Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Photo Journal - A Trek of Tears by Martha Rial

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		Rwandan refugees, balancing as many possessions as they can carry, walk along in a column more than 15 kilometers long near the Benaco Junction in Ngara after being prevented from fleeing deeper into Tanzania by Tanzanian soldiers.

		A young Hutu girl is among the small number of Rwandan refugees who stayed behind at the Keza refugee camp near Ngara, Tanzania. About 25,000 Rwandan refugees lived in the camp before the repatriation began. Neighbors often fled Rwanda together and would remain living together as a communal group in the camps.

		One family of refugees used their bike to transport household items while leaving Tanzania near Ngara en route to Rwanda.

		A young refugee girl's feet are wrapped in socks to protect them during her journey home to Rwanda from Tanzania. The girl and her family had been walking for four days.

African Diary

Ngara, Tanzania

Arrived in Ngara safely. Saw nothing unusual on the way. Traveled to Keza to see how many refugees remained. The camp resembled a ghost town. They had fled, fearing they would be forced to return to Rwanda. Some of the refugees had torn apart their huts taking the plastic sheeting with them. Only a couple thousand refugees remained, mostly men, angry looking men.

I toured the camp with Dedan Buhile, a Tanzanian who is assistant camp manager for Keza. The people remaining wanted assurances they would be fed. A few women were preparing lunch or grinding corn. I saw one man take a goat away to be slaughtered. We walked through the nearly empty market, usually the main gathering spot for refugees, and soon we were surrounded by refugees. Buhile was trying to reassure them and encourage them to be patient in rapid Swahili. They didn't look very reassured to me.

We decided to get a closer look at the masses of people moving. Since the main roads are clogged with refugees, we have to take a back road full of hairpin turns and steep drops. And we encountered four tanks. It was a good two-hour drive to the Benaco junction where a column of refugees 15 kilometers long was trudging by. It was an amazing sight: men pushing bikes laden with plastic sheeting, food rations and babies clinging to the front handle bars. Elderly women with canes. Some people were dragging their goats along; others carried ducks and chickens. They were led by only a handful of militia men. It's incredible that so few can control so many.