UN General Assembly
1995

Since 1960, Zaire has been taking in refugees from Rwanda — sometimes Tutsi, sometimes Hutu — and we have always followed that provision to the letter. But paragraph 2 of article 3 states: “Exception may be made to the foregoing principle only for overriding reasons of national security or in order to safeguard the population, as in the case of a mass influx of persons”. And if a State should decide that, for whatever reason, an exception to that provision is justified, it can “consider the possibility of granting to the person concerned an opportunity of going to another State”, and can then bring this matter before the international community. This is precisely the situation that Zaire found itself in. It decided to be an exception to the principle, and so informed the Secretary-General and the Security Council of the United Nations. Countries wishing to take in these refugees are welcome to do so, but Zaire refuses to continue to be accused of destabilizing Rwanda simply because we accepted 3 million Rwandese on our land. We 6