UN General Assembly
1995

armed forces of Rwanda came to Zaire on 14 July 1994, and obviously we were not expecting them. They came to regions of North and South Kivu following the civil war in Rwanda. After being disarmed, they were supposed to be taken care of. But by whom? Problems arose as to their status. Were they prisoners of war? Zaire was not at war with Rwanda, we were told. Were they war detainees? “No”, we were told by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), “they are not within our competence.” Are they, then, political refugees? “No”, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) replied. “Men in military uniform are not political refugees, and so they do not fall within our competence.” 3 And so, the 30,000 military men of the former Rwandan armed forces began to take care of themselves, to the detriment of the villagers and local populations, while the United Nations system looked on, powerless. Secondly, at the behest of the Secretary-General and the international community, we agreed to move them far