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 - 16 minutes

UN: UNITED NATIONS BRIEFING AND TV - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: TUESDAY, 19/08/2008 (MaximsNews Network)

UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / - 19 August 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:  Since you mention Legal Affairs, do you have any idea when Ms. [Ingrid] O’Brien will be coming here; will be arriving in New York?  And do you have any idea when Monsieur [Alain Le Roy] will be arriving?

Associate Spokesperson:  I believe Mr. Le Roy is coming closer to the end of this month.  As for Ms. O’Brien, I believe we announced in her appointment that she would be coming around here in September.  I’ll try and get a more precise date for you if I can get that.  Yes, Matthew.  [He later indicated she would begin her duties around the start of September.]

Question:  You mentioned Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah.  There has been this incident in Somalia which a number of civilians have been killed by the side of the road; there was a roadside bomb and it is said that Ethiopian troops opened fire and there were some 16 civilians dead, according to the BBC.  I am wondering whether in his capacity as envoy to that issue, he has had anything to say on the topic.

Associate Spokesperson:  He has not issued any comment on that yet.  If he does issue any statement on that, we will certainly distribute it from here.

Question:  I notice that there is also a statement about the Ethiopians blaming, that the people who planted the roadside bomb for the civilians were in turn shot....  Does the UN system have anything to say?

Associate Spokesperson:  We clearly have our concerns and Mr. Ould-Abdallah monitors events throughout.  However, as you know, the UN has very little first hand presence on the ground in Somalia.  So we are not able to get a lot of first-hand information right away.  What we would need to do is gather information as it comes.  We do have our political office on Somalia, but it is based out of Nairobi and it will continue to monitor the situation and make comments as appropriate.  Khalid?

Question:  I am sorry I came a few minutes late and I was wondering whether there was a reaction on the bombing in Algeria that killed 43 people.

Associate Spokesperson:  We don’t have a statement on that so far.  If something comes along later we will notify you by intercom.

Question:  And on the attack on the French soldiers in Afghanistan?

Associate Spokesperson: No, no statement on that at all.

Question:  I am just wondering, on the follow-up on the Algiers bombing of the UN premises; the second report, the so-called accountability report, the Brahimi report, what was the deadline for it to be done and where does it stand?

Associate Spokesperson:  As you know, there was a two-month deadline from the start of that body’s work; Ralph Zacklin, as you know, is the head of that body and he and that group are proceeding with the work and as far as I am aware, the report is not finished yet.  It’s still in the process of being finalized.

Question:  Do you have any updates on the water issue in Sudan?

Associate Spokesperson:  In Sudan?  Yes.  We mentioned that at the start of the briefing.  I won’t read the whole thing again, but I’ll just let you know that the basic point was that at least five people reportedly lost their lives and about 1,500 homes were reportedly destroyed according to information received by UNAMID.  NGOs are already in the area trying to provide basic needs and the Chinese engineering unit was contacted to find out what could be done to assist the victims of the flooding.  Yes?

Question:  Were any Palestinians invited for the programme on terrorism which is going to happen on 9 September?  Are you inviting any Palestinians to testify regarding... they were victims, some of the Palestinian victims...

Associate Spokesperson:  Well, I don’t know whether you were for the briefing; but there was briefing just an hour ago held by Mr. [Kiyotaka] Akasaka and some other guests about this.  If you weren’t there, you can get the transcript.  But he spoke at length about the arrangements.  There are about 20 to 30 people being invited.  I believe Mr. Akasaka provided some information at the time.

Question:  Last week I had asked, and you’d answered, about this interview that the Secretary-General gave with all around criticism by the Foreign Ministry of Sudan; about his comments about the ICC [International Criminal Court].  I have noticed on this website that they put up now a transcript, which they call revised transcript.  I wanted to know what’s the basis of the revision...?

Associate Spokesperson:  It’s not revised so much as we provided them the English original.  I think what I told you stands; which is there may have been a slippage either when it was translated from English into Arabic or from Arabic back into English.  In any case, we wanted to give the original since his answers were originally given in English and we provided to the Mission English answers.  So that is what they have.

Question:  And the revised text?

Associate Spokesperson:  It’s the original English language answers that they were provided by the Secretary-General.  Yes?

Question:  On Georgia, the UN aid that’s coming in, if I am not mistaken, you said 50 some odd thousand tonnes?

Associate Spokesperson:  I think that was referring to UNHCR.

Question:  Okay.  Is UNHCR having some difficulties getting access to the country?  I mean, we know that there are difficulties in transporting it, as you said, but are there other difficulties dealing with the Russians or the Georgians or...?

Associate Spokesperson:  Well, there have been some access problems and Mr. Guterres is there to assess what those problems are and to push for access.  One of the things I mentioned at the top of the briefing is that, as OCHA reported to us, several villages in Georgia including Gori, the large city there, are accessible for the first time in two weeks.  So there have been improvements.  But Mr. Guterres is on the ground to try and push for further improvements and access.

Question:  And is it a UN plane that’s delivering it, or is it a US plane with military personnel delivering that aid?

Associate Spokesperson:  Well, at least some of the activity is being done by the UN, including aid supplies.  UNHCR reported that its first humanitarian flight to Batumi was organized today.  So some of these flights are UNHCR flights and other UN flights.

Question:  On Myanmar, the National League for Democracy says that although they welcome Mr. Ibrahim Gambari’s visit, previous visits have not really accomplished, from their point of view, anything.  And they have also said that they haven’t received any invitation to meet with him during his visit.  What sort of either opposition or formally-elected parties in Myanmar is he going to be meeting with while he is there?

Associate Spokesperson:  As I think we mentioned yesterday, Mr. Gambari expects to meet with all relevant parties to the national reconciliation process, including all those whom he has met on previous occasions.  And as you know, on previous occasions he has met with opposition leaders as well as with Aung San Suu Kyi.  Okay, and with that, I wish you all a good afternoon.

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

 

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