In the two months since, several hundred thousand people are estimated to have been killed in fighting between the rival Tutsi and Hutu tribes.

These refugees are members of the Hutu tribe from Rwanda.

Most were members of the Hutu tribe, fleeing the advancing Tutsi rebel army, which won the civil war and formed a new Government.

The Foreign Minister, who belongs to the politically dominant Tutsi tribe, said the rebels were all members of the Hutu tribe.

In an effort to reward conversion, the colonial government confiscated traditionally Tutsi land and reassigned it to Hutu tribes, igniting a conflict that has lasted into the 21st century.

In October of 1993, members of the Hutu tribe invaded Tuhabonye's high school and captured more than 100 Tutsi children and teachers.

Until then, the Rwandan Army, which is predominantly made up of members of the Hutu tribe, had guarded the border.

For several days, the new Tutsi-dominated Rwanda Government has been calling on all refugees, most of them from the rival Hutu tribe, to return.

Nine days ago, 1,500 Rwandans from the Hutu tribe took refuge here as the Rwandan military tried to force them to go home, and they have trickled out very slowly.

Later, she ordered men from the Interahamwe militia, thugs from the Hutu tribe who carried out the killings, to rape Tutsi women and girls.