At a glance
- UNHCR staff member abducted in Macenta raid still missing.
- Slain UNHCR head of office identified.
- High Commissioner Sadako Ogata says agency devastated by fourth murder in less than two weeks.
- Security tightened throughout Guinea.
- UNHCR staff honor slain colleague; plan worldwide protest.
A UNHCR staff member remained missing Monday, more than 24 hours after she was abducted by unidentified armed men who killed UNHCR's head of office during a raid on the southeast Guinea town of Macenta.
UNHCR is appealing to authorities throughout West Africa and to the international community to help locate and secure the release of Ms. Sapeu Laurence Djeya, a national of Cote d'Ivoire. Witnesses said Ms. Djeya was last seen Sunday morning being taken away by armed men who shot and killed the UNHCR head of office in Macenta, Mr. Mensah Kpognon.
Ms. Djeya works in UNHCR's office in Danane, Cote d'Ivoire, and had earlier brought supplies to Macenta, about 200 kms northwest of Danane.
Mr. Kpognon, 50, was a Togolese national and leaves a wife and four children. He joined UNHCR in June 1994 as a field officer in Uvira, Democratic Republic of Congo. In March 1996, he was appointed senior repatriation officer in Kimpese, DRC. Mr. Kpognon was transferred to Grabo, Cote d'Ivoire, in October 1997 and to Macenta in January 1999. He was a graduate of the University of Benin in Lome, Togo, in 1979, and later earned a Master of Science degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Iowa in the United States.
Mr. Kpognon's remains were being transported by road to Conakry on Monday morning.
High Commissioner Sadako Ogata, who was on mission to Herat, Afghanistan, expressed grave concern over the fate of Ms. Djeya and profound sadness over the loss of yet another UNHCR staff member.
"Mr. Kpognon was the fourth UNHCR staff member murdered in less than two weeks," Mrs. Ogata said. "All of UNHCR is devastated by this tragedy. Words fail us in times like this, leaving us instead with many sad and difficult questions. Why are innocent, unarmed humanitarians like Mensah Kpognon - a father of four children who was simply trying to make the world a better place - being struck down in the most brutal way? How do we balance the risks involved in caring for hundreds of thousands of refugees who desperately need our help? And what more should we and the international community be doing to protect all of these good people in bad places?
"I offer my deepest condolences to Mr. Kpognon's family and vow that UNHCR will do everything in its power to try to locate and secure the release of Sapeu Laurence Djeya," Ogata said.
Mr. Kpognon was the 19th UNHCR staff member killed since the beginning of the 1990s. On September 6, East Timorese militiamen in West Timor attacked the UNHCR office in the border town of Atambua, killing three staff members. It was the worst ever attack on UNHCR, whose more than 5,000 staff help 22.3 million refugees and displaced in some 120 countries, often in difficult and dangerous conditions.
It was unclear who was responsible for the raid on Macenta, about 70 kms east of Gueckedou along the border with Liberia. According to field reports, Mr. Kpognon's house was attacked and set ablaze by assailants while they were retreating from Macenta following a pre-dawn raid on the town. His body was discovered around 8 a.m. after a colleague who had lost radio contact with him visited the house, accompanied by military agents. A UNHCR vehicle was also found destroyed outside the house.
All other UNCHR personnel in the town have been accounted for. There is no indication Mr. Kpognon, Ms. Djeya or UNHCR were specifically targeted by the assailants, who had attacked the nearby home of the prefect of Macenta.
Several Guineans were reported killed and many houses were burned during the attack, which began around 4 a.m. on Sunday, according to an official from the Ministry of Territorial Administration, Decentralisation and Security. He did not elaborate on the number killed or their identities. Field reports indicate that fighting is ongoing in the area between Macenta and the town of Nzerekore, about 115 kms to the southeast.
SECURITY MEASURES TIGHTENED
UNHCR local staff in Macenta have been authorized to travel to Gueckedou, where many have family, and further security precautions are being implemented throughout Guinea. All non-essential personnel are to remain in their homes and all dependents of international staff are being taken to Conakry.
Sunday's attack was the second in the Macenta area since September 1, when armed men killed some 50 people in the village of Massadou, 25 kms to the southeast. Forecariah and Kindia were also subject to deadly attacks this month.
Guinea hosts more than 460,000 refugees -- 330,000 of them Sierra Leonean and 126,000 Liberians. Most of the refugees in the Macenta area are Liberian. There have been some Sierra Leonean refugees who have been fleeing into the area, following recent attacks by Sierra Leonean rebels.
WORLDWIDE HUMANITARIAN PROTEST PLANNED FOR SEPT. 21
In Geneva, the UNHCR Staff Council has called on aid workers worldwide to demonstrate their anger and concern over the attacks on unarmed humanitarians. On Thursday, Sept. 21. UNCHR staff around the world are urged to hold marches or organize other activities on that day. At UNHCR headquarters, staff members and colleagues from other agencies and organizations will gather in front of Geneva's Palais des Nations at 11 a.m. They will then march to the downtown Palais Wilson, headquarters of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Deputy High Commissioner Frederick Barton addressed a gathering of UNHCR headquarters staff who assembled Monday at noon to observe a minute's silence for Mr. Kpognon and to demonstrate their care and concern for Ms. Djeya and her family. The assembly was held in the UNHCR atrium, where Mr. Kpognon's picture was added to a flower-bedecked memorial for the three colleagues slain in West Timor on Sept. 6.
This document is intended for public information purposes only. It is not an official UN document.