Media Centre, Amphitheatre, Union Buildings
2 August 2007
Killing of Korean hostages in Afghanistan
The South African government joins the United Nations Secretary-General Ban
Ki-Moon in condemning the killing of two of the hostages from the Republic of
Korea held by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The South African government extends
heartfelt condolences to the family of the victims and to the Korean people. We
remain deeply concerned for the safety and welfare of the 21 Korean hostages,
the German national and the four Afghans, who are still being detained.
We urge those who have kidnapped these nationals to release their hostages.
The South African government fully supports the Afghan authorities in their
continuing efforts to ensure the safe return of all those being held against
their will.
Climate change
South Africa agrees with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) that the
effects of climate change are already grave and they are growing. The Security
Council has noted that the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global
average. The resultant melting threatens the region's people and ecosystems,
but it also imperils low-lying islands and coastal cities half a world away. On
the other hand, as glaciers retreat, water supplies are being put at risk. And,
for one third of the world's population living in dry lands, especially those
in Africa, changing weather patterns threaten to exacerbate desertification,
drought and food insecurity.
This is significant in light of comments by John Holmes,
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief
Co-ordinator on Tuesday, 24 July 2007, regarding food security in the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) region: "There are great worries of severe
malnutrition if we don't act now," Mr Holmes said of the crisis in the Southern
African country, hardest hit by a drought that has also severely affected
Lesotho, Zimbabwe and parts of Mozambique. "The crisis has not yet struck, but
we can see it coming because of the very poor harvest and the drought," he
added during a headquarters press conference on humanitarian crises in Africa
and the Middle East.
He explained that Swaziland had suffered its worst recorded harvest, which
was endangering about 400 000 people in a situation exacerbated by high HIV
infection rates and the vulnerability of many young orphans. "I very much hope
that donors will respond generously to the flash appeal and indeed to the
separate flash appeal we'll be launching for Lesotho."
"The Government of Swaziland had declared a national emergency and pledged
$23,6 million in assistance," he said. The flash appeal would add $15,6 million
in immediate aid for the next few months, in efforts kicked-started by $3
million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for life-saving food
and agricultural programmes. Relief priorities in Swaziland would be food and
agricultural help, health and nutrition, and water and sanitation, in addition
to livelihood protection in the longer term.
Food crisis in Lesotho
The United Nations (UN) is appealing for US$18,9 million to feed more than
500 000 rural people struggling to cope with food shortages in one of Lesotho's
worst droughts in 30 years. Production of maize, the country's staple food, has
dropped by more than half compared to 2006, "causing a deficit that is likely
to be further aggravated by decreased cereal production in parts of South
Africa, which has also experienced below-average rainfall for much of this year
and which supplies approximately 70 percent of Lesotho's food requirements,"
according to the UN flash appeal document.
The assistance will therefore focus on rebuilding sources of income, such as
providing subsidised agricultural inputs for farmers and promotion of home
gardens. About 82 percent of Lesotho's 1,8 million people live in rural areas
and agriculture is the main source of income for 60 percent of the population.
Aid workers fear that the drought will aggravate the underlying causes of acute
malnutrition and vulnerability: persistent food insecurity, poor access to
sanitation, poor household childcare and hygiene practices and poor healthcare
at household and community levels.
"Wasting in children under five has surpassed the international threshold of
five percent for declaring a situation of concern, reaching six percent this
year from 2,4 percent in 2006," the appeal document noted. According to the UN
Children's Agency (UNICEF), drought-related acute malnutrition is expected to
peak in late 2007 and early 2008. We cannot go on this way for long. We cannot
continue with business as usual. The time has come for decisive action on a
global scale.
South Africa believes that we need a comprehensive agreement under the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process that
tackles climate change on all fronts, including adaptation, mitigation, clean
technologies, deforestation and resource mobilisation. South Africa welcomes
the initiative by the United Nations Secretary-General to convene a high-level
meeting on climate change in New York at the start of the new General Assembly
session that will be attended by Minister Dlamini Zuma. We hope we will be able
to add value to this process.
South Africa will intensify efforts to build political momentum in
preparation for the Bali Conference and the broader UNFCCC process. The gravity
of the situation has prompted the Secretary-General to appoint three Special
Envoys on Climate Change. He chose Mrs [Gro Harlem] Brundtland, Mr Han
[Seung-soo] and Mr [Ricardo] Lagos [Escobar]. The Secretary-General has
launched a "Greening the UN" initiative. He has invited all heads of agencies
and other UN bodies to work with him on a comprehensive plan covering worldwide
premises and operations of the United Nations.
Launch of US$40 million grant from Central Emergency Response Fund
The Central Emergency Response Fund on Wednesday, 1 August 2007, announced a
grant of $40 million from the world body's Central Emergency Response Fund
(CERF) to provide life-saving support in 16 so-called forgotten crises around
the world. "These grants will provide vital funding for people caught up in
some of the world's most neglected humanitarian crises," said John Holmes, the
UN Emergency Relief co-ordinator and manager of the CERF. "By filling gaps in
the international response we aim to ensure that assistance will reach those
most in need."
The largest recipients of the new funds will be the Democratic Republic of
the Congo (DRC), the occupied Palestinian territory, Ethiopia, Kenya, Côte
d'Ivoire and the Central African Republic (CAR). The countries selected for
grants face severe ongoing emergencies, against a backdrop of protracted
humanitarian needs and low levels of funding, according to the UN Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
This is the fourth such disbursement since the launch of the landmark fund
in March 2006. Managed by OCHA, it aims to speed up relief operations for
humanitarian emergencies and make funds available quickly after a disaster,
when people are most at risk. CERF funding for aid programmes is made available
within 72 hours in emergencies, allowing UN agencies on the ground to provide
immediate assistance.
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Another issue that is linked to that of climate change is that of the
Millennium Development Goals. As you know, we are halfway between the 2 000
Millennium Declaration and 2015 which was set as a deadline for the achievement
of the Millennium Development Goals.
MDG Report 2007
The results achieved in the more successful cases demonstrate that success
is possible in most countries, but that the MDGs will be attained only if
concerted additional action is taken immediately and sustained until 2015. All
stakeholders need to fulfil in their entirety, the commitments they made in the
Millennium Declaration and subsequent pronouncements.
The following are some measures of the progress that has been achieved:
* The proportion of people living in extreme poverty fell from nearly a
third to less than one fifth between 1990 and 2004. If the trend is sustained,
the MDG poverty reduction target will be met for the world as a whole and for
most of the regions.
* The number of extremely poor people in sub-Saharan Africa has levelled off,
and the poverty rate has declined by nearly six percentage points since 2 000.
Nevertheless, the region is not on track to reach the goal of reducing poverty
by half by 2015.
[Comment by Deputy Minister Pahad: What is significant and has been
highlighted in many of our briefings is that there has been a tendency for
developed countries to make commitments and neglect to follow them up with
action. The report does say that while progress has been made more can be
achieved if developed countries honour their commitments]
* Progress has been made in getting more children into school in the
developing world. Enrolment in primary education grew from 80% in 1991 to 88%
in 2005. Most of this progress has taken place since 1999.
* Women's political participation has been growing, albeit slowly. Even in
countries where previously only men were allowed to stand for political
election, women now have a seat in parliament.
* Child mortality has declined globally and it is becoming clear that the
life-saving interventions are proving effective in reducing the number of
deaths due to the main child killers, such as measles.
* Key interventions to control malaria have been expanded.
* The tuberculosis epidemic, finally, appears on the verge of decline, although
progress is not fast enough to halve prevalence and death rates by 2015.
By pointing to what has been achieved, these results also highlight how much
remains to be done and how much more could be accomplished if all concerned
live up fully to the commitments they have already made. Currently, only one of
the eight regional groups cited in this report is on track to achieve the MDGs.
In contrast, the projected shortfalls are most severe in sub-Saharan Africa.
Even regions that have made substantial progress including parts of Asia face
challenges in areas such as health and environmental sustainability. More
generally, the lack of employment opportunities for young people, gender
inequalities, rapid and unplanned urbanisation, deforestation, increasing water
scarcity and high HIV prevalence are pervasive obstacles.
Moreover, insecurity and instability in conflict and post-conflict countries
make long-term development efforts extremely difficult. In turn, a failure to
achieve the MDGs can further heighten the risk of instability and conflict.
Yet, in spite of a technical consensus that development and security are
mutually dependent, international efforts all too often treat them as
independent from one another.
The following are some of the key challenges that have to be addressed:
* Over half a million women still die each year from treatable and
preventable complications of pregnancy and childbirth. The odds that a woman
will die from these causes in sub Saharan Africa are one in sixteen over the
course of her lifetime, compared to one in 3 800 in the developed world.
* If current trends continue, the target of halving the proportion of
underweight children will be missed by 30 million children, largely because of
slow progress in Southern Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
* The number of people dying from AIDS worldwide increased to 2,9 million in
2006 and prevention measures are failing to keep pace with the growth of the
epidemic. In 2005, more than 15 million children had lost one or both parents
to AIDS.
* Half the population of the developing world lack basic sanitation. In order
to meet the MDG target, an additional 1,6 billion people will need access to
improved sanitation over the period 2005 and 2015. If trends since 1990
continue, the world is likely to miss the target by almost 600 million
people.
* To some extend, these situations reflect the fact that the benefits of
economic growth and the developing world have been unequally shared. Widening
income inequality is of particular concern in Eastern Asia, where the share of
consumption of the poorest people declined dramatically between 1990 and
2004.
* Most economies have failed to provide employment opportunities to their
youth, with young people more than three times as likely as adults to be
unemployed.
* Warming of the climate is now unequivocal. Emissions of carbon dioxide, the
primary contributor to global climate change, rose from 23 billion metric tons
in 1990 to 29 billion metric tons in 2004. Climate change is projected to have
serious economic and social impacts, which will impede progress towards the
MDGs.
This report also points to disparities within countries where particular
groups of the population, often those living in rural areas, children of
mothers with no formal education and the poorest households are not making
enough progress to meet the targets, even where the rest of the population is.
This is particularly evident in access to health services and education. In
order to achieve the MDGs countries will need to mobilise additional resources
and target public investments that benefit the poor.
In particular, impressive results have been achieved in sub-Saharan Africa
in areas such as raising agricultural productivity (in Malawi for example),
boosting primary school enrolment (as in Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania),
controlling malaria (as in Niger, Togo, Zambia and Zanzibar), widening access
to rural health services (Zambia), reforesting areas on a large scale (Niger)
and increasing access to water and sanitation (Senegal and Uganda). These
practical successes now need to be replicated and scaled-up.
With support from the United Nations, many developing countries particularly
in Africa, have advanced in preparing strategies to achieve the MDGs. As of
mid-2007, 41 countries in sub-Saharan Africa had started the process of
preparing national development strategies aligned with the MDGs and other
development goals agreed upon through the United Nations. During this mid-point
year, the international community needs to support the preparation of these
strategies and to accelerate implementation of the MDGs.
