PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL'S SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL'S SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT

The Government of the Sudan had pledged its assistance in helping to locate and seek the release of missing children believed to be held somewhere in the border area between its own territory and that of neighbouring Uganda, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, said today during a Headquarters press briefing to announce the outcome of his recent visit to that country.

There were two sets of issues on the agenda with the Sudanese authorities during the very important mission to the Sudan from which he had just returned, Mr. Otunnu said. One concerned the impact on Sudanese children of the protracted armed conflict in the Sudan, the intra-Sudanese aspect of the impact of war on children. The other concerned the spill-over into the Sudan of armed conflict from a neighbouring country, the issue of children abducted from northern Uganda by Ugandan insurgents and held somewhere in the border zone between Uganda and the Sudan, not known exactly where.

The Sudanese Government had promised to give full cooperation in locating and seeking the release of the children abducted from north Uganda, Mr. Otunnu said, and during his visit, the Government had facilitated the release of three boys abducted from northern Uganda. They had been handed over to the United Nations and were now back in Uganda. The Government of the Sudan had pledged to work further and to expand that cooperation with regard to children who were still thought to be in the area.

He had also raised the issue of access to the Nuba Mountains with the Government of the Sudan, Mr. Otunnu said. Specifically, the Secretary-General had made a démarche to the Sudanese Government to allow a United Nations humanitarian assessment mission to go into the rebel-held areas of the Nuba Mountains, and in recent weeks there had been speculative concern about a change in the Government's position on that. He had sought assurance that the commitment remained firm. At the end of the visit, it was communicated in clear terms that the Government remained committed to the pledge made to the Secretary-General, but also wanted, in view of the attack on the United Nations convoy that occurred on 9 June, for the investigation team to complete its work before proceeding with arrangements for the assessment mission to the Nuba Mountains.

He had also raised the issue of the recruitment and participation of children in conflict in the Sudan, Mr. Otunnu said. The Government had reiterated its policy and cited a law of the land that it would not recruit children below the age of 18. It had agreed that if any evidence from members of the international community indicated there was any violation of that, the Government would fully cooperate in rectifying the situation.

During the mission, he had visited the Juba and had seen the displaced populations there, Mr. Otunnu said. But he had also received reports of a serious situation in the city of Wau, in Bhar el-Ghazal region of the Sudan. There, a huge influx of displaced persons were crossing from the insurgent Sudan Popular Liberation Movement (SPLM)-held area into the city, held by the Government, and close to 80,000 people had congregated in the city. With the people coming at the rate of 1,000 a day, the situation obviously represented a major emergency in terms of providing food, supplies and medicine for them. But it also represented a logistical challenge in delivering the supplies. He appealed to the international community to do everything to increase the capacity of both international relief agencies and the Government to respond to the situation.

Finally, he said that on the way back he had attended a very high-level symposium sponsored by the Government of the United Kingdom. He had requested that Government, during its presidency of the European Union ending this month, to convoke a major high-level meeting of European Union ministers, government officials and non-governmental organizations that would focus on the issue of the plight of children affected by conflict. On Monday and Tuesday, he and the British Minister for International Development, Clair Short, had co-chaired the symposium leading to concrete outcomes.

The Governments meeting at the London symposium had pledged to incorporate the issue of the plight of children affected by armed conflict into their foreign policy concerns in a major and visible way, he said. They had also pledged their diplomatic and political influence to seek to bridge the major gap between the international commitments -- represented in the instruments agreed upon internationally -- and what was occurring on the ground, to ensure a greater application of international norms with regard to the protection, rights and welfare of children. And finally, those Governments had pledged to support the efforts of the Special Representative where specific initiatives had been undertaken, such as the commitments obtained in Sri Lanka, Sierre Leone and the Sudan. Thus, the outcome of the symposium represented a major thrust forward for the agenda on children in situations of conflict.

A journalist asked about the three children returned to Uganda during the Special Representative's mission. How many children had been kidnapped and by whom, specifically?

Mr. Otunnu said that in terms of numbers it was difficult to say with any precision. The United Nations team in the Sudan estimated that close to 500 children were still at large. The target had been set for all to work together in the course of the next several months to try to locate those children. It was equally difficult to know exactly where those children were held, whether on Sudanese or Ugandan territory, or whether they were being moved back and forth. In terms of who was holding the children, there were clearer views. It was known that certain incidents involved the insurgent

Otunnu Briefing - 3 - 25 June 1998

group called the Lord's Resistance Army, but other insurgent groups in northern Uganda had also been involved in abductions.

