Secretary-General's press conference following his visit to Sri Lanka
Press events | Kofi Annan, Former Secretary-General
In Hambantota, I met displaced families being sheltered in a mosque whatever their religion. In Trincomalee I met Tamil and Muslim children playing together in a school that was serving as a make-shift camp for those who had fled their villages on the shore. And I have met aid workersfrom the South working flat out to get supplies delivered to the survivors in the North and East. So the ordinary people of Sri Lanka have come together on an extraordinary scale to meet the needs created by the emergency. I fervently hope that their political leaders will do the same and join hands.
The UN is not here to take sides. We are here to help all communities throughout the country. From the outside world there are many who are eager to help. We are already seeing an unprecedented response to the disaster, as was clear in the conference in Jakarta that I attended two days ago. The world wants to assist Sri Lanka in the task to recover and rebuild. I hope that Sri Lanka would use the support and the goodwill not only to recover from this tragedy but as an opportunity to unite in the work for peace. I would be very happy to try and answer your questions now. Thank you very much, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Q:
SG: Let me say that we have discussed with the government, and we've also met the people on the ground. At this stage, we are dealing with emergency relief as well as recovery. The recovery stage has almost begun. Recovery means trying to give people back their livelihoods, helping them repair their boats, making sure schools are repaired and making sure other essential things that will allow them to carry on their lives are done. So, shelter is an important area, temporary as well as permanent. And I hope with the cooperation of the government and the support of the international community, we will be able to deal with it.
Q: What kind of assistance can Sri Lanka expect through the International community after your visit to the devastated areas?
SG: Sir, we have lots of other journalists here, and I hope you will give them a chance, you know, because otherwise I don't have too much time; they wouldn't have a chance. But I think, in terms of support, I think the conference in Jakarta and the appeal that we are going to undertake in Geneva on the 11th has very specific areas where we would want to assistnot only Sri Lanka, but also Indonesia and Maldives.
Q: The LTTE has expressed disappointment that you didn't visit LTTE held Sri Lanka. Would you like to comment?
SG: Let me say that I had a very good visit to your country, if you can say this under these difficult circumstances; good in the sense that I met people on the ground, I met the displaced, I met political leaders, I met community leaders, and also I have been able to speak to the President and Prime Minister and others. And I am hoping to be able to come back and someday be able to visit all parts of the country, and not only to come and visit all parts of the country, which I hope will be rebuilt, but also to celebrate peace.
Q: By not visiting the North and East and observing aid workers there, do you think you have been [unintelligible] and also, how would the UN be involved with assisting the peace process itself?
SG: First of all, the UN is not a one-man show. We have lots of people on the ground in all parts of the country, and our agencies here have been very active. And in fact, I've heard this from the Ministers and from the people on the ground. So the UN is very active, and I think my presence in this country and in this region underscores the importance that the UN and the international community attaches to the crisis that we are trying to deal with here. And we are in it for the long haul as we have said, and have encouraged other donors to think longer term.
Q: Does the United Nations have a system to ensure that the aid reaches the right people, and that there is no corruption or misuse of aid? There are many instance that are reported in this country.
SG: No, that is an issue that is always a concern and we have mechanisms for ensuring that that doesn't happen. And we also discussed it in my meetings with the leaders. And I would ask Margareta Wahlstrom to say a bit about that, but we want to make sure that aid reaches the people in need, people for whom the assistance is destined.
WAHLSTROM: Yes, over these last few days, I think with the very strong support that we have from so many partners globally, we are particularly concerned to create space and participation for those many partners. And we are discussing here in Sri Lanka as well as in other places where the UN is assisting to set upjoint mechanisms for coordination at every level in the field, which involves, obviously, the local authorities, the government, but also the UN, the NGOs and maybe other actors so that we really cooperate together along the priorities that are set to make sure aid is reaching out.
Alongside with that, we normally have and we will obviously look at that in this context, joint monitoring mechanisms which exactly aim at verifying what we absolutely intend to do. But that's also to have a specific reporting mechanism together, and I think that would be a verysuccessful endeavor. I can't see any resistance to that. On the contrary, it's definitely in everyone's interest to be absolutelycooperative in this. Certainly the UN is very interested in taking this initiative. But I also know that the NGO system and the government officials that I have talked to are happy with this.
SG: I think it is important that we reassure the donors that the money that has been given is being used properly and effectively. And so, it is not only necessary for us to operate effectively on the ground, but we need to tell them what we have done with the money and how effective it has been to be able to go back and ask for more. So we need everybody's help.
