High Commissioner's Africa mission

High Commissioner Sadako Ogata concludes a two-week, six-nation mission to Africa tonight. This morning, she leaves Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, for Goma. In Kinshasa yesterday, she met President Kabila and senior government officials and urged them to take into account the human costs of the conflict in DRC, including the plight of an estimated 1.8 million internally displaced in the country. Mrs. Ogata said UNHCR would look into the possibility of helping internally displaced people in areas where we are already involved in refugee programmes. UNHCR is currently assisting some 200,000 refugees in DRC. Today, Mrs. Ogata will visit Goma to look at UNHCR's return operation for Rwandan refugees. Some 45,000 have returned since January 1, 1999.