RWANDA: Refugees could be joining rebels, minister says

KIGALI, 21 Apr 2005 (IRIN) - Rwandans who have been fleeing to Burundi and Uganda since the beginning of April could have been recruited into rebel groups, a government minister told IRIN on Thursday.

"We have information of some elements trickling in and out and mobilising these people," Protais Musoni, Rwanda's minister of local government, said in the capital, Kigali.

He added that fear of indictment in the country's traditional justice system, known as "Gacaca", could have caused many of the refugees to leave the country. Gacaca courts were established in March to help try tens of thousands of suspects accused of being involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

According to Rwandan government estimates, at least 937,000 people died during the genocide between April and June 1994.

In recent months, some 2,000 Rwandans have fled to northern Burundi, and another 1,118 to Uganda, according to the UN.

Musoni said he had been informed that most of those who had fled might have been recruited into rebel ranks, although he did not specify which.

He said that those encouraging Rwandans to flee were mainly from neighbouring Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rwandans who have fled into Uganda have been camped in the western Nakivale district, while those in Burundi were being moved further inland - away from the Burundi-Tanzania-Rwanda border - a move that Rwanda has condemned.

The Rwandan government has accused Uganda of hosting Hutu rebels in the Nakivale camp.

[ENDS]