MICHELE MONTAS is the Spokesperson for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General and the Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly.

TV: UN WEBCAST TV VIDEO - 18 minutes

UN: UNITED NATIONS BRIEFING AND TV - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: WEDNESDAY, 23/04/2008 (MaximsNews Network)

UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / - 23 April 2008 -- Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General and UN Webcast TV Video.

**Questions and Answers

Question: Thank you Michèle. The Secretary-General in his Monrovia press conference yesterday addressed the issue o0f sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers. I guess my question is, is there anything new or different that is being done by the UN to address this issue?

Spokesperson: Well, we are constantly addressing this issue. I think this has been said to you on different occasions about different cases. And the Secretary-General in his press conference –- you can read his remarks –- was focusing on the situation in Liberia, and he was not simply focusing on sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers.

Question: But he did bring up the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and he referred to them as the ones committing those crimes.

Spokesperson: Well, I think you should re-read his statement.

Question: Is there anything on the visit of IAEA to Tehran? And how is Mr. Ban Ki-moon reacting to the Iranian President announcing that he is ready to discuss the nuclear dispute with any country?

Spokesperson: I know that there was a press conference by the IAEA Director General, Mr. ElBaradei, and he gave his comment. We don’t have the Secretary-General’s comment yet. As you know, this was this morning.

Question: Just a follow-up. What was the reason for Mr. ElBaradei to go Sarajevo, to Bosnia?

Spokesperson: I think you should address your question to IAEA. We can put you in touch with them.

Question: The Executive Secretary of the WFP is now speaking about a silent tsunami threatening to lead a hundred million people into poverty and hunger and these food riots and food crisis are now beginning to threaten some Governments and some States. Would the Secretary-General be in favour of a addressing a message to the Security Council on this subject since it clearly has a security aspect?

Spokesperson: As I said earlier, there are several steps to this process. The Secretary-General is meeting all heads of agencies, funds and programmes in Bern next week, and we should definitely have some decisions taken by the UN system. I don’t know whether that will involve the Secretary-General turning to the Security Council.

Question: Just regarding what you said yesterday regarding the van Walsum report, you mentioned that Ban Ki-moon doesn’t share all the elements. Did you mean that there is a contradiction?

Spokesperson: No, there is no contradiction between the two simply that the Secretary-General did not want to insert an opinion into the ongoing talks. He felt that rather this should be left to the facilitator who is leading the talks. There is no contradiction there.

Question: So it is not fully his report?

Spokesperson: He stands by his report of course. In terms of Mr. van Walsum’s proposal, as I said, there is a minimum of leeway which is given to the facilitator to be able to lead those talks.

Question: It is part of his mandate to give the…

Spokesperson: It is part of his mandate, yes.

Question: So there is no contradiction at all between them?

Spokesperson: No, there is none.

Question: Just a follow-up. So Mr. Ban Ki-moon does not share the views of Ambassador van Walsum about establishing a State in Western Sahara by POLISARIO? He said it is not realistic anymore to…

Spokesperson: Tarek, I didn’t say that. What I said is that the Secretary-General did not want to insert himself to give an opinion on the ongoing talks and he left it to the facilitator who actually expressed those thoughts in his own assessment to the Security Council. The Secretary-General’s report stands as it is.

Question: But I am asking about the view expressed by Ambassador van Walsum. How is it…

Spokesperson: The Secretary-General simply does not want to go into an assessment of the process that is going on right now. That is all.

Question: A follow-up from that question, Michèle. Since Ambassador van Walsum thinks that it will not be realistic to opt for the independence option, is he going to make some suggestions on this basis regarding the future negotiations?

Spokesperson: Well, I don’t know at this point. It is between Mr. van Walsum and the Security Council at this point because, as you know, he has offered his own assessment to the Security Council.

Question: Thank you Michèle. The Nigerian Government has asked for the United Nations to help it in convoking a kind of peace conference in the Niger Delta and now, there are reports in Nigerian newspapers that the Federal Government of Nigeria is asking the United Nations to release Under-Secretary-General Gambari temporarily to chair that Committee to bring about peace in the Niger Delta. What is the reaction of the Secretariat to these reports?

Spokesperson: As far as I know, we have not received a letter yet and I will get a reaction for you once we get it. We don’t have it yet. Yes, Matthew?

Question: Yes, Michèle, there has been a call by 60 some NGOs – OXFAM, Human Rights Watch and others – for the UN to appoint a human rights envoy to Eastern Congo on human rights issues and on sexual violence issues, so I am wondering whether the Secretary-General is aware of that call, whether that is something that could be considered.

Spokesperson: I have to say that this is matter for the Human Rights Council, not for the Secretariat.

Question: Okay, as you understand it, that is who they are directing it at? They are not asking for an envoy from the Secretariat?

Spokesperson: Not that I know of.

Question: Then, I wanted to ask this from the Africa conference last week. Did the Secretary-General meet with Prime Minister Prodi of Italy?

Spokesperson: Yes, he did.

Question: And you know if it is okay to as if, whether, among other things, a possible post with the UN was discussed?

Spokesperson: Not that I know of. Thank you very much.

Labels: United Nations,  U.N., Secretary-General

 

Advertisement

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MaximsNews® LLC   NEWS NETWORK FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

MaximsNews Network® LLC is a Global News Network that is read worldwide, in 195 countries and territories. It is associated with MediaChannel.org and Globalvision News Network, global news and media information services with more than 350 news affiliates in 135 countries. 

Established in 1999, MaximsNews now publishes in the six UN working languages: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.  

SEE:  About MaximsNews

The views expressed are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of MaximsNews® LLC.

REACH THE WORLD'S MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE  

SEE: Advertise with MaximsNews | MaximsNews MEDIA PARTNERSHIPS      

MaximsNews.com U.N. ® LLC  www.MaximsNews.com | MaximsNews@MaximsNews.com | Please contact us about Republishing: Syndication@MaximsNews.com ©Copyrights 1999 - 2008, MaximsNews® LLC. All rights reserved.