wfn.org | Lutheran Aid Workers Killed in Rwanda

[Frank Imhoff <FRANKI@elca.org>]

Reply-To: ElcaNews <ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG>
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 12, 1998

LUTHERAN AID WORKERS KILLED IN RWANDA
98-53-AH

     GENEVA (ELCA) -- Three field staff of the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF) were killed in Rwanda in an armed assault the night of March 11.
They died near the border with Tanzania on the compound of a resettlement
project for returning Tutsi refugees, LWF reports.  A number of other staff
members were injured.  LWF expressed "sadness and distress" at the deaths.
     The three served on the staff of the LWF's Department for World
Service.  Reports from the World Service office in Kigali indicate the
assailants appear to have come from Tanzania, crossing the Akagera River --
a branch of the Kagera River which forms the border between Tanzania and
Rwanda.
     The names of the dead and injured have not been released.  The LWF
will recover the bodies from Bukora in the district of Kibungo.
     The LWF has been involved in providing humanitarian aid in the region
since 1994.  The resettlement project at Bukora is funded by the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees with the LWF as implementing
partner.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html