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PRESS BRIEFING
TRANSCRIPT OF INTRODUCTORY REMARKS AND PRESS CONFERENCE
BY UN DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL LOUISE FRECHETTE
UNAMSIL HEADQUARTERS, FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE,
6 APRIL 2001
First, I would like to say that I am very pleased to be here in Sierra Leone and I am very grateful for the very warm hospitality that has been extended to me by the Government of Sierra Leone, by all the Sierra Leoneans that I have met in these brief, but very fascinating two days. My focus during this visit was very much looking towards the future, looking at the need for humanitarian, but the beginning of development cooperation with Sierra Leone. I was interested in how we collaborated with the Government, with NGOs, as well as among ourselves, and I had a number of interesting meetings related precisely to that set of issues regarding return of refugees, return of displaced people and long-term rehabilitation and development.
I would add that this afternoon I went to Lunsar, where as you know we deployed quite recently. I received a briefing by the Sector Commander, I was received by the people of Lunsar and their chiefs and I also had a very brief meeting with some of the RUF leadership. It's clear from meeting the people in Lunsar that they welcome UNAMSIL and they have expressed their desire to work and cooperate with UNAMSIL, which is something that I welcome very much.
I received the same assurances from the RUF representatives to which I replied that I welcome these assurances, but that it was very important that the RUF should show in deed as well as in words that it was really committed to cooperation with UNAMSIL and to the implementation of the ceasefire agreement. I raised in particular the question of the three remaining checkpoints. These are no longer manned by armed people, nevertheless we consider that the maintenance of these three checkpoints by RUF officials is contrary to the ceasefire agreement and the commitment to freedom of movement and therefore I raised these three checkpoints as examples of steps the RUF has to take to demonstrate that it is really in deeds, as well as in words committed to implementing the ceasefire agreement and cooperating with UNAMSIL.
I received assurance that this would be done - I was told that before I left Sierra Leone that would happen. Since I am leaving very early tomorrow morning, this is something that should happen very soon. So I think I will stop my introductory remarks at this stage and be ready to take your questions. I simply want to say that I have told all my interlocutors that the UN mission in Sierra Leone is one of very, very great importance, one that is very strongly supported by the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, by the Security Council. We are determined to see this process through so that peace can return and take root in Sierra Leone and prosperity can return to Sierra Leone.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: What's your impression about the deployment of the UN since you were here to see the progress of the UN mission? You had a discussion with the RUF and they were talking about the new political peace council. Would you just enlighten us on that?
A: As regard my impression of the deployment in Lunsar, I was very satisfied with what I saw. I think they are very well deployed and organized and they have told me that they have been very well received by the local population and that they are confident that they will continue to receive cooperation. I think that's very, very important because that's how we will be building confidence towards the future deployment. As for as the political council, my conversation with them was very, very brief and therefore, I am not really in a position to comment very much. What I can say is that the message they wanted to leave with me was that the RUF wanted peace, not war, that it was a new, a different RUF with a different agenda now. My response to them was to welcome this message, but to insist that this must be demonstrated in reality by concrete steps day after day.
Q: How did you feel when you were being conducted through the UNAMSIL deployment areas in Lunsar, an area still occupied by the RUF rebels, an area where no formal disarmament has taken place?
A: First of all, what struck me was the state of the town, the very, very deteriorated conditions in that town. There is great poverty in Lunsar and the signs of war are everywhere and that is really the first thing that struck me. I must say that the people in Lunsar seem to be generally very happy with the presence of UNAMSIL and while they of course expressed their concern about their own condition at this stage-- they raised the problem of food, medical service and work, and it's clear that they are enormous needs in that city--they certainly seem to be happy with the presence of UNAMSIL, which seems to have already after a few weeks established a climate of security that I am told did not exist before. The question of disarmament is one that is very high on our list of concerns. At the end of the day, the establishment of durable peace in Sierra Leone will require that disarmament take place, but in the immediate, my sense in Lunsar was that there was a reasonable degree of safety and the people seemed to be moving around quite freely and the UNAMSIL commanders that since their deployment they have had no incidents, no difficulty.