The tragedy in the Sudan had been covered thoroughly for about a year and a half now, another journalist said. Was it not true that the Government of the Sudan could find the two major insurgent groups and get rid of them? Furthermore, the Sudan itself was mentioned in every human rights report during the last years as allowing slavery of children. It was difficult to believe the promises made to the Special Representative when the Sudan itself was implicated not just in a civil war, but in its treatment of children who were not Arab children. Mr. Otunnu said this was the second time in several weeks that the Government of the Sudan had been very cooperative in assisting the United Nations to secure the release of children. Furthermore, his mandate was humanitarian, and he had not gotten into the political aspects of the situation, either of the conflict in the Sudan or of the political spill-over that drew in the Sudan, Uganda and other neighbours. His concern was to get the Sudanese Government to cooperate, assist and facilitate efforts to locate the children and obtain the release of those who had not escaped on their own and were at large in that region of the country. Some were known to still be held in custody by the insurgent groups.

He had raised the issue of kidnapping and abductions to other parts of the country with the Government of the Sudan, Mr. Otunnu said. He had also held long discussions with both local and international non-governmental organizations. Reports of the incidents went back many years, predating the present regime in the Sudan, supposedly beginning at a time when the Government was encouraging local militias to mobilize in fighting the insurgent SPLM. The kidnappings and removal of people from the zone native to them had begun then and had spread to other areas of the country.

Reports indicated the practice still continued in some areas, he said, but also that it was possible to raise the matter of specific cases with the Government. In the case of those who had been identified, the Government and courts had cooperated in obtaining their release. There were cases where identities had been interfered with, and there were no facts or figures.

Asked if he had any information about the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report regarding the abduction of the girls from the Charles Lwanga College, Mr. Otunnu said he had seen the reports and had not been able to confirm them independently. He had issued a statement out of London strongly condemning the incident. If it was true, it was part of the abomination being committed against children in situations of conflict, and it was clearly unacceptable. He appealed to those responsible for the abductions to release the children immediately. He had also received reports of two abductions of children in Colombia over the weekend. Again, if it were true, he strongly condemned the incidents and appealed to those who abducted the girls there to release them immediately.

Otunnu Briefing - 4 - 25 June 1998

Asked about the issue of recruitment taken up with the Sudanese Government, Mr. Otunnu repeated that he had raised the age, recruitment and deployment issue with the Sudanese authorities. They had indicated both a policy and a law against recruiting below the age of 18, and had reiterated their commitment to the policy and law. He had not found facts or figures to the contrary, but major conscription had been going on. It was not his responsibility to oppose conscription as such, but to make sure that those who were taken into national service met the minimum age agreed upon.

Finally, Mr. Otunnu was asked to what extent his agreement with the Tamil Tigers (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)) had been implemented with regard to children in the Sri Lanka conflict, and what his relationship was with UNICEF. Was there any agreement to coordinate approaches to various problems?

"I'm a facilitator, a cheerleader on behalf of the United Nations operational agencies and programmes", Mr. Otunnu said. First and foremost, that involved UNICEF, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the World Food Programme (WFP). His activities in given countries were meant to facilitate the work of those agencies on the ground. In some cases, that entailed unblocking difficult political situations, and in others it entailed highlighting issues of concern to the agencies.

In all visits, he said, he worked very closely with the agencies, and the issues that he had raised with governments and insurgent groups were determined together. Follow-up in a given country was taken up by the United Nations ground team, usually led by the resident coordinator, and the key actors were very much UNICEF, UNHCR and the WFP.

With regard to Sri Lanka and the commitment made by the LTTE, he said part of the commitment there was for a monitoring mechanism regarding two issues, first, that of age of recruitment and deployment, and second, that of non- interference in the flow of humanitarian assistance to the areas controlled by the Tamil Tigers. The United Nations ground team, who had access to the zone controlled by the LTTE, were doing the follow-up.

"I'm entirely satisfied with the arrangements in place", he said. "I have no information that anything contrary to the understanding given to me has been happening."

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