BRUSSELS - European humanitarian aid chief Emma Bonino on Tuesday condemned the massacre of refugees in rebel areas of eastern Zaire and said she doubted if rebel leader Laurent Kabila would be a change for the better. Kabila, who says his rebels are within 85 km (50 miles) of the capital, Kinshasa, has demanded that President Mobutu Sese Seko, who has dominated Zaire since seizing power in 1965, stand down and transfer power to the rebels immediately. "I often get the impression that the battle for Kinshasa will determine the future of Zaire," Bonino said. "I know that most observers think that the change will be for the better. Let me express my doubts." Bonino was speaking ahead of the presentation of a report by aid agencies to the United Nations Security Council criticising Kabila's forces for systematically blocking access to the refugees and hindering their repatriation to Rwanda. "There are growing concerns... this obstruction is because of a reluctance to allow agencies to witness human rights viola

tions," Bonino said. She said evidence had grown since October that the Rwandan government and Kabila's Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire were trying to undermine theefficiency and credibility of the aid agencies. "It is our opinion that the violation of human rights and international humanitarian law are perpetrated within the territory controlled by the rebels," Bonino said. In an apparent reference to the United States and other Western countries, the report urges governments with influence to ensure respect for human rights and to bring the Kabila rebels and neighbouring states under control. The report, drafted by the U.N. Department of Humanitarian Affairs and aid groups active in the region, also calls for human rights monitors to be sent immediately to the region. Bonino complained that the rebels were placing lots of obstacles in the way of a U.N. inquiry team. She said either Kabila had no control over his troops or, as many reports from the field seem to suggest, the

rebels were directly involved in hunting down Hutu refugees and those who help them. "Both rebel leaders and neighbouring governments seem to have done little to address the issue. We are afraid that in some cases they encouraged atrocities," she added. Bonino said there had been almost incomprehensible suffering and carnage in the months up to Sunday's meeting between President Mobutu and rebel leader Kabila aboard a South African navy ship. "It seems to us that all the region has been turned into a complete slaughter house," she said.