Success in achieving the MDGs in the poorest and most disadvantaged
countries cannot be achieved by these countries alone. Developed
countries need to deliver fully on longstanding commitments to achieve the
official development assistance (ODA) target of 0,7% of gross national income
by 2015. It requires, in particular, the Group of 8 Industrialised nations to
live up to their 2005 pledge to double aid to Africa by 2010 and European Union
Member States to allocate 0,7% of gross national income to ODA by 2015. In
spite of these commitments, ODA declined between 2005 and 2006 and is expected
to continue to fall slightly in 2007 as debt relief declines.
[Comment by Deputy Minister Pahad: what this indicates is that commitments
are made but that these are reflective of debt relief and includes very little
new money to enable the poorest countries to achieve the Millennium Development
Goals.]
Aid has to be improved by ensuring that assistance is aligned with the
policies that recipient countries have adopted and that flows to individual
countries are continuous, predictable and assured and are not tied to purchases
in the donor country. To this end, donors should reduce the present
unpredictability of aid by providing multi-year schedules of aid flows to each
recipient country. One of the uses of the additional resources should be to
multiply, within and across countries, the number of "quick impact" initiatives
that have proven their efficacy over the last few years.
As a further element of their development partnership and as agreed to in
Doha in 2001, all governments should redouble their efforts to reach a
successful and equitable conclusion to the present trade negotiations, an
outcome that ensure that the international trading system and global trading
arrangements become more conducive to development in all developing
countries.
Addressing the challenge of climate change has to be a new but integral
element of each country's development strategy. More importantly, however, it
should become an enhanced part of the international development agenda: All
development partners should collaborate intensively in devising a shared global
strategy to address this global problem.
The lack of political will and failure to implement decisions is clearly
reflected in the address by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to the United
Nations on 31 July 2007: Millennium Development Goals, the goals the world has
set are not being met and we face an emergency, a developmental emergency and
we need emergency action if we are to meet them.
But seven years on it is already clear that our pace is too slow; our
direction too uncertain; our vision is at risk. The world did not come together
in New York in 2000, come together again in Doha in 2001, in Johannesburg and
Monterrey in 2002, in Gleneagles and New York in 2005 and Heiligendamm in 2007
to make, re-make and reaffirm promises, for us then to break them.
We cannot allow our promises that became pledges to descend into just
aspirations, and then wishful thinking, and then only words that symbolise
broken promises. I want us to call an emergency meeting next year at which we
report on where we are and what we have to do.
In the coming year we must turn these renewed commitments into immediate
action. We must agree in the autumn to a global trade deal that delivers for
the poor and not just the rich; we must in Bali, in December, agree the outline
for a bold climate plan and at the G8 in Japan in July 2008 we must deliver on
the promises we made on aid and debt. I accept an immediate obligation on world
leaders to address protectionism and work to make what we promised â the
development trade round â happen this year.
It is urgent that heads of government stand ready to break the deadlock,
using all our resources of leadership. In recent days I have talked to
Chancellor Merkel, President Barroso, Prime Minister Socrates and President
Lula, President Mbeki and Prime Minister Singh, as well as Pascal Lamy. The
same sentiments are expressed by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in his
address to Economic and Social Council of the United Nations ECOSOC (2 July
2007).
All of you have before you my analytical report for the Ministerial Review,
as well as The Millennium Development Goals Report 2007, which is being
launched right here, right now. This report is the result of a broad
interagency effort spearheaded by the Department of Economic and Social
Affairs. It shows that progress towards the Development Goals has been slow in
some of the world's poorest countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
However, its main message remains encouraging: the Millennium Development Goals
remain achievable in most countries, but only if political leaders take urgent
and concerted action.
Countries in Africa and elsewhere are demonstrating that rapid and
large-scale progress on the MDGs is possible. As this weeks national
presentations on implementation experiences will show, it flows from strong
Government leadership and sound governance good policies. It requires practical
strategies for scaling up investments in key areas. And it needs adequate
financial and technical support from the international community.
I cannot stress strongly enough the need for developed nations to keep their
promises. They have to meet the 0.7 per cent official development assistance
target. Today, I urge donors to issue timelines for scaling up aid to
reach their target commitments by 2010 and 2015. As they do so, they must also
address the disparities in the global trade regime, which handcuff so many
developing nations.
The world desperately needs a successful conclusion to the Doha trade
negotiations. Existing trade barriers, agricultural subsidies and restrictive
rules on intellectual property rights reinforce global inequities and they make
a mockery of our tall claims to eliminate hunger and poverty from our
world.
The time to convert existing promises into actual progress is now. We must
convert the "global partnership for development" into more than a catchy
slogan, and turn it into fact, so as to address the most pressing development
issues of our day, from climate change to trade and aid. By acting now, we can
still deliver by the 2015 deadline.
United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
The annual four-week substantive session of the ECOSOC which has been tasked
with two new functions this year concluded in Geneva on Friday 27 July 2007,
with its President welcoming the revitalized and reformed Council's
progress.
The Council adopted a ministerial declaration by consensus, which signalled
the its unanimity in addressing the obstacles to the achievement of the MDGs,
especially concerning the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger and the
development of a global partnership for development:
Ministerial Declaration of the High Level Segment submitted by the President
of the Council on the basis of informal consultations
We, the Ministers and Heads of Delegation participating in the High-Level
segment of the substantive session of 2007 of the Economic and Social Council
held in Geneva from 2 to 5 July 2007. Having considered the theme of the annual
ministerial review, "Strengthening efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger,
including through the global partnership for development," the report of the
Secretary-General on the subject and the contributions made leading up to and
during the high-level segment.
Having also considered the theme "Strengthening efforts at all levels to
promote pro-poor sustained economic growth, including through equitable
macro-economic policies," the report of the Secretary-General on the subject
and the contributions made during:
* The reaffirming the internationally agreed development goals, including
the Millennium Development Goals.
* Recalling the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in
the economic, social and related fields, including the development goals and
objectives contained therein, and recognising the vital role played by these
conferences and summits in shaping a broad development vision and in
identifying commonly agreed objectives, which have contributed to improving
human life in different parts of the world.
* Reaffirming that development is a central goal in and of itself and that
sustainable development in its economic, social and environmental aspects
constitutes a key element of the overarching framework of United Nations
activities.
* Recognising that development, peace and security and human rights are
interlinked and mutually reinforcing.
* Reaffirming that gender equality and the promotion and protection of the full
enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all are essential to
eradicate poverty and hunger.
* Reiterating that eradicating poverty is the greatest global challenge facing
the world today and that it is an indispensable requirement for sustainable
development in particular for developing countries.
* Recognising that while globally extreme poverty is declining at a notable
rate, progress has been uneven, and that at the same time the number of people
living in extreme poverty continues to increase in some countries, particularly
in the least developed countries and in sub-Saharan Africa.
* Remaining concerned that many countries in Africa are currently not on track
to achieve any of the goals of the United Nations Millennium Declaration by
2015 and in this regard emphasizing that concerted efforts and continued
support are required to fulfil the commitments to address the special needs of
Africa,
* Recognising that empowerment of the poor is essential for the effective
eradication of poverty and hunger.
* Recognising also that rural areas of developing countries continue to be home
to the vast majority of the world's poor people, whose livelihoods depend to a
large extent on agriculture.
* Reaffirming the commitments to the global partnership for development as set
out in the Millennium Declaration, the Monterrey Consensus and the Johannesburg
Plan of Implementation.
Have adopted the following declaration:
1. We welcome the strengthening of the Economic and Social Council, the
holding of the first annual ministerial review, including the voluntary
national presentations made by Bangladesh, Barbados, Cambodia, Cape Verde,
Ethiopia and Ghana and the launch of the Development Co-operation Forum.
2. We invite all countries to consider making voluntary national presentations
at future ministerial reviews.
3. We also welcome the holding of the Civil Society Development Forum at Geneva
from 28 to 30 June.
4. We reiterate our resolve to strengthen our efforts to eradicate the scourges
of poverty and hunger and to make that goal the central priority of national
development strategies and international development co-operation.
5. We recognise that sustained economic growth is essential for eradicating
poverty and hunger, in particular in developing countries. We commit ourselves
to promoting sustained economic growth in developing countries and recognise
that national efforts in this regard should be complemented by an
internationally enabling environment.
6. We reiterate that the eradication of poverty, hunger and malnutrition,
particularly as they affect children, is crucial for the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals and that rural and agricultural development should
be an integral part of national and international development policies. In this
regard, we call for increased productive investment in rural and agricultural
development to achieve food security and for enhanced support for agricultural
development and trade capacity-building in the agricultural sector in
developing countries.
7. We emphasise that, inter alia, increasing access, through national action
and international support, to safe drinking water, basic sanitation, energy,
universal education, health care and social protection will reduce both
inequality and poverty.
8. We reiterate the importance of taking measures at all levels to strengthen
the development of non-agricultural sectors, in particular medium-sized, small
and micro-enterprises.
9. We also reiterate our strong support for fair globalisation and the need to
translate growth into reduction of poverty and in this regard resolve to make
the goals of full and productive employment and decent work for all, including
for women and young people, a central objective of relevant national and
international policies as well as national development strategies, including
poverty reduction strategies, as part of efforts to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals.
10. We call for promotion and facilitation of, as appropriate, access to and
the development, transfer and diffusion of technologies, including new and
advanced environmentally sound technologies and corresponding know-how, to
developing countries.
11. We call on all countries to adopt strategies for reducing urban poverty,
call on the United Nations system and other relevant organisations to support
developing countries in this regard and invite the international financial
institutions to support those efforts, as appropriate.
12. We reaffirm our commitment to prioritise actions and allocate resources to
eliminate hunger and malnutrition in al countries and agree to undertake
measures to provide malnourished people with increased access to food.
13. We reiterate that al countries should promote gender equality and
empowerment of women and, as called for, inter alia, in the Beijing Declaration
and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of
the General Assembly, identify and accelerate actions towards that end.
14. We recognise that microfinance, including micro-credit, can make an
important contribution to poverty eradication and the empowerment of the poor,
including through programmes that could facilitate productive self-employment,
promote gender equality and reduce the social and economic vulnerability of the
poor. We encourage all countries to facilitate the expansion of microfinance,
including micro-credit, in order to service the large unmet demand among poor
people for financial services.
15. We resolve to intensify our efforts towards the goal of universal access to
HIV prevention programmes, treatment, care and support by 2010, enhanced access
to affordable medicines, reduction of the incidence of tuberculosis by half by
2015 and reduction of the large number of deaths from malaria and other
infectious diseases, including through increased resources; and in this regard
we welcome the commitment by the Group of Eight to increase funding to fight
HIV and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, including the strengthening of health
systems, to 60 billion dollars in the coming years. We also resolve to continue
efforts to reduce child mortality improve maternal health and strengthen
healthcare systems to help us meet the needs of our populations in all spheres
of health, including sexual and reproductive health.
