October 27, 2000
- In the final instalment of a wide ranging three-part interview with IRIN, Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari, the UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Africa, spoke on the prevailing situation in Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone.
QUESTION: To what extent is the UN involved in trying to mitigate the crisis in Zimbabwe ?
ANSWER: The UN is trying to see if the issue of the land reform can be de-politicised. During the millennium summit the Secretary-General chaired a mini-summit involving the Presidents of South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Malawi at which the issue of land reform was discussed extensively. The Secretary-General has asked (UNDP administrator) Mark Malloch Brown to go to Zimbabwe with a technical team to see how the UN can help to bring the government of Zimbabwe and the donor community together to address the land reform issue. Everyone recognizes that this is an issue that cannot be left in abeyance. The domestic politics of Zimbabwe are not the responsibility of the United Nations as the UN Charter says that the UN does not interfere in what is essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of member states. But if countries of the sub-region or the country concerned ask for the UN about a specific issue that may threaten peace and security it would be willing to consider it.
Q: With the DRC war having an impact in Southern Africa, have the Presidents of Zimbabwe, Namibia and Zambia indicated that they might be willing to pull out their troops and are they putting pressure on President Laurent-Desire Kabila to participate more fully in the peace process ?
A: I don't think they are threatening to withdraw. At a recent meeting in Windhoek Presidents Sam Nujoma of Namibia, Jose-Eduardo dos Santos of Angola and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe reaffirmed their support for President Kabila and warned Uganda that unless they stopped supporting rebel forces the prospect of the war widening might become real. However, it is also very clear that they continue to put pressure on President Kabila to do two things: Firstly, to try to remove the obstacles for the deployment of phase two of MONUC (the UN mission in the DRC, and secondly, to allow the facilitation process for the Inter-Congolese dialogue to proceed. On both counts, President Kabila has not been as forthcoming as he should be. So the UN is waiting - we've sent President Kabila a list of all those things that need to be done to permit phase two deployment of MONUC and these are yet to be complied with by the DRC government.
Q: Have prospects for the deployment of UN peacekeepers improved?
A: It is difficult to say because it is like a ding-dong. At some points the prospect looks good. For example, former Nigerian Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar was sent by the Secretary-General as a special envoy to meet Kabila and he came back with a very positive report of the meeting. But two days later Kabila sent a letter to the Secretary-General which made no reference to Abubakar's visit. He instead raised new issues that complicated rather than facilitated the deployment of MONUC. But what is more serious, is that Kabila appeared to be moving away from the Lusaka accord in terms of the provisions for the facilitation of Inter-Congolese dialogue and appeared to want to have his own internal arrangements for dialogue which would be unacceptable to the rebels and other parties.
Q: The South African authorities have said in a recent parliamentary report that the army is not ready for a proper peace-keeping role in the DRC. Has this been formally communicated to the UN?
A: Well, I'm not aware of that. DPKO (the UN Department of Peace-Keeping operations) envisages that the South African role is to provide specialised units to Phase Two of MONUC. But the obstacles to deployment are those made by Kabila. As far as we're concerned, the capability of the South Africans is not a problem.
Q: You are also part of the team that is trying to bring peace to Sierra Leone. In your view what are the most important issues that still need to be resolved?
A: The situation there is very complicated. The main issues are how to extend the authority of the government of Sierra Leone to the entire country and, therefore, to bring the diamond producing areas under the control of the government so that the proceeds of those diamonds will be able to help state administration and bring services to the people. At the same time we have to work out how to deal politically with the RUF (Revolutionary United Front) factor which the Sierra Leonean government and ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) have to pronounce on and work slowly with the UN to address. Then you have the special court for the trial of those who are mostly responsible for the atrocities in Sierra Leone. The Secretary-General has sent a report to the Security Council giving his views and has invited the Security Council to make a decision on that. There is also the issue of the size of UNAMSIL (the UN mission in Sierra Leone) which the Secretary-General has proposed to expand from 13,000 to 20,000 and he is engaged in the process of finding countries that will be willing to contribute troops with proper logistical support. Finally, you have the regional dimension where you have all kinds of military action and border problems between Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. The sub-region is awash with weapons, it is awash with all kinds of militias, it is awash with refugees criss-crossing the border and it is very important that all this be looked at in a very holistic, regional context. It is necessary for the UN to work with the countries in the sub-region and to mobilize resources from the international community but the Secretary-General is fully seized with these issues.
