Press Conference

Following is a transcript of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s press conference held in New York today, 9 August:

In the coming days, the United Nations would launch a flash appeal and announce its interim emergency response plan to bolster and better coordinate humanitarian relief to the estimated 4 million people affected by Pakistan’s worst flooding in 80 years, Martin Mogwanja, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan, said today.

Rape must not be dismissed as collateral damage, or cultural, or inevitable, for it was one of the great peace and security challenges of our time, said Margot Wallström, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, at a Headquarters press conference today.

The Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) began urgent tripartite talks today in south Lebanon with senior Lebanese and Israeli army representatives to address Tuesday’s border skirmish that killed at least four people, Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said today at a Headquarters news conference.

The status of Kosovo, turbulence in the Middle East, piracy off the coast of Somalia and peacekeeping were among the major areas to be considered by the Security Council during the Russian Federation’s presidency in August, Vitaly Churkin, that country’s Permanent Representative, said at a Headquarters press conference today.

Presenting the results of a review of all cases on the Consolidated List established and maintained by the Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee, Thomas Mayr-Harting, Committee Chair, said that of a total 488 entries, 45 had been removed and another 66 were pending a final decision at the request of Member States.

With the General Assembly having just wrapped up talks on the Secretary-General’s sweeping proposals for transforming service delivery to United Nations peacekeeping missions, senior field support officials announced today that the world body was poised to approve a new, enhanced global system to match the global enterprise into which peacekeeping has evolved.

During a press conference at Headquarters today, two senior United Nations officials responded to questions regarding a leaked 50-page internal memo sent to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon from Under-Secretary General Inga-Britt Ahlenius, upon her exit as the Under-Secretary General for the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).

Somalia is one of the most complicated humanitarian situations in the world, yet the United Nations has made significant achievements there to date, said Mark Bowden, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia.

As the United Nations marks its first Nelson Mandela International Day this weekend with events around the globe, South Africans will be celebrating the 18 July birthday of their nation’s father with a weekend of prayer and acts of goodwill, South Africa’s Foreign Minister told reporters at a press conference held at United Nations Headquarters today.