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 Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
**Board of Inquiry
The Secretary-General yesterday transmitted to the Security Council a detailed summary of the report of the United Nations Headquarters Board of Inquiry that was established to review and investigate the 19 September 2016 incident involving a United Nations/Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) humanitarian convoy in Urem al-Kubra, near the city of Aleppo, Syria. He noted that the Board concluded that the SARC compound in Urem al-Kubra was subject to an attack from the air by more than one aircraft and aircraft type.
The Board noted that only aircraft operating as part of the forces of the International Coalition Forces and aircraft of the Russian Federation and of the Syrian Arab Air Force had the capabilities needed to carry out an attack of this kind. As no party had alleged the involvement of International Coalition Forces aircraft, the Board concluded that their involvement was highly unlikely.
**Iraq
The Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, has condemned in the strongest terms the killing of civilians and aid workers in two separate incidents in eastern Mosul city. According to initial reports, four aid workers and at least seven civilians queuing for emergency assistance in eastern Mosul city were killed by indiscriminate mortar fire, with up to forty others injured. Ms. Grande said that the people waiting for aid are already vulnerable and need help. They should be protected, not attacked. Displacement in and around Mosul city continues, with approximately 108,600 people currently displaced. Camp capacities for displaced people in areas south and east of Mosul have filled up rapidly in the last weeks, with most camps reaching full capacity. Urgent expansion of sites is being worked on.
**Syria
Regarding the situation in Aleppo concerning evacuations: evacuations escorted by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continued overnight and continued throughout today from besieged neighbourhoods in eastern Aleppo. While operations are ongoing, the evacuation is believed to be in its final stage. The UN estimates that thousands more remain in eastern Aleppo enclaves. Since last night, UN monitors at the Ramouseh Government checkpoint in Aleppo observed thousands of people departing from eastern Aleppo mainly in private vehicles that struggled to advance due to a snow storm and sub-zero temperatures.
Overall, ICRC estimates that more than 34,000 people have been evacuated from the besieged neighbourhoods in eastern Aleppo since 15 December. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 21 December, 435 wounded and sick people had been evacuated, of whom 95 patients in critical conditions had been transferred to Turkey, others were transferred to hospitals in Idlib and in rural western Aleppo. Protection of civilians leaving these areas remains the biggest concern. The process for evacuation remains traumatic, with crowding, and vulnerable people waiting for hours and exposed to sub-zero temperatures. All remaining civilians must be allowed to safely leave should they choose to do so. Access to people in need to provide them with life-saving humanitarian assistance is also urgently needed.
**Gambia
The Secretary-General met today with the outgoing Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of The Gambia to the United Nations, Mamadou Tangara, to discuss the deteriorating political situation in the country. The Secretary-General commended Ambassador Tangara for his appeal to President Yahya Jammeh, along with ten other Gambian diplomats serving overseas, to facilitate a peaceful transfer of power to the President-elect, Adama Barrow. He expressed deep concern about President Jammeh’s refusal to hand over power, in accordance with the Gambian constitution, despite consistent calls from regional bodies and the international community. The Secretary-General reiterated the commitment of the United Nations to support efforts for a peaceful, timely and orderly transfer of power, in full respect of the will of the Gambian people, working closely with all regional and international partners.
**Democratic Republic of the Congo
We issued a statement yesterday on developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), upon the resumption of the mediation led by the Conférence épiscopale nationale des églises du Congo (CENCO). The Secretary-General calls on Congolese political leaders to place the interests of the country and the people above partisan and personal considerations. The Secretary-General deplores the reported loss of life in confrontations between the security forces and protesters, including in Kinshasa. He stresses the need for the national security forces to exercise the utmost restraint in the maintenance of public order. He calls on the DRC authorities to investigate any acts of violence and ensure the perpetrators are held accountable. The full statement is online, in English and French.
**Central African Republic
The World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that without immediate funding, it will be forced to end its support to 150,000 people uprooted by violence in the Central African Republic. Funding shortages have resulted in WFP only being able to help under half of the people it had aimed to reach, as well as supply only half the amount of food it had intended to provide. The agency urgently needs $21.5 million to provide life-saving aid in the country through to next June. You can read more about this on WFP’s website.
