PRESS BRIEFING BY UN EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR A.I.

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFFING BY UN EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR A.I.

Following her visit last week to Chechnya, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator a.i., Carolyn McAskie, told correspondents today at a Headquarters press briefing that the precarious security situation there had led her to recommend that it was not secure enough for the United Nations to establish an "overnight" presence there. However, travel in and out of the Republic for the purpose of humanitarian assistance should definitely continue as conditions permitted, she added.

In her opening remarks, Ms. McAskie drew attention to the launch tomorrow in New York of the global inter-agency appeals to assist some 35 million people in 19 countries. The appeals, which would focus on women and war, were for more than $2 billion, but that was "less than the cost of one stealth bomber". The launch last year was in Geneva. This year, the Secretary-General would introduce the appeals in New York. That would be followed by a series of launches in various capitals, aimed at engaging the citizens of some of the key donor countries.

The appeals would be launched at the following capitals by the following United Nations representatives: in Geneva, Sadako Ogata, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; in Rome, Jacques Diouf, head of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); in Washington, Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); in Oslo, Francis Dane, Special Representative of Internally Displaced Persons; in Stockholm, Catherine Bertini of the World Food Programme (WFP); and in Brussels, Sergio Vieira de Mello, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor. Ms. McAskie would launch the appeal in London.

In addition to the United Nations, its partners in the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were associating themselves more and more with those appeals, making them a truly coordinated effort.

Turning to her visit last week to the Russian Federation, she said the trip was at the invitation of the Russian Government. She travelled to Moscow and also to the Northern Caucasus. She visited the United Nations teams in Vladikavkaz which means "the gateway to the Caucasus". That was where most of the goods arrived and where most of the United Nations teams were based. She visited Nazran and Ingushetia, which was near the location of most of the internally displaced persons, as well as Grozny. Following the recent visit by Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. McAskie had been the second senior United Nations official who had gained access to Grozny and the first to enter by road.

She said that the purpose of her visit was to view the situation in the Northern Caucasus: to assess the humanitarian effort there and discuss related issues with the Russian authorities. In the Russian Federation, she met with the Deputy Foreign Minister, the Deputy Minister for Emergencies, and the Deputy Minister on the Affairs of the Federation, National and Migration Policies, who had taken particular responsibility for the internally displaced.

She said she also met with the State Duma, and, in particular, with its First Deputy Chairman, Lyubov Sliska, and the Deputy of the Republic of Chechnya

McAskie Briefing - 2 - 27 November 2000

to the State Duma, Aslambek Aslakhanov. In Chechnya, Ingushetia and North Ossetia, she met with Akhmad Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Administration, and Beslan Gantamirov, the Mayor of Grozny and deputy head of the Administration. She also met with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Ingushetia, as well as with the donor community in Moscow, United Nations agencies and the large number of non-governmental organizations in the region which were assisting the United Nations in delivering assistance to the affected persons.

Some 90,000 internally displaced persons in Ingushetia, neighbouring Chechnya, had returned to Chechnya over the last few months, but 160,000 persons still remained outside, she said. The majority of them were housed with Ingushetian families. Ingushetia had experienced an influx of people equivalent to 50 per cent of its population. It was a tremendous burden, which they had handled extremely well. The international community was assisting with tented camps and the provision of assistance to people who had found refuge in unused buildings. The global community was also assisting the host families.

She said that the internally displaced persons were "extremely demoralized" and very anxious for a resolution of the conflict and for the opportunity to return home. There was some movement "backwards and forwards" across the border into Chechnya, but it was very difficult with 13 checkpoints in the 32 kilometres from the border into Grozny. "So it's not easy", she said. She had travelled in armoured vehicles in the pouring rain and it was very difficult to see. Those vehicles are closed on the sides, and all one could do was to see out the front, somewhat like "a battery chicken". They were closely watched at all times by armed guards, for their own security. Officials of the United Nations Security Coordinator were part of the United Nations team there, "and for good reason", she added.

In 18 months, there had been no security incident and she said she was determined not to have another one. United Nations personnel were being careful, although not overly cautious. As a result of what she saw in South Chechnya, she would not recommend that the United Nations establish any presence inside Chechnya. It was impossible to move around with any kind of freedom, and authorities were extremely nervous whenever United Nations personnel jumped out of their cars. It was very controlled. When her team asked to see some of the bomb sites, an altercation started between the armed guards and the local authorities. At another point, the armed guards surrounded them. They later learned that they had stopped at a site where two military personnel had been killed by snipers in the last 24 hours.

Interestingly enough, she said, the people in Grozny were in "slightly better" spirits than those outside. Perhaps, despite the difficult circumstances, when people felt they had more control over their own situation, it had a tremendous impact on their well-being. "Grozny is a war zone" -- the war may have ended technically, but she had never seen anything like it. It reminded her of the pictures of the Second World War that she saw as a child. Grozny had been "absolutely devastated", and prospects for reconstruction in the short term were very limited. The people themselves were striving to rebuild whatever they could. Teachers and parents had fixed one school well enough to begin classes, but rubble surrounded it. The doctors and the local community had tried to clean up their hospital and obtain medicine, and some medicine and food were flowing into the region. But the suffering had been enormous.

