UN troops investigate new Rwanda atrocities

KIGALI - The UN was yesterday rushing some 120 Canadian and Australian troops to south-eastern Rwanda where security was deteroriating. Rwanda's new rulers said they wanted the UN to check allegations that government troops, who are mainly from the minority Tutsi tribe, were committing atrocities against the majority Hutu. 'There is a mess there,' said a UN officer. 'We have reports of atrocities that we need to investigate and also relief agencies feel that Unamir forces must be deployed on the ground for them to work.'

A UN spokesman said that the security situation in areas bordering Tanzania had deteriorated in recent days and the UN had flown troops there by helicopter. In Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees accused the new government and its former guerrilla movement, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, of systematically harassing and killing Hutu tribesmen. Reuter