And I was asked yesterday about the Human Rights Watch report on the presence of the 3R group in the North-West Central African Republic. We remain concerned by the violence and numerous human rights violations committed by the armed group. Since January 2016, the UN Mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA, has conducted several human rights investigations in Koui and Bocaranga areas and reported on the violations. The mission confirmed the killings of 13 civilians, the rape of seven women and documented allegations of killings and rapes of more than 100 people. The Mission also confirmed the burning of villages by 3R during the reporting period.
MINUSCA deployed peacekeepers to Koui to protect civilians while some civilians took refuge near the MINUSCA premises. The Mission also helped organize several joint visits with the national authorities in June and December 2016 and has activated its nearby field offices and the community liaison network to engage with local population, leaders and NGOs in order to improve protection efforts through proactive measures. On the political level, the 3R group is participating in formal discussions related to the national disarmament, demobilization and reintegration framework.
**Employment
In a message being issued today, the Secretary-General is pleased to welcome the High-level Commission’s Report on Health Employment and Economic Growth. He says that the Ebola outbreak and the crisis in Syria have all too vividly illustrated the importance of protecting, supporting and investing in the health and social workforce. The Secretary-General encourages all stakeholders to review the report and its recommendations and agree on a way forward to ensure all countries can take bold action to build a sustainable global health workforce and align public and private investments to do so. Health workers save lives and they are critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and targets to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, everywhere.
**Honour Roll
I am delighted to thank two Member States for their full payments to the regular budget — Brazil and Poland. The total of fully paid up nations now stands at 141. And that is it for me. Any questions? Yeah.
**Questions and Answers
Question: Sure. First, I wanted to ask you about this reference to the Gambian ambassador as… as… as outgoing. Is his… is it because he's being recalled? In what context? And is it expected that… that, if Yahya Jammeh were to send a new Permanent Representative, would the Secretariat… it seems like from your statements you would take the position that he should not be a new Sec… a new Jammeh‑representing Permanent Representative.
Deputy Spokesman: Well, I think I've said what I've said in terms of the need to respect the political transition and ensure a peaceful and orderly inauguration of the President‑elect. Regarding what… the reasons for his status, of course, that's a question to ask the Government of the Gambia.
Correspondent: Okay. He didn't say… he didn't indicate in his… I know he signed a letter…
Deputy Spokesman: It's not for me to say. I mean, I don't speak for the Gambia.
Correspondent: Right, but he represented himself to… to… in the meeting as outgoing.
Deputy Spokesman: Yes.
Question: Okay. And I wanted to ask you about… there… there… there… the South Korean press has quoted the Secretary‑General, not only things said in this room, but they say that later on that day, 20 December, he spoke at the South Korean General Consulate, which I didn't see on his schedule, and reiterated a… pretty clearly this idea of he would willing to put his body in the flames to serve his country, etc. So I wanted to know, number one, why wasn't this on his schedule? I mean, for example, like, are there… if… has he gone to other general consulates of other countries in the last week, just factually? What was the purpose of that visit?
Deputy Spokesman: Whatever we get from the scheduling office, we place on the schedule. That one was not there. I'm not aware of the details behind that. Obviously, his movements are free. You know, he has an official schedule that is developed every day. And that is what we are able to put out.
Question: But, obviously, it's been said from this podium and I think he himself has said it that, until 31 December, he's entirely the UN Secretary‑General. There's no special relationship with South Korea or anything. And so I'm asking you… maybe you can ask his, I guess, his Executive Office, has he visited the General Consulate of any other country in the last week, two weeks, three weeks?
Deputy Spokesman: He sometimes has visited other general consulates. Sometimes he has evening meetings. I believe this last several weeks, he's made several such visits because he is, of course, paying farewell visits. So there have been dinners and receptions and things like that that he's been attending.
Question: Right. But was this the mission or the… I guess maybe it's the same building. I'm just try… I guess I'm asking. It seems… given the things said from here, it seemed noteworthy.
Deputy Spokesman: Well, the things that I have for comment on are things that are on the official schedule. There are other visits he's been making, including, like I said, farewell visits to different places.
