Press Briefing
Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by reading the following statement attributable to him:
"The Secretary-General has decided, reluctantly and after full consideration of all alternatives, to withdraw the investigative team he had sent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to look into allegations of serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in certain parts of that country.
"The establishment of the investigative team was intended to bridge the impasse which had arisen as a result of the refusal of the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to allow a joint investigative mission of the Commission on Human Rights to investigate the allegations. The proposal of the Secretary-General to establish the investigative team was endorsed by the Security Council on 8 July 1997.
"The intention in establishing the team was to secure the cooperation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo authorities in the investigation. However, since its arrival there, in August 1997, the investigative team constantly met a series of obstacles by the authorities, despite repeated assurances by the Government that the team would be allowed to carry out its work. Attempts by forensic experts to excavate suspected sites of mass graves were blocked. The authorities also harassed and intimidated witnesses who provided testimony to the investigators.
"In the most recent incident in this pattern of obstruction, the Democratic Republic of the Congo authorities on 7 and 8 April expelled a member of the investigative team from Goma and subsequently detained him at Kinshasa airport. Confidential United Nations documents in the possession of the staff member were seized, searched and assumed to have been photocopied by the authorities in complete disregard of the obligations of Member States under the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.
"In the light of the total absence of cooperation of the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in allowing the investigative team to carry out its work, and following a careful assessment made by a mission sent by the Secretary-General for this purpose, the Secretary-General has decided to withdraw the investigative team with immediate effect. The Commission on Human Rights, under its mandate, remains seized of the question of allegations regarding serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the Democratic Republic of the Congo."
In that connection, Mr. Eckhard said the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, had issued a statement today in Geneva. The statement read, in part:
"I see this development in the overall context of the international community's commitment to fight impunity, which is one of the major factors in the recurrent violence in the Great Lakes region and elsewhere.
"The withdrawal is a grave setback in this battle against impunity and underscores the need for an International Criminal Court with the political backing and resources to bring to justice the perpetrators of the worst violations of human rights and international humanitarian law." The entire statement was available in the Spokesman's office.