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MARCH 27, 1997 AUGUSTA FOCUS
World / National View
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: WASHINGTON
| (AP) Preparing for a possible full-scale
| evacuation of Americans from Zaire, the
1 United States is deploying 600 troops to
neighboring Congo, Secretary of Defense
William Cohen said Monday.
| “We have made contingent plans to take
care of our citizens should it be necessary
to have an evacuation,” Cohen said.
An advance party of U.S. military person
nel is already in the Congolese capital of
Brazzaville, across theriver from Kinshasa,
the capital of Zaire.
“We will have a second unit that will
arrive roughly on Tuesday that will bring
the total to over 600 people on a stand-by
basis,” Cohen told reporters at the Penta
gon.
Although rebel forces are still far from
Kinshasa, many fear that Zaire’s demoral
ized and poorly paid army could go on a
rampage if the insurgents — who now con
trol the eastern third of the country —
continue to press forward.
About 500 American civilians are in Zaire,
including 320 in Kinshasa. There are also
an estimated 7,000 Europeans in Kinshasa.
France has had a task force in Brazzaville
for several weeks. A Belgian force was ex
pected Monday. A small advance team from
Britain is also in place.
Earlier this month, U.S. and other NATO
troops were used to evacuate foreigners
from Albania, as that country descended
into chaos.
Convicted
:From page one
1 ment may have obstructed justice,
+ said Lennox Hinds, a professor of
: law and criminal justice at Rutgers
: University. Hinds said he believes
! Rice and Poindexter are innocent.
1 “I've been involved for over 20
; years because I happen to think an
| injustice hasbeendone,” Hinds said
{in Lincoln on Wednesday. “We are
' exploring judicial relief based on
' newly discovered evidence, but we
‘are also exploring the political
'arena.”
¢ Riceand Poindexter haveapplied
«for sentence commutations that
Iwould make them eligible for pa
irole, but the Nebraska Pardons
' Board has rejected their efforts.
i Amnesty International also has
i called for new trials or release of the
\ men.
i Poindexterisservinghissentence
! in Minnesota. Rice, now known as
!Mondo we Langa, is in the Ne
| braska state prison.
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Fax your local news in to Augusta Focus
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Panic in Zairian capital,
Mobutu’s health questioned
I 8 Some 5,000 unaccompanied
children are among tens
of thousands of Rwanda
refugees wandering about in
the forests of Zaire.
By Alexandra Zavis
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer
CAPE TOWN, South Africa
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
Sadako Ogata on Monday called the plight
of Rwanda refugees caught upin the Zairian
conflict the most critical situation facing
her organization.
The UNHCR was trying to reach an esti
mated 300,000 Rwandan refugees, includ
ing more than 5,000 unaccompanied chil
dren, who were fleeing deeper into Zaire
ahead of the westward advance of rebels
trying to topple the government.
“We never really had to work in a situa
tion where refugees are constantly caught
in the front lines,” Ogata said. “Many of
them arein very bad shape. They have been
roaming around for more than three
months.”
About 700,000 Rwanda Hutu refugees
already have returned to Rwanda, Ogata
said. The remaining refugees fear reprisals
back home by the Tutsi-led government for
the 1994 Hutu-orchestrated slaughter of
half a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
But Ogata said the refugees now would
prefer returning to Rwanda instead of wan
dering in the Zairian forest. The rebels,
whoinclude Zairians of Tutsi descent, have
been accused of massacring refugees.
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Ogata arrived in South Africa on Monday
for a weeklong visit including meetings with
President Nelson Mandela and other senior
government officials.
Mandela tried to set up peace talks last
month between the Zairian government and
rebel leader Laurent Kabila, but the effort
proved fruitless. Kabila’s fighters have taken
over a large part of eastern Zaire including
Kisangani, the nation’s third-largest city.
Kabila’s followers want to oust Zairian
President Mobutu Sese Seko, whose nearly
32-year dictatorship has left mineral rich
Zaire among the world’s poorest countries.