16. We emphasise the critical role of both formal and informal education in the
achievement of poverty eradication and other development goals as envisaged in
the Millennium Declaration, in particular basic education and training for
eradicating illiteracy and strive for expanded secondary and higher education
as well as vocational and technical training, especially for girls and women,
the creation of human resources and infrastructure capabilities and the
empowerment of those living in poverty.
17. We reaffirm out commitment to achieve the goal of sustainable development
including through the implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of
Implementation. To that end, we commit ourselves to undertaking concrete
actions and measures at all levels and to enhancing international cooperation,
taking into account the Rio principles. These efforts will also promote the
integration of the three components of sustainable development, economic
development, social development and environmental protection as interdependent
and mutually reinforcing pillars. Poverty eradication, changing unsustainable
patterns of production and consumption and protecting and managing the natural
resource base of economic and social development are overarching objectives of
and essential requirements for sustainable development.
18. We recognise the negative impact of environmental degradation and climate
change on sustainable development in al countries, especially developing
countries in particular the least developed countries, small island developing
States and African countries.
19. We recall the provisions of the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change, including the acknowledgement that the global nature of climate
change calls for the widest possible cooperation by all countries and their
participation in an effective and appropriate international response, in
accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective
capabilities and their social and economic conditions.
20. We reaffirm that responses to climate change should be coordinated with
social and economic development in an integrated manner, with a view to
avoiding adverse impact on the latter, taking into full account the legitimate
priority needs of developing countries for the achievement of sustained
economic growth and the eradication of poverty.
21. We look forward to measures to address climate change within the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and to the thirteenth session of
the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate
Change and the third session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto
Protocol, to be held in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2007. We also look
forward to the Secretary-General's high-level event, which is to take place in
New York on 24 September 2007.
22. We reiterate the need to fully implement the global partnership for
development and to enhance the momentum generated by the 2005 World summit in
order to operationalise and implement, at all levels, the commitments in the
outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits, including the
2005 World Summit, in the economic, social and related fields and stress that
all countries should promote policies coherent and consistent with those
commitments, including those systemic in nature.
23. We reaffirm our commitment to sound policies, good governance at all levels
and the rule of law, and to mobilising domestic resources, attracting
international flows, promoting international trade as an engine for
development, increasing international financial and technical co-operation for
development, sustainable debt financing and external debt relief and enhancing
the coherence and consistency of the international monetary, financial and
trading systems.
24. We also reaffirm that each country must take primary responsibility for its
own development and that the role of national policies and development
strategies cannot be over-emphasised in the achievement of sustainable
development. We also recognise that national efforts should be complemented by
supportive global programmes, measures and policies aimed at expanding the
development opportunities of developing countries, while taking into account
national conditions and ensuring respect for national ownership, strategies and
sovereignty.
25. We reiterate that in our common pursuit of growth, poverty eradication and
sustainable development, a critical challenge is to ensure the necessary
internal conditions for mobilising domestic savings, both public and private,
sustaining adequate levels of productive investment and increasing human
capacity. A crucial task is to enhance the efficacy, coherence and consistency
of macroeconomic policies. An enabling domestic environment is vital for
mobilising domestic resources, increasing productivity, reducing capital
flight, encouraging the private sector and attracting and making effective use
of international investment and assistance. Efforts to create such an
environment should be supported by the international community.
26. We acknowledge efforts by developed countries to increase resources for
development, including commitments by some developed countries to increase
official development assistance. We note with concern, however, the overall
decline in official development assistance in 2006 and call for the fulfilment
of all official development assistance commitments, including the commitments
by many developed countries to achieve the target of 0,7 percent of gross
national income for official development assistance by 2015 and to reach at
least 0,5 percent of gross national income for official development assistance
by 2010, as well as the target of 0,15 percent to 0,20 percent for the least
developed countries and urge those developed countries that have not yet done
so to make concrete efforts in this regard in accordance with their
commitments.
27. We welcome the efforts by some developed countries, which are on target to
meet the commitments made in terms of increased official development
assistance.
28. We also welcome recent efforts and initiatives to enhance the quality of
aid and to increase its impact, including the Paris Declaration on Aid
Effectiveness, and resolve to take concrete, effective and timely action in
implementing all agreed commitments on aid effectiveness, with clear monitoring
and deadlines, including through further aligning assistance with countries'
strategies, building institutional capacities, reducing transaction costs and
eliminating bureaucratic procedures, making progress on untying aid, enhancing
the absorptive capacity and financial management of recipient countries and
strengthening the focus on development results.
29. We resolve to ensure that existing commitments of additional external
resources for sub-Saharan Africa are fully implemented in order to promote
achievement of the Millennium Development goals in that region.
30. We call for the full, timely and effective achievement of the goals and
targets of the Brussels Programme of Action, the Almaty Programme of Action,
the Barbados Programme of Action and the Mauritius Strategy to address the
special needs of the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries
and small island developing States.
31. We emphasise the need to support the smooth transition strategy for
countries graduating from the list of least developed countries, in accordance
with the smooth transition strategy for countries graduating from the list of
least developed countries.
32. We reaffirm the commitments made in the Doha Ministerial Declaration, the
Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration and the decision of the General Council of
the World Trade Organisation (WTO) of 1 August 2004 to meaningfully integrate
the developing and the least developed countries into the multilateral trading
system and call for the successful and timely completion of the Doha round of
trade negotiations, with the full realisation of the development dimensions of
the Doha Work Programme.
33. We call for the early conclusion and successful development-oriented
outcome of the Doha Round of trade negotiations, adhering fully to the agreed
mandate in the Doha Ministerial Declaration, within the framework adopted by
the General Council of the WTO in its decision of 1 August 2004 and the Hong
Kong Ministerial Declaration.
34. We call upon all countries to promote good governance, which is essential
for sustainable development and reaffirm that sound economic policies, solid
democratic institutions responsive to the needs of the people and improved
infrastructure are the basis for sustained economic growth, poverty eradication
and employment creation and that freedom , peace and security, domestic
stability, respect for human rights, including the right to development, the
rule of law, gender equality, market-oriented policies and an overall
commitment to just and democratic societies, are also essential and mutually
reinforcing.
35. We resolve to pursue good governance and sound macroeconomic policies at
all levels and to support developing countries in their efforts to put in place
the policies and investments to drive sustained economic growth, promote small
and medium-sized enterprises and employment generation and stimulate the
private sector.
36. We reaffirm that good governance at the international level is fundamental
for achieving sustainable development, that in order to ensure a dynamic and
enabling international economic environment it is important to promote global
economic governance through addressing the international finance, trade,
technology and investment patterns that have an impact on the development
prospects of developing countries and that, to that end, the international
community should take all necessary and appropriate measures, including
ensuring support for structural and macroeconomic reform, a comprehensive
solution to the external debt problem and increasing the market access of
developing countries.
37. We also reaffirm the commitment to broaden and strengthen the participation
of developing countries and countries with economies in transition in
international economic decision-making and norm-setting, stress, to that end,
the importance of continuing efforts to reform the international financial
architecture, noting that enhancing the voice and participation of developing
countries and countries with economies in transition in the Bretton Woods
institutions remains a continuous concern, and call in this regard for further
and effective progress.
38. We call for measures at all levels to promote pro-poor growth in a
sustained manner and underline in this regard the need for equitable
microeconomic policies.
39. We recognise that poverty and inequality are a concern for all countries
regardless of their level of development. We also recognise that middle income
countries still face significant areas of poverty and that efforts to address
those challenges should be supported.
40. We acknowledge the vital role the private sector can play in promoting
economic growth and eradicating poverty and hunger by generating new
investments, employment and financing for development.
41. We recognise the role that public-private partnerships can play in our
efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger, the need to ensure that their
activities conform fully to the principle of national ownership of development
strategies and the need for effective accountability and transparency in their
implementation.
42. We acknowledge the critical role of the public sector in promoting
sustained economic growth and the eradication of poverty and hunger.
43. We renew our commitment to continuing to discuss innovative mechanisms for
financing for development. We acknowledge the progress made in this area and
invite countries to consider contributing in this regard.
44. We recognise, in this regard, the value of developing innovative sources of
financing from various sources on public, private, domestic and external bases
in order to increase and supplement traditional sources of financing.
45. We request the Economic and Social Council to consider reviewing its
existing mechanisms and where needed, to take appropriate action to ensure
effective review and implementation of the outcomes of the major United Nations
conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields.
46. We look forward to our continuing engagement, within the renewed and
strengthened Economic and Social Council, to advancing the achievement of the
internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development
Goals.
[Comment by Deputy Minister Pahad: the essence of all this is that developed
countries are beginning to understand that they cannot sustain their
development if they do not take concrete action to increase poverty aid to the
developing countries.]
It is in this regard that the Africa- European Union Dialogue is becoming
increasingly important.
Africa â European Union Dialogue
The Ghana Summit did deal with this matter and indicated that it would be an
important opportunity for Africa to clearly put its views on the developmental
agenda to its European Union partners. African Union Foreign Ministers, at
their meeting preceding the Summit in July 2007 in Accra, Ghana:
1. TAKES NOTE of the Report on Africa-European Union (EU) Dialogue
2. WELCOMES the consultations undertaken with various stakeholders leading to
the finalization of the outline for the Joint Africa-EU Strategy
3. ADOPTS the Outline for the Joint Africa-EU Strategy as a basis for the
elaboration of a fully-fledged Joint Strategy and Action Plan to be adopted at
the December, 2007 Lisbon Africa-Europe Summit
4. URGES the Africa-EU Ministerial Troika and the Experts to expedite the
elaboration of the Joint Strategy and Action Plan as part of Lisbon Summit
documentation
5. APPRECIATES the progress made in preparations for the Africa-EU Summit to
be held in Portugal in December 2007, and that all African countries and the
African Union (AU) Organs would be invited without conditions, to participate
in the Summit
[Comment by Deputy Minister Pahad: In view of this point that all countries
will be invited to participate in the Summit, I do hope we will be able to put
to rest any questions of whether some countries will be invited or not.]
6. URGES all African Countries and the AU Organs to fully participate in the
Summit
7. ENDORSES the convening of a joint ministerial meeting to prepare adequately
for the Lisbon Summit and WELCOMES in this regard the offer by the Arab
Republic of Egypt to host the meeting in November 2007;
8. REQUESTS the Chairperson of the Commission to ensure that the Agenda of the
Summit takes into account Africa's development needs including agriculture and
food security;
9. SUPPORTS the forthcoming launching of the Africa-EU Partnership on
Infrastructure and REQUESTS the Commission to take all necessary measures to
ensure good participation of African stakeholders at this important event.
