DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000717The following is a near-verbatim transcript of todays noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon. Sorry for the delay.
**Sierra Leone
The Secretary-General is gratified that the military operation to bring to safety the UNAMSIL peacekeepers, who had been surrounded for two and a half months by the RUF, has been completed successfully.
The Secretary-General highly commends the Force Commander of UNAMSIL, Major General Jetley, his military staff, and all troops engaged in the operation, for the high degree of professionalism and effectiveness with which this operation was planned and conducted. The courage and remarkable discipline and determination displayed by all bring credit to them, to their countries' armed forces, and to the United Nations.
The Secretary-General deeply regrets that one Indian UNAMSIL peacekeeper lost his life during the operation and that six others were wounded. He extends his sincere condolences to the family of this brave Indian soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice while rescuing his colleagues. He wishes those wounded a speedy recovery.
[Following the briefing, UNAMSIL updated the casualty toll, saying there was one dead and at least seven wounded.]
Now that this episode is behind us, the Secretary-General hopes that all efforts can now be directed toward establishing conditions conducive to a resumption of the peace process in Sierra Leone and an early end to the prolonged suffering that the people of Sierra Leone have had to endure.
Let me give you some of the details of this military operation that took place over the weekend. After ten weeks of being confined to their base by the surrounding Revolutionary United Front (RUF) Rebels, United Nations peacekeepers forcefully broke out of the base at Kailahun, which is in the eastern part of Sierra Leone, and made it to UN-secured areas with their vehicles, weapons and essential equipment, and with only minimal casualties.
The RUF resistance was determined but relatively disorganized. They fired repeatedly on the retreating UN convoy, and there were a number of skirmishes and ambushes. During one such ambush, the RUF hit a UN truck with a rocket- propelled grenade, injuring two Indian peacekeepers, one of whom subsequently died of his wounds. The UN suffered a total of six wounded and one dead, while RUF casualties are thought to have been in the tens.
Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 17 July 2000
The breakout, carried out on the ground and in the air, was spearheaded by Indian soldiers, backed up by Nigerian and Ghanaian elements of the UN peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone, as well as by Russian pilots flying UN-chartered helicopters. The British military -- who are in the country in support of, while not actually being part of, the UN mission -- provided airlift, but they placed these air assets under UN command, for the purpose of this operation.
The complex extraction maneuvre had been in the planning stages for weeks, while the United Nations pressed the RUF to allow the peacekeepers to leave peacefully. These diplomatic efforts were not successful, and the RUF had become increasingly obstructive in allowing the UN to re-supply the base at Kailahun.
The operation began at 5:45 Saturday morning when about 80 members of the Indian special forces unit were airlifted to Kenewa, which is about five kilometres south of Kailahun. They were flown in on British transport helicopters, which had air cover from Indian helicopter gunships. One British helicopter then went into Kailahun itself and extracted 11 unarmed military observers and 29 injured or non-combatant military staff.
At 7 a.m., the remaining 193 Indian peacekeepers boarded their vehicles at the base, which they had loaded with all their essential equipment, and broke out of the camp, taking the road to Kenewa, which by then had been secured by Indian Special Forces.
Meanwhile, an extraction force, which had formed in Daru, secured key points along the extraction route from Daru to Kailahun, and met up, late on Saturday, with the Kailahun force at Pendembu, where they spent the night.
On Sunday, the Indian Special Forces and about 150 members of the Kailahun force were airlifted to Freetown, while the remainder of the extraction force completed the road journey to Daru. They dealt robustly with occasionally significant RUF opposition along that route. The RUF conducted a number of ambushes and also repeatedly obstructed the road, placing obstacles across it and, in some cases, cratering it.
All throughout this operation, I must say, the rain was heavy -- it is the rainy season -- and visibility for the helicopters was minimal. Happily, it all ended successfully.
**Security Council
The Security Council held consultations this morning to review the text of the draft resolution on HIV/AIDS and international peacekeeping operations.
Following that, Council members were briefed on the Sierra Leone extraction mission of the weekend by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Hedi Annabi. He gave a full account of the events of this weekend, when peacekeepers and military observers broke out from their base in Kailahun. Council members decided to continue discussing this matter tomorrow.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 17 July 2000
Once those consultations concluded, the Council went into an open meeting, or a public meeting, on the subject of HIV and peacekeeping.
