Noon Briefings

The Secretary-General announced this morning that he has set up a Panel of Inquiry on the flotilla incident of 31 May. He called the launch of the Panel “an unprecedented development”. He thanked the leaders of Israel and Turkey, with whom he engaged in last minute consultations over the weekend, for their spirit of compromise and forward looking cooperation.

The Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) condemned the attack on Ashkelon earlier today, in which a rocket struck a residential area. Indiscriminate rocket fire against civilians is completely unacceptable and constitutes a terrorist attack. UNSCO has called on the de facto authorities in Gaza to ensure that these kinds of actions do not occur.

The Secretary-General will meet tomorrow with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Ehud Barak. He expects to discuss a range of issues with him, including the situation in Gaza and the need to continue Israel’s freeze on settlement activity.

The Secretary-General welcomes today’s action by the General Assembly to quickly approve his nominee for Under-Secretary-General for the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), Carman Lapointe-Young of Canada, who possesses the breadth and depth of experience and expertise required for this demanding position.

The United Nations and its humanitarian partners in Kyrgyzstan launched a revised flash appeal today, seeking $96.4 million for humanitarian assistance in the southern regions of the country, where last month’s violence affected some 400,000 people.

The Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia today found Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, guilty of crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and sentenced him to 35 years of imprisonment.

The Secretary-General briefed the Security Council this morning in closed consultations to discuss his visit to Afghanistan earlier this week. That meeting, he said, marked the official launch of the Kabul process, which will see a transition to greater Afghan responsibility and ownership, in both security and civilian areas.

Meeting with his senior advisers this morning, the Secretary-General did raise the matter of the end-of-assignment report of the outgoing Head of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), Inga-Britt Ahlenius. He noted that it is supposed to be a management tool, an internal document that, regrettably, was leaked.

B. Lynn Pascoe, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, today told the Security Council meeting on the Middle East that, since Israel’s announcement of its new policy on Gaza, food and other products have entered Gaza and the volume of imports into Gaza has increased steadily, and while these are positive steps forward, it is hoped they can be enhanced to address the deplorable conditions in the Strip.

The Secretary-General opened the International Conference on Afghanistan in Kabul this morning, saying that the Conference marks the true beginning of a very fundamental transition. He told the Afghan people that the officials gathered in Kabul share their aspirations and understand their frustrations.