Military action is urged to aid refugees in Zaire

THE Government should support military intervention in eastern Zaire to help refugees, according to Mr John O'Shea, the director of GOAL, the third world charity.

Mr O'Shea said it was time for the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Spring, to reactivate within the EU the idea of the force. Otherwise 500,000 Hutu refugees still in Zaire were likely to start dying within weeks. "It's time to start calling a spade a spade. These people are starving to death. There is no one to help them and they're surrounded by headbanger armies on either side.

The international community had advanced plans to send in a Canadian led force into eastern Zaire last year but these were abandoned when 500,000 refugees returned to Rwanda in November. However, other refugees were pushed further east into Zaire by fighting between government troops and rebel forces.

Mr O'Shea renewed his call to Mr Spring to stop funding the Rwandan government "until its integrity is established". He accused the Rwandans of letting 100,000 prisoners "rot" in jail and preventing the free movement of human rights monitors.

However, his charges were rejected yesterday by the Junior Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ms Joan Burton, who said an international force was "not on". The Government, which was closely monitoring the situation, had been advised by the UN that the rebels had promised not to attack the refugee camps. The total number of refugees was less than 200,000.

She warned that failing to give assistance to the Rwandan government could result in another genocide.

Following the killing of more aid workers last week, all Irish agency staff in Rwanda have been pulled back to Kigali. Three Kiltegan Fathers remain in Gikongoro in the south.

On Sunday, Rwanda's Interiors Ministry ordered the expulsion of a Reuters correspondent. Mr Christian Jennings (34), a Briton, was served with the expulsion order because he reported on Friday that Vice President and Defence Minister, Mr Paul Kagame, told a news conference that "Rwanda had the right to divert some foreign aid to help the internal war against Hutu extremists".