Speaking brief of Emma Bonino

Mr. President,

The humanitarian crisis in Zaire and throughout the region remains, as always in the past 3 years, inextricably linked to the political / military situation. Let me give, in telegraphic style, a picture of the situation prevailing after the events of the last few months.

ZAIRE: after weeks of a cynical and shameless debate over the number of refugees which had disappeared from the radar screens of the humanitarian community, more than 200.000 Rwandans have eventually surfaced - thanks to the commitment of a few European NGOs, in primis MSF - in central Zaire. Some 160.000 are concentrated in two separate locations in the Lubutu area (200 Km south of Kisangani), i.e. Tingi-Tingi and Amisi. Roughly 40.000 more have regrouped in three locations in the Shabunda area, (half-way between Bukavu and Kindu): those spontaneous camps are conventionally referred to as Kabakita, and Makese I and II. A sizeable presence of ex-FAR has been spotted only among the refugees in the Lubutu area. Those people, as could be expected, are in complete disarray and badly in need of assistance: the mortality rate among them is about 4/10.000/day and rising, especially among children (the attention threshold was less than 1/10.000/day in the camps). Only few commendable agencies and NGOs are assisting

those people, among great difficulties in terms of logistics (a nightmare), of security (very precarious) and of access clearance, increasingly resisted by the Zairian authorities. It is a fact that the activities of humanitarian agencies (especially from the UN family) in rebel-held territory have provoked diffused outrage in Kinshasa. But behind a generally retaliatory attitude, Zairians may also wish to keep away foreign civilians from an area that may be (or may soon become) a theatre of military operations (la contre-offensive foudroyante invoked by Mobutu). All in all, several hundreds of thousand of people have been abandoned to their fate in Zaire, of which these 200.000 which are now materially reachable may only be the largest fraction. This is morally unacceptable: there is still a case for deploying all the means available to the civilised world, including military means, to bring them assistance.

RWANDA: as you know, three Spanish operators of Medicos del Mundo [financed by ECHO] have been killed following an armed incursion of hutu rebels last Saturday in the Ruhengeri province. This new tragedy affecting the humanitarian community may be only the symptom of a generalised malaise spreading in a situation where a rushed and uncontrolled repatriation has not allowed for the much needed upgrading of the countrys structures and social fabric. The absorption of 1 million people overnight would have created insurmountableproblems in any of our countries: let alone in a poor country shattered by war and genocide, like Rwanda. You ought to be aware, on the other hand, that the Rwandans attitude towards humanitarian NGOs and agencies, with few exceptions, remains highly problematic (to use an euphemistic expression). If this attitude does not change, ECHO for its part will have to draw the consequences and leave the ground for rehabilitation and development actors to step in, hopefully at full speed.

BURUNDI: the army continues to massacre returning refugees, and a new humanitarian category has now materialised inside the country, alongside refugees and displaced: the regrouped; i.e. people from the hills, mostly hutu, which are forced to regroup in large concentration camps controlled by the military. Failing to regroup carries the sanction of being automatically recognised as rebels, and thereby exposed to random attacks by the armed forces. Under these conditions, there is very little the humanitarian community can do to assist people in need.

Mr. President,

It may be tedious for this Council to take stock every two months of yet another Cassandras report: the sad reality is that the deep-rooted problems of this region are far from being solved, and may even worsen as time goes.

The draft conclusions which have been circulated on this point do reflect the Councils attention and preoccupation for the unfolding developments, including on the humanitarian ride. But lets be clear among ourselves at least: this crisis is not going to be solved through declarations, however enlightened.

For my part, I would like to submit to the Ministers attention a couple of political notes inspired by the recent humanitarian crisis:

1. When it became clear that the multinational force exercise had taken a blind alley and was going nowhere, we should have regrouped with more cohesion and tried to assert our humanitarian values. This is what public opinion expected from us;

2. In this context, the Commission has tried to play an active role in helping activate WEUs response to the Council request for assistance, according to article J4.2 of the Unions Treaty. The result of two months of work and interim deliberations by WEU on this issue is rather distressing, in terms of the organisations own credibility and of prospects of fulfilling the Petersberg tasks. And I spare any further comments on the procedural wrangles which have surrounded the treatment of a would-be emergency response.

3. The Transatlantic relation has been in the recent crisis part of the problem, rather than of the search for a solution. In cases like this, where our analysis of the situationdiverge to a degree - be it on the approach to the humanitarian crisis, or on the wider geo-political implications - we would be well-advised to iron out the differences from the very beginning, not to end up in a situation of impasse about what to do and how to do it - which is the case for the Rwandan-backed rebellion in East Zaire.