[Comment by Deputy Minister Pahad: a ministerial meeting will be held in
Egypt in November 2007 to prepare for the Summit. We believe that the new
AfricaâEuropean Union Strategic Plan will lead to the formulation of an Africa
Action Plan. Given what has been said by Prime Minister Brown and our own
views, we hope we will this time get a plan of action that can be implemented
and that will allow us to achieve our developmental agenda.]
Sudan
The South African government welcomes the adoption by the United Nations
Security Council of the resolution on the Hybrid force for Darfur which will
allow for the deployment of a 26000 strong joint African UnionâUnited Nations
force.
Some key points:
* It authorises and mandates the establishment of an AU/UN Hybrid Operation
in Darfur (UNAMID)
* Back-stopping, command and control structures for the hybrid operation will
be provided by the United Nations.
* Emphasises the Addis Ababa agreement that the Hybrid operation should have a
predominantly African character.
* Stresses the urgent need to mobilise the financial, logistical and other
support and assistance required for African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS),
whose mandate is extended for a period of six months until 31 December
2007.
[Comment by Deputy Minister Pahad: you must understand that although a
decision has been taken and adopted unanimously by the United Nations Security
Council, the UN processes will take time until the hybrid force can be
operationalised.]
* Preparation for deployment of UNAMID shall begin not later than October
2007, including an operational capability, management and command and control
structures.
* UNAMID shall also establish financial arrangements to cover troop's costs for
all personnel deployed to AMIS, not later than October 2007. UNAMID shall also
prepare to assume operational command authority over the Light Support Package,
Heavy Support Package, personnel currently deployed to AMIS and other hybrid
personnel deployed by that date.
* UNAMID shall monitor whether any arms or related material are present in
Darfur in violation of the agreements and the measures imposed by Resolution
1556 (2004).
* Acting under Chapter VII, the resolution gives UNAMID powers to take
necessary action in areas of its deployment of it forces as it deems within its
capabilities in order to protect its personnel, facilities, installations and
equipment; and ensure the security and freedom of movement of its own personnel
and humanitarian workers.
UN Secretary-General Urges all Parties to Remain Engaged, as Security
Council Authorises Deployment of United Nations-African Union Mission in
Sudan
Following statement is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's statement
on the adoption of the resolution on the hybrid force for Darfur, in New York
today, 31 July:
I am honoured to address the Security Council after its adoption of this
historic and unprecedented resolution. By authorising the deployment of a
hybrid operation for Darfur, you are sending a clear and powerful signal of
your commitment to improve the lives of the people of the region and close this
tragic chapter in Sudan's history.
[Comment by Deputy Minister Pahad: I believe this indicates the beginning of
more systematic and strengthened co-operation between the African Union and the
United Nations.]
Today's resolution is the culmination of serious and painstaking
collaboration within the Security Council. I commend you for your efforts. The
adoption is also the result of sincere and intensive cooperation between the
United Nations and the African Union. As we open this new chapter, I pay
tribute to the men and women of the African Union Mission in the Sudan, who
have given their all in the service of peace, some paying the ultimate
price.
We must now move forward, in all haste, to build on their work. We must put
in place the complex and vital peacekeeping operation which you have authorised
today. The Council is familiar with the administrative, logistical and serious
operational challenges that must be overcome to establish the hybrid. We must
dedicate ourselves fully to deploying a mission which will make a clear and
positive difference in the lives of the people of Darfur. They have a right to
expect nothing less.
Preparations for the operation have been under way since early this year.
Today's resolution will give even greater momentum to our efforts. If we are to
meet the ambitious goal established by the resolution and assume authority in
Darfur by the end of the year, the Council must remain engaged. Member States
must provide every support especially troop and police contributing
countries.
Additional capable troops must be committed. Support systems must be put in
place. Command structures must be established. National governments know from
their own experience that this takes time, but time is not on our side. Equally
fundamental will be the unequivocal and continuous support of the government of
Sudan. If the Government is not a good-faith partner in this initiative, the
operation will fail. We have the same expectation of the rebel movements.
As we recognise the importance of today's resolution and redouble our
collective efforts to strengthen peacekeeping in Darfur, we must also
acknowledge that it is only through a political process that can we achieve a
sustainable solution to the conflict.
The Special Envoys of the United Nations and the African Union have stepped
up their efforts, and will be meeting with the parties in Arusha later this
week. It is crucial that the Arusha meeting yield positive results, so as to
pave the way for negotiations and ultimately, a peace agreement. Only in this
way can we end the violence and destruction that have afflicted Darfur for more
than three years.
We will build peace through negotiations for a political settlement, and
sustain peace on the ground with our peacekeepers. I look forward to working
closely with you, the members of the Council, with the African Union and with
all Governments concerned, as we advance towards our shared goal.
[Comment by Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad: Given the positive assessment by the
United Nations Secretary General, it is difficult to understand why some forces
are intensifying the campaign for sanctions against the Government of
Sudan. Such positions are counterproductive and do not enhance the
processes underway.]
Darfur Peace Agreement
Special envoys of the African Union and United Nations will tomorrow Friday 3
August 2007 in Arusha, Tanzania meet with signatories and non-signatories of
the Darfur Peace Agreement.
Security Council Authorises Deployment of United Nations-African Union
'Hybrid' Peace Operation in Bid to Resolve Darfur Conflict
The Security Council authorised on Tuesday, 31 July 2007, the deployment of
a 26 000 strong joint United Nations-African Union force this afternoon, in an
attempt to quell the violence in Sudan's western Darfur region. The full text
of resolution 1769 (2007) reads as follows:
"The Security Council, recalling all its previous resolutions and presidential
statements concerning the situation in Sudan,
"Reaffirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, unity, independence
and territorial integrity of Sudan and to the cause of peace, and expressing
its determination to work with the Government of Sudan, in full respect of its
sovereignty, to assist in tackling the various problems in Darfur, Sudan
"Recalling the conclusions of the Addis Ababa high-level consultation on the
situation in Darfur of 16 November 2006 as endorsed in the communiqué of the
66th meeting of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union held in
Abuja on 30 November 2006 as well as the communiqué of 79th meeting of the
Peace and Security Council of the African Union on 22 June 2007, recalling the
statement of its President of 19 December 2006 endorsing the Addis Ababa and
Abuja agreements, welcoming the progress made so far and calling for them to be
fully implemented by all parties without delay and for all parties to
facilitate the immediate deployment of the United Nations Light and Heavy
Support packages to the African Union Mission in the Sudan (AMIS) and a Hybrid
operation in Darfur, for which back-stopping and command and control structures
will be provided by the United Nations, and recalling that co-operation between
the UN and the regional arrangements in matters relating to the maintenance of
peace and security is an integral part of collective security as provided for
in the Charter of the United Nations.
"Re-affirming also its previous resolutions 1325 (2000) on women, peace and
security, 1502 (2003) on the protection of humanitarian and United Nations
personnel, 1612 (2005) on children and armed conflict and the subsequent
conclusions of the Security Council Working Group on Children in Armed Conflict
pertaining to parties to the armed conflict in Sudan (S/2006/971), and 1674
(2006) on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, as well as recalling
the report of its Mission to Addis Ababa and Khartoum from 16 to 17 June
2007.
"Welcoming the report of the Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the
African Union Commission of 5 June 2007
"Commending in this regard the agreement of Sudan that the Hybrid operation
shall be deployed in Darfur, as detailed in the conclusions of the high-level
AU/UN consultations with the Government of Sudan in Addis Ababa on 12 June 2007
and confirmed in full during the Council's meeting with the President of Sudan
on 17 June in Khartoum
"Recalling the Addis Ababa Agreement that the Hybrid operation should have a
predominantly African character and the troops should, as far as possible, be
sourced from African countries
"Commending the efforts of the African Union for the successful deployment
of AMIS, as well as the efforts of member states and regional organisations
that have assisted it in its deployment, stressing the need for AMIS, as
supported by the United Nations Light and Heavy Support Packages, to assist
implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement until the end of its mandate,
calling upon the Government of Sudan to assist in removing all obstacles to the
proper discharge by AMIS of its mandate; and recalling the communiqué of the
79th meeting of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union of 22 June
to extend the mandate of AMIS for an additional period not exceeding six months
until 31 December 2007
"Stressing the urgent need to mobilise the financial, logistical and other
support and assistance required for AMIS
"Welcoming the ongoing preparations for the Hybrid operation, including the
putting in place of logistical arrangements in Darfur, at United Nations
Headquarters and the African Union Commission Headquarters, force and police
generation efforts and on-going joint efforts by the Secretary General and the
Chairperson of the African Union to finalise essential operational policies,
and further welcoming action taken so that appropriate financial and
administrative mechanisms are established to ensure the effective management of
the Hybrid
"Re-iterating its belief in the basis provided by the Darfur Peace Agreement
for a lasting political solution and sustained security in Darfur, deploring
that the Agreement has not been fully implemented by the signatories and not
signed by all parties to the conflict in Darfur, calling for an immediate
ceasefire, urging all parties not to act in any way that would impede the
implementation of the Agreement, and recalling the communiqué of the second
international meeting on the situation in Darfur convened by the African Union
and United Nations Special Envoys in Tripoli from 15 to 16 July 2007
"Noting with strong concern on-going attacks on the civilian population and
humanitarian workers and continued and widespread sexual violence, including as
outlined in the Report of the Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the
African Union Commission on the Hybrid Operation in Darfur and the report of
the Secretary-General of 23 February 2007, emphasising the need to bring to
justice the perpetrators of such crimes and urging the Government of Sudan to
do so, and reiterating in this regard its condemnation of all violations of
human rights and international humanitarian law in Darfur
"Reiterating its deep concern for the security of humanitarian aid workers
and their access to populations in need, condemning those parties to the
conflict who have failed to ensure the full, safe and unhindered access of
relief personnel to all those in need in Darfur as well as the delivery of
humanitarian assistance, in particular to internally displaced persons and
refugees, and recognising that, with many citizens in Darfur having been
displaced, humanitarian efforts remain a priority until a sustained ceasefire
and inclusive political process are achieved
"Demanding that there should be no aerial bombings and the use of United
Nations markings on aircraft used in such attacks
"Reaffirming its concern that the ongoing violence in Darfur might further
negatively affect the rest of Sudan as well as the region, stressing that
regional security aspects must be addressed to achieve long-term peace in
Darfur, and calling on the Governments of Sudan and Chad to abide by their
obligations under the Tripoli Agreement of 8 February 2006 and subsequent
bilateral agreements
"Determining that the situation in Darfur, Sudan continues to constitute a
threat to international peace and security
1. Decides, in support of the early and effective implementation of the
Darfur Peace Agreement and the outcome of the negotiations foreseen in
paragraph 18, to authorise and mandate the establishment, for an initial period
of 12 months, of an UNAMID as set out in this resolution and pursuant to the
report of the Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the African Union
Commission of 5 June 2007 and further decides that the mandate of UNAMID shall
be as set out in paragraphs 54 and 55 of the report of the Secretary General
and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission of 5 June 2007.