Q: In my short interview with Gibril Massaquoi, spokesman of the RUF, when we went down to Lunsar, he sounded pretty much angry about the reports published by Human Rights Watch that they are raping the women and so on and he was saying that was distorted. How much concern do you have about those people behind the RUF lines, if that report is true?
A: We always take very, very seriously the reports from Human Rights Watch and other responsible NGOs who have a good track record of reporting on incidents of that sort. Of course, our first concern is to look after the people who are in need of help and on my way to Lunsar, I stopped in Petifu Junction, where a number of returnees have settled within the community. I would say I found that project very interesting because rather than building camps which I think is the least desirable of solutions for people who, for one reason or another, cannot be in their homes and their village, I think the approach that is being taken right now to establish the refugees and displaced people along with communities and the communities receive assistance from the international community to be able to receive them, is I think is an interesting approach. I think it is better for the people if it can work and frankly I am very impressed by the fact that the people in the village themselves don't have all that much seem to be ready to make room for people who have even less, and I was very touch by that I must tell you. Frankly these reports of continued human rights violations and violence to women, children and refugees are of great concern--one more reason for the RUF to give clear, concrete evidence that it is laying down arms, that it is really complying with the ceasefire agreement.
Q: As you passed in Lunsar and saw checkpoints, do you see it safe for international organizations to go to Lunsar with these guys not being disarmed up to this time?
A: I think the international organizations are evaluating the situation every day. The deployment of UNAMSIL is quite recent. I told the RUF leaders that I met this afternoon that the removal of these three checkpoints, even if by now they are not armed at the checkpoints, but it's really important that they will abide with the agreement that they reached, that they are giving full cooperation with UNAMSIL and I think if these signals of full cooperation are clear, then I know that the NGOs and our own UN agencies will want to start working in that area as quickly as possible. I know that many of the NGOs whom I met this morning are watching very, very closely and gearing up to go as soon as the signals are clear enough. They're not going to hold back unnecessarily, I'm sure of that.
Q: Did the RUF indicate their willingness to remove the checkpoints?
A: Yes, they did and we agreed that it would be done before I leave tomorrow morning. And I leave very early tomorrow morning!
Q: I presume that you visited a few displaced camps and displaced people are more than anxious to return to their villages and return to their normal lives to the point that they even think that the Government and UNAMSIL over-protecting the areas under Government control by the presence of UNAMSIL and the Sierra Leone Army that they feel that in the government-controlled areas, the military are adequate to protect these people. So they are suggesting or thinking whether it would not be an idea to use UNAMSIL within the Government areas to deploy in these rebel-held areas while you wait for the other troops to come and beef up UNAMSIL.
A: I hesitate to enter into discussion on that because you're suggesting something quite specific and I certainly would want to consult with the Force Commander as to what is feasible. But if you would allow me to say on the question of refugees and displaced people, the preferred option is to always to try to help people to go back to where they come from. That's the goal and that's the goal that is followed by all the UN agencies starting with UNHCR and all the NGOs that work in this area. Short of that, when the security situation is not assured, then what I saw this afternoon was not a camp. It was a programme that helps people to establish themselves, get shelter, and build a little house in existing communities and to have a life that is a little more normal that living in a camp. This is not the ideal and this is not what we are favouring as the long-term solution, but as an answer to a problem which we hope will be temporary. We think it's a better approach and I was very pleased to see that all the UN agencies are collaborating in making that happen because it means making sure that people have some minimal supplies to start farming if they are involved in farming, as well as providing some support for the community as a whole. I think it's a better approach than the camps; sometimes there is no other way than to have camps. But I think it's better for the people if they can live in a village and as I said I was touched and impressed by the fact that villagers who themselves were not very well off and were ready to open their heart and make room for people who had to leave their own place.
Q: Having talked with the RUF officials, do you see any signs of (inaudible)?
A: They told me this afternoon that they want to cooperate and if this is the case, it is a very good sign. What we sign to see is proof, concrete evidence day after day that that's indeed their preferred course, that that is their goal. We accept their statement of intention, but what we need to see is action on the ground, day after day.
Thank you.
*********** For additional information, contact UNAMSIL Public Information Office: UNAMSIL Headquarters, Mammy Yoko, P. O. Box 5, Freetown, Sierra Leone. Tel: 232-22-273-183/4/5 Fax: 232-22-273-189
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