Guinea/UN - massacre investigation

UN launches massacre probe, Camara to comply

Article published on the 2009-10-22 Latest update 2009-10-22 10:36 TU

Junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara talks with UN Assistant Secretary General Haile Menkerios (l) in Conakry
(Photo: Sia Kambou/AFP)

The UN is launching a probe into last month's massacre in Conakry, Guinea, where more than 150 people lost their lives in clashes between the army and opposition supporters.

"The Secretary General intends to deploy it as soon as possible" after the terms of reference are finalised and the security assessment is made, UN Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs Haile Menkerios announced Wednesday.

After Menkerios briefed the UN Security Council, he told reporters that coup leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara has agreed to the UN investigation. He added that the probe could be dispatched and wrap up within a month.

Menkerios had returned to New York Tuesday night from Conakry, where he assessed the military government's will to co-operate with a UN investigation of last month's massacre of over 150 protesters.

But the security situation is still precarious.

"Security is important, not just for the commission, but for the population, for the victims, for witnesses who may come and present their testimonies," said Menkerios.

He said the High Commisioner for Human Rights is going to deploy as many human rights observers as possible.

Gérard Araud, France's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, also spoke to the press after the council meeting on Guinea, saying, "It's not only a humanitarian poblem, but a political one."

He indicated that the Guinean opposition could negotiate with the Guinean government if it was not assured that a proper legal process would be taken.

Araud added that the commission was universally supported by the UN Security Council with no opposition from members.