travel news review


3 March '99
Rwandan Hutu guerillas in southwestern Uganda who abducted 17 tourists tracking the region's rare mountain gorillas have killed eight of the kidnapped tourists and four Ugandan tour guides. Of the tourists who died, four were British, two were American and two were from New Zealand.

A large group of armed kidnappers, based in the border region near the Democratic Republic of Congo, attacked the Buhoma camping site at the northern entrance of the Bwindi National Park. Seven other tourists escaped, including a French diplomat, while others were subsequently released. The kidnapping was designed to send a message to the West to halt dealings with the Ugandan government. The rebels are angry at Uganda's support for the Tutsi government of Rwanda, responsible for large-scale massacres of Hutus.

15 April '98
A national memorial has been unveiled in Rwanda in memory of the 4th anniversary of the 100 day killing of Rwandan Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994. Despite a week of special events to mark the anniversary, fighting continues in north-west Rwanda between government troops and Hutu extremist groups.