UN Plans Refugee Camp For Rwandans in Tanzania

African leaders criticized a UN Security Council decision to consider, rather than implement, a call for more UN troops in Rwanda.

THE Zurich-based United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Saturday it plans to set up a large camp in Tanzania to shelter at least 200,000 of the refugees who have fled bloody tribal violence in neighboring Rwanda.

Rwandan rebels closed a border crossing with Tanzania on Saturday after one of the largest mass exoduses ever seen by relief officials, and officials said hundreds of thousands were still stranded in Rwanda. Fighting between Rwanda's two rival tribes, the majority Hutus and the minority Tutsis, has killed an estimated 200,000 people in the last three weeks.

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the secretary-general of the Organization of African Unity criticized a UN Security Council decision to consider, rather than implement, UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's proposal for a force.

Salim Ahmed Salim praised Mr. Boutros-Ghali for coming out forcefully in support of sending more troops to Rwanda. The Council had earlier voted to cut the strength of a UN force there from 5,500 to 270.

In Washington, Clinton administration officials are examining the idea of organizing and paying for military intervention in Rwanda by African countries, the New York Times reported yesterday. US officials apparently have rejected any direct US action to stop the Rwandan civil war, but may encourage African nations to intervene, possibly offering financial and logistical support.

Berlusconi ally faces indictment

EFFORTS to form a new Italian government were thrown into turmoil Saturday after prosecutors asked for the indictments of a key ally of premier-designate Silvio Berlusconi and 36 others on kickback charges.

The Berlusconi ally was Umberto Bossi, leader of the Northern League, part of the three-party conservative coalition that won national elections in March. Members of his party are under consideration for key Cabinet posts. A hearing on the indictment request was scheduled for May 24. The request also named some the nation's best known political figures: former premiers Bettino Craxi and Arnaldo Forlani, former Foreign Minister Gianni De Michelis, and several former Cabinet ministers.

Mr. Berlusconi did not comment on the charges. But he said, ``There will certainly'' be Cabinet seats given to the Northern League, as well as his own Forza Italia and the National Alliance, which developed from a neo-fascist movement.

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