Rwanda: over 1 million refugees return in last half of 1996.

• Position: Includes related articles on Rwanda's food economy and Women's Collective

An estimated 1.3 million refugees returned to Rwanda between July 1996 and the beginning of January 1997, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Out of that total, an estimated 720,000 came back from camps in Zaire after the intensification of hostilities in the eastern part of that country in August and September. The overwhelming majority returned in November.

A further exodus of refugees - this time from the United Republic of Tanzania - began later in the year and ended in early January 1997, bringing another 485,000 Rwandans home. Since July, 88,000 refugees have also returned from Burundi, with several thousand others coming from Uganda.

The Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region, Raymond Chretien of Canada, said on 13 December the realization that a temporary multinational humanitarian force might be deployed on the ground, following the Security Council's authorization of such a force on 15 November (S/RES/1080(1996)), had "accelerated tremendously the return of refugees". Speaking to the press at United Nations Headquarters, he called it "an indication that the international community could make a difference if it had the will to do so".

According to human rights observers from the United Nations Field Operation in Rwanda, the return of the refugees from Zaire and Tanzania has been marked by tensions. An increasing number of arrests of returnees were made on charges of participation in the 1994 genocide; numbers were expected to rise further. Many returnees had also experienced significant problems upon attempting to reclaim their properties, according to the observers. The Government of Rwanda, in concert with international organizations, has initiated projects striving to rehabilitate returnees and to construct houses.

International Criminal Tribunal cites progress

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda said it had been able to make "great progress" during its first year. It faced many challenges before the beginning of the trials, according to its initial annual report (A/51/399-S/1996/778) submitted to the General Assembly and the Security Council on 24 September 1996.

The report indicated that the Office of the Prosecutor needed more human and material resources if it was to continue and speed up its work. A great deal of material and legal preparatory work remained, including finishing construction work, organizing transport, and other arrangements for the...