PRESS CONFERENCE ON REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE ON REPUBLIC OF CONGO

An alarming aspect of the crises in the Republic of the Congo had been the enrolment of approximately 15,000 youths in military action and a lack of funds to reintegrate them into civilian life, the Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator for the Republic of the Congo told correspondents this afternoon at a Headquarters press conference.

Georg Charpentier described the current humanitarian situation in the Republic of the Congo as a direct consequence of the crisis that took place in December 1998, when the southern parts of Brazzaville -- the capital -- and all the major cities along the way from Brazzaville to Pointe Noire were heavily damaged, looted and emptied completely of population. That had caused the displacement of some 350,000 people, who were now mostly in the southern parts of the country, outside the reach of humanitarian agencies.

He drew attention to a recent positive development, namely the announcement on 1 May by President Denis Sassou Nguesso to encourage the return of the internally displaced persons to the southern suburbs of Brazzaville. That had prompted a movement of the internally displaced from the poor region -- or the southern region surrounding Brazzaville -- towards the city, either directly or through Kinshasha in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The security situation in the mainly urban areas was relatively under the control of government forces, he said. There were still pockets of insecurity in the outskirts of the cities, mainly Brazzaville -- in Dolisie and Nkayi on the railroad. That insecurity situation was amplified by the fact that it was being carried out by militia groups, who did not necessarily associate themselves with a particular opposition faction. The understanding generally was that there were three factions in contention, but in the field the insecurity was caused by a proliferation of militia groups that did not necessarily report to any of those factions.

Currently, the humanitarian community, along with the authorities in Brazzaville, was shouldering the responsibility of the return and resettlement of the internally displaced people, mainly in the southern suburbs of Brazzaville. Return packages were included in the programme to ensure that those people -- when they rejoined their houses and perhaps reunited with families they left behind in Brazzaville -- could immediately begin a normal life.

He said another programme was being initiated, in parallel with a government programme to buy up arms from militia, to immediately enrol youngsters in rehabilitation and reconstruction activities. The youths would help their compatriots return under the best conditions and, at the same time, find gainful employment -- even if temporary -- as a result of leaving the arms behind.

Charpentier Press Conference - 2 - 14 May 1999

Those two initiatives were being launched at a time when the means at the disposal of both the humanitarian community and the Government were clearly not sufficient to sustain the coming three- to six-month period. He was, therefore, preparing an appeal document to motivate donations for those initiatives. The appeal for dollars would be very focused and aimed at sustaining the momentum until resettlement was complete.

Continuing, he said the appeal would build on past lessons. Whereas past appeals for the Congo had been fairly ambitious and resulted in mobilizing only an insignificant amount of what had been sought, the hope was that this time, with a focused and short-term appeal, along with the fact that indeed the Congo crisis was a very severe one, the donors would be able to fully meet the target.

A correspondent referred to Mr. Charpentier's description of insecurity -- banditry and militia groups outside the major cities -- and asked about evidence of the involvement of any non-Congolese nationals, specifically members of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

Mr. Charpentier said it appeared that UNITA wished to maintain a certain positioning in the southern parts of the Congo. There had even been references to training camps maintained by UNITA in the southern part of the country. Until now, however, there had been no major evidence that it had become involved in the conflict.

What guarantee did the United Nations have from the factions or militias on the ground that the return of the refugees would continue according to what had been observed in the past 10 days, and on whose cooperation did it depend? a correspondent asked.

The Humanitarian Coordinator said it was mainly the President's intervention that had prompted the return. He had not entertained direct contacts with the militia groups in the field, mainly because it would not be possible to reach them. Moreover, they were too numerous and it was not clear which ones to negotiate with or who had leverage and where, outside of the urban areas. So, for the time being, he was positively surprised that a number of internally displaced persons were coming back directly from the poor region to Brazzaville. That could be an indication that the operation of the militia in the area immediately surrounding Brazzaville had "sort of halted".

To a question about the number of displaced persons, youths and the amount of the appeal, Mr. Charpentier reiterated that there were an estimated 350,000 displaced persons, and the number of youths employed in militia groups was estimated at 15,000. Those were indeed youths and not children, ages 16 to 22. The problem of children engaged in military operations existed in the Republic, but not to the extent that it did in other neighbouring countries. As for the appeal, it would be for a "financial envelope" of less than $10 million, based, for the moment, on lessons learned from the previous two appeals.

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