Tutsi detainees flown in from the DRC

Some 180 ethnic Tutsis held under "protective custody" in Kinshasa for the past year were on Monday flown to Cotonou, Benin, as part of an operation arranged by the US government and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), an OCHA official in Kinshasa told IRIN on Tuesday. The Tutsis will remain in Benin for "a month or two" during which they will be assisted by UNHCR and will undergo US immigration formalities. "After that, they will be flown to the US," the official said. Another 180 detained Tutsis are scheduled to be flown from Kinshasa to Benin in the next few days, he said. The Office of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the DRC assisted in planning the relocation operation by serving as an "intermediary" between IOM and the government, the latest OCHA monthly situation report said. It said a number of persons of Tutsi origin who had remained in hiding since August 1998 had been encouraged by recent developments to come out of concealment. Some had started to arrive at "protective custody centres" in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, where about 1,500 Congolese Tutsis were currently registered, the report added.