PRESS BRIEFING BY SPECIAL ENVOY FOR GREAT LAKES REGION

13 December 1996

Press Briefing

19961213 FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY

At a Headquarters press briefing yesterday afternoon, Raymond Chrétien, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes region, said there was little enthusiasm for an international conference to resolve the problems of the region. The prior evening, he had conferred with the Secretary-General on his five-week mission to the region, and yesterday morning presented his report to him, Mr. Chrétien said. He had also had a good exchange of views with members of the Security Council on the current situation and what was likely to happen in the future in the Great Lakes region.

Responding to questions, Mr. Chrétien said he had made three recommendations to the Secretary-General: the first, to appoint a special representative based in a country or city in the region that would be acceptable to all the leaders. He had suggested Kenya because of its better communications and transport facilities. The special representative should be equipped to be able to communicate with Kinshasa, Kigali and Bujumbura. That meant the best possible telephone system and a small aircraft for the special representative to travel within the region. He had told the Secretary-General that there was no point appointing "a big name" if that person lacked the means to do the job. The absence of such facilities could discredit the tremendously useful role that special envoys and special representatives could play if properly equipped.

Mr. Chrétien said the second option he had proposed -- if the Secretary- General was not yet ready to decide where his special representative would be based -- was the appointment of a roving representative equipped to travel freely in the region, with Nairobi as a possible base. It would "be a killing job". Having travelled 55,000 kilometres in five weeks with his team, he knew that the "poor person, who would have to live in the region for six months or a year, would be facing a tremendously unpleasant task".

The third option Mr. Chrétien had presented would allow the Secretary- General to buy some time by appointing a senior official to visit the area when required, pending the appointment of a special representative. That option might be good for a month or two,but not much longer. It was his least preferred option, but would allow the Secretary-General to think a little bit more carefully about the choice of that "rare bird".

"It's not going to be an easy task", Mr Chrétien said. "My whole mission was very painful, and I know that whoever undertakes this task would also feel the pain, almost on a constant basis."

He went on to describe his mandate, which included efforts to promote a cease-fire and to create the condition for the voluntary repatriation of refugees to Rwanda and Burundi, their countries of origin. Some 600,000 refugees had returned from eastern Zaire to Rwanda, but there were still a few hundred thousand there, some of whom did not wish to return. It had been reported that there were some 700,000 refugees in the United Republic of Tanzania, including 520,000 from Rwanda, 100,000 from Burundi, and approximately 100,000 from Zaire. All of those refugees had reportedly begun to move, but their destination was unknown. It was hoped that 500,000 would want to return home.

Mr. Chrétien said the second part of his mandate had been to see whether an international conference could be organized to deal with the root causes of the problems in the region. He had discussed the issue with 10 regional leaders, and there was no great enthusiasm for an international conference at present. The leaders felt the circumstances were not yet ripe for such a conference to take place in the weeks to come. They all had indicated the need for consultations first at the national and regional levels, followed, perhaps at a later stage, by some kind of a preliminary conference.

Mr. Chrétien said he had made some recommendations on the nature of a United Nations presence in the Great Lakes region and whether or not there should be a special representative for a year or two to act as a facilitator. It would be up to the Secretary-General to decide what to do with the options he had presented in his report. Mr. Chrétien said his strong view was that the Secretary-General should act quickly in view of the fast-changing situation on the ground.

Asked whether he saw the need for a multinational force or whether its role was essentially finished with the return of the refugees, Mr. Chrétien said that what he had seen in the past few days in the region had been encouraging. The force had been created by a resolution of the Security Council before the refugees began to walk back. At the time, it had been clear that humanitarian assistance agencies and the non-governmental organizations could have access to the refugees in eastern Zaire. He did not think that much military support would be needed in the weeks to come. The rebel forces had already indicated that they would not hinder the presence of the refugees. Lieutenant-General Maurice Baril, the Force Commander, was in New York for crucial talks today on the future of the force.

Responding to questions, Mr. Chrétien said Council resolution S/1080 (1996), authorizing the deployment of a multinational force in the region, had played a pivotal role in the return of refugees. The realization that a multinational force might be deployed on the ground accelerated tremendously the return of the refugees. Five hours before the resolution was adopted, the refugees began to move. That was an indication that the international community could make a difference if it had the will to do so.

Chrtien's Briefing - 3 - 13 December 1996

Asked whether the multinational force would be caught up in a civil war if dispatched now, Mr. Chrétien said the commanders were very conscious of that consideration. They were also conscious of the fact that the resolution had underscored the humanitarian nature of the mission. It had no political mandate and would do everything necessary to avoid being drawn into the difficult political issues. There were some who thought the force should not have been given just a humanitarian mandate, but a broader one. If that had been the case, his own country, Canada -- which was playing a lead role -- would not have been part of it. The mission was meant to be a humanitarian one.

Responding to another correspondent, Mr. Chrétien said the refugee issue was not now as important as it had been. If things were to go wrong in Zaire, however, the problem would be greater.

What could be done with the difficult issue of national reconciliation? Mr. Chrétien asked. How could Hutus and Tutsis be reconciled after generations of fighting? They were afraid of one another, and their fears were palpable. The mentality of genocide was still there, and many in the streets spoke of being afraid. Others feared the returnees. There was a tremendous cycle of violence which had to be broken. It was a huge issue which could take years to resolve. Eventually, there would have to be some kind of democracy.

Mr. Chrétien, Canada's Ambassador to the United States, had also been his country's Ambassador to Zaire. He was appointed Special Envoy of the Secretary-General early in November.

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