PRESS CONFERENCE BY SPECIAL ADVISER ON PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE

PRESS CONFERENCE BY SPECIAL ADVISER ON PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE

(Issued on 11 October 2005.)

Just two weeks after wrapping up a weeklong trip to the Sudan, Juan E. Méndez, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, said today that he found the situation in the African nation much more dangerous and worrisome than expected, with renewed fighting in the north and south of Darfur and lawlessness in West Darfur.

At a Headquarters press conference here Monday, Mr. Méndez announced the results of his second trip to the war-torn nation in his role as Special Adviser and said he had been prepared to return and view a stabilized situation.

But, instead, he had found two important issues that the international community must deal with in the conflict in the Sudan:  the protection of civilians and the distribution of humanitarian assistance.  While there has been progress on the delivery of humanitarian aid in the past year, he said, attacks on relief organizations in the past two months had impeded the delivery of aid.  Violence has escalated and since his departure from the African nation on 26 September, Mr. Méndez said, there had been two attacks on internally displaced persons.

He said he was disappointed by the recent work of the Sudanese courts because they had tried cases that were marginal to the country’s 2003-2004 conflict and there was no rationale to why these cases had been brought into the court system.  He said he was hopeful that the talks in Abuja would produce a framework to help bring about the end of the conflict.

“Different ethnic communities are pitched against one another”, he said.  He added that reconciliation must deal with land use, both in terms of providing enough pasture for cattle to graze and for travel, while meeting the needs of the agricultural community.

In response to reporters’ questions that Security Council members –-reportedly Russia, China and the United States -- had blocked his delivery of a report to the Council, Mr. Méndez said he was not aware of any consultations that occurred today.

“I know that the Secretary-General has asked the Security Council to ask me to brief it and I think I have something important to say”, he said in response to a reporter’s question.  “I am available to the Security Council whenever they want to hear.”

After his first trip to the Sudan one year ago, Mr. Méndez briefed the Security Council and made a number of recommendations.  He added that his office was created in 2001 in response to a Council resolution.

Asked how additional recommendations would prove effective if previous measures had not produced stability, Mr. Méndez said the international community now had the building blocks in place to help increase stability in the region.  But the international community needed to strengthen the African Union’s presence by giving them the necessary materials and money.

“We have to place pressure on the Government of Sudan to not restrict the movement of the African Union...so they can be in the position of defending civilians from attack”, he said.  “We’re trying to add a sense of urgency and strengthen those measures that have only been implemented halfway.  If things don’t change we could be led into a situation, as in 2003-2004, in the Sudan.  No one can tell what can happen.”

He said the international community should have paid more attention to the region’s critical situation.

“We assume that the African Union is taking care of business”, he said.  “But we’re setting up the AU for an impossible task unless we help it.”  He said African Union troops needed to be deployed in larger areas, especially remote areas that were at risk from attacks.

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For information media • not an official record