Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

 

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Nuclear Tests

Good afternoon.  Starting off with the Secretary‑General, some of you may have seen that he spoke this morning at the General Assembly’s informal meeting to mark the International Day against Nuclear Tests.  He voiced regret that the Comprehensive Nuclear‑Test‑Ban Treaty has still not entered into force, 18 years after opening for signature.

The Secretary‑General called on the world community not to allow despair or cynicism to erode our commitment to this great common cause. 

He noted that in places such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan and Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan, he met people who have refused to be defeated by their tragedies.  The Secretary‑General said that we must listen to their words and imagine the effects of these detonations as if they were experienced by each of us.  Only then can we better understand the imperative to renew our commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons and nuclear tests.  His full remarks are available online.

Iraq

The Under‑Secretary‑General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, is expected to visit Iraq from 11 to 14 September, to see how UN agencies can further support the aid efforts in that country. 

During her visit, she will meet senior Iraqi and Kurdish officials, as well as visit displaced communities.  She is expected to hold a press conference in Baghdad on 14 September.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that as winter approaches, UN agencies and their humanitarian partners will continue to increase their assistance.  Up to 1.8 million people have been displaced since the beginning of the year in Iraq.

Afghanistan

And from Afghanistan, the Secretary‑General’s Special Representative in that country, Ján Kubiš, today endorsed a call made by the Ulema Council — Afghanistan’s religious council — asking both presidential candidates to resolve their differences and come to an agreement on the formation of a government of national unity soon.

Mr. Kubiš’s meeting is a part of his ongoing engagement with the various political groups in Afghanistan in support of the electoral process.  And more information is available on UNAMA’s [United Nations Mission in Afghanistan] website. 

Gaza

I’ve been asked a couple of times about the UN’s role in supporting the ceasefire reached in Gaza.  And I have the following information that was sent to me by the office of UN Special Coordinator Robert Serry:

The United Nations on the ground is in intensive negotiations with the parties to finalize an understanding on an access mechanism for the reconstruction of Gaza.  We remain hopeful that an agreement can be reached within the next few days.

Secretary-General’s Appointment

And today, the Secretary‑General has appointed Carolyn Boykin of the United States as Representative of the Secretary‑General (RSG) for the investment of the assets of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF).

The position of full‑time RSG, established by the General Assembly in March this year, will assist the Secretary‑General in carrying out the fiduciary responsibilities for the investment of the assets of the Fund.  In her new role, Ms. Boykin will work closely with the Chief Executive Officer and the Pension Board, and will be responsible for the overall investment policy, and oversight and management of the investments of the Fund.

Ms. Boykin is currently President of the Bolton Partners Investment Consulting Group, in Maryland.  And we have more on this appointment in my office upstairs.

Capital Master Plan

And as you know, the General Assembly this year — the high‑level segment will open up in the newly refurbished General Assembly Hall, following the Capital Master Plan.  And in relation to that, for those of you interested, the Assistant Secretary‑General Michael Adlerstein, who as you know leads the Capital Master Plan, will give a guided tour of the General Assembly Building and an on‑the‑record briefing to UN Resident Correspondents tomorrow.

That tour comes right before the General Assembly, obviously, as I had mentioned.  Anybody who is interested in joining should meet at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow afternoon in front of the UNCA [United Nations Correspondents Association] Club.  That’ll be an interesting tour.  And it’s free.

General Assembly Press Kits

Also my good colleagues in the Department of Public Information (DPI) have asked us to alert you that the press kit for the forthcoming session of the General Assembly is now available online in all official languages on the PaperSmart portal.

The kit contains a range of materials, including the General Assembly’s provisional agenda and a biography of the President‑elect.  Web addresses of the kit appear on a card — available here, in the back, and everything is online in many languages.

Press Conferences

And at 12:30 p.m. the current General Assembly President, John Ashe, will be here to brief you, ahead of the High‑level Stocktaking Event on the Post‑2015 Development Agenda, which will take place 11 and 12 September; that is, Thursday and Friday.

And at 2:15 p.m., the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) will hold a press conference here on a report on the latest scientific assessment of ozone depletion.

That’s it.  Nizar?

