SECRETARY-GENERAL, WARNING OF "HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE" IN BURUNDI, STRONGLY URGES COOPERATION WITH NEW "FACILITATOR" NELSON MANDELA

Press Release
SG/SM/7281
SC/6788

SECRETARY-GENERAL, WARNING OF ‘HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE’ IN BURUNDI, STRONGLY URGES COOPERATION WITH NEW ‘FACILITATOR’ NELSON MANDELA

Following is the statement of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the 19 January Security Council meeting on the situation in Burundi:

Once again, I congratulate you on your success in using your presidency to focus world attention on Africa and its problems. And I join you in welcoming President Mandela to this Council Chamber.

His presence with us today is a credit both to him and to you. It shows the dedication and seriousness which he brings to his new task as facilitator of the peace efforts in Burundi. And it shows also how much he values the assistance this Council can give him as he undertakes that formidable task. By coming here, he pays all of us a compliment and puts us under a strong obligation to show ourselves worthy of his faith.

Mr. President, you have done well to make the conflict in Burundi the subject of this open meeting. Of all the many crises and conflicts confronting us in Africa today, perhaps none is more urgent. Certainly in no other country is it so easy to imagine a repetition of what we have all sworn must never be repeated: ethnic killing on a genocidal scale. Again, we see two ethnic groups locked in apparently implacable hostility to one another; a steadily escalating spiral of violence and killing; and a faltering peace process, to which the different parties pay lip service at best.

Some progress has been achieved in the four commissions in Arusha, and through consultations in Dar es Salaam. We all remember with gratitude the efforts made by the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere to push the process forward.

Yet, serious disagreements remain on some key issues -- such as the future composition of the army, the electoral system and the transition period -- while others, such as guarantees for the minority community and the question of reconciliation versus impunity, have yet to be seriously addressed. Also, Mr. President, we are all acutely aware of the unstable and volatile regional context in which this drama is taking place. We shall no doubt discuss that dimension in more detail next week, when the Council considers the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But we cannot ignore it when discussing Burundi, which is not only affected by events in neighbouring countries, but also has the potential to further destabilize the region, especially if violence continues to escalate, prompting more of the population to flee across the borders.

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For all those reasons, Mr. President, I heartily welcome the involvement of President Mandela, and place great hopes in his ability to revive the peace process. We in the United Nations Secretariat are determined to give whatever help we can, and I am sure this Council will wish to do the same.

The appalling humanitarian consequences of the present political stalemate would, in themselves, provide sufficient reason to do so. Hundreds of thousands of Burundians have died over the past 10 years. The number of Burundian refugees has now reached 500,000, and is growing by the day. And more than 800,000 people -- 12 per cent of the country's population -- are internally displaced, many of them as a result of a deliberate government policy of forcibly relocating civilians, in circumstances where it cannot be justified under international humanitarian law.

Since September alone, over 300,000 innocent men, women and children in the region surrounding Bujumbura have been herded into camps, where they are deprived not only of their freedom, but of the most elementary means of subsistence.

The humanitarian impact of this policy has been disastrous. As the World Food Programme reported this week, thousands are now in special feeding programmes, and more are entering every day. But many sites are inaccessible by vehicle, which makes the delivery of assistance very difficult.

We are on the verge of another humanitarian catastrophe, for which the world will undoubtedly hold the Government of Burundi responsible. I fully endorse the statement on this subject issued today by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee.

Two days ago, the Government of Burundi announced its intention to set up a parliamentary commission to investigate the health conditions prevailing in the camps, and to start dismantling those in the province of Bujumbura Rural within two weeks. I welcome this announcement, but urge the authorities to go further and abandon this inhumane and illegal policy altogether. So long as the camps exist, the Government must allow independent humanitarian agencies full access to them and must, at all times, ensure the safety of humanitarian workers, both international and local.

No party in Burundi should assume that the justice of its cause, or the iniquity of its opponents, is as obvious to the rest of the world as they may seem to itself. And certainly no party should assume that outsiders will come to rescue it from the consequences of its own folly and intransigence. One side may think itself entitled to the world's sympathy because it represents an ethnic minority -- the same ethnic group which has been the victim of genocide in Rwanda. The other may equally plausibly see itself as the victim, right now, of oppressive minority rule. But neither can escape its share of responsibility for the escalating violence, or for the lack of progress towards a political solution.

Mr. Mandela, as a fellow African, I can only echo your words to the parties in Arusha on Sunday. Their willingness to sacrifice the lives of their

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fellow citizens on the altar of their political ambitions amounts to a betrayal of millions of other Africans who are struggling to promote the continent's recovery. And it is a grievous obstacle to those of us who are trying to engage the sympathy and support of the rest of the world on their behalf. I strongly urge all parties to cooperate with you in seeking a political solution. If they do, I remain hopeful that this time the international community will assist them.

This help cannot be confined to the diplomatic sphere. It must also have an economic dimension. While humanitarian aid has continued to flow to Burundi -- and the United Nations Development Programme, in particular, has mobilised $6 million in a trust fund to address the needs of local communities affected by the crisis -- other forms of international support have been interrupted since mid-1996.

But once donors are convinced that there is a serious effort by the Burundian parties to find a political compromise, they too should be prepared to make an effort. Burundians will need generous help to reverse the effects of seven years of conflict, and to begin at last to address their country's most basic development needs. With that help, they could lay the foundations of a tolerant, democratic political order, in which all ethnic and social groups can find their place. And that, in turn, would be a major contribution to peace and security throughout the region.

Mr. President, to place such hopes in the generosity or enlightened self- interest of donors may seem naïve in the light of past experience. But your success in focusing attention on this Council's work in Africa emboldens me to expect that, where Africans really do show a willingness to tackle their own problems, more fortunate countries, led by your own, will indeed be willing to help. Meanwhile, I know the Council is impatient to hear from Mr. Mandela. Let me not delay you any longer.

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