GENEVA - The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said yesterday that Rwandan Hutu refugees were dying in Zaire's jungles and drowning while crossing rivers and expressed alarm at their plight as the rainy season begins.
A spokesman, Mr Kris Janowski, said the rainy season would further complicate aid efforts in the remote rain forests of east Zaire, turn grass landing strips into mud, and leave aid agencies with only one option to transport supplies across rivers by boat.
Up to 100,000 hungry and exhausted refugees have arrived at the town of Ubundu on the Zaire River upstream from the eastern town of Kisangani after a long trek across the rain forest, fleeing advances by mainly Tutsi rebels fighting Zairean troops.
A World Food Programme spokeswoman, Ms Christiane Berthiaume, said a UN aid flight carrying food for refugees in Ubundu had to be cancelled yesterday because rains made landing impossible.