Question:  The Syrian activist and human rights activist, Haider [inaudible], who lives in Sweden, came out with a study, and he said he presented to the United Nations names of dozens of financiers from the Gulf Region, mainly from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, who are financing ISIL.  Have you received such a list?  And if so, what action has been done regarding that?

Spokesman:  No, I’m not aware that the Secretary‑General has received such a list.  Maybe members of the Security Council have.  But I’m not aware.  I’m not aware, and I have not seen it.

Question:  Also on the same subject, Mr. [Staffan] de Mistura today is in Damascus; who is he meeting?  And whether the coalition which is being formed will be discussed in such a meeting regarding the combating ISIL?

Spokesman:  He is meeting officials and he met today with the Foreign Minister of Syria, and as the meetings happen, we will be announcing them; and we hope to have a readout of his visit after the visit.  But I would restate that Mr. de Mistura is very much in a listening mode on this first round of talks.

Question:  A follow‑up on de Mistura.  Is he going to travel to Iran on this round of countries that he’s visiting in the country?  And also, there is this controversy about the release of the Fijians today.  Would you please shed some light about what’s going on, and why in Fiji they announced that they’re going to be released, and then they retracted that announcement?  Thank you.

Spokesman:  Sure.  On the first part of your first question, we’re going to announce — as I’ve said, we’ll announce the stops as he makes them.  He’s obviously on a regional tour, but as he gets to each country, we’ll be announcing it.  On your second question, I really have nothing new to add.  We are continuing discussions in our efforts to secure the release of our Fijian colleagues; and you’ll understand as the discussions are ongoing, there’s really nothing more for me to say on the issue.

Yes, please, Mr. Iftikhar and then Edie?

Question:  Thank you.  Since Ms. Amos is in the region is there any chance of her going to Pakistan and India to assess the flood situation?

Spokesman:  No, I’m not aware that she will be going to India and Pakistan, but I can check for you.

Question:  Secondly, when is the report of the Secretary‑General on the work of the organization going to become available?

Spokesman:  Very soon if it’s not already out.

Question:  I haven’t…

Spokesman:  Then if you haven’t seen it then it’s not out, but we’ll check.  [He later said that it had been made available at the following web page: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A%2F69%2F1&Lang=E.]

Ms. Lederer?

Question:  Thank you, Stéphane.  It’s been five months since the Security Council approved the Mission in central… the Central African Republic, and countless more civilians have died in that time period.  Should the UN have acted more quickly to transform the Mission to a UN Mission?  And why won’t the full force of nearly 12,000 be ready by 15 September, when the UN takes over?

Spokesman:  Sure.  You know, I think the United Nations has worked tirelessly since the passage of that resolution to make sure that we are as close to full strength as possible when the Mission is rehatted on 15 September.  What I think we have to remember is that we’re dealing with an extremely, extremely complicated logistical situation.  The Central African Republic, as you well know, is landlocked, has very little in terms of transport infrastructure.  Just to give you a point of reference, most troop contributors will not send their troops until camps are built.  As part of the logistical effort, we’ve sent over 200 containers of supplies, which go by ship from Brindisi to Douala and Cameroon, and then have to drive overland into Bangui.  So the logistical challenges are tremendous.

What has been happening since the passage of the resolution is that we have been vetting the African troops that are already on the ground.  We expect that by 15 September, about 4,800 of them will be rehatted from green to blue, if I can put it that way.  We’ll have another 1,500 new troops ready by 15 September.  We obviously hope that troop contributors will keep offering troops so we can meet… we can meet the ceiling.

And in parallel, I think we’ve also been working very closely with the African‑led Mission in terms of supplying them with transport, troop transport, logistical equipment, and, most importantly, communications equipment.  When the Secretary‑General was there earlier this year, this was one of the big issues that was missing that the African Union… African-led troops told us was missing — was communications equipment, when you’re dealing with a country the size of the CAR.

So I think the last thing we’ve been doing is sitting on our hands, but we’ve been meeting the logistical challenges that we have, and I think, as you all know, mobilizing troops for a peacekeeping mission takes time because it’s not like they’re waiting in New York for us.  We have to go knock on doors for troops, for equipment, helicopters.  And in the meantime, I think we’ve been working very actively in the CAR, both on the political end and of course on the humanitarian end.

