He said reconciliation could not happen overnight between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes, the Government's stated goal despite reports of arbitrary arrests and revenge killings.

Fighting between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes in each country has left thousands dead, and hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled in recent months.

For centuries, the two countries were dominated by the Tutsi tribe, comprising less than 15 percent of the population, while the Hutu majority lived largely as serfs.

Much of the strife in Rwanda centers on a long-standing rivalry between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes.

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

The civil war was the result of long standing ethnic divisions between the Hutu and the Tutsi tribes in Burundi.

When the fighting began, the first wave of refugees was made up of wounded members of the Tutsi tribe, chased from their country by machete-wielding Hutus.

The lake is filled with bodies of members of the Tutsi tribe who died during the frenzy of killing here in April.

Many within its ranks feel they are there to protect the future of the Tutsi tribe.

Her family were members of a Tutsi tribe.