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Inter-Agency Taskforce on Darfur

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Inter-Agency Taskforce on Darfur أﻷﻣﻢ اﻟﻤﺘﺤﺪة UNITED NATIONS The United Nations Mission In Sudan Date: 10August 2005 Office of the Spokesperson PRESS BRIEFING Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s weekly briefing (12:30PM) by Radhia Achouri, Spokesperson for the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan: Good afternoon everybody. Before I start I have to say that I have to finish and conclude this press briefing maximum at 01:15 because we have a Town Hall meeting for all UNMIS staff with the SRSG so I am afraid we can not extend this briefing further. Anyway I don’t have much to tell you today. All of you who followed our activities particularly during the recent events following the death of Dr. Garang you know what happened. However I am going to just let you know a couple of things surrounding that particular issue. • SRSG Jan Pronk is back to Khartoum after concluding his three days visit, during which he represented the UN in the funeral ceremony held on Saturday 6 August. Upon his arrival to Juba, the SRSG held a meeting with UNMIS and UN agencies personnel for a final review of the assistance provided to the SPLM and local authorities for the conduct of the funeral ceremony SRSG Pronk met yesterday with Gen. On Sunday, the SRSG had a meeting with Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit (Chairman of the SPLM the soon to be officially appointed First Vice-President of Sudan and President of Southern Sudan) and a high level SPLM delegation, including Riek Machar, Vice-Chairman of the SPLM and Vice-President of Southern Sudan. During the meeting the SRSG praised the SPLM for the cohesion and unity they've shown after the tragic death of Dr. Garang by acting swiftly and appointing the new leader and reiterating their commitment to continue the implementation of the CPA. The SRSG discussed with his interlocutors a range of issues relating to the very short-term and longer term steps to be taken toward the full implementation of the peace agreement. He urged that the Institution provided for in the CPA, in particular the Ceasefire Political Commission (CPC) and the Evaluation and Assessment Commission (EAC) as soon as possible (these two institutions should have been established sometime ago according to the CPA). This would strengthen confidence in the whole process and help carrying the implementation of the agreement forward. He recommended that the SPLM identifies its immediate priorities in terms of relief aid and development assistance and promised that the UN will help within its capabilities in these areas, in particular urgent development and reconstruction needs. The SRSG reiterated that the UN stands ready to assist in the investigation to be carried out on the circumstances of Dr. Garang's death. He supported the view of the SPLM that the investigation commission should include external actors in order to dissipate any possible doubts regarding the results on the investigation. The SRSG advised that such a Commission should be established and conclude its work as soon as possible UNMIS, P.O. Box 69, Khartoum 11111, Tel (+249) 1 83 794015, Fax (+249) 1 83 79 4041 in order to put final end to speculations. He underlined the need for full transparency in the proceedings of the Commission to prevent any possible speculations. • At the request of the SPLM/A the UN in Sudan has provided assistance in the preparations of the funeral of Dr. John Garang. The assistance was logistical, including provision of air and ground transport to SPLM/A leadership and members as well as guests (UNMIS); preparation of the burial site and supply of medicine, food and water (UNMIS and UN agencies) as well as provision of doctors and nurses. Two UN officers were deployed to liaise in the Joint Ops Centre which the SPLM/A and the GoS established to coordinate the event. In addition to that, some LO from the SPLM/A were detached to the UN compound to facilitate communication regarding specific topics such as water, food and transport. • The SRSG met on Sunday in Khartoum, at their request, with Roger Winter, SR of the US Deputy Secretary of State for Sudan and Constance Berry Newman, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. During the meeting, the SRSG provided a general overview on the current situation in Sudan, the UN role and the steps yet to be taken to implement the CPA and to extend peace in the whole Sudan, including Darfur. On the CPA, the SRSG expressed his confidence that the parties will uphold their commitment to the agreement and will continue to work together towards its full implementation. He indicated that in general terms, he expects a delay in the implementation process of three weeks to a month. He stressed however that he was not concerned by such a delay since it will be the result of the tragic death of the SPLM leader Garang and not any other substantive reason, such as relinquishing any given commitment included in the CPA. • An UNMO Team is currently deployed in New Cush, in the vicinity of the helicopter crash site. It was reported that a major group of experts will come to the scene of the accident in the coming week. However, the final composition of the investigation commission is not determined as of yet. The UNMOs will provide transportation to the investigators. • PDSRSG for political Affairs will attend the IGAD Summit as well as the pre-talks consultations conveyed by M. Salim Ahmed Salim, the Abuja talks chief mediator, to be held in Tanzania. (dates are not finalized yet). SRSG Pronk is hopeful that these consultations would lead to an agreement on further procedural issues and the Agenda for the next round of Abuja talks, which were postponed at the request of the SLA. • On military issues, the SRSG has requested the Force commander to review the deployment plans in order to speed up deployment operations based on the requirements of the situation on the ground. The SPLM and Ms. Garang if you recall have urged UNMIS to speed up its deployment. The SRSG will be holding a press conference next Wednesday and will update you on the situation. This is what I have as far as I am concerned today. We have a couple of humanitarian updates from the WHO, from UNICEF and, I know Alula you are particularly interested in the Work Plan. We have also updates on the funding. We are done with the copies so feel free to grab them on your way out. This is what I have for you for today and, as I said, please help me 2 conclude this by 01:15 maximum. So I am ready for your questions and in this order: BBC followed by Reuters followed by Al-Sahafa. Q: Two questions; I understand that UNMIS recovered the bodies from the crash site. How many bodies did UNMIS recover? Spokesperson: I don’t have information on how many were recovered or how many UNMIS has transported, but I can check it out and then I will tell you. The figures that we have are talking about 17 but I’ll check. Q: Others say about fourteen. Spokesperson: The latest that I saw in official reports, our reports, are seventeen, but I’ll check. Q: What are the reasons for postponing the Abuja talks and for how long? Spokesperson: How long I don’t know. We don’t believe that the chief mediator will go for a long postponement. When exactly, we do not expect it will take months. We do not expect that. And we are hopeful that these pre-talks, these consultations in Tanzania, will help. On why, the reason for postponement was requested by one of the parties (SLM/A). They sais they need to sort out some internal issues and that should have priority. Quality representation is needed. For the time being the mediation is giving time to the SLM to sort out its issues. In general, the mediation itself and all the observers do not expect this postponement to be open-ended because there is a momentum to keep. Q: Is this postponement a direct consequence of the death of Dr. Garang? Spokesperson: No. It has nothing to do with the death of Dr. Garang. The SLM has asked for the postponement for internal issues regarding the movement itself. You know that the SLM has been going through lots of – how do I qualify that – internal changes and reviewing of its structures and so on. So that situation is still relevant and they still have to agree on their internal structure, policy, and so on and so forth. Q: A lot of people have expressed concern over Salva Kiir’s separatist tendencies. Does the United Nations think there may be possibilities of secession earlier than the six years prescribed in the CPA? And if so, what would be the consequences on the mission and on the funding of reconstruction in southern Sudan? Spokesperson: Of course there are lots of speculations but as far as the UN is concerned, we do not have any reason to believe that as far as the implementation of the CPA goes and the commitment signed by parties to the CPA are to be questioned at any point of time. Mr. Salva Kiir himself, in his statement, he was quite clear about that. Be it in his official statement during the burial and other statements that he released personally and also in answer to some questions from reporters, he was quite firm in saying that he will uphold the legacy of Dr.
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