Abacha named new army and navy chiefs on Monday in a further sign that he is keen to stamp his authority on the country. The union is asking the court to declare the sackings of its executives, and those of another union, illegal.

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