Slain Tourists Flown Home
The bodies of eight foreign tourists killed by Hutu rebels in a Ugandan national park were flown out of the country and began their journey home Saturday.
The coffins bearing the remains of the tourists, including two Americans, arrived early Saturday at London's Gatwick airport.
Before being put on the plane at Entebbe airport in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, a private flag-folding ceremony was held for the two Americans, Rob Haubner, 48, and Susan Miller, 42.
Haubner and Miller were Oregon-based executives at the computer chip giant Intel. Like the other victims, they were visiting southwestern Uganda's Bwindi National Park to see its rare mountain gorillas.
The remains of the two Americans will arrive in Portland, Ore., Saturday afternoon, accompanied by a State Department official, according to State Department Spokesman Lee McClenny.
The Ugandan government, meanwhile, said it would make every effort to ensure the safety of future tourists.
"I can assure you we are doing everything possible so that this point of tourism is safe for everyone," said Ugandan Foreign Minister Eriya Kategaya.
The Ugandan army has intensified a joint manhunt with Rwandan forces to capture or kill the Hutu rebels behind the attacks.
The Rwandan military has reportedly killed 15 of the rebels responsible for Monday's massacre of the eight foreign tourists, reports CBS News Correspondent John Roberts.
Lt. Col. Benon Biraro said Rwandan troops killed the rebels inside the Democratic Republic of the Congo Wednesday after Uganda's army pursued them over the border.
"The Rwandan army killed 15 of them and sustained about three casualties," said Biraro, who is responsible for the area where the tourists were slain.
There was no independent confirmation of the claim. Rwandan officials said they had no information on the ambush.
Three experts from Scotland Yard arrived in Kampala Friday morning.
They will join FBI teams in searching Rwanda, Congo and Uganda, according to Erasmus Opio, the deputy director of Uganda's criminal investigations department.
U.S. officials said a second FBI team also flew into Kampala Thursday, backing up four agents who arrived a day earlier.
President Clinton said Thursday that the United States wouldn't be intimidated and he was determined to make sure the murderers are captured.
"We will not forget these crimes, nor rest until those who committed them are brought to justice," he said, calling the murders "senseless and cowardly."
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 | Gorillas In A Dangerous Mist | |
Survival depended on where the tourists were in line. Those at the front were let go. Those at the back were murdered.
As coffins were prepared to bring home the eight victims, more of the surviving tourists left Uganda, hoping to put the ordeal behind them.
Among them was American tour guide Mark Ross, who is credited with talking the rebels into letting the six survivors go. He says the incident hasn't soured him on Uganda. "No, I'm not giving up the business at all. It was really a sad, freaky, I think, unpredictable occurrence."
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has blamed park rangers for the attack, saying they did not alert the government to the security threat in the region.
President Museveni has promised to avenge the killing of the tourists, saying he would capture the rebels, and if they could not be captured, they would be killed.
"I have already given instructions to the Army to follow them in the Congo, where they've fled, and give them punishment," he said. Wednesday's developments seem to show that Museveni intends to keep his promise.
Ugandan officials are now telling foreigners not to go to the area where the tourists were killed, a lush forest that served as the inspiration for the film Gorillas in the Mist.
©1999 CBS Worldwide Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report