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PRESS BRIEFING
TUESDAY, 17 APRIL 2001
MS. MARGARET NOVICKI - SPOKESMAN
AND MAJOR M. M. YERIMA - MILITARY SPOKESMAN
UN SECRETARY-GENERAL TO CALL FOR LARGE_SCALE MOBILIZATION IN THE FIGHT AGAINST AIDS
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will outline key priorities in the fight against HIV/AIDS on 26 April in a statement he will deliver to the African Summit on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseases, to be held in Abuja, Nigeria. He will also call for a major mobilization of political will and resources commensurate with the enormity of the AIDS crisis.
Over the past year, the Secretary-General has been meeting with government and private sector leaders to discuss how to boost the profile and urgency of international action on HIV/AIDS. After a 5 April meeting with the pharmaceutical industry in Amsterdam, he stated that encouraging the active participation of all partners in the fight against HIV/AIDS had become his personal priority.
The Secretary-General's statement in Abuja will be an important contribution to the United Nations Special Session on HIV/AIDS, which will be held on 25-27 June 2001 in New York. The Secretary-General is expected to focus on priority aspects of the epidemic, including prevention, care and treatment, and the key factors to enable a large-scale response.
Mr. Annan is expected to give a press conference at the OAU Summit in addition to his statement. The Summit - convened by the Organization of African Unity and hosted by the President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo - will take place from 24 to 27 April and will be attended by African heads of State, heads of UN agencies and private sector executives. HIV/AIDS workers and experts will also share their views.
CHAIRMAN OF UN SECURITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON SANCTIONS AGAINST LIBERIA VISITS
Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani, Permanent Representative of Singapore to the United Nations, Chairman of the UN Security Council Committee on Sanctions Against Liberia, arrived in Freetown this morning from Guinea with a three-person team.
Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani, Chairman of the Security Council Committee on Sanctions against Liberia, meets with Sierra Leone's Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr. Ramadan Dumbuya, and other senior government officials.
Freetown, 17 April 2001. UNAMSIL Photo.The purpose of his visit is to assess how UN sanctions against Liberia under Resolution 1344 are working. This morning, he met with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Ambassador Oluyemi Adeniji, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Governance and Stabilization, Mr. Alan Doss, and the Deputy Force Commander, Maj. Gen. Martin Agwai.
He will also meet with President Kabbah, the British High Commissioner, the UNDP Resident Representative and the Commission for the Consolidation of Peace. From Sierra Leone, he will travel to Liberia and to Mali and Nigeria.
UNAMSIL FREE MEDICAL DAY
As part of UNAMSIL's peace-building activities, a Free Medical Day, provided by the Jordanian Medical Unit in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, will take place on Saturday, 21 April at 9am at the Secondary High School in Lakka.
The peace-building exercise, which is expected to cover five villages of about 10,000 people, will target women, children and the elderly in remote areas who cannot afford to pay for medical care. The Jordanian Medical Unit will provide free medical tests and treatment to all residents of Lakka and environs. The Ministry of Health will provide health workers on a volunteer basis to help facilitate the work, especially in language translation and liaison with the local authorities.
This activity is a goodwill gesture by his Majesty King Abdullah II, who believes in the alleviation of the suffering people of Sierra Leone. UNAMSIL hopes that this gesture will cover as many people in Lakka as possible and thus help contribute to peace and the well-being of Sierra Leoneans.
UNAMSIL ASSISTS IN RESTORATION OF CIVIL AUTHORITY
A series of meetings was held last week on the efforts to restore civil administration in Lunsar. UNAMSIL and the NCDDR held a meeting with the RUF to examine the possibilities of setting up a DDR camp in Lunsar, and a sub-committee consisting of UNAMSIL, NCDDR and the RUF conducted a survey of three sites, out of which the Baptist Convention Compound was recommended. UNAMSIL also coordinated a meeting on 10 April with the RUF 5th Brigade commanders in Lunsar to discuss the release of child combatants, at which Col. Kallon informed participants that a list of 200 child combatants had been compiled and submitted to Caritas.
During its weekly meeting, the Task Force for the Restoration of Civil Authority, chaired by the Vice President, confirmed that a Government health officer has been temporarily located in Lunsar to offer treatment and dispense drugs to the local population. AT the same meeting, the DSRSG for Governance and Stabilization advised that UNAMSIL Civil Affairs Section has established a permanent presence in Lunsar in order to further assist the efforts of the Government in extending its authority. He said besides the health officer, the Government should consider as a matter of urgency sending in officers from Education and Works/ Maintenance to begin work in Lunsar.
