HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY FARHAN HAQ, ACTING DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
WEDNESDAY, 22 DECEMBER 2010 Staffan
de Mistura, the Secretary-General’s Special
Representative for
Afghanistan, briefed the
Security Council on developments in that
country this morning. He said that all sides,
including the Taliban, realise that there is no
military solution, and he described UN support
for reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan. De
Mistura congratulated the Afghan people and
authorities for the holding of the September
elections, and recognised the diligent,
committed and intense work done by Afghanistan’s
elections commissions. He said the commissions
had worked to remove the cases of fraud that
they detected. Earlier,
the Security Council unanimously adopted a
resolution authorizing the member States of the
African Union to maintain the deployment until
30 September 2011 of the African Union Mission
in Somalia (AMISOM). The
Council also unanimously renewed the mandate of
the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force
(UNDOF)
for a period of six months, until 30 June 2011. And by a
14 to 0 vote with one abstention, the Security
Council established the International Residual
Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals and requested
the Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and
Rwanda to take all possible measures to
expeditiously complete all their remaining work
by no later than 31 December 2014. The
Secretary-General briefed the
General Assembly on Côte d’Ivoire on Tuesday
afternoon in an informal meeting. He said that
there was a real risk of a return to civil war
and that the international community had to act
and act decisively. The
Secretary-General rejected accusations attacking
the UN as partial. This is wrong, he said. He added
that the intention of Laurent Gbagbo and the
security forces loyal to him is clearly to
blockade the United Nations peacekeeping mission
and to suffocate the Government of
President-elect Alassane Ouattara. He
called on Member States to prepare to support
the Mission to assist with the continued flow of
supplies. The Secretary-General said the role of
the UN Mission,
UNOCI, was now even more critical for the
stability of Côte d’Ivoire and the sub-region
and that it was essential that it received the
full support of all Member States in
implementing its mandate effectively. In
response to questions, the Spokesperson said
that the two communications from President-elect
Ouattara with respect to the credentials of the
Côte d'Ivoire delegation have been shared with
the Credentials Committee. The
Secretary-General said on Tuesday that it was
important that Member States proceed quickly and
decisively to address the credentials issue, so
that there will be no confusion as to the views
of the international community on this question. Haq
noted that the Credentials Committee had begun
an informal meeting on the subject at 10:00 a.m.
today, and that session would resume at 3:00
p.m. Asked
whether non-essential UN staff would be
withdrawn from the country, the Spokesperson
said that some non-essential staff have already
left as a precautionary measure, but he
emphasized that it is vital that the
peacekeepers stay on to do their work. Asked
about the issue of mercenaries, Haq said that
the Secretary-General had raised the issue that
mercenaries are operating in Côte d’Ivoire as a
serious concern. Robert
Serry, the UN
Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace
Process, today condemned the indiscriminate
firing of mortars and rockets by militant groups
in Gaza at Israel, which has escalated in recent
days. These attacks are in clear violation of
international humanitarian law and endanger
civilians in Israel. Serry
said that Israel has a right to self-defence
consistent with international humanitarian law,
but he urged Israel to exercise maximum
restraint and take every precaution to ensure
that its forces do not endanger civilians in
Gaza. He said that the maintenance of calm is
essential to create an environment in which
further progress can be made in the interests of
the people of both Gaza and Israel. Earlier
today, Maxwell Gaylard, the United Nations
Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied
Palestinian territory, visited the site of a
Palestinian home in East Jerusalem which had
been demolished just twenty four hours earlier,
following an order by the relevant authorities
of the Government of Israel. Asked
whether the Secretary-General still hopes that
talks can be held on the Middle East, the
Spokesperson said that the Secretary-General
continues to believe that the way forward is for
talks between the parties on a two-State
solution. He looks forward to discussing the way
ahead in the peace process with the other
members of the Quartet in the coming weeks.
The
Secretary-General has appointed Robert Watkins
of Canada as Deputy
Special Coordinator for Lebanon, where he
will also serve as the United Nations Resident
Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative.
Mr.
Watkins succeeds Marta Ruedas of Spain, who will
complete her assignment at the end of the year.
He has served most recently as the
Secretary-General’s Deputy Special
Representative in Afghanistan. The
Secretary-General, in a
statement, welcomed the announcement of a
new government in Baghdad, which has been
approved by Iraq’s Council of Representatives,
and congratulated Nuri al-Maliki on his
confirmation as Prime Minister. This represents
a major step forward in Iraq’s democratic
progress. The
Secretary-General also congratulated Iraq’s
political leaders for their concerted efforts to
ensure that the new government is inclusive,
broadly participatory and has the support of the
people of Iraq.
And in a
press statement, the members of the
Security Council also welcomed the formation
of a new representative national partnership
government and encouraged its leaders to
continue to pursue a federal, democratic,
pluralistic and unified Iraq based on the rule
of law and respect for human rights.
UN
African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID)
peacekeepers continue to provide protection, as
well as water and limited medical assistance, to
displaced persons who have been sheltering
outside the Mission’s team sites in Khor Abeche
and Shangil Tobaya, South Darfur, as a result of
the recent outbreak of fighting. There
are now more than 3,000 people surrounding the
Shangil Tobaya team site. The
Secretary-General issued a
statement on the fighting on Tuesday
afternoon. Also in
Sudan, the Chairman of the Secretary-General’s
Panel on the Referenda, Benjamin Mkapa, in a
statement to the press today said two important
steps remain as we enter the final stages of
preparations for the Southern Sudan referendum:
the courts will hear any remaining challenges
and the final list of eligible voters will be
published. He said these steps are extremely
important to the success of the referendum and
the Panel will be watching closely to see how
they are carried out. Mr.
Mkapa called on all sides to play their part to
ensure that the vote can take place on 9 January
as scheduled. The
Mission in Chad and the Central African Republic
(MINURCAT)
announced today the official handover of the
Mission’s programmes to the Government of Chad
and the UN Country Team. The
handover marks one of the final steps in the
shutdown of the Mission, which will be completed
on 31 December, in line with the Security
Council resolution of May 2010 terminating the
mission’s mandate. Speaking
at the handover ceremony, the Deputy-Special
Representative of the Secretary-General, Rima
Salah, said that the UN Country Team has
extensive field work experience and is a natural
partner to the Government. As such, the Country
Team will continue to work for the benefit of
the Chadian people. The
programmes handed over included human rights,
rule of law and good governance, child
protection and the fight against gender-based
violence. DOWNER
SPEAKS FOR U.N. ON CYPRUS:
Asked about reported remarks concerning the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea that were
attributed to the Secretary-General’s Special
Adviser on Cyprus, Alexander Downer, the
Spokesperson clarified that Downer speaks for the
United Nations on Cyprus, and his views on other
matters are not necessarily shared by the
Organization. GENERAL
ASSEMBLY BUILDING RESUMES NORMAL WORK:
The Spokesperson, in response to a question, said
that normal work in the General Assembly Building
had resumed today following a brief evacuation on
Tuesday caused by a suspicious odor.
Office of the Spokesperson for the
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