Dr. Peter Piot, the Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, is briefing them now. Dr. Piot noted the active discussions with the Peacekeeping Department on responsible behaviour and protection of peacekeepers and humanitarian staff, including training before and during deployment, and the development of a United Nations medical policy on HIV/AIDS for peacekeeping staff.
Dr. Piot also said that voluntary HIV testing, accompanied by counseling, has a vital role to play in HIV prevention, but it must be combined with other HIV prevention and support services. Above all, he said, HIV testing without informed consent and confidentiality should be avoided. Such practices often drive the epidemic underground and complicate other prevention measures.
Copies of his speech are available in my office. And Dr. Piot will come here to room 226 to brief you at the end of this open Council meeting. As soon as we have a precise time, we will announce it.
**South Lebanon
Today officers from the United Nations Force in Lebanon and members of the Lebanese Army began an inspection tour of the Line of Withdrawal along the border with Israel.
The visit has so far been successful with most of the violations alleged on the Israeli side having been corrected, although the Lebanese army officials did raise questions about two points along the border. By the end of today, one-third of the line had been inspected and it is expected this visit will be completed by Wednesday morning of this week.
The Secretary-Generals report on the UN mission in Southern Lebanon is due out on Friday of this week.
**Ethiopia/Eritrea
The head of the UN planning team led by Major General Timothy Ford - thats the planning team for the Ethiopia/Eritrea prospective peacekeeping mission - is briefing the head of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Salim A. Salim, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the results of his just-concluded mission to the region.
Following consultations with Ethiopian, Eritrean, and OAU officials, a report containing a concept of operation for a prospective UN peacekeeping operation will go to the Security Council next week.
Meanwhile, the first four military liaison officers, two each in Asmara and in Addis Ababa, are expected to arrive in those two capitals this week to assist in the planning of the mission.
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 17 July 2000
**Iraq
We have the oil figures from the Office of the Iraq Programme. For the week ending Friday, 14 July, the Security Councils sanctions committee on Iraq approved 27 new contracts for the sale of Iraqi oil with a total volume of 74.6 million barrels.
This brings the number of approved contracts for the current phase to 318.6 million barrels. During the same week Iraq exported 15.3 million barrels with an estimated value of $378 million, and that brings the revenue so far, during the current phase, to about $1.5 billion.
**High-Level Panel
In celebration of 50 years of international development cooperation by the United Nations system, a high-level panel discussion chaired by Ambassador Bernd Niehaus (Costa Rica), the Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council, will take place today from 4 to 7 p.m. in the ECOSOC chamber. The Panel is part of the high-level portion of the operational activities segment of ECOSOCs substantive session for this year.
Panelists include Mark Malloch Brown, the Administrator of the UN Development Programme; Dr. Wang Qiming, Minister of Science and Technology from China; and Ms. Mary Chinery-Hesse of Ghana, former Deputy Director-General of the International Labour Organization. The United States Secretary of Agriculture, Dan Glickman, will also speak at this event. If you want more information, please contact Yasmin Padamsee at 7704.
**Signature
This morning, Bosnia and Herzegovina became the 98th State to sign the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Fourteen States have ratified the Treaty so far. Sixty are needed for it to become operational.
**Press Conferences
Tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m. in this room, Dr. Paul Robertson, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Jamaica will brief you.
Thats all that I have for you. Any questions?
**Questions and Answers
Question: Could you refresh us on what the actual policy is in the Peacekeeping Department on distributing condoms to peacekeepers? What exactly is distributed, how many, and in what peacekeeping missions?
Spokesman: I dont have those numbers. Yes, we distribute condoms; I dont know what the rate is but it is a generous enough rate so that everyone has ample opportunity to have maximum protection. But there is a specific number I can give it to you after the briefing. Which missions, which members
Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 17 July 2000
-- I think its across the board, but Ill double check for you. I see no reason why it wouldnt be across the board.
Question: Fred, just a clarification. When you were talking about the Security Council and you said they were going to continue discussions tomorrow, was that on Sierra Leone?
Spokesman: Yes.
Any other questions? Very good. Thank you very much. See you tomorrow.
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