Q: Do you regret not being able to visit the affected areas within the LTTE controlled areas and do you think that this will affect relations or strain relations between the work of the UN in the LTTE controlled areas?
SG: I hope not. I think we should all not forget that I have been here for about 48 hours, less than forty eight hours, and I have done quite a lot in that period, not only to meet people but also to get a sense of what is happening and what is required. And I must say, I have been quite impressed by the energy of the people and their determination with a bit of help to pick up the pieces and carry on. I think the UN has had very good relations here with the people, with NGOs and with the government, and we intend to keep it that way, including with the LTTE.
Q: Do you think that your visit to Sri Lanka will to a great extent help our peace process too?
SG: It is a very difficult situation that you're dealing with. But as difficult as the situation is, I believe that there are also opportunities. I think if the whole nation and all the communities come together, which to some extent you have, and work on this relief and emergency state as well as recovery and reconstruction, you will be instilling enough confidence in each other to be able to build on it and accelerate the peace process. But I think it is important that you do work together and be able to build on that.
Q: How confident are you that the pledges to assistance may be translated into disbursements?
SG: I think the first test will come on the 11th in Geneva, where we are having a pledging conference. And in Jakarta I did indicate the specific program of action, which we want funded immediately. I am hopeful, that the billion dollars that we have asked for, we will receive on the 11th. And of course as I said, we are in this for the longer term and we would hope to be able to keep the donors also engaged for that period. I know there is concern that once the crisis dies down and the cameras go away, the world may forget. It is our responsibility to constantly remind them that the work, the job is not done.
Q: Two other big stories, Also a big story here -- Palestinian election and Sudan Peace signing. Maybe there is some comment you can make linking Sudan and Sri Lanka, humanitarian needs.Still Darfur. Has this significance? Your thoughts on these two big stories -- Palestinian elections today what it means and the signing in Sudan is it just another piece of paper that will be broken?
SG: Let me say that I have been very impressed by the way the Palestinians have managed the transition process after the death of President Arafat. Today they have a chance to elect a new leader. This election has been very well prepared, perhaps one of the best prepared that we have been involved in. We have been working with them for about a year and I expect it to go very well.
Once a new leader has been elected, he is going to need not only the cooperation of his people but also the support of the international community, which has to underpin the financial basis of the State and help them with their reform and really ensure the economic viability of the State. And I think it opens up new prospects for peace talks. And there are also positive developments on the Israeli side, with an impending withdrawal from Gaza. And I think Abu Mazen and Prime Minister Sharon know each other and I hope they will be able to work together with their people and the international community to reenergize the peace process.
As far as Sudan is concerned, I am also thrilled that finally a peace agreement between the North and the South has been signed. This is a conflict that has gone on for about 21 years and when we met in Nairobi the Security Council met in October they promised that they will conclude the agreement by the end of the year. Many were skeptical but they have done it and I hope it's not just going to be an agreement on paper.
We have also undertaken as an organization to help them implement that agreement and we have prepared our plans and we do hope to work with them, but the agreement between the North and the South hopefully will also have a positive impact on the situation in Darfur. There are lessons there, and agreements which have been reached, which could apply to the situation in Darfur. And so, on the whole I am excited at the prospects of peace in Sudan and the prospects of a reenergized peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Q: Is the UN concerned that all the aid pledged that the donors countries may be tempted to limit the resources of the Millennium Development Account and how would it affect this region in the long term?
SG: There is always a concern about that. This is why I've been indicating that I hope all the money that is being pledged would be additional and one would not move it from the development basket to help with the natural disaster or the emergency. Because if we do that,then we are not really making progress globally, particularly with regards to the Millennium Development Goals, which the leaders themselves signed on to five years ago.
In September we will have a five year review to see what progress we've made. But even before then, it has been very clear that if we are going to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, much more resources are going to be required. To be specific, about 50 billion dollars additional a year will be required to meet the goals. So if one were to shift some of the current resources for other purposes, the task is even going to be much more difficult. So my plea is that that whatever money we give to humanitarian emergencies must be additional. And we should not be robbing Paul to pay Peter by draining the development account.
Q: Did you discuss our peace process with the Tamil leaders here?
SG: I met with the leader of the Tamil Alliance and I also met with all the leaders of the political parties this morning, chaired by the President. And I did raise the question of the peace process and the need to intensify the efforts and I was also able to discuss that with the President.
Thank you very much.