Rwanda: August 15, 2004

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Burundi FLN Hutu rebels took responsibility for a August 13 attack on a refugee camp near the Congo border. The camp held Congolese Tutsi who had fled violence against Tutsi within Congo. The FLN killed nearly 200 refugees, mostly women and children. The FLN claimed that the refugee camp was used as a base for Burundi army troops and Congolese Tutsi gunmen. The Tutsi are a minority (about 15 percent of the population) in Rwanda and Burundi). The Tutsi tribes moved into the region from the north several centuries ago, and used force and superior fighting ability to displace Hutu and other tribes. The animosities from that ancient invasion have never disappeared.