UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 1, Page 12
September 1, 1994
Campus campaign to raise funds for Rwanda

     Members of the University of Delaware African-American Coalition
(UDAAC) have organized a campus community effort through the
International Red Cross to aid victims of the crisis in Rwanda .
     The group has announced a $10,000 goal for the campaign, that
runs through Sept. 30.
     The coalition council felt something should be done to alleviate
the suffering in Rwanda and that UDAAC was the appropriate group to
spearhead the effort, council member Charles Tarver, station manager
of WVUD-fm at the University, said.
     At an Aug. 10  meeting of the University of Delaware African-
American Coalition (UDAAC), economics graduate student Victor Makuza,
who was born and raised in Rwanda, shared his perspective on his
strife-torn homeland.
     The son of a Hutu father and a Tutsi mother, Makuza attended
primary school and high school in Rwanda and holds a degree from the
University of Fribourg in Switzerland.
     He gave coalition members a brief overview of the events leading
up to the current crisis, and in his informal remarks, Makuza said
that the heart of the current conflict is power.
     Since the end of the Belgian trusteeship in 1961, the country had
been making progress dealing with the issues of population growth,
education, political and administrative organization and
industrialization, he said.
     Although there have been invasions by Tutsi guerrillas, who
organized across the country's border in Uganda, none had the
magnitude of this current conflict, which began when the Rwandese
Patriotic Front attacked.
     Because there now is no trust between the Tutsis and Hutus,
Makuza said he feels now there can be no solution unless the
international community persuades the warring factions to sit down
together and work out a reconciliation plan. He also said any solution
would have to be regional, involving not only Rwanda, but also Burundi
and Uganda. Otherwise, he said, the bomb will explode again in 10 to
15 years.
     The International Red Cross is providing the water supply for
more than 1 million refugees, and its medical team is offering
treatment for cholera patients and those with numerous other needs.
     Tarver stressed that 92 cents of every dollar goes directly to
supplies for victims and to those providing medical and humanitarian
assistance in the disaster area.
     Donations and checks should be made payable to the American Red
Cross, with a notation, for Rwanda relief fund.
     Donations should be sent to:
       Virginia Tomlinson, University Media Services, 308 Pearson Hall,
          831-3557;
       Pat Davis, Information Technologies, 226 Computing Center, 831-3758;
       Darlene Sharp, Labor Relations, 87 East Main St., Room 108, 831-8308;
       Jackie Caleb, Cashier, 117 Student Services Building, 831-1241; or
       Joyce Hart, 228 Purnell Hall, College of Business and Economics,
          831-2551.