2. Decides that UNAMID, which shall incorporate AMIS personnel and the UN
Heavy and Light Support Packages to AMIS, shall consist of up to 19 555
military personnel, including 360 military observers and liaison officers and
an appropriate civilian component including up to 3 772 police personnel and 19
formed police units comprising up to 140 personnel each.
3. Welcomes the appointment of the AU-UN Joint Special Representative for
Darfur Rodolphe Adada and Force Commander Martin Agwai and calls on the
Secretary-General to immediately begin deployment of the command and control
structures and systems necessary to ensure a seamless transfer of authority
from AMIS to UNAMID.
4. Calls on all parties to urgently facilitate the full deployment of the UN
Light and Heavy Support Packages to AMIS and preparations for UNAMID, and
further calls on member states to finalise their contributions to UNAMID within
30 days of the adoption of this resolution and on the Secretary-General and the
Chairperson of the African Union Commission to agree the final composition of
the military component of UNAMID within the same time period.
5. Decides that:
a. No later than October 2007, UNAMID shall establish an initial operational
capability for the headquarters, including the necessary management and command
and control structures, through which operational directives will be
implemented, and shall establish financial arrangements to cover troops costs
for all personnel deployed to AMIS.
b. As of October 2007, UNAMID shall complete preparations to assume operational
command authority over the Light Support Package, personnel currently deployed
to AMIS and such Heavy Support Package and hybrid personnel as may be deployed
by that date, in order that it shall perform such tasks under its mandate as
its resources and capabilities permit immediately upon transfer of authority
consistent with sub-paragraph (c) below;
c. As soon as possible and no later than 31 December 2007, UNAMID having
completed all remaining tasks necessary to permit it to implement all elements
of its mandate, will assume authority from AMIS with a view to achieving full
operational capability and force strength as soon as possible thereafter.
6. Requests the Secretary General to report to the Council within 30 days of
the passage of this resolution and every 30 days thereafter, on the status of
UNAMID's implementation of the steps specified in paragraph five, including on
the status of financial, logistical, and administrative arrangements for UNAMID
and on the extent of UNAMID's progress toward achieving full operational
capability.
7. Decides that there will be unity of command and control which, in accordance
with basic principles of peacekeeping, means a single chain of command, further
decides that command and control structures and backstopping will be provided
by the United Nations and in this context, recalls the conclusions of the Addis
Ababa high level consultation on the situation in Darfur of 16 November.
8. Decides that force and personnel generation and administration shall be
conducted as set out in paragraphs 113 to 115 of the report of the
Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission of 5 June
2007, and requests the Secretary-General to put in place without delay the
practical arrangements for deploying UNAMID including submitting to the General
Assembly recommendations on funding and effective financial management and
oversight mechanisms.
9. Decides that UNAMID shall monitor whether any arms or related material are
present in Darfur in violation of the Agreements and the measures imposed by
paragraphs seven and eight of resolution 1556 (2004).
10. Calls on all Member States to facilitate the free, unhindered and
expeditious movement to Sudan of all personnel, as well as equipment,
provisions, supplies and other goods, including vehicles and spare parts, which
are for the exclusive use of UNAMID in Darfur.
11. Stresses the urgent need to mobilise the financial, logistical and other
support required for AMIS and calls on member states and regional organisations
to provide further assistance, in particular to permit the early deployment of
two additional battalions during the transition to UNAMID.
12. Decides that the authorised strength of UNMIS shall revert to that
specified in resolution 1590 (2005) upon the transfer of authority from AMIS to
UNAMID pursuant to paragraph 5(c);
13. Calls on all the parties to the conflict in Darfur to immediately cease all
hostilities and commit themselves to a sustained and permanent ceasefire.
14. Demands an immediate cessation of hostilities and attacks on AMIS,
civilians and humanitarian agencies, their staff and assets and relief convoys,
and further demands that all parties to the conflict in Darfur fully co-operate
with AMIS, civilians and humanitarian agencies, their staff and assets and
relief convoys and give all necessary assistance to the deployment of the
United Nations Light and Heavy Support Packages to AMIS, and to UNAMID.
15. Acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations:
a. Decides that UNAMID is authorised to take the necessary action, in the areas
of deployment of its forces and as it deems within its capabilities in order
to:
- protect its personnel, facilities, installations and equipment and to ensure
the security and freedom of movement of its own personnel and humanitarian
workers.
- support early and effective implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement,
prevent the disruption of its implementation and armed attacks and protect
civilians, without prejudice to the responsibility of the Government of
Sudan.
b. Requests that the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Chairperson
of the African Union Commission and the Government of Sudan conclude within 30
days a status-of-forces agreement with respect to UNAMID, taking into
consideration General Assembly resolution 58/82 on the scope of legal
protection under the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated
Personnel and General Assembly resolution 61/133 on the Safety and Security of
Humanitarian Personnel and the Protection of United Nations Personnel and
decides that pending the conclusion of such an agreement the model
status-of-forces agreement dated 9 October1990 (A/45/594) shall provisionally
apply with respect to UNAMID personnel operating in that country.
16. Requests the Secretary-General to take the necessary measures to achieve
actual compliance in UNAMID with the United Nations zero-tolerance policy on
sexual exploitation and abuse, including the development of strategies and
appropriate mechanisms to prevent, identify and respond to all forms of
misconduct, including sexual exploitation and abuse, and the enhancement of
training for personnel to prevent misconduct and ensure full compliance with
the United Nations code of conduct, and to further take all necessary action in
accordance with the Secretary-General's Bulletin on special measures for
protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (ST/SGB/2003/13) and to
keep the Council informed, and urges troop-contributing countries to take
appropriate preventive action including the conduct of pre-deployment awareness
training and, in the case of forces previously deployed under AU auspices,
post-deployment awareness training, and to take disciplinary action and other
action to ensure full accountability in cases of such conduct involving their
personnel.
17. Calls on all concerned parties to ensure that the protection of children is
addressed in the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement, and requests the
Secretary-General to ensure continued monitoring and reporting of the situation
of children and continued dialogue with parties to the conflict towards the
preparations of time-bound action plans to end recruitment and use of child
soldiers and other violations against children.
18. Emphasises there can be no military solution to the conflict in Darfur,
welcomes the commitment expressed by the Government of Sudan and some other
parties to the conflict to enter into talks and the political process under the
mediation, and in line with the deadlines set out in the roadmap, of the United
Nations Special Envoy for Darfur and the African Union Special Envoy for
Darfur, who have its full support, looks forward to these parties doing so,
calls on the other parties to the conflict to do likewise, and urges all the
parties, in particular the nonsignatory movements, to finalise their
preparations for the talks.
19 Welcomes the signature of a Joint Communiqué between the Government of Sudan
and the United Nations on Facilitation of Humanitarian Activities in Darfur,
and calls for it to be fully implemented and on all parties to ensure, in
accordance with relevant provisions of international law, the full, safe and
unhindered access of relief personnel to all those in need and delivery of
humanitarian assistance, in particular to internally displaced persons and
refugees.
20. Emphasises the need to focus, as appropriate, on developmental initiatives
that will bring peace dividends on the ground in Darfur, including in
particular, finalising preparations for reconstruction and development, return
of IDPs to their villages, compensation and appropriate security
arrangements.
21. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Council for its
consideration no later than every 90 days after the adoption of this resolution
on progress being made on, and immediately as necessary on any obstacles
to:
a. The implementation of the Light and Heavy Support Packages and UNAMID.
b. The implementation of the Joint Communiqué between the Government of Sudan
and the United Nations on Facilitation of Humanitarian Activities in
Darfur.
c. The political process
d. The implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement and the parties' compliance
with their international obligations and their commitments under relevant
agreements
e. The ceasefire and the situation on the ground in Darfur.
22. Demands that the parties to the conflict in Darfur fulfil their
international obligations and their commitments under relevant agreements, this
resolution and other relevant Council resolutions.
23. Recalls the reports of the Secretary-General of 22 December 2006
(S/2006/1019) and 23 February 2007 (S/2007/97) which detail the need to improve
the security of civilians in the regions of eastern Chad and north-eastern
Central African Republic, expresses its readiness to support this endeavour and
looks forward to the Secretary-General reporting on his recent consultations
with the Governments of Chad and CAR.
24. Emphasises its determination that the situation in Darfur shall
significantly improve so that the Council can consider, in due course and as
appropriate, and taking into consideration recommendations of the
Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the African Union, the drawing down
and eventual termination of UNAMID.
25. Decides to remain seized of the matter."
World Food Programme (WPF) aid being hampered in Darfur
We are very concerned at comments by the WFP of a dramatic escalation in
attacks on humanitarian staff and food convoys in Darfur, which are hampering
WFP's ability to deliver assistance to millions of hungry people in the
strife-torn region of Sudan. "In the last two weeks, nine food convoys have
been attacked by gunmen across Darfur," said Kenro Oshidari, WFP Sudan
Representative.
"WFP staff and contractors are being stopped at gunpoint, dragged out of
their vehicles and robbed with alarming frequency," he said. Oshidari called on
all parties to the conflict in Darfur to guarantee the safety of humanitarian
workers so that the UN food agency and other aid organisations can continue
with their life-saving work.
"These abhorrent attacks, which target the very people who are trying to
help the most vulnerable in Darfur, must be brought under control," he added.
So far this year, 18 WFP food convoys have been attacked by gunmen and four of
WFP's light vehicles carjacked. Six WFP vehicles, including trucks and light
vehicles, have been stolen and 10 staff, including contractors, have been
either detained or abducted.
Due to a lack of security, WFP was not able to reach 170 000 people in June,
a sizeable increase from the lowest point last March when 60,000 could not be
reached. As a result of convoy attacks in recent weeks, the road between Nyala,
the capital of South Darfur state, and the town of Kass, has been declared a
"no-go" area for UN staff.
In north Darfur, food dispatches to the town of Kabkabiya have been
affected. UN security personnel say attacks on vehicles are now the number one
security concern for the aid community in Darfur.
Democratic Republic Of Congo
The South African government is deeply concerned at the deteriorating
security situation in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in
particular North and South Kivu. Serious humanitarian consequences of violent
actions of foreign armed groups, in particular the Forces démocratiques de
libération du Rwanda (FDLR), and military activities of the "mixed" brigades,
are being carried out under the leadership of General Nkunda.
We are concerned at the continued threat that the foreign and Congolese
armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo pose to the local
population and security in the region. These groups must lay down their arms
and engage voluntarily and without preconditions in their demobilisation,
repatriation, resettlement and reintegration, as appropriate.
