SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR UNEQUIVOCAL WITHDRAWAL OF 'BASELESS' ALLEGATIONS MADE AGAINST UNHCR IN ZAIRE
Press Release
SG/SM/6076
SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR UNEQUIVOCAL WITHDRAWAL OF 'BASELESS' ALLEGATIONS MADE AGAINST UNHCR IN ZAIRE
19961011 The following was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali:Further to his statement of yesterday, the Secretary-General is concerned that the situation in eastern Zaire, especially in South Kivu, is deteriorating still further, with serious fighting having been reported between Zairian authorities and groups of Banyamulenge. He urges all sides to show restraint and to exercise the utmost caution in protecting the civilian population of the affected areas.
He is also concerned to learn that a senior Zairian military official, General Eluki Monga Aundu, is reported in the press to have accused the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of being actively involved in what he is said to have called "aggression against Zaire".
It is to be recalled that similar accusations led the Secretary-General, in the second half of September, to dispatch a special envoy, Ibrahima Fall, to the region. Following this mission, the Government of Zaire admitted that the UNHCR had not been involved in any such activities. Given the grave threat to the security of United Nations staff in the area that such accusations can pose, the Secretary-General calls on the Zairian authorities to withdraw unequivocally these baseless and outdated allegations.
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