U.S. May Send Troops To Africa

Prompted by France, U.S. officials are considering sending some U.S. troops to Central Africa for logistical support in an international force to protect and feed up to 1.4 million refugees caught in the fighting between Zaire and Rwanda, senior U.S. and European officials said Tuesday.

While U.S. officials see the use of troops as a last resort, the next few days will be crucial in deciding whether an international force will be needed, they say.

U.S. diplomats are working to establish a lasting cease-fire that would allow aid workers to return to the area and encourage Rwandan Hutu refugees to return home, closing the refugee camps in eastern Zaire that have fostered tribal and regional tensions.

If that can happen, they hope there will be no need for foreign troops to create “protected zones” for the distribution of needed food and water.

But the Hutu have refused to return to Rwanda, now led by a Tutsi-dominated government, for the last two years and for now many are scattered in Eastern Zaire.