U.S. Moves Closer To African Mission Of Mercy Troops Put On Alert For Possible Airdrops Of Food And Medicine Into Zaire

The United States inched closer to a humanitarian mission to rescue ill and hungry refugees in central Africa on Wednesday, endorsing a Canadian plan to establish a multinational headquarters in the region and putting troops on alert for possible airdrops of food and medicine into Zaire.

The operation envisioned by the Canadians would base operations out of Entebbe, Uganda, and involve far fewer soldiers than originally projected just two weeks ago. The Clinton administration said the 400 U.S. support troops already moved to the region may be enough to handle the task, although an additional 200 could be needed. In any case, officials stressed they are not planning to send U.S. combat forces.

A statement by the White House supported the proposal to locate a headquarters in the region. However, it added that more planning must be done over the next few days before a final decision can be made on airdrops. “It’s not a done deal, but it is a statement of our intention,” one high-ranking official said.

U.S. officials want to be assured cargo planes will not be fired upon by hostile rebels on the ground and that supplies will be used for relief of refugees rather than hijacked by armed militias. Also in the past, airdrops have injured or killed some of the innocents they were intended to help by dropping pallets on them and by creating out-of-control stampedes for the packages.

The United States and Canada do not want their efforts to halt the flow of refugees returning from Zaire to Rwanda by creating a disincentive to go home, as some United Nations officials fear.

“We are fundamentally committed to helping the refugees, but we want to do so in a way that’s effective,” State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said.

National security adviser Anthony Lake conceded Wednesday that many problems have to be worked out. “I hope they all have solutions,” he said. “We just don’t know the solutions yet.”

Lake also said he hopes African nations will participate in the mission, but the reaction to the plan was cool in Rwanda, which objects to deploying an international force within its borders.

One appeal of operating out of Entebbe is that Western allies could circumvent any Rwandan objections while avoiding areas of Zaire not under government control. Another advantage, officials said, is that the international force could respond quickly to any change in the situation.

The nature of the problem and, therefore the solution, has changed drastically since President Clinton announced earlier this month that he was willing to send up to 5,000 troops.

With the return home of about 600,000 mostly Rwandan Hutu refugees in recent days, officials are debating how extensive the remaining problem is and how best to complete the exodus from Zaire.

Although Rwanda insists the crisis has subsided, some estimates place several hundred thousand refugees remaining in eastern Zaire.