SG/A/645

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS ATSU-KOFFI AMEGA OF TOGO AS CHAIRMAN OF TEAM TO INVESTIGATE ALLEGED HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

1 August 1997


Press Release
SG/A/645


SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS ATSU-KOFFI AMEGA OF TOGO AS CHAIRMAN OF TEAM TO INVESTIGATE ALLEGED HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

19970801 The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary- General Kofi Annan:

Secretary-General Kofi Annan today named Atsu-Koffi Amega of Togo as Chairman of an investigative team to look into alleged human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Mr. Amega, the former President of the Supreme Court of Justice in Togo, had been head of the Commission of Experts for Rwanda created by the Security Council to investigate the massacres in that country in 1994. He also headed the Secretary-General's fact-finding mission to Nigeria in 1996, which looked into the trial and execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and others.

The Secretary-General also announced the appointment of Andrew R. Chigovera, the Deputy Attorney-General of Zimbabwe, as one of two other members of the investigative team. Mr. Chigovera is a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Appointment of the third member is expected in the next few days.

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For information media. Not an official record.