She said that the Russian Government was trying to negotiate a settlement, but it was very difficult to know who was really in control in Chechnya with so many different levels of authority. There was an authority in place, as she had indicated, but it did not control the rebels or terrorists and the situation was extremely difficult. One of the big problems for the humanitarian community was the process of negotiating access. For example, the non-governmental organizations in Nazran, just one-half hour from the border, were given permits by one level of authority, but those were not accepted by another. Thus, there were constant delays, and bribes were often sought at the checkpoints. Her group had made clear to the authorities that they should make it known publicly that bribes should not be sought, as none would be given.

The United Nations had spent some $40 million in the three republics over the past year and was petitioning the donor community for another $45 million for 2001, she continued. The response to the appeal had been high. Overall, the response to appeals worldwide had been running at 55 per cent on average. For Chechnya, it was 80 per cent and it would not be surprising if, by the time the books were closed on the year 2000, the figure would be close to 100 per cent. She had come under pressure from various authorities who said that the international community was, in fact, encouraging internally displaced persons to remain outside Chechnya by providing them with aid in Ingushetia. The argument was that the United Nations should encourage people to return by providing more aid inside Chechnya.

"I totally reject this argument", she said. It was up to the international community to provide aid to people wherever they were. "Aid should follow the people; the people should not be asked to follow aid." Internally displaced persons were perfectly capable of assessing their own circumstances and making their own decisions about where they should be, when they should return, or whether they should stay, she added. When they were ready to make a move, the United Nations would assist them. Meanwhile, the Organization would not be party to any "scheme" that would entice them back before they were ready to go. The humanitarian workers were doing an extraordinary job under difficult circumstances and, thus, deserved full support and praise.

In what she described as a general update, she described discussions with government officials that had covered the general level of cooperation between the United Nations and the Emergency Ministry, with whom there was a memorandum of understanding for assistance on disaster response, which would be extended. The Russian authorities had an extensive range of tools with which to respond to disasters, including the use of their military assets, such as helicopters and troops, if necessary, to provide assistance in earthquake zones. The United Nations would cooperate with them in that regard. Concerning Chernobyl, the focus was on the fifteenth anniversary of the disaster in April 2001. An event would be planned to ensure that the world remembered that 15 years later people still suffered enormously from the humanitarian effects of that nuclear explosion.

One correspondent asked how Ms. McAskie thought the appeal would go and whether donations by United States citizens were tax deductible.

The Emergency Relief Coordinator a.i. said that the tax effect was an issue for the local authorities. She was unsure what happened to an individual's money if he or she decided to donate directly to the United Nations. One of the best agencies at collecting private money was UNICEF, and it did that by collecting pennies, which managed to add up to dollars -- thousands of dollars, at that. The

bulk of relief aid was raised directly from donor governments, which had been "fairly generous".

In the past year, more than 80 per cent of the requested funds for the Northern Caucasus had been collected, she noted. Three fourths of the money requested for Angola had been collected. The actual amounts collected varied from one programme to another. For the Sudan, for example, the response was generally very high. For East Timor and the Balkans, it had also been high. It had tapered off for some of the more difficult crises, like Burundi where donors were becoming fatigued, and for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Recently, however, there were indications that funding for that country would increase.

In terms of the reporter's premise that donors were contributing more to their own organizations, she said that her Office, along with other areas of the United Nations, had conducted a study on the flow of humanitarian assistance. That had shown that, over the last few years, the amount of aid money to United Nations agencies had decreased, and the amount to non-governmental organizations based in donor countries had increased. Most United Nations aid money went straight into food and shelter and basic humanitarian assistance. It was true, however, that "visibility at home" was meaningful to many donors. Part of that was related to the fact that the number of non-governmental organizations had grown. Indeed, the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs was created, in part, because of the dramatic increase of such agencies "on the ground". At one point in Kosovo, for example, some 400 non-governmental organizations were "floating around". "Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing", she added.

Asked if the situation in Chechnya deserved the attention of a higher authority than her Office, such as the Security Council, she said she thought the reporter knew why the situation was not discussed by the Council so she did not need to comment on that. As he was fully aware, the Council's agenda was set by its members themselves. Until they agreed to discuss it, then it would not be discussed, and there was not much that could be done about that. The Secretary- General was "very seized" of the situation. At the time of the immediate crisis, he made a number of public statements and spoke privately to the senior representatives involved in a very direct way. Her visit to the region had been fully encouraged by him.

In a follow-up question about whether the Chechen were being abandoned, she said all of the United Nations agencies were represented in the region, although it was not secure enough for them to be established on the Chechen side of the border. The United Nations' presence in the region should not only remain, but it should be strengthened. She would make recommendations to strengthen the regional coordination and ensure that United Nations officials spent more time in Nazran, which was closer to the Chechen border than Vladikavkaz.

"I have no intention of abandoning them", she stressed. In fact, she would appeal for more funding, encouraged by the donors' response. She would strive in her negotiations with the Russian authorities to ensure clear access to the Chechen Republic by non-governmental organizations and United Nations officials, where necessary, for the purposes of delivery. "We won't overnight in Chechnya, but we will continue to travel in and out of the Republic as conditions permit", she emphasized.

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