Mr. Abbadi?

Question:  Thank you, Stéphane.  You indicated Robert Serry is holding consultations to give effect to…

Spokesman:  I’m sorry, Evelyn.  Please, I can’t hear Mr. Abbadi.

Question:  Thank you.  Robert Serry is holding discussion in order to implement the provisions of the ceasefire.  Whom is he talking to, specifically?

Spokesman:  Obviously the interlocutors are both the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority.  And on the ground in Gaza, I’m sure they’re talking to whoever they need to talk to.  Sherwyn?

Question:  Thanks, Steph.  Regarding the $600 million appeal to fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, how much has that been funded already?  We’re seeing announcements from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, various Governments have announced millions of dollar contributions; does that feed into the $600 million request?

Spokesman:  Yes, I think we very much welcome the contributions by the European Union earlier this week, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as you mentioned; those are very, very welcome contributions.

We are setting up through this Ebola Task Force the proper tracking mechanism on the financing, to see where the money goes.  We’ll be working with the World Bank, has an integral role to play in terms of the financing and the tracking of the mechanism; and I think in the next couple of days hopefully we’ll be able to figure out exactly where the money has gone into and how much of the appeal has actually been met.  Nizar?

Question:  Two questions, one regarding the chikungunya disease which is hitting Haiti and the Dominican Republic.  Hundreds of thousands of people are infected with that disease, which is transmitted by mosquitoes.  It doesn’t seem to be on the radar of WHO (World Health Organization) or the United Nations.  Another one is on Gaza, I asked about the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) school which was used by the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) as a headquarter during the operation.  Do you have any name, place…?

Spokesman:  I don’t have anything.  I apologize, because you have been asking the question for quite some time.  What I also want to say on Gaza, because I did get a couple questions this morning from people not in this room.  There was an interview given by the Secretary‑General that was published today and I think there was some — I just want to clarify the comments that he had made, which I think may have been misinterpreted in terms of the investigation and the Board of Inquiry.

And just so people understand:  the wider Human Rights Council inquiry and the Secretary‑General’s own Board of Inquiry are two separate investigations with two separate timelines, so they’re not linked; and when we’re ready to announce something on the Board of inquiry, we will.

On chikungunya, I haven’t seen anything.  It does not mean that it’s not on the radar of PAHO, the Pan American Health Organization.  We’ll check with them or the UN Mission in Haiti so I’ll check with you on chikungunya. Mr. Abbadi?

Question:  Regarding the issue of Ebola, the African Union is asking that the flights resume to and from the capitals of the Western African countries.  Would the Secretary‑General support this appeal?

Spokesman:  Very much so.  Very much so.  The Secretary‑General has [supported it]… Dr. [David] Nabarro, Dr. [Margaret] Chan.  Further isolation of these countries is not a solution.  One of the big problems that the cancellation of flights has is that it makes it that much more complicated to send in health experts, for the UN, for WHO, MSF [Médecins sans Frontières], for people to send in goods, to send in staff.  What is important is to have the proper screening mechanisms at airports, to ensure that people who are suspected of carrying the virus do not leave.  But further isolation either by air or by sea is not the answer.  Oh, Nizar, go ahead.

Question:  Since Matthew is not here today, so someone has to — [laughter].  My question is regarding ISIL.  Do you consider originated in Iraq or in Syria?  Because we have received conflicting views about that.

Spokesman:  I think, you know, we’re not going to go — I can’t go into a forensic analysis of ISIL and ISIS.  What we do know is that these terrorist groups are a creation… are due to a lack of political process, to a lack of political dialogue.  I think a lot of the conflicts where we see them in action, they have — the lack of political track, the lack of political solutions has created a breeding ground for these kinds of terrorist groups.

Question:  Does it mean that it has to be first in Syria or Iraq or both? 

Spokesman:  As I said, I’m not going to engage in that.  It needs to be faced where they are.  Matthew, this Matthew will have the last question.

Question:  Hi.  There’s reports that President [Barack] Obama is ready to start spreading the bombing campaign into Syria; does the Secretary‑General welcome that move?

Spokesman:  I think we will wait to see what the President says.  Thank you very much.  And John Ashe will be here shortly.

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For information media • not an official record