PRESS BRIEFING BY DEPUTY EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY DEPUTY EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR

At a Headquarters press briefing today, the Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, spoke to correspondents about his visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. He had visited the area on 11 to 17 September at the request of the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sergio Vieira de Mello. The purpose of the trip was to examine the humanitarian needs in the area and to consult with government ministers and rebel leaders about allegations of human rights violations and abuses.

Mr. Griffiths said that he had come to the conclusion that the humanitarian requirements in Kinshasa were beginning to be resolved. Normal life in the city was beginning to resume, trade was recommencing and the World Food Programme (WFP) was currently distributing food to about 43,000 of the most vulnerable people in that city. The humanitarian response during the period of conflict around Kinshasa and in the South-West was particularly effective in the sectors of health and water supply, which had been affected the most. There was a lot of donor involvement and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), including its Congolese branch, and the United Nations agencies -- in particular the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) -- were also involved.

Regarding the humanitarian situation in the South-West -- an area of heavy fighting -- he said that after his visit to Kinshasa a governmental agency mission had visited that area and some restocking of medical supplies was taking place, along with some minor rehabilitation. He was confident that the situation there would be "sorted out".

Not surprisingly, the main humanitarian needs were concentrated in the East, he continued. Kisangani, a town of 500,000 people, was cut off from its main trade routes and commercial access. The situation there was highly insecure. Government troops were allegedly surrounding the town, which made access for the United Nations impossible at the present time and prevented the humanitarian agencies from operating there. That was the place of the greatest humanitarian concern at the moment. There were reports that not only were there 500,000 people at risk in Kisangani, but there were also 10,000 to 15,000 displaced people.

He had spoken both to the rebel leaders in Goma and to the Government officials about the humanitarian assistance in the East, he said. The United Nations position on the issue was that such assistance would be provided, if access and sufficient security was ensured. Aid would be provided on the basis of humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and without implied recognition of the rebel movement. Rebel leaders understood that position. Some of them had already discussed it with Mr. Griffiths in

November 1996, when he had also discussed it with future President Laurent Kabila.

At the moment, it was unsafe to provide humanitarian assistance in the East, he said. Goma -- perhaps the most secure place in the East -- had been attacked several days before his visit. The United Nations would continue its contacts with rebel representatives to see if and when it could resume its operations.

Speaking about human rights issues, which in the current situation seemed more important than humanitarian ones, he said that he had raised the issues of safety and security of Banyarwanda Congolese citizens with Government officials in Kinshasa. In particular, he had spoken to them about the case of Kokolo camp population, where the possible departure of about 170 people to a third country was being discussed.

He said that he had also discussed at great length the importance of the Government providing security to all its citizens, which would include making statements discouraging ethnic violence and ensuring protection of those who felt threatened. The Government Ministers, including the Minister for Human Rights, the Minister of Information and the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, had told him that they accepted their obligations in that regard and that they indeed had problems with providing security for minorities. The Government might seek transfer of 3,000 to 4,000 people from Lubumbashi in the South-East of the country to Zambia, because it could not assure their security.

The question of alleged killings was also raised during the meetings with Government Ministers, he continued, including those in the Kokolo camp itself, before the Red Cross had been granted access there. He was told that those allegations were not true. In Kigali, which he visited on his way to Goma, the allegations of abductions of an unknown number of people from South Kivu to Rwanda were raised in meetings with Government representatives. The Government in Kigali flatly denied those allegations. He later raised the same questions in Goma.

The rebel leaders told the United Nations representatives that they should seek the evidence on their own, he said. However, because of the safety concerns it was plainly impossible at the moment. In the future they might talk to the people who had fled from the affected areas to the United Republic of Tanzania. If evidence was found, the case would be looked into at a later date.

The appalling massacre in Kasika in South Kivu several weeks ago, where more than 200 Congolese citizens had been killed, was also discussed during the meetings in Goma, he said. He was told that the rebel movement had set up a commission to find out who the perpetrators were and to inquire into that

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case, which, as its leaders agreed, was absolutely unacceptable. However, the rebels admitted that Kasika was under their control at the time of the killings.

The report of the commission would be published and those responsible for the killings would be punished, he continued. It was important to ensure due process and impartiality in the work of the commission. The international community, the United Nations and the human rights organizations should take a close look at that process when the report was issued.

Regarding the confiscation of the assets of humanitarian agencies, non- governmental organizations, the Red Cross and the United Nations agencies in South Kivu, which included vehicles and communications equipment, he said that he had explained to the rebel leaders that the resumption of humanitarian assistance would be very difficult, if the assets were not returned. That was both a matter of principle and of practicality, because donor governments were getting tired of repurchasing the looted equipment in the Great Lakes region. The rebels had set up another commission to look into that question. Some assets had been returned and Mr. Griffiths had been assured that the rebels were very conscious of the need to return those assets.

Summing up the humanitarian situation in the East, Mr. Griffiths said that it was a source of grave concern. The war there was continuing to intensify and there was no immediate possibility of resuming humanitarian assistance there, primarily for security reasons. Such a possibility would be re-evaluated when the security situation improved. The United Nations would continue to press the above-mentioned points upon the parties concerned. It was an obligation of all to protect citizens regardless of their ethnicity.

Asked about the reason for the abductions, Mr. Griffiths said that he found it difficult to get a real sense of the situation. The allegations were completely unconfirmed and even denied by different people he had spoken to. Some said that intellectuals and merchants had been the target of abductions in South Kivu and that they had been taken to Rwanda and Burundi. Others said that people who did not belong to the Banyarwanda ethnicity were the ones targeted and that it was a question of ethnic displacement. He did know the answer.

Lately, he added, there had been reports of 10,000 to 12,000 Banyamulengi in South Kivu moving away from the war front and possibly crossing the border into Rwanda and Burundi, or going north.

Were many women and children involved in the population movement? a correspondent asked. He said that humanitarian needs in the East could be only imagined. First of all, it was necessary to assess the situation, because according to some estimates almost half the population in North and South Kivu was displaced. He had no idea whether it was true or not. Until

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better access to the area became available, it was only speculation. However, such speculation was based on experience.

He added that the Representative of the Secretary-General and Regional Humanitarian Adviser for the Great Lakes Region, Berhanu Dinka, would begin his visit to the region next Tuesday.

A correspondent asked how many nations were involved in the conflict in the Congo. Mr. Griffiths said that his mission was purely humanitarian and his objective was to speak to the Government and the rebel leaders about their responsibilities for providing humanitarian assistance, and by extension, human rights. It was not part of his mission either to investigate which governments were providing armed forces or to talk with them.

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