Foreign relief workersleft Kisanganiahead
of the rebel takeover, leaving 100,000
Rwandan Huturefugees at Übundu, 60 miles
to the south.
Ogata said Monday the aid workers had to
leave because the government was unable to
guarantee tlieir safety. She said Kabila now
had allowed some aid workers to return to
the area.
Mandela and Ogata met Monday at the
president’s Cape Town residence to discuss
a UNHCR plan to establish humanitarian
land corridors for evacuating Rwandan Hutu
refugees from Zaire, Ogata said.
They also talked about South African poli
cies toward refugees who have been arriving
in the country since apartheid was aban
doned and Mandela became the nation’s
first black president in 1994.
“We would like a very strong refugee pro
tection regime set up here because it is
important that South Africa become the
model of protecting refugees,” Ogata said.
“You are the country that knows what refu
gees are.”
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Slain officer’s wife
hires Johnnie Cochran
B L.A. police officer
Kevin Gaines was shot
to death by a fellow
officer working under
cover. Now the family
wants an investigation.
LOS ANGELES
(AP) The family of a policeman
shot to death by an undercover
colleague wants an independent
investigation and has hired mem
bers of O.J. Simpson’s legal
“Dream Team” to look into the
matter.
The widow of Officer Kevin L.
Gaines retained Johnnie L.
Cochran Jr. to represent the fam
ily in dealing with the LAPD, fam
ily members said.
“Based on what little we know,
we are troubled by this tragedy
and we are hopeful that the Los
Angeles Police Department will
refer the investigation to the dis
trict attorney’s office so an inde
pendent investigation can be con
ducted,” attorney Carl E. Dou
glas, an associate of Cochran’s,
said Friday.
Detective Frank J. Lyga shot
Gaines, 31, on Tuesday after a
confrontation at a traffic light.
Police said Gaines was shot after
he threatened Lyga and pointed a
handgun at him.
Lyga was in undercover cloth
ing and Gaines was off duty. Both
men were in unmarked cars and
neither realized that he was deal
ing with a fellow officer, police
said.
Gaines’ family members and
some black officers have ques
tioned whether race was an issue
in the shooting since Lyga was
white and Gaines was black.
Meanwhile, some colleagues are
angry that Gaines will not receive
full police funeral honors. Police
Chief Willie L. Williams decided
on Friday that Gainesdid not merit
the “full dress” ceremony that in
cludes honor guards, a gun salute,
helicopter flyover and police es
cort because he was killed while
off duty.
Williams and city Police Com
mission members have said they
do not plan to attend Tuesday’s
funeral because of a scheduled
commission meeting.
The manner of Gaines’ death
also was an issue, said Assistant
Chief Frank Piersol, who made
the recommendation against an
honors funeral.
“The premise as we understand
it is the officer may have died in
the commission of a crime,” he
said.
But Gaines may have pulled a
gun because he believed a crime
was being committed, argued Rob
ert Ball, an attorney for the Oscar
Joel Bryant Association, a group
of black officers to which Gaines
belonged.
“How can they say he was not
acting in the course and scope of
his duty if he has an obligation as
a police officer to act if he sees
someone brandishing a gun?” Ball
said. “It would be ridiculous not to
give the officer the benefit of the
doubt.”
Gaines, a six-year veteran and
father of two, was separated from
his wife and living with Sharitha
Knight, the estranged wife of im
prisoned Death Row Records
founder Marion “Suge” Knight.
Detectives searched her Holly
wood Hills home as part of the
investigation, the Los Angeles
Daily News reported Saturday.
Lyga, a 40-year-old narcotics
detective with 10 years on the force,
said he acted in self-defense.
Both Gaines and Lyga had been
accused of misconduct.
Gaines had several misconduct
complaints against him within the
LAPD and was under internal in
vestigation over an Aug. 16 en
counter with officers responding
to a shooting call, the Los Angeles
Times said.
Lyga was the subject of two citi
zens complaints filed in 1991 by
Police Watch, a community police
watchdog group.