SEMINAR ON LESSONS LEARNED FROM UNAMIR TO BE HELD IN NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES, 12-14 JUNE

11 June 1996

Press Release
PKO/48

SEMINAR ON LESSONS LEARNED FROM UNAMIR TO BE HELD IN NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES, 12-14 JUNE

19960611 NEW YORK, 11 June (DPKO) -- A comprehensive seminar on lessons learned from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) will be held at the Merrill Lynch Conference Center in Plainsboro, New Jersey, United States, from 12 to 14 June. The three-day seminar will bring together troop- contributing countries, external experts and United Nations officials who were involved in the operation. The seminar is part of an ongoing exercise to draw lessons from the experiences of the United Nations in peace-keeping, in order to improve the functioning of current operations and better prepare for future ones. The comprehensive seminar on Rwanda is the second of its kind to be held since the Lessons Learned Unit of the Department of Peace-keeping Operations (DPKO) was established last year. The first seminar, held last September, dealt with the United Nations Operation in Somalia. Under-Secretary-General for Peace-keeping Operations Kofi Annan will make an opening address at the seminar. Former UNAMIR officials -- such as Ambassador Shahryar Khan, until recently the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Rwanda, and Major-General Romeo Dallaire, former Force Commander of UNAMIR -- will lead discussions on such issues as peace-keeping to peace-building in Rwanda, and UNAMIR during the 1994 crisis, respectively. Other speakers will include Zimbabwe's Permanent Representative, Machivenyika Mapuranga, who as Assistant Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity participated in the negotiation of the Arusha Peace Agreement; the Permanent Representative of New Zealand, Colin Keating, who will discuss the Security Council's role, particularly during the civil war in Rwanda; and Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Lansana Kouyate, who will speak on regional security and national reconciliation. Another former Force Commander of UNAMIR, General Guy Tousignant of Canada, and the former Police Commissioner of UNAMIR, Colonel Cheick Oumar Diarra of Mali, are also among the featured speakers. External experts will also participate in the seminar, as will representatives of 18 troop-contributing countries. Allison des Forges of Human Rights Watch will make a statement on the human rights situation in Rwanda, and the Director of Investigations of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Alphonse Breau, will speak on the Tribunal's work and its impact on national reconciliation. Based on the discussions at the seminar, participants will assist in formulating recommendations for implementation in ongoing United Nations peace-keeping operations, as well as for improving international response to other complex crises and situations similar to that in Rwanda, particularly the situation in Burundi.

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