test please delete

[Diver]

Nemba was also a stopping off place on the main route between Kigali and burundi. it was also full of refugees.
The primary contact that we had been given was a Tutsi.
He was extremely nervous and reluctant to part with information until we greased his palm with a few of the Kruger Rands that we had brought with us.
Later in the op, after we had gained his trust he was to become invaluable as an ally and a friend.
On the first evening he spent more time detailing crimes against the Tutsi people by the Ruling Hutu in Rwanda, than he did about the situation in Burundi. We recorded everything though as our brief was to gather information about human rights abuses in the area of Burundi.

[Diver]

The first session lasted from 10 pm until 7 am the following morning.
He finally departed with a promise to arrange transport for us the following morning that would enable us to cross the border into Burundi.
We spent the whole of that day wandering the town ears to the ground listening to local gossip. I spoke a smattering of french, enough to get by on but my partner was fluant in Bantu. Both languages plus english were spoken so general conversation and communication were possible.
Our cover as Coffe buyers had been an excellent choice. This part of south-western Rwanda close to the Burundi border, is a coffee farming area, With a close knit community of growers. Much of the labour that they were using at the time were Burundi refugee's.

[Diver]

Many of whom had horrific stories to relate, and a few even had photographic evidence to back up their stories.
Our contact arrived that night in a beatup landrover and we headed out into the countryside toward the Burundi Border.
A few hours out from the town he pulled the Landrover to the side of the road and asked us to follow him.
We were both armed, but only with revolvers, and only with the 6 rounds in the chambers to rely on, we had no reloads, we were very nervous.
When we asked where we were going he just grinned and waved us on as he walked into the bush, We followed.

[Diver]

We were lucky it was a cloudless night and we had a full moon. none of us had a torch and the going was trecherous.
We walked through the bush for about 500 yards before our friend stopped and pointed.
We were at the edge of lake Rweru, and a fishing boat lay thirty feet off the shore.
Our contact whistled and an old man waved back from the boat.
Our contact called accross to the old man and told him to bring the boat closer. the old man managed to get the boat only as close as ten feet from the shore so the three of us waded out to it.
Our contact introduced us only as friends who are here to let the world know of the injustices. (I will always remember those words).
The old man was our contacts father.

[Diver]

Our contact explained that he would wait for two days at the viillage of his father before returning the borrowed Landrover.
That if we had not returned by then, we would have to wait at the village until he came back with transort.
As he waded back to shore, his father started the puttering little diesel engine and the boat started to move, we were on our way across the lake to Burundi.

[Diver]

Goodnight all

[BrilloPad]

14489

[Diver]

Morning all

[Diver]

Goodbye, see'yall later
Off to work

[DS23]

morning.