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: FRIDAY, 2/05/2008 (MaximsNews Network)

UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / - 2 May 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: Human Rights Watch today urged that the Secretary-General hold Pakistani and Indian peacekeepers accountable for gold trafficking and weapons smuggling, despite what two senior UN officials had told us earlier this week. Will the Secretary-General be commenting on that issue?

Associate Spokesperson: Well, first of all, we’ll check whether the Secretary-General has received the Human Rights Watch letter. As you know, the Secretary-General is just boarding a plane after a long mission, so he’s in transit today. As we mentioned earlier this week, we take these allegations very seriously concerning misconduct by UN peacekeeping forces in the DRC. I don’t have anything for now beyond what the Department for Peacekeeping Operations and the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) said in the background briefing given to you about the BBC’s reported allegations earlier this week.

Question: Human Rights Watch says: “the failure by OIOS to follow up on the serious allegations of rearming murderous militia groups is extraordinary”. So I guess I’m wondering, we had this background briefing. Is it possible to request that the head of OIOS, Inga-Britt Ahlenius, come too? But also, as part of this has now become public, two audits of OIOS, which are pretty damning about the agency’s performance. So it seems it would be an opportune time to have Ms. Ahlenius, the head of the agency, come and give us a briefing.

Associate Spokesperson: That’s certainly the agency’s decision, but we’ll put the question to them.

Question: On this World Press Freedom issue, yesterday in a UNESCO-sponsored speech here, Justice Albie Sachs of South Africa said that the right to information is a fundamental right and is the basis of all other rights. I wanted to know whether the Secretariat, Ban Ki-moon, is in favour of the UN itself having a right-to-information policy, and Ms. Bárcena, of Management, has talked sometimes about it. If we could get an update on what steps the Secretariat is making to actually have there be a right to information by the press and public.

Associate Spokesperson: In terms of that, we certainly do have a policy to provide as much information as we can. As you know, we have the Department of Public Information that’s designed specifically to put out as much information about the work that the UN does across a variety of fields. And this briefing is part of that effort. In terms of a policy, yes, I believe the Department of Management is dealing with that issue and we’ll see whether they have anything, what the progress of that is.

Question: Do you have anything to say regarding Sami al-Haj, the cameraman of Al Jazeera, who spent six years in Guantanamo, after his release yesterday? Is there any statement regarding the remaining prisoners on this occasion?

Associate Spokesperson: There’s nothing specific to Mr. al-Haj. However, as you are aware, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, has commented on conditions in Guantanamo. And she has been one of those calling for an early closure of the system there so that the people residing in Guantanamo can face due process. And, of course, we favour due process for all people accused of any criminal charge.

Question: You mentioned the humanitarian situation in Somalia is deteriorating. I would like to ask how far Mr. Ban Ki-moon believes the repeated US strikes on Somalia can or might deteriorate the reconciliation efforts, and in turn more deterioration to the humanitarian situation there.

Associate Spokesperson: In terms of that, we don’t have any specific comment about the military activities by any one party or any one group dealing with Somalia. What we have tried to do is push for an effort to draw as many of parties on the ground into a dialogue as possible so that the situation can be resolved peacefully. And we’re continuing with that effort on the ground through the work of our Special Representative, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah.

Question: On Somalia, there have been some reports talking about Ethiopians selling weapons widely to the militias in Somalia. Did you get anything in this regard?

Associate Spokesperson: We don’t have any first-hand knowledge of that, no.

Question: What are the issues Mr. Kai Eide discussed when he met the Canadian Prime Minister yesterday and other foreign officials? Is he going back to Afghanistan or some other country?

Associate Spokesperson: He’ll be going back to Afghanistan, I believe, over the coming week. In terms of his meetings with the Canadian officials, part of what he’s been doing is talking to different Governments about support for the Government of Afghanistan prior to the conference that will take place in Paris next month that’s designed to boost support for the people and Government of Afghanistan.

Question: Is he coming back here before going back to Afghanistan?

Associate Spokesperson: Mr. Eide is here in New York today for internal discussions with other UN officials and with some of the diplomatic community here. But he does intend to return to Afghanistan, I believe, in the coming week.

Question: Any reaction to the Zimbabwean presidential vote being announced?

Associate Spokesperson: There’s no statement we have on that. Clearly, this is something that we had been calling for -- the release of the electoral results. And we continue to hope that all parties will try to deal with matters on the ground peacefully and in dialogue. Beyond that, as you were informed earlier this week, the Secretary-General is willing to use his good offices in coordination and conjunction with the efforts being made by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and by the African Union.

Question: If there is a run-off, how ready are the UN and the Secretary-General to provide election monitors, and do they encourage authorities in Harare to accept a United Nations component?

Associate Spokesperson: Well, first of all, let’s see whether there’s agreement on holding a run-off round of elections and whether there’s any request to the United Nations. Certainly we have the capacity to assist with these sorts of tasks upon request, but we haven’t received a request. I don’t want to speculate on whether there will be a run-off.

Question: This report on a plane crash in Southern Sudan and including, they say, two Government Ministers were on board. Does UNMIS have any information on this?

Associate Spokesperson: At this stage, UNMIS is trying to provide a helicopter to the area so that we can assist in any recovery efforts. At this stage, we wouldn’t have any solid first-hand information to provide beyond the same reports that you’ve seen.

[The United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS) later confirmed the death of Sudanese officials on that flight.]

Question: Do you have any reaction regarding Hillary Clinton’s pact to obliterate Iran?

Associate Spokesperson: I’m aware that the Iranian Government did send a letter to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council concerning this and I believe they asked for that letter to be circulated as a document and I believe it will become a document.

Question: In the past, there were statements from Iran regarding rhetoric between Iran and Israel. Why don’t you react now to this letter?

Associate Spokesperson: That was a statement made by the head of the Iranian Government. In general, you’re quite right. As a general principle, we would like all individuals to avoid rhetoric that threatens any group of peoples or any States.

Question: This group, La Via Campesina, it’s the group of cross-borders, they call themselves peasants, have criticized Ban Ki-moon’s call for an end for food export bans, saying that, in fact, these bans can help small farmers and that his call encourages free trade to benefit wealthy countries. Is he aware of that criticism, and what does he have to say about it?

Associate Spokesperson: Obviously, there’s a number of complexities in dealing with the food issues. This is one of the reasons why Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is wanting as large a turn-out, and as senior a turn-out, as is possible at the Global Food Summit that is scheduled to take place in Rome next month. And there can be a wider discussion of these issues at that time. Beyond that, I simply would reiterate and draw your attention again to the rather extensive comments that the Secretary-General has been making on the food issue over the past several weeks.

Question: There’s a report out today saying that WFP, despite comments that they had no money or had only $18 million in the bank at the time of these appeals, actually had $1.22 billion on hand. That’s what the report says, and so they take specific issue with Ban Ki-moon having said there was only $18 million in bank. And the report also said WFP didn’t respond to questions. Is there a response to that?

Associate Spokesperson: Actually, WFP has conveyed to us that they are handling all the questions on this so please address your questions over to them. I think that they can handle that.

And with that, I wish you all a good afternoon. And if you come back here in a few minutes, we should have Ambassador John Sawers of the United Kingdom in his capacity as Security Council President.

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

 

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