PRESS BRIEFING BY DEPUTY EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR

ON DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Owing to the dire security situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where there was a “rather nasty cocktail” of rebel groups and dissatisfaction with the local authorities playing on ethnic hatreds, “we are down to the minimum in terms of providing the most basic human needs”, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Carolyn McAskie told correspondents today at a Headquarters press briefing.

Providing an update on the difficult provision of relief amid the deteriorating security situation in Bunia, in the eastern portion of the country where militia groups were fighting for control of the town, Ms. McAskie said there were “shades of Rwanda in 1994”.  The form of the fighting was that whole villages were rising up and slaughtering each other.  That conjured up visions of what had happened in Rwanda, where men, women and children rose up and attacked their neighbours.  That was the aspect she feared was “Rwanda-like” -- although nothing could match the scale of Rwanda, she added. 

Joining Ms. McAskie at the briefing was Margaret Carey, Africa Division, Department of Peacekeeping Operations.  Earlier, at the noon briefing, Spokesman for the Secretary-General Fred Eckhard said that the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) had reported that the situation in Bunia continued to be extremely difficult and volatile, with intense fighting going on between ethnic Hema and Lendu militias in the town of Bunia itself, as well as around the airport.  The Mission’s headquarters in Bunia is wedged in the area between the two groups, he said.

Ms. McAskie said she had been briefed on the Security Council deliberations on that growing crisis in the Ituri region.  The Secretary-General had called for international military support for the UN Mission.  There was a highly effective battalion there now operating to protect the area against big odds, following the recent withdrawal of the Ugandan troops.  The consequence of the fighting in Bunia was “a very, very serious” humanitarian situation.  There were a total of just eight humanitarian personnel on the ground right now.  Despite the evacuations, she and others, including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), were trying to keep a core group in place.

Nevertheless, she said, relief aid was basic -- down to the minimum, in terms of providing the most basic human needs, such as plastic sheeting for shelter (it was raining now in Bunia) and high-protein biscuits.  The humanitarian situation was extremely dangerous, even desperate; the focus was on very basic life-saving interventions.  Heavy fighting had continued for nearly one week, and there was crowding both at the airport and in the MONUC compound.

She said she was worried about increasing numbers of wounded and those infected by outbreaks of disease.  Without improved security conditions, however, things would get worse.  That was not a question of resources or supply, but one of access and security.  More than 3,000 people who had sought shelter at the UN Mission headquarters in Bunia, and another 5,000, were at the airport.  At the Mission compound, water supplies and sanitation facilities were very limited. 

There were indications now of dysentery and the first signs of a possible outbreak of measles. 

She said that OxFam, an international non-governmental organization, was in the compound building latrines, but the water in the town was completely cut off and efforts to restore it just kept getting interrupted by the fighting.  There had also been reports this morning of up to 50 wounded when a mortar round exploded in the area, and 12 more wounded were brought into the mobile health clinic.  She had had reports that two Congolese Red Cross workers were killed yesterday, after trying to collect the bodies.

There were also reports of people fleeing the area, she continued.  Some 50,000 people were heading south from Bunia to Beni, an administrative town just south of the Ituri district.  The World Food Programme (WFP) was reporting that some 12,000 refugees had now crossed into Uganda. 

She said that the group of eight aid workers included a surgeon, nutrition specialist, and water and sanitation expert.  They were doing what they could.  There were other teams and supplies on standby, but they needed a more secure environment in which to operate.  Supplies were being moved up from Goma, but incoming flights tended to be sporadic.  The first priority was to find a way to stop the fighting.

There had been hundreds of casualties “that we know of” in the last few weeks or so, since the pull-out of the Ugandan forces, she replied to a question.

Asked how large a force would be needed to suppress the fighting, she said the Ugandans had been “keeping a lid on it”.  They had anywhere from 7,000 to 9,000 troops.  “We have 800 personnel now, and estimates of what was needed was some three times that”, she said.

Ms. Carey added that the new troops would have to be able to use force.  The Mission was a peacekeeping operation and, therefore, lightly armed.  It was basically comprised of guard units.  What was needed now was the rapid deployment of well-equipped, well-trained troops, under a Chapter VII mandate.  In the case of armed units, fewer were needed than in the case of guard units.  In terms of the total numbers needed, she thought the key was enforcement power and capacity.

Was Ms. McAskie concerned that Iraq would overshadow the debate on assistance for the Congo? another correspondent asked.  She said that was always a big issue -- last year, it was Afghanistan, before that, Kosovo, and now, Iraq.  Humanitarians had a theme –- forgotten emergencies. 

The fact that the Council mission to West Africa was postponed because of discussions on Iraq was an indication that those big crises were all-encompassing for the players, she added.  The Council was really doing its best to focus on the worst of those crises, in between the deliberations on Iraq.  She had never had any problem going to the Council on Côte d’Ivoire or the Democratic Republic of the Congo and, in fact, had been heartened by its support.

She said there had not been the big refugee numbers that she saw in, say, West Africa, because of the size of the place, responding to a further question.  The road south to Beni from Bunia had traditionally been an escape route for people in trouble in the Ituri district.  That was where she had always seen the

larger numbers.  There were also many people in Bunia with ties to Uganda, who felt that was the safest place to go.  There was an Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) office in Beni, and the WFP was also there, along with a large number of non-governmental organizations. 

Attempts were being made to supply Beni from Goma, where there were some stockpiles, to make sure that those people had at least the minimum food and shelter.  But, there had been difficult periods where people came down and did not have the supplies.  High-protein biscuits could keep people going for 24 hours, but “I wouldn’t want to live on high-protein biscuits; they’re about as chewable as the wood on this desk in front of me”, she said.

Replying to a further question about similarities with Rwanda, Ms. Carey said that the ethnic groups themselves were split.  They realigned constantly within their ethnic groups to pursue a certain objective.  They were building on the ethnic dimension in a competition for resources in that resource-rich area.  Outsiders, who wanted to maintain their influence in that area, were also manipulating them.  So, that was not really Rwanda, but there were elements of what happened in Rwanda in 1994, such as the hate messages and a lot of rumours aimed at fuelling the fighting.

Asked what she wanted from the international community, Ms. Carey said the United Nations peacekeepers there were essentially a volunteer army.  What was needed now was a multinational force, as both the Secretary-General and the French had indicated.  Some troop contributors might be ready to provide troops, but might not have capacity to induct and finance them.  So, the Peacekeeping Department had to match troops with donor countries.  She was hopeful.  There was quite a deal of interest.  The Council was also engaged on that issue.

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