Concern pulls back staff after six are killed

CONCERN has pulled its expatriate staff out of the area of northwestern Rwanda where three Spanish aid workers and three soldiers were killed on Saturday night. A US aid worker was also severely injured in the assaults.

Ms Ann Flannery, from Nenagh, and Mr Michael Hilton, from England, were withdrawn to the capital, Kigali, last night. The centre for unaccompanied children in Ruhengeri in which they work is situated less than a mile from where the three aid workers were killed.

Representatives of the various agencies working in Ruhengeri and nearby Gisenyi were meeting last night to discuss their response to the brutal killing of three of their colleagues.

The other Irish agency in the area, Trocaire, has pulled its staff out of eastern Zaire. Its office in Gisenyi remains open but staff have been confined to the town until their security is assured.

The Concern centre in Ruhengeri was visited only a week ago by the Minister of State for Overseas Co operation, Ms Joan Burton, and Irish officials.

Security concerns have been mounting since the return in November of 600,000 refugees from Zaire, many of whom hailed from the area around Gisenyi.

During the genocide in 1994, both Gisenyi and Ruhengeri were considered strongholds of the Interahamwe militia responsible for most of the killings.

The three Spanish victims were the first foreigners to die in such an attack in Rwanda since 10 Belgian soldiers were killed in 1994.

All the dead aid workers and the injured American citizen worked for the French organisation Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World, MDM). "It seems they were murdered in cold blood," an MDM spokesman said.