Panos Moumtzis, a spokesman for the UN high commissioner for refugees, said a dozen Zairean soldiers started stealing radios and blankets from huts in Kibumba camp, 25 kilometers north of the border town of Goma.
Tension between the troops and refugees rose because of the theft and the soldiers opened fire, killing an old man and wounding two other adults and a six-year-old child, he said.
He said staff from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees witnessed the incident near a crossing in the camp, the poorest and worst of all the camps in eastern Zaire for nearly 1 million refugees who arrived three weeks ago.
He said UNHCR officials complained strongly to the Goma army commander about the third killing in as many days in clashes between Zairean troops in the camps and refugees.
"We told him it was necessary to have much more discipline among his soldiers or the situation would get out of hand," said the spokesman, adding that the commander promised to investigate.
Moumtzis also reported a mob of refugees stoned to death a Zairean soldier, who was armed but in civilian clothes, at Kibumba on Wednesday. The reasons for the attack were unclear.
A mob of Rwandan refugees killed a Zairean soldier accused of demanding bribes Thursday by slashing him to death with machetes at the entrance to Katale camp, 50 kilometers north of Goma.
The soldier, who was according to UNHCR demanding money from refugees driving vehicles with Rwandan registration plates, was armed with two rifles, which were seized by the mob. Moumtzis said UNHCR called on the refugees to return the weapons and Friday the UN field officer at Katale decided against sending in a convoy of food trucks because of increased tension.
The World Food Program, the UN food arm, said that Katale, which has 150,000 refugees, had virtually no food stocks and the agency was very concerned about the shortage.
"A total of 220 tons of food should have gone in today. They need food deliveries daily at the moment. We will decide on Saturday whether to send the convoy in," a WFP spokeswoman said.
It was the first time food deliveries to the refugees have been stopped because of growing insecurity in the Goma area.
Moumtzis said Zairean soldiers had stayed out of Katale on Friday, as requested by the UN, to calm residents.
He said at least two UNHCR staff, like other aid workers and journalists in Goma, had been robbed by Zairean soldiers and the agency flew in a security officer Friday to tighten precautions at its offices in Goma and at the town's airport.
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