UNAMSIL-RUF CONTACT GROUP MEETS AT MAKENI
The Contact Group of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) held a meeting on 12 April in Makeni. The Force Commander, Lt. Gen. Daniel I. Opande, leading the UNAMSIL team, introduced the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Governance and Stabilization, Mr. Alan Doss, Deputy Force Commander Maj. Gen. Martin L. Agwai, the Chief Military Observer, Brig. Gen. Isaac Chisuzi, and UNAMSIL civilian officials. RUF interim leader Gen. Issa Sesay, Brig. Gen. Morris Kallon, Col. Augustine Gbao and other officers, received them.
Gen. Opande expressed UNAMSIL's satisfaction with the RUF's fulfillment of its commitment to remove three checkpoints on the road between Rogberi and Lunsar, and to cooperate with Nigerian Battalion 7 deployed in Lunsar.
The Force Commander emphasized the need for the RUF to accelerate the release of the remaining UNAMSIL equipment taken in May 2000, to facilitate the restoration of government authority in UNAMSIL-deployed areas and to release 200 child combatants in Lunsar. In his response, Gen. Sesay submitted a document that he said detailed ceasefire violations by the Government. He also expressed concerns over attacks he said were launched against the RUF at Kono by Guinean forces.
The Deputy SRSG, Mr. Doss, underlined UNAMSIL's commitment to restoring peace in Sierra Leone. He emphasized the importance of re-establishing a government presence in former RUF-controlled areas, from which the local population will benefit.
BRIEFING BY MS. AHUNNA EZIAKONWA, UN OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS
I have just two items to share with you. One is a brief highlight of the work of humanitarian agencies in the Country and the second is about the program that you have before you - the visit of the UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Ms. Carolyn McAskie, to Sierra Leone.
On the first, the humanitarian agencies are currently engaged in three key activities. One is support to refugees returning from both Guinea and Liberia, and the second one is resettlement of internally displaced people who are currently in camps and the third is continuing support to the internally displaced. I would however focus my brief primarily on the resettlement process, which began in essence today. As you know the government launched the National Resettlement Plan last month. This followed the declaration of some safe areas mainly in the Southern Province, some parts of the Eastern Province and also the entire Western area.
Basically, once areas have been declared safe we expect that people who come from these areas or who prefer to go to these areas to settle would begin to move into their villages and towns and start normal life--that is independent of relief aid.
Those who come from unsafe areas can continue, they have the option to continue to stay in the IDP camps and they would continue to receive assistance from agencies until their areas become safe and they are able to resettle. However, if they decide to enter the resettlement program, then the relief assistance will be withdrawn. In place of that they would get a resettlement package which allows them to return to whatever area they have chosen to go to. Internally displaced persons in the Port Loko Camp, about 12,000 of those out of roughly 24,000, would be returning to lower part of Maforki chiefdom, which is one of the areas that have been declared safe. And last week they received assistance, resettlement packages and today we expect that the movement back to their villages would begin. Two months' food ration is given as well as some non-food items. Agencies providing assistance in terms of food are mainly WFP, CARE, CRS and World Vision. And non-food items are been provided by ICRC, and CARE. OCHA, which is the office that I represent, provides support to NCRRR in co-ordinating most of the activities. If the IDPs choose to go back home now, transportation is provided free by the International Office for Migration (IOM). And that began also today, the movement from the IDP camp here. One of the things that my Office is been quite busy with is undertaking a census of the IDPs.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: When did the Force Commander go on leave?
A: Friday I believe.
Q: On the question of this RUF position on bombardment in Kono by the Guinean gunships, is it news to UNAMSIL? Or if it is not news, is it not one of what we call a cross-border violation or a ceasefire agreement violation?
A: These are reports that were given to us by the RUF. We do not have confirmation at the time of those reports.
Q: Ambassador Kishore is supposed to be in Liberia to assess whether the sanctions under Resolution 1344 are effectively being implemented. Weren't the sanctions sort of put on for some time?
A: Some of the sanctions were immediate. if you can recall from the briefing that I gave. The Security Council Resolution demanded that Liberia immediately stop supporting the RUF and other armed groups in the region by expelling RUF members from Liberia and ending financial and military aid to the front. And it replaced the former arms embargo against Liberia with a new one, and other sanctions are to be implemented after two months.
Q: What's your troop strength?
A: It is 12,160, including 226 Military Observers.
*********** For additional information, contact UNAMSIL Public Information Office: UNAMSIL Headquarters, Mammy Yoko, P. O. Box 5, Freetown, Sierra Leone. Tel: 232-22-273-183/4/5 Fax: 232-22-273-189
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