EVENTS
RWANDA BORDER REOPENS, BUT FEW GO BACK Some 3,000 Rwandan refugees returned to their homes yesterday, but there was no sign yet that most of the 1 million starving people crammed into disease-ridden camps in Goma, Zaire, could go back. As many as 11,000 refugees have died in recent days. Aid workers yesterday expected 30 flights arriving at the Goma airport; a truck convoy was to arrive from Uganda with 540 tons of food; and a field hospital was to come from Israel. But many refugees, mostly Hutus, fear Tutsi rebels will retaliate for past Hutu massacres of Tutsis. The first US airlift dropped food over Goma Sunday, but aid workers said much of it was lost when pilots missed the target. Nineteen planes brought other supplies. Also, France said yesterday its troops will leave Rwanda on schedule by the end of August, and Australia announced it will send medical and infantry units. Senegal harbors leader Senegal has granted political asylum to Gambian President Dawda Jawara, overthrown by soldiers in a bloodless coup. A US warship brought Mr. Jawara to Dakar late Sunday as the government announced asylum for him and his family. The ship had been making a port call Friday when soldiers complaining they hadn't been paid for peacekeeping service in Liberia staged a coup. Sinn Fein rejects plan The Irish government said yesterday it was disappointed in a decision by the Irish Republican Army's political wing, Sinn Fein, to reject an Anglo-Irish blueprint for peace in Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein delegates Sunday said the declaration, which called on the IRA to lay down arms, was not a solution. The plan offered Sinn Fein a place at peace talks if the IRA stopped fighting British rule in Northern Ireland. Asian nations hold talks Foreign-policy chiefs of 17 nations and the European Union held landmark talks in Bangkok yesterday on how to prevent armed conflicts in Asia. Participants at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations forum addressed North Korea, competing territorial claims on islands, and other issues. Some proposals included creating a regional arms register and publication of defense-policy and military-status papers. Also, Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai urged Burma to release detained Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi as the key to solving many of Burma's problems. Jackson to go to Nigeria President Clinton is sending civil rights leader Jesse Jackson to Nigeria this week as striking oil workers there protest military rule. The delegation will deliver a message to ruler Gen. Sani Abacha regarding restoring democracy. Nigerian human rights activists oppose Jackson's visit, however, saying he is too closely aligned with the military government. LA workers strike Nearly 7,000 bus and rail workers went on strike yesterday against the Los Angeles transit system, the nation's second-largest. The Amalgamated Transit Union called the strike after it was unable to reach agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority by late Sunday.