South Africa urges the mixed brigades and their commanders to integrate into
the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and to stop
recruiting activities. We condemn the recruitment of children in
violation of applicable international law.
Text of the United Nations Security Council Presidential statement
"The Security Council invites the Government to develop in close
co-ordination with the United Nations Organisation Mission in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (MONUC) a global plan to ensure security in the eastern
part of the country, particularly by making further progress in the
disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of Congolese combatants, and the
disarmament, demobilisation, repatriation, resettlement and reintegration of
foreign combatants, and by ending impunity, promoting reconciliation, social
cohesion, recovery and development in the region. It notes with concern the
significant number of internally displaced persons and emphasises the need to
reassure the population and promote effective State administration in the
region. The Council welcomes the intention of the Congolese authorities to
facilitate an inclusive dialogue in the Kivus and looks forward to its
implementation.
"The Security Council encourages MONUC to continue, in conformity with its
mandate, to support the FARDC integrated brigades with a view to disarming
recalcitrant foreign and Congolese armed groups in order to ensure their
participation in the disarmament, demobilisation, repatriation, resettlement
and reintegration process, as appropriate. It encourages the Congolese
authorities to develop, in close consultation with MONUC, the necessary
planning to that end, and stresses that any operation that may require MONUC's
support should be jointly planned with it and in accordance with international
human rights, refugee and humanitarian law. The Council requests the
Secretary-General to keep it informed of this planning process. It also
underlines the importance of continued efforts by MONUC, in implementing its
mandate, to provide protection to civilians and contribute to the improvement
of the security conditions in which humanitarian assistance is provided.
"The Security Council strongly encourages the Government to carry out the
reform of the security sector nationwide as a matter of priority, by pursuing
its efforts to consolidate the reform of the police and to integrate the armed
forces. In this context, the Council acknowledges the concerted efforts of the
Government and its partners towards convening a national round table on
security sector reform, scheduled for October in Kinshasa.
"The Security Council expresses its deep concern about the recruitment of
combatants, including children in violation of applicable international law,
inside and outside the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially by forces
loyal to Laurent Nkunda.
"The Council urges the neighbouring States concerned to further facilitate
the effective reintegration of returning former combatants and to prevent all
recruiting activities within their territories. The Council recognises that
good regional relations, in particular relations between the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, are an important factor in solving the crisis
in the Kivus. It encourages both governments to continue to co-operate to solve
their common security concerns, to improve their diplomatic relations and to
support the voluntary return of refugees, in consultation with the High
Commissioner for Refugees.
"The Security Council encourages MONUC, in conformity with its mandate, to
assist the government, including through the provision of good offices, in its
efforts to find a lasting solution to the crisis in the Kivus through promoting
reconciliation and political dialogue."
UN evacuates staff from eastern DRC
The United Nations evacuated dozens of staff Wednesday 1 August 2007 from a
remote east Democratic Republic of Congo town after mobs of stone-throwing
protesters angry over the possible return of refugees from a minority ethnic
group ransacked UN and other humanitarian agencies there.
Four unarmed UN military observers were wounded in the violence and flown by
helicopter from the Lake Tanganyika town of Moba along with 30 civilian UN
personnel by a contingent of Bangladeshi troops, said Major Gabriel de Brosses,
a spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping force in DRC.
The protesters, angry over rumours of the return of ethnic DRC Tutsis, or
Banyamulenge, looted a house used by the UN observers and wrecked the offices
of the UN refugee agency and other aid groups," de Brosses said.
De Brosse said soldiers from DRC's army fired shots in the air to disperse a
crowd of around 1 000 people. A battalion of Bangladeshi peacekeepers was
deployed to Moba and right now the situation is under control," de Brosses
said.
Bemba not ready to return to DRC
Democratic Republic of Congo opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba will not
return to his homeland for the time being even though his leave of absence from
the country's Senate expired at midnight on Tuesday 31 July 2007," his
spokesperson said.
The Senate, of which he is a member, granted millionaire Bemba a 60-day
leave of absence, which it later extended to July 31 on his request in
mid-June. Bemba promised then to return to Democratic Republic of Congo as long
as he received security guarantees. "Jean-Pierre Bemba will not come back to
the country today or tomorrow and no new date is yet scheduled," his
spokesperson Moise Musangana said on Tuesday.
Musangana said on Monday Kabila's office had not responded to requests for
security guarantees for Bemba, who leads the country's political opposition as
head of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), which grew from his
rebel army. "If the president of the MLC returns under the present conditions
it could be dangerous for him," he said.
Kabila's presidency declined official comment on Bemba's possible return. A
presidential advisor who declined to be named said: "He is a bandit. He must
come and answer for his actions." It was unclear whether Bemba would face any
penalty from the Senate for overstaying his leave of absence; as parliament is
in recess and not due to reconvene until September 15. "If he does not come
back by September, we will need to examine whether his absence is justified or
not," Senator Ngongo Luwowo said.
Côte d'Ivoire
The South African government welcomes the "flame of peace" ceremony held on
Monday, 30 July 2007, to officially launch the disarmament process by setting
fire to weapons handed over by rebels. President Laurent Gbagbo declared the
war in Côte d'Ivoire over when he and rebel leader turned Prime Minister
Guillaume Soro as Gbagbo set foot in the north for the first time since rebels
occupied it in 2002.
"The war is over," President Gbagbo told some 25 000 people in the Bouake
Municipal Stadium on 30 July, calling on the crowd to repeat the phrase. "May
all Ivorians stand up and shout it with me. The war is over." Soro said
Gbagbo's presence in Bouake, the former-rebel stronghold, "seals the
reunification of the country." In the same breath as his proclamation that the
war has ended, President Gbagbo said the government will now take on organising
long-overdue presidential elections.
President Mbeki joined the Presidents of Togo, Guinea-Bissau, Mali and Benin
and representatives for Angola, Ghana, Niger, Senegal and the international
community at this ceremony. A brigade of the 37th Battalion was named after
President Mbeki, to mark the role played by South Africa in general and the
President in particular to bring about a resolution to the crisis in Côte
d'Ivoire, in Yamassoukro.
Somalia
UN, international partners to step up contacts with reconciliation body in
Somalia. On the 31st July 2007, a UN led a delegation, headed by the
Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative for Somalia, Per Lindgarde,
and included representatives from Norway, Sweden, Italy, Yemen and Egypt,
visited Mogadishu, over the weekend to attend and receive an update on
Congress's ongoing work and progress towards national reconciliation.
The delegation expressed its intention for members of the international
community to have henceforth a frequent presence at the Congress. The
delegation also met with representatives of the Transitional Federal Government
(TGF) and with the Hawiye Council.
Burundi
Withdrawal of the Paliphehutu-FNL from the Joint Verification and Monitoring
Mechanism (JVMM)
The South African government joins the United Nations Secretary-General Ban
Ki Moon in expressing deep concern by the withdrawal of Palipehutu-FNL on
Saturda, 21 July 2007, from JVMM of the Comprehensive Ceasefire Agreement
signed by the Government of Burundi and FNL in September 2006. We urge the FNL
to resume its participation in the JVMM without delay.
It is clear that patience is running out and that we cannot continue to
sustain such effort and resources when it does seem that the Paliphehutu-FNL
does from time to time become an obstacle to the process.
The Secretary-General commended the efforts of the South African
Facilitation, the Regional Peace Initiative on Burundi, and the African Union
aimed at bringing the Burundi peace process to a successful conclusion. He has
requested his Executive Representative for Burundi to continue to work closely
with these regional partners to help restore dialogue between the parties, with
a view to ensuring the expeditious implementation of the Comprehensive
Ceasefire Agreement.
Communique of the 81st meeting of the Peace and Security Council of the
African Union on the Implementation of the Comprehensive Ceasefire Agreement of
7 September 2006 between the Government of Burundi and the Paliphehutu-FNL of
Agathon Rwasa
The Council:
* Expressed its concern over the delays in the implementation of the
Comprehensive Ceasefire Agreement and the recurring difficulties encountered in
this regard. Council calls upon the parties to honour their obligations and
commitments with a view to accelerating the implementation of the Comprehensive
Ceasefire Agreement which should be concluded at the latest by December
2007.
[Comment by Deputy Minister Pahad: it is clear that this is a deadline that
has been set and that this should be seriously considered by the
Paliphehutu-FNL.]
* Noted with concern the danger of institutional stalemate in Burundi and
encouraged the Government of Burundi, the political opposition and all other
parties to work together for unity and reconciliation. Council further
encourages the Burundian authorities and the political opposition to work
together to put an end to the political crisis through a frank dialogue.
Current developments
On 21 July 2007, General Jean-Berchmans Ndayishimiye, a senior
representative of the leadership of the Paliphehutu-FNL at the JVMM, escaped
from his South African VIP protectors whilst visiting Bujumbura to discuss the
implementation of the September 2006 Ceasefire Agreement. General Ndayishimiye,
who is the head of military and intelligence operations in the Palipehutu-FNL,
has returned to Burundi several months ago to head the delegation of fifteen
Paliphehutu-FNL officials participating in the JVMM, the body overseeing the
implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement. General Ndayishimiye's escape was
confirmed by General Godefroid Niyombare, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Burundi
National Defence Force, as well as Colonel Motaung, the Head of the South
African National Defencwe Force (SANDF) VIP protection unit (based in the
Office of the Facilitator in Bujumbura).
General Ndayishimiye's escape was executed in a well-planned manner, as he
immediately made his way to the hills where heavily armed combatants awaited
him, forcing his South African protectors to let him go. The escape occurred
soon after Colonel Motaung briefed the Mission on a possible escape attempt.
Colonel Motaung informed Mission staff that protection around General
Jean-Berchmans and other Paliphehutu-FNL officials had been tightened and their
movements limited as intelligence reports indicated a possible escape attempt.
Based on these intelligence reports, the Paliphehutu-FNL delegation were not
allowed to move around in groups.
The Burundi government expressed grave concern after learning about the
escape and accused the Paliphehutu-FNL of recruiting more combatants and
re-arming in order to resume fighting. The Burundi government also said that
the implementation of the September 2006 Ceasefire Agreement is extremely slow,
despite the meeting between President Nkurunziza and Paliphehutu-FNL leader
Agathon Rwasa on 19 June 2007 in Dar es Salaam to try and resolve issues
hampering its implementation. According to Palihehutu-FNL spokesperson Pasteur
Habimana, the Paliphehutu-FNL does not intend re-arming in order to resume
fighting, but that General Ndayishimiye went to the 'bush" to consult with
Paliphehutu-FNL leader Agathon Rwasa on the pace of the peace process.
