PRESS CONFERENCE BY DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo would not request the return of the team investigating alleged massacres there because it had never asked the United Nations to withdraw it, Andre Mwamba Kapanga, that country's permanent representative to the United Nations, said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

Deploring the decision to withdraw the team, announced to correspondents earlier by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, he said that it was at the initiative of the United Nations that the team had been put in place to investigate alleged violations of human rights and humanitarian law in his country from 1 March 1993. "Up until now our country has been trying hard to provide good conditions for the work of the commission to take place according to its mandate."

His Government "cannot accept a team that will come from Geneva", he said, adding that his Government had allowed the [withdrawn] team from New York to carry out its investigations for about a year and it was now time to focus on rebuilding the country and not to be involved in "these kinds of investigations".

Mr. Kapanga said that in the search to improve relations with the United Nations, his country had invited the Secretary-General to participate, with 10 heads of State, in a regional conference on peace, stability and economic development in the countries of the Greater Great Lakes region. The Democratic Republic of the Congo took note of the decision by the United Nations and remained open to collaborating with it, "consistent with its search for peace and justice, in the interest of the Congolese people in particular, and the international community in general".

A correspondent asked why the United Nations was dissatisfied with the degree of cooperation given if the Democratic Republic was so keen on cooperating with it. Mr. Kapanga said that his Government's greatest problems with the world body had taken place in November and December last year and in January this year. The problem occurring in November had been solved when the United States Ambassador reached an agreement with the authorities in Kinshasa.

He went on to say that a serious problem had occurred in December. But the United Nations had failed to mention that the problem had been instigated by members of the commission. They had written to the Government requesting permission to go on vacation and return after the holidays, but had been told that they had to seek permission from the United Nations. They had done so and the request had been denied.

When massacres occurred at Mudende in Rwanda, he continued, spontaneous demonstrations were staged by the people of Mbandaka in the Democratic Republic. The commission members had taken that opportunity to state that they did not feel secure in Mbandaka and wanted to leave. They had left for Kinshasa and told the authorities there that they would return after the holidays.

He said that the second incident had occurred recently in Wendji. Commission members had found what they presumed to be a mass grave and started digging. It had become apparent to the local people that they were digging up the grave of a local chief and his son. The people had reacted spontaneously and, armed with machetes and spears, had asked the team to leave.

"The United Nations was aware of the fact that that was a spontaneous reaction of the people, and it was not a reaction that was basically incited by the local authorities. They were aware of that, and they put the blame on the Government", he said.

Another fact that correspondents were not aware of, he went on, was that commission members had "serious problems among themselves". Some of them believed that they must take into account local cultural sensitivities in carrying out their investigations, while others did not feel that was necessary.

"So there were confrontations among team members. That is why the Secretary-General sent somebody from New York and two people from Geneva to Kinshasa to solve the problems among the team members. You are not aware of it, I am letting you know", he told correspondents. Among the team members were people who were "very capricious" and therefore everything that happened had been blamed on the Government.

Asked why that version of events had not been accepted by the Secretary- General and Security Council members, Mr. Kapanga said they were free to accept what they wanted and to reject what they did not want.

He said that commission members had talked recently about being harassed throughout the country and about their desire for freedom of movement. "Then when we had the crisis with Mr. Christopher Harland [a human rights officer], you all heard that they had documents that contained names of people who gave them statements as to what [had] happened in the Congo, and it was a long list."

If the team was not free to move around, he continued, where did they find the names? We did not have those names. "So it means that somehow these people were free to move and go almost anywhere they wanted." He said that there had been practically no harassment in the Goma region. In the Wendji case, it must be remembered that the area was a remote one in the equatorial forest where people were very keen on respecting their local cultures.

Democratic Congo Press Conference - 3 - 17 April 1998

He went on to say that it would not be fair to say that "things were just rosy" on the Government side. Certain individuals had probably been over-zealous, but for the most part the Government had been trying "extremely hard" to make it possible for the United Nations team to do its work.

Citing statements by the Secretary-General's Spokesman that documents had been seized from an investigating team member and photocopied, a correspondent asked whether or not that was the case. Mr. Kapanga responded, "What I can tell you for sure is that I am certain that nobody, absolutely nobody, made photocopies of the documents that were looked at by the security people. I know that for a fact."

Asked by another correspondent why the documents had been seized in the first place, he said the commission member from whom they were taken had been involved in activities that were incompatible with his status. He could not reveal those activities for reasons of State security.

Another correspondent asked what impact the commission's withdrawal would have on the Democratic Republic's ability to attract international support, investment and aid. Mr. Kapanga replied that the country had not received any financial assistance since 1990 and had been able to survive through the years. "When we came to power in 1997, we wanted that assistance to resume, and we have invited the international community to give us a hand in reconstructing our country."

He said that those countries that wanted to help, and those companies that wanted to invest were more than welcome. But at the same time "we cannot wait forever, we have to essentially rely on our own resources."

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