PRESS BRIEFING BY HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR FOR GREAT LAKES REGION
Press Briefing
PRESS BRIEFING BY HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR FOR GREAT LAKES REGION
19970124
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
The Humanitarian Coordinator for the Great Lakes region of Africa, Martin Griffiths, in a press briefing held yesterday afternoon, 23 January, told correspondents that his purpose in talking to them was to refute allegations that United Nations agencies in eastern Zaire and assistance to refugees in camps in Tingitingi and Shabunda -- areas still under the Zairian Government's control -- had not been working well.
First, he said, as soon as the roughly 400,000 refugees emerged from the forest, United Nations agencies such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had hit the ground, delivering assistance to all refugees. The UNHCR, for example, had about 20 staff in the area. "The first point I will like to make is to rebut the suggestion that the United Nations agencies are not doing their task", he stressed. "However, the situation that we -- the United Nations, the humanitarian agencies, the non-governmental organizations -- are facing there is extremely dire."
The Coordinator said there were about 400,000 refugees in a situation where the Zairian Government had declared its intention to recover its territory from rebels and where access to the refugees was becoming more difficult. The agencies had been told by the Government not to operate outside Kisangani, the main regional city where operations were based. "Even in the best of times, it's been extremely difficult and dangerous to provide assistance", he emphasized. "We've been having to fly in food and medical supplies to these people in very insecure conditions and at great cost." For instance, the WFP claimed that the cost of such deliveries was about 10 times the normal amounts because of the cost of air freight and the difficulties of finding the aircraft that would go to the very small airstrips in the area.
Continuing, Mr. Griffiths said he had insisted in discussions last Monday with his colleagues in Kinshasa that agencies should continue operating in the remote camps despite the Zairian Government's view that they should not work outside Kisangani. As of this morning, access to the camps had been denied.
Therefore, he stressed, in such circumstances, the plight of the refugees and of Zairians involved in the conflict would worsen. He had asked the authorities in Kinshasa for access and security and been assured by the Minister of Defence and the Chief of Army Staff that security would be assured. He would return to Kisangani to see whether that meant the agencies would only be told when they could or could not go to the refugee camps. Under those circumstances, it was right to give warnings about the
difficulties of assisting the refugees, who were facing worsening degrees of malnutrition. The difficulties would become more acute as the war in eastern Zaire was pursued. In that context, he welcomed the probability of a quick visit to the area by Mohammed Sahnoun, the nominee as Special Representative of the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to the Great Lakes region. Similarly, efforts to mediate the conflict should be pursued with great vigour. Without such efforts, the voluntary repatriation of the refugees by land would be impossible and access to the refugees would worsen. "So, we are facing a very difficult situation, and in these circumstances, the allegations that the United Nations operational agencies are not doing their job, I think, are not helpful nor do I think they are true", he reiterated. Asked whether Rwandan and Burundian forces were moving into eastern Zaire to defend the rebels, he said he did not have any such indications. From the humanitarian perspective, there were concerns that the Zairian Government's legitimate efforts to recapture its territory might lead to further refugee outflows into Rwanda and Burundi. On the other hand, if the rebels took larger tracts of Zairian territory, that could risk further instability in Zaire itself -- "a nightmare scenario", he said. In response to a question on the top three things he would like to have provided to the agencies, the Humanitarian Coordinator said the first thing he would look for was a sustained effort by the international community, behind African initiatives, to encourage a mediated solution to the problems in eastern Zaire. His second wish was to see the Zairian Government's effort to recapture its territory pursued with the least amount of bloodshed. "My third wish is, certainly, money", he said. A lot more money was required to fly food to the remote camps. For instance, the WFP would run out of funds for its logistics costs in mid-February. A consolidated appeal for funds would be launched next month. Therefore, he continued, it was very important for the donor community to recognize that, in addition to the situation in Rwanda, there were needs in eastern Zaire and Burundi. "I think it is going to be important that money keeps coming because, whether we like it or not, there are refugees still in eastern Zaire", he said, adding, "the return of refugees in November through Goma to Rwanda was a false dawn". While there had been a significant repatriation, the problem of refugees had not been solved completely. Therefore, the international community could not turn away from the continuing humanitarian problem in a situation of decreasing security. Asked whether the Interahamwe militia who had taken part in the 1994 Rwandan genocide were still in the camps, he said that, while some of them were there, the great majority of the camps' inhabitants were legitimate refugees in need of charity.
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