In a Communiqué released on 20 July 2007, the Office of the Facilitator in
Bujumbura expressed concern on recent developments and called for the
Paliphehutu-FNL to return to the JVMM and Joint Liaison Teams (JLT) meetings
and continue with the implementation process of the Ceasefire Agreement. The
South African Ambassador to Burundi refuted allegations made by representatives
of the Palihehutu-FNL to the JVMM and JLT that they were being mistreated by
their South African protectors and that they were subjected to "house arrest"
prior to the escape of General Ndayishiminye. The decision to limit the
movement of Palihehutu-FNL members was taken after missing weapons belonging to
the South African VIP protectors were located at the residence of one of the
Palihehutu-FNL officials, as well as intelligence reports on an imminent escape
attempt.
A split has emerged within the Palipehutu-FNL leadership on the
implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement. On the one hand, Mr Pasteur Habimana
controls the hard-line faction within the movement that does not wish to
implement the Ceasefire Agreement, and on the other hand, Mr Agathon Rwasa
seems to have been marginalised since his recent meeting with President
Nkurunziza. It is alleged that Mr Rwasa faced an internal rebellion led by Mr
Habimana for making a number of concessions to the Burundi government.
Middle East
The South African government remains concerned at the situation in the
Middle East. There has been no progress with regard to the Palestinian
situation since I last briefed you. Hamas still controls Gaza and the caretaker
government under President Abbas still controls Ramallah. The African Union
Summit did adopt a resolution on this matter. I do believe this is important
since it forms the framework under which all of Africa will deal with this
matter.
African Union Foreign Ministers, at their meeting preceding the Summit in
July 2007 in Accra, Ghana:
1. TAKES NOTE of the Report on the Situation in the Middle East and
Palestine;
2. RECALLS all relevant Resolutions and Decisions adopted by the OAU/AU on the
situation in Palestine and the Middle East
3. REITERATES its continued full support to and solidarity with the Palestinian
people, and the Authority of the Palestine Liberation Organization the sole
representative in their just and legitimate struggle for the exercise of their
inalienable national rights including their right to selfdetermination, return
to their land, recovery of their properties and the establishment of an
independent State on their national soil with Al-Quds as its capital in
accordance with the principle of international law and all the UN resolutions
and other pertinent resolutions of the OAU/AU
4. REAFFIRMS ITS SUPPORT for the peaceful solution to the Israeli- Palestinian
conflict in accordance with the principles of international law, all pertinent
resolutions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly and the Arab Peace
Initiative to end the Israeli occupation that began on 5 June 1967, with the
achievement of the vision of two States, Israel and an independent, sovereign
and territorially contiguous Palestine, living side by side, in peace and
security
5. CALLS UPON the United Nations to take concrete measures to protect the
people of Palestine by providing international protection forces to the
Occupied Palestinian Territories and to compel Israel to allow the UN
fact-finding missions charged with investigating war crimes and atrocities
perpetrated against Palestinian Peoples to discharge its duties within the
Occupied Territories
6. EXPRESSES GRAVE CONCERN over the deterioration of the economic, social
and health conditions resulting from continued Israeli occupation, siege,
restriction of movement of goods and persons
7. STRONGLY CONDEMNS the Israeli repressive measures, aggressions and all
acts perpetrated by Israel against harmless innocent people; the policies of
assassinations; ongoing invasions in the cities; villages and Palestinian
camps; as well as the heinous crimes and massacres, especially the latest
atrocious assault committed by the Israeli forces on 17 May over different
public institutions in the Gaza strip; and URGES the Israeli Government to put
an end to all these indiscriminate measures and retaliatory actions that
violate International Law and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949
8. STRONGLY CONDEMNS the continued Israeli policy of arresting and detaining
the Palestinians, especially the kidnapping and detention without trial of
Ministers, Members of the Legislative Council and the Municipal Council, which
constitute a grave violation of International Humanitarian Law
9. STRONGLY CONDEMNS the construction by Israel of the Separation Wall and the
expansion of the Colonial Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,
around Al-Quds town, especially the recent Israeli decision to build 20000
housing units which violate International Humanitarian Law, in particular the
Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, and URGES Israel to comply with the advisory
opinion of the International Court of Justice and General Assembly Decision
ES-10/15
10. CALLS UPON the International Community and the Members of the Quartet
Committee to spare no efforts to reinvigorate the negotiations and to salvage
the peace process, and EXPRESSES the AU support for the organisation of an
International Peace Conference on the Middle East conflict
11. CONSIDERS the establishment of the government of Palestinian National Unity
as a symbol of the unity of the Palestinian people in face of Israeli
occupation and expresses its grave concern over the deteriorating situation
between the two main components of the Government of National Unity, namely,
Fatah and Hamas, resulting in the dissolution of the Government
12. AFFIRMS that such a situation is detrimental to the cause of the
Palestinian people, and REMINDS the Palestinian factions that their unity is
the only guarantee to preserve their gains and move towards their national
objectives
13. SUPPORTS the decision related to the Arab Peace Initiative adopted in
Beirut in 2002 and reaffirmed at the last Arab Summit in Riyadh and regard it
as an important and appropriate framework to put an end to the conflict in the
Middle East and as the way to a just, comprehensive and durable solution on all
the fronts
14. URGES the Government of Israel to accept the Arab Peace Initiative as an
Arab effort towards putting an end to the conflict in the Middle East, and also
providing a chance for mutual recognition between Israel and Arab
countries
15. CALLS UPON the International Community to lift the siege, boycott and
blockade against the Government so as to ease the difficult living conditions
of Palestinian People which stirs up tension and violence
16. EXPRESSES GRAVE CONCERN regarding the tension and violence in Lebanon, and
CALLS UPON all Lebanese parties to resolve their differences through
negotiations
17. URGES the Government of Israel to put an end to its occupation of the
Syrian Golan Heights and all Arab Territories occupied during the June 1967 war
in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, including
Resolutions No. 242 and 338.
African Heads of State meeting at their Summit in Accra, Ghana on 3 July
2007 issued the following declaration:
Declaration on the Arab Peace Initiative
We, the Heads of State and Government of the African Union meeting in our
Ninth
Ordinary Session, in Accra, Ghana, from 1 to 3 July 2007, having examined the
grave situation resulting from the continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian
and Arab lands,
1. SUPPORT the Arab Peace Initiative (API) in all its aspects, as adopted by
the Arab Summit in its 14th Session in Beirut, Lebanon, on 28 March 2002, to
resolve the Palestinian issue and the Arab-Israeli conflict;
2. DECIDE to deploy all efforts and means to promote the API, explain its
dimensions and lobby international support for its implementation;
3. SUPPORT the Decision of the Arab Summit concerning the implementation of the
API taken at its 19th Session, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on 29 March
2007
4. AFFIRM that a comprehensive and just peace in the region can only be
achieved by complete Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian and Arab lands
occupied since June 1967; by establishment of an independent sovereign
Palestinian State with Al-Quds (East Jerusalem) as its capital and through a
just olution to the problem of the Palestinian refugees in ccordance with the
UN-General Assembly Resolution 194 of 1948
5. CALL FOR the organisation of an International Conference for all oncerned
international and regional parties, to be held under the uspices of the United
Nations and the Quartet, to launch the process f direct, serious and meaningful
negotiations in accordance with the greed instruments. This peace process
should be within a well-defined time framework
6. CALL UPON the Chairperson of the Commission to intensify his contacts and
coordinate with the Secretary General of the League of Arab States to deploy
concerted efforts to promote the API and to lobby international support for its
implementation.
Accra, Ghana, 3 July 2007
Secretary of State Rice visits the Middle East
On Tuesday 31 July 2007, the US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and
Defence Secretary Robert Gates met foreign ministers from the Gulf
Co-operation Council (GCC) and Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, in the
Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. They also met with King Abdullah in Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia, followed by meetings with Prime Minister Olmert and President
Abbas.
On Monday 30 July 2007, the US announced military aid worth more than $43
billion to Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. Egypt will
receive $13billion in aid over 10 years while $30bn will go to Israel over the
same period, Rice said.
Rice said that an unspecified defence aid package was allocated for Saudi
Arabia and the Gulf states. The Saudi package is expected to upgrade the
country's missile defences and air force and increase its naval capabilities, a
defence official said on Saturday.
Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf countries are likely to receive as much as
$20bn over 10 years, he said. Rice said: "This effort will help bolster forces
of moderation and support a broader strategy to counter the negative influences
of al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran."
Syria's foreign minister called the US administration's armaments deal
"dangerous". "He who wants to make peace does not start out with an arms
initiative which is dangerous for the region," Walid Muallem said on Tuesday
Tehran accused the US on Monday of creating fear and causing divisions in the
Middle East by announcing the major package of arms deals.
Mohammad Ali Hosseini, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, said: "America has
always considered one policy in this region and that is creating fear and
concerns in the countries of the region and trying to harm the good relations
between these countries."
However, Nicholas Burns, the US undersecretary of state, characterised the
deals as a continuation of existing policy. "It's not as if we're introducing
some new element in the region," he said. "Iran is a factor in this, but it
wasn't the overriding factor."
He said he saw no conflict between the aid packages to Saudi Arabia and
Egypt, whose governments have a long record of human-rights abuses, and the
current administration's long-term goal of promoting democracy in the region,
led by George Bush, the US president.
US and Palestinians sign $80 million deal
The US Secretary of State has met with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian
president, in Ramallah and signed an agreement granting the Palestinians $80
million for reform of their security services. The move follows Washington's
recent pledge of at least $86m to Abbas. Condoleezza Rice said after talks with
Abbas on Thursday that Israel was ready to discuss "fundamental issues" on
creating a Palestinian state. In return, Abbas said he is ready to work with
Israel on a "declaration of principles" as a step toward a full peace
agreement. Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, had floated the idea last
week.
Such a declaration, as envisioned by Israel, would outline the contours of a
future Palestinian state, without immediately tackling the most explosive
issues, such as final borders and the fate of Palestinian refugees. Abbas
suggested he is ready to consider the idea.
Israeli-Palestinian talks would "focus on implementing what was mentioned in
the road map," he said, referring to the international peace plan that
envisions a Palestinian state alongside Israel. "Then we could end in a
declaration of principles," Abbas said during a joint news conference with
Rice. "The important thing here is that we reach results, and that we know the
ceiling (final stage), but the the stages of implementation can be agreed
upon." Abbas said.
President Abbas also told US Secretary of State Condoleezza that he was
working to improve security in the Palestinian territories. "We are continuing
our efforts to improve the security situation," he said. He told the news
conference: "We want to achieve a Palestinian state and security." Rice also
said an international peace conference being promoted by the administration of
George Bush, the US president,for this fall "is not to get people together for
a photo op" but rather "so that we can really advance Palestinian
statehood."
