Consultations on Burundi and Afghanistan

In informal consultations this morning, we started by noting the tragic

shooting and killing of a Russian soldier in Kosovo yesterday, 11 April. The

Council wanted to express, and did express, their regrets and condolences to

the delegation of the Russian Federation and also condemned this act of

violence against the peacekeepers in Kosovo, and were very interested in an

investigative follow-up and in action be taken against the perpetrators of that.

That was a sad note to start our briefing this morning.

We then got into Afghanistan with a very short brief from the Secretariat on

one or two questions raised recently by members of the Council. We did not

get into a briefing on Afghanistan as a whole or a discussion. The

Secretary-General is due to give us a report on Afghanistan next week and

there will be a debate in informal consultations on Afghanistan later next

week, so it was a very curtailed discussion on that.

Thirdly, we talked about Burundi. We had a very full report from Sir Kieran

Prendergast, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, on current

developments in Burundi on the basis also of a quite useful factual briefing

paper from the Secretariat for members of the Council. The Council wanted

me to make a number points to the media about that.

The Council wanted to express its support very clearly for the facilitation by

former President Mandela which is continuing and for the efforts by regional

leaders to support that facilitation. Members of the Council called on the

signatories to the Arusha Agreement to pursue efforts aimed at dialogue

reflecting the spirit of the Arusha Agreement and to refrain from any action

that might comprise progress already made and might contribute to a further

deterioration of the situation on the ground, which remains quite worrying.

They also called on the armed rebel groups who are not yet signatories to the

Arusha Agreement to cease violence which is continuing in Burundi and to

pursue dialogue aimed at the cessation of hostilities. And they supported and

indeed encouraged regional leaders and the signatories themselves to

back-up this message to the armed rebel groups to put down their weapons

and enter the process of dialogue. That is an important ancillary point to our

appeal to the signatories themselves.

Members of the Council condemned the recent acts of violence that have

occurred on the ground in Burundi, which include attacks on humanitarian

workers and on convoys. Most recently a WFP convoy was attacked. And in

condemning those attacks they urged the parties to observe international

humanitarian law, to allow access for humanitarian workers to those who need

assistance, and to refrain of course from the kind of vicious attacks that we

have witnessed in recent days.

The Council will be following up on Burundi over the coming weeks, and I think

that there will be an interest when we take a mission to the Great Lakes to

maintain our particular focus on this issue.

Q: Was there a logic behind the decision of the Council to stay entirely out of

the Chinese/US affairs following the detention of the air crew? Did China and

the United States express to you that they had no desire to see this issue

taken up in the Council, or was this your own decision to stay out of it?

A: It has not been discussed in the Council at all, and there has been no

approach by either government to the Security Council to take this matter up.

Q: On the Afghanistan briefing, could you tell us what the briefing covered?

We understand that perhaps a possible sanctions violation was raised.

A: There was no mention of any particular sanctions violations. Nor were any

detailed points taken up.