FAR/Interahamwe
203. After the capture of Bukavu by the AFDL/APR troops and the destruction
of the
refugee camps north of the town, the survivors fled in the direction of North
Kivu. They
either passed through Kahuzi-Biega National Park (towards Bunyakiri/Hombo) or
Nyabibwe, on the Goma road. However, the refugees who travelled via Nyabibwe
were
caught between AFDL/APR troops arriving from Goma and Bukavu, and did not reach
North Kivu.
- Towards mid-November 1996, ex-FAR/Interahamwe units killed an unknown
number of refugees in Nyabibwe village. Most of the victims were sick,
elderly or
physically disabled people who no longer had the strength to escape. The ex-
FAR/Interahamwe killed them by firing rockets at the house and the
containers in
which some of them were shut away. Others were burned alive when the
vehicles
they were in were set on fire. Some of these victims are alleged to have
asked to
be killed for fear of falling into the hands of the AFDL/APR. However, the
Mapping Team was not able to confirm this claim.210