Statement Attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on the "black box" sent to UNHQ

The “black box” sent to UN Headquarters from Rwanda in 1994, and just discovered here the day before yesterday, has been turned over to the Under-Secretary-General for the Office of Internal Oversight Services, Mr. Dileep Nair, who is inquiring into the circumstances in which senior officials were not informed that it had reached UNHQ.

The International Civil Aviation Organization based in Montreal, Canada, was consulted and has advised that the “black box” should be sent to an agency competent to read out its contents, in the presence of an ICAO monitor. The arrangements required are under way, and the “black box” will be carried by hand for the read out. When this is received by the UN, the next steps will be decided.