DAR-ES-SALAAM - Up to 1,500 civilians are crossing Lake Tanganyika daily to escape rebel advances in eastern Zaire, joined by smaller numbers of ragged Zairean soldiers, according to UN officials and Tanzanian authorities. UN refugee officials said yesterday there were already more than 15,000 Zairean refugees in camps around Kigoma on the eastern shore of the lake in Tanzania.
The latest group of 50 Zairean soldiers - demoralised, ill equipped and wearing tattered uniforms - reached Kigoma on Friday, the semi official Sunday News said in a report quoting the acting regional commissioner, Mr Alhaj Ahmed Lugusha. "Most of them had talismans tied to their arms or waists - rolls of bhang [marijuana] and other substances - suggesting their reliance on sorcery in fighting the rebels," he said.
Last Thursday, 161 Zairean soldiers, heavily armed with guns, grenades and ammunition, arrived in Kigoma by boat. They were disarmed and detained, Mr Lugusha said. The rebels, who have seized a large part of eastern Zaire since October, overran Kalemie, the main Zairean port on Lake Tanganyika, two weeks ago.