Correspondent: Sure. Go ahead? All right. I'll try to do these as fast as I can. One is… okay. I'll just stay inside the building. Yesterday, during the Syria meeting of the General Assembly…
Deputy Spokesman: Excuse me. Please. Please turn that down. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, go ahead.
Question: Yesterday, during the General Assembly meeting on Syria on investigative mechanism, several Member States noted that the sound went out, not just… during at least 3… 3-and-a-half speakers in a row, and I wanted to know, was DPI [Department of Public Information]… are you aware of it? I know it's come up before, and I'm not bringing it up in any kind of conspiratorial way except to say this was obviously a pretty important meeting. What's… are any steps being done so that countries' speeches in meetings such as that aren't put out to the world live?
Deputy Spokesman: Yeah, we do have problems like this from time to time. I'm not aware of this latest one. But we've had some technical glitches. We are trying to get the system straightened out so that we don't have glitches on our broadcasts. It happens on other lesser noticed ones, as well. It's just that we get a lot more of a problem once it's a widely watched one. But regardless of whether they're popular or less watched ones, we're trying to get all the glitches fixed.
Question: Okay. And I wanted to… you may have seen that in… in… that AMISOM [African Union Mission in Somalia] is accused of killing 11 civilians, and I know that it's an African Union mission, but I also know the UN is providing logistical support to it and also has an office, you know, in the country. Is it… what's its role in looking into this most recent claim of the killing of civilians?
Deputy Spokesman: Obviously, we hope that the African Union, which is the force… the body that controls the African Union Mission in Somalia, will look into any such allegations and investigate them.
Question: And there was some… this is next door or, you know, some say it's the same country. Some say it's not. But in the Somalia elections, I think that there… there… there… ReliefWeb has… has reported and I believe the Special Representative of the Secretary‑General (SRSG) has taken note of votes collected in Somaliland for the Somali election. And there are many people in Somaliland that think that… that… that say this not… that very few people participated and that it's not… it's not an uncontested thing to… to… to count them. What is the UN's position, I guess, on the… the… the votes being collected and representative… represented as being taken from Somaliland to the Federal transitional or maybe no longer transitional Government of Somalia? They're pretty mad basically at the SRSG. So I just wanted to know, is he… is this a thought‑out position or does he just…
Deputy Spokesman: The Special Representative of the Secretary‑General does think out his positions when he deals with all of the complex issues involving the system of government in Somalia.
Question: I guess when I say… because… and previously, a move to award the airspace of Somaliland to… to Somalia by the UN resulted in no delivery of humanitarian aid for a period of time. So it's not… I'm not saying that wasn't thought out, but I'm saying, like, has he thought through… the position is basically that the aspirations of Somaliland and the million‑signature petition that was put out is… is of not… of no concern to the UN? I just want to get a quote from you if you can.
Deputy Spokesman: I don't think that's a fair way to characterize the Special Representative's position, but he is looking at the context of all of the issues surrounding Somalia and its existence.
Question: And could I ask… I want to ask one more, and this is sort of… It seems lighter, but I want to sort of put it to bed. I know that both you and Stéphane [Dujarric] have said that this Wonder Woman ambassadorship by DPI was always intended to end in December. And the only reason I'm asking you is just that there's becoming a divergence in the public discourse about it and what's being said here in that Lynda Carter, Gal Gadot, the people that actually play Wonder Woman have both said they're outraged that the ambassadorship was taken. So it seems to me that they didn't know that it was going to end in December. So is there some… I understand… maybe it's an attempt to sort of be diplomatic about it, but was it actually explained to the people that were present in the meeting there? Because they've both said that this was wrong and etc.
Deputy Spokesman: I don't know whether DC Comics explained it with the actresses who have played the part. But, certainly, the arrangement between the United Nations and DC Comics and the other entities involved in this has been very clear.
Question: So there was no relationship between the staff petition saying that they were angry at this and the ending of it?
Deputy Spokesman: No, no, we've had this guidance for weeks. It hasn't changed. Have a good afternoon. And the last briefing of the year will happen tomorrow.
Question: Will you be doing it?
Deputy Spokesman: No. It will be my comrade Stéphane Dujarric.