From irin@dha.unon.org Wed Nov 13 14:01:44 1996 Date: Fri, 8 Nov 1996 10:54:13 +0300 (GMT+0300) From: UN DHA IRIN - Great Lakes To: irinwire@dha.unon.org Subject: Zaire: Refugees International Report #6 7 November 1996 96.11.7 ============================================================================= REFUGEES INTERNATIONAL ============================================================================= Report #6 Contact: Kirk Day November 7, 1996 (202) 828-0110 PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP NEEDED TO SAVE ONE MILLION REFUGEES The crisis in eastern Zaire confronts President Clinton with one of the gravest humanitarian emergencies in recent years. On the heels of his re-election, the President has a chance to galvanize the international community to save tens of thousands of civilian lives that will otherwise surely be lost in the days ahead. A million refugees are spreading across the Zaire countryside, having lost their UN lifeline to clean water and food. Already the weak are beginning to perish--infants, nursing mothers and the old. Deaths will almost certainly soon mount to the tens of thousands and will spiral higher than that, when cholera takes hold. The initial hope is gone that the cease-fire in eastern Rwanda might provide enough security for UN relief agencies and NGOs to open emergency assistance/repatriation corridors. It is now clear that bringing in emergency aid to the refugees will require extraordinary actions by governments to immediately dispatch a security force to enable the resumption of life-sustaining aid and to repatriate those who wish to return to Rwanda. This will only happen with the direct involvement and leadership of the President, to build on the work already being done by senior Administration officials. Recommendations: 1. The U.S. should take the lead in galvanizing the immediate deployment of an international force to provide life-sustaining emergency aid to the million lost refugees. The force need not be purely American, but it will require top-level American leadership to form and deploy. Quibbling about the modalities of such a force should end, and deployment of such a force must begin immediately. 2. The President should give top priority to providing the best photos from satellite and other sources with complete transparency to enable the best emergency response from the UN and other relief agencies and to focus the international community on the need for urgent action. President Clinton is faced with a major foreign policy issue which may well define his entire second term. The President has an opportunity to save tens of thousands of refugee civilians wandering the scrub of eastern Zaire. Only President Clinton can mobilize the international and U.S. resources necessary to address this crisis with the immediacy it requires. ============================================================================= Refugees International -- 2639 Conn. Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20008 Phone: 202-828-0110 Fax: 202-828-0819 www: http://www.clark.net/pub/ri ============================================================================= [Via the UN DHA Integrated Regional Information Network "Wire" mailing list. The material contained in this communication may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. UN DHA IRIN Tel: +254 2 622123 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin@dha.unon.org for more information. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer.]