Abstract
- In Rwanda a certain movement of refugees returning is confirmed: 1,500 of them crossed the border yesterday [July 26]. In addition, American forces are deploying in Zaire. They will also arrive in Kigali tomorrow [July 28]. The United States plans to send 2,000 troops there.
- French side visits are increasing: the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Jacques Lanxade, and the Minister for Humanitarian Action, Lucette Michaux-Chevry.
- There are international gestures like that of Israel sending, in 24 hours, a whole field hospital. 15 doctors and paediatricians are volunteers. We are treating 50 patients. 15 are urgently needed. Lots of cholera, a pregnancy. But how many are waiting at the entrance to the hospital for whom other tents will have to be pitched?
- The international airlift is already saturated in Goma with 30 flights per day. The US military, which has called its operation "Support Hope", hopes to unload in Kigali. It sends 2,000 men for logistical assistance. And on the shores of Lake Kivu its water purification units have already been ready for 24 hours.
- But the UNHCR cisterns, which are supposed to bring water 30 kilometers to the camps, are lacking. So sometimes, to find this essential water, some prefer to go walking to a source or a dubious pond.
- Distribution is difficult for everything: for food, sometimes gangs steal at the expense of the weakest. The camps feel abandoned.
- Disturbing news from neighboring Burundi: over the past few days, ethnic clashes between Hutu and Tutsi have left more than 200 dead there.