Aid Workers Leave Northwest Rwanda After 3 Are Killed

RUHENGERI, Rwanda —  Aid workers packed to leave this northwestern town Sunday after Hutu militants executed three of their Spanish colleagues and wounded an American in the most serious rebel assault in Rwanda in more than two years.

The victims of Saturday night’s attack on three aid offices were medical volunteers with the Spanish branch of Doctors of the World. Three Rwandan soldiers also died. There was no report of casualties from the other two aid groups hit--Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children.

With Hutu militants resuming their attacks and beginning to target foreigners, what had appeared to be a peaceful return of more than a million Hutus from 2 1/2 years in exile has turned violent.

Nitin Madhav, 28, of Pittsburgh was shot in the leg during the attack. Doctors amputated his leg above the knee and flew him to Nairobi, Kenya, for more treatment.

Madhav, a program director, was on his first assignment and had been in Ruhengeri only five days, said Dr. Brooks Taylor, regional medical officer for the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.

Fearing more violence, some aid workers in Ruhengeri loaded their possessions into trucks and moved to the capital, Kigali, 50 miles to the southeast. Doctors of the World said it was suspending operations in northwestern Rwanda.

Other agencies also expressed outrage and said they were considering closing down their operations. The British branch of Save the Children, CARE and at least eight other agencies left Ruhengeri on Sunday.

Saturday’s strike was the fourth violent incident in a week involving foreigners in Rwanda. Gunmen have attacked a hospital staffed with foreign doctors, struck a U.N. human rights team and fired on a U.N. vehicle. Nobody was killed in those incidents.

Saturday night’s attack apparently had been coordinated, with three groups of Hutu militants simultaneously attacking the aid agency compounds, the home of an appeals court judge and a police station, said chief U.N. human rights monitor Javier Zuniga.

Doctors of the World identified the victims as Manuel Madrazo Osuna, 42, a doctor; Luis Maria Valtuena, 30, an administrator; and Maria Flores Sirera Fortuny, 33, a nurse.