PRESS BRIEFING BY OFFICE OF UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY OFFICE OF UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES

At a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon, Nicolas Bwakira, Director, New York Liaison Office, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told correspondents that the recent murder of an agency staff member and the abduction of another had occurred amid growing tensions in the country of Guinea.

"This could be the beginning of a major regional crisis", Mr. Bwakira said. During the Millennium Summit, the Prime Minister of Guinea met with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata. The Prime Minister had conveyed his Government's extreme concern over attacks coming from neighbouring countries, "essentially from Liberia". From 1 to 8 September, about 80 civilians in Guinea had been killed. The resulting tension included growing xenophobic sentiment against refugees and other foreigners. Mrs. Ogata, in an effort to calm the tension, had sent a letter to the Presidents of both Guinea and Mali.

Mr. Bwakira said he was personally shocked by the 17 September murder of his colleague Mensah Kpognon in Macenta, in the south-east of Guinea. In response to a correspondent's request for further details of the killing, he said that the attack started around 4:30 a.m. Mr. Kpognon was in radio contact with the UNHCR's Conakry office from 6 to 8 a.m. At 8 a.m. they lost contact with him. Local staff had been sent to his house and he was found dead from gunshot wounds. It appeared that the attackers had first set fire to the house of the local prefect. They then burned Mr. Kpognon’s house and shot him. His body had to be transported to Conakry by road, as flying was now too dangerous. It was expected to arrive there today.

In the matter of the abduction of Sapeu Laurence Djeya, Mr. Bwakira said that the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner were extremely concerned. They were both calling on West African leaders to find her. She had been on a visit to Guinea from Côte d'Ivoire and there were witnesses to her abduction.

Worldwide, Mr. Bwakira said, one UNHCR staff member had been killed every month since January 1999. "That is to say, for the last 19 months, on average, we have lost one human life, without counting other humanitarian workers who have been murdered in different conflicts around the world."

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