The US Secretary of State arrived in the Israeli-occupied West Bank earlier
on Thursday for talks with the Palestinian officials aimed at developing a
peace plan. She met Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, in Ramallah,
the seat of Abbas' Western-backed government. She also met the Palestinian
cabinet, a gesture of support for the team that replaced the Hamas government
after the group seized Gaza by force.
Rice's meeting with Abbas is the first since Hamas' took control of the
other Palestinian territory, Gaza. When Hamas wrestled control of Gaza from
Abbas' Fatah forces in mid-June, the president of the Palestinian Authority
fired the group from the government and installed a new cabinet in the West
Bank.
"Ultimately, the Palestinian people will have to choose what kind of world
they will live in, what kind of state they will have," Rice said, at the end of
a four-day Middle East trip. The tour is partly aimed at laying the groundwork
for an international peace conference that the United States will host later in
the year.
Joint statement following July 31 Meeting
The following is the text of the joint statement released at the conclusion
of the July 31, 2007 Foreign Minister's meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC), Egypt, Jordan, and the United States in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt:
The Foreign Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Egypt, Jordan,
and the United States met today in Sharm El-Sheik to consult as partners and
friends and to coordinate their efforts to promote regional peace and security.
The participants reaffirmed their shared vision of a stable, peaceful and
prosperous Middle East and their commitment to work together to achieve this
common goal. This meeting follows the meetings previously held in New York,
Cairo, at the Dead Sea and in Kuwait city.
The participants emphasised the importance of dialogue and diplomacy and
affirmed that disputes among states should be settled peacefully and in a
manner consistent with international law, including the Charter of the United
Nations, and that relations among all countries should be based on mutual
respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states and on the
principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations. The
participants expressed their steadfast support to any Gulf States in facing
external threats to its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Agreeing that
the peace and security of the Gulf region are critical to the health of the
global economy and international stability and the need to continue the
stability of the Gulf as a vital national interest for all, the participants
resolved to continue their longstanding cooperation against such threats.
Agreeing on the importance of a just, comprehensive peace to the prosperity,
stability and security of the Middle East, the Foreign Ministers reiterated
their commitment to the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
and noted that the foundation for such an outcome includes UN Security Council
resolutions 242, 338, 1397, and 1515, and the Arab Peace Initiative, to end the
occupation since 1967 and establish a Palestinian state that is viable and
contiguous and living in peace and security with all its neighbours. They also
emphasised the work of the International Quartet in this context.
The participants expressed deep concern about the humanitarian conditions of
the Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza, and affirmed the necessity of
continuing assistance and support to the Palestinian people and the Palestinian
Authority under the leadership of President Abbas and his government.
Participants denounced all acts of violence and called for law and order under
the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza.
The participants urged Israel and the Palestinians to meet all previous
commitments. They undertook to support efforts to create an environment
conducive to progress on the bilateral tracks for a just and comprehensive
settlement and in that context welcomed the joint visit by the Egyptian and
Jordanian Foreign Ministers to Israel on July 25, 2007, to discuss the Arab
Peace Initiative as mandated by the Arab League's Arab Peace Initiative
Follow-up Committee.
The participants welcomed the commitment expressed by U.S. President George
W. Bush in his July 16, 2007, speech to strengthen political and diplomatic
efforts to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians and the
establishment of a viable and contiguous Palestinian state, and promised to
support efforts to this end.
The participants reaffirmed the sovereignty; territorial integrity,
political independence, and national unity of Iraq; the inviolability of Iraq's
internationally recognised borders and their adherence to the principle of
non-interference in Iraq's internal affairs. To this end, participants
confirmed their commitment to full implementation of United Nations Security
Council resolutions 1511, 1546, 1618, 1637 and 1723, urged all of Iraq's
neighbours to also fully impellent these resolutions and called for an end to
all interference in Iraq, including supply of arms and training to the militia
and extra-governmental armed groups.
While calling on the government of Iraq to respect its commitments, the
participants underlined the urgency and importance of implementing the
principles agreed upon in Sharm El-Sheikh during the May 2007 Ministerial
Conference of the neighbouring countries of Iraq and Egypt with the Permanent
Members of the UN Security Council and the G-8, and reiterated their commitment
to prevent the transit of terrorists to Iraq, arms for terrorists and financing
that would support terrorists and for strengthening cooperation in this regard,
and called on all of Iraq's neighbours to take all necessary steps to interdict
such transit, and call on Iraq and its neighbours to exchange information
regarding the fight against terrorism.
Acknowledging that a unified, democratic, and stable Iraq that is at peace
with its neighbours and itself is a shared, critical objective, the
participants pledged to continue to support Iraq, and expand their financial
and political support. The participants agreed that the international community
also must demonstrate its support for Iraq, including through the International
Compact with Iraq and that all of these efforts must supplement Iraq's own
efforts.
Underscoring that every political community leader in Iraq has a role to
play in national reconciliation efforts, the ministers called on all Iraqis to
work together through the political process to build a brighter common future.
They reiterated to the Iraqi government the need to undertake national
reconciliation efforts by ensuring a fair and inclusive political process that
engages all Iraqis, fosters economic reform, and provides security and services
to all Iraqis. The participants called for the disbanding of all militia
immediately in order for Iraqi security forces to grow stronger and for an
immediate cessation of all acts of terrorism and sectarian violence in Iraq
that exacerbate the suffering of the Iraqi people and undermine regional
security and stability. Participants encouraged the Arab League and the United
Nations to continue their effort to work with the Government of Iraq and the
Iraqi people to help Iraq's leaders forge a common national vision that will
advance Iraqi national reconciliation.
Recognising the grave threat posted to regional and global security by the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and wishing to avoid a
destabilising nuclear arms race in the region, the participants concur that it
is important to achieve the universality of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty and for all parties to comply with it fully, and with all relevant
resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, including resolutions 1737
and 1747. The participants recognise the goal of a zone free of nuclear weapons
in the Middle East.
With regard to Iran's nuclear activities, the participants reiterated their
strong support for international diplomatic efforts and called on Iran to
comply with international diplomatic efforts and called on Iran to comply with
all its Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) obligations, including its safeguards
obligations. They hope that the talks between the Energy Agency (IEA) and the
government of Ira will be positively pursued. The participants also reiterated
the rights of all the parties to the Treaty to use nuclear energy for peaceful
purposes in conformity with the non-proliferation obligations in Articles I,
II, and III of the Treaty.
The participants reiterated their condemnation of terrorism in all its forms
and manifestations, resolved to maintain a united front against the terrorist
elements that have targeted the Middle East and threaten the states and peoples
of the region and reaffirmed the United National Security Council's declaration
on the global effort to combat terrorism, adopted by resolution 1377, including
its "unequivocal condemnation of all acts, methods, and practices of terrorism
as criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of all their motivation, in all their
forms and manifestations, whenever and by whomever committed." The ministers
also endorsed the March 2007 Riyadh Declaration's call to "promote the culture
of moderation, tolerance, dialogue and openness and reject all forms of
terrorism, fanaticism, and extremism, as well as all forms of exclusionist
racism, the campaigns of hatred and distortion, and attempts to cast doubt on
our humanitarian values or harm the religious beliefs and sacred places, and
warn against the use of sectarianism for political ends with the aim of
dividing the nation, driving a wedge between its states and peoples and
igniting destructive civil strife and conflicts in them."
The participants reaffirmed their support for a sovereign democratic and
prosperous Lebanon and for Lebanon's legitimate government, headed by Prime
Minister Siniora. They encouraged the Lebanese parties to support the efforts
towards resuming national dialogue and noted the imperative of full
implementation of relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions, particularly
resolutions 1559, 1680, 1701, and 1757.
They also took note of the recent report of the UN's border assessment team.
They called on all Lebanese factions and regional parties to respect the
legitimate political process and to refrain from any activities to destabilize
this process. The participants strongly condemned all terrorist attacks in
Lebanon, including the recent assassination of Lebanese Member of Parliament
Walid Eido.
Participants lauded the efforts of the Lebanese Armed Forces in its fight
against violent armed groups, such as Fatah al-Islam, which are determined to
spread terror and undermine Lebanese stability. Finally, the participants
called for the respect of the Lebanese constitution including the holding of
free and fair presidential elections held on-time, and the establishment of
Lebanese national unity behind a constitutional process to elect a new
president.
Arab League supports Middle East Peace Conference
Arab League Secretary General Amre Moussa said, "We support the convening of
an international meeting attended by all parties involved in the peace process
to launch direct negotiations on all tracks to reach a final settlement of the
Arab-Israeli conflict in a specific time frame."
"Our position on the next steps now depends on many points, including the
parties involved, the objective of the conference and its agenda."What is on
the table here is the Arab-Israeli conflict and the solution of the conflict
which means that all parties should be there."
Transcript of Press Briefing Conference Call on US Aid and Military Support
the Middle East region by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs
Nicholas Burns (Tuesday 31 July 2007).As Secretary Rice and Secretary Gates
head for the Middle East this week, we wanted to send a strong signal of
support for the security concerns of all of our partners in the region, of
Israel, of Egypt, of Saudi Arabia and of the other Gulf states, the members of
the Gulf Co-operation Council. And we see this announcement this morning about
our future security assistance over the long term to support our broad
strategic interest in the Middle East and that is to maintain a very strong
American presence and influence in the region. It is to give specific support
to those partners that need it and that are all of them, of course. And it's
also a comprehensive step by the United States to address our overall policy
objectives in the region.
We are very much engaged diplomatically, of course, on the question of Iraq,
but also on the effort to rebuff the attempt by Iran to advance its own
strategic interest in the region and to expand its influence in the region. We
want to make sure that countries are strong enough from a defensive standpoint
to protect their borders, to deal with maritime security as well as other
threats to security. We obviously have our eye on the conflict in Lebanon as
well. And so it's a time, we thought, for us to reassert the important position
of the United States in the region and our relationship with the allies.
There are three components of it that are pretty clear from this statement,
but I thought I should just go over them. Number one, we are committing to a
new 10-year military assistance program to Israel. We're committing to $30
billion, which is an increase over the last 10-year program begun in 1998 by
the Clinton Administration. Right now, we're averaging; we are at a level of
$2.4 billion in U.S. military assistance to Israel per year. That will average
now $3 billion per year over the next 10 years. We are phasing out, and have
agreed with the Israelis to phase out, economic support funds, so that ends as
of this year.
With Egypt, we are of course, as you know, have agreed to a new 10-year, $13
billion military assistance agreement with Egypt. We think that will strengthen
Egypt's ability to maintain its regional role and we are working separately
with the Egyptians on an economic support fund package of assistance which I
hope we will be able to announce in the next 30 days or so.
In addition to that, the other piece of this is that we are, we'll be
beginning the conversation, a serious conversation with Saudi Arabia and the
other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council to address their security needs.
Of course, we've had a strategic presence in the Middle East that dates back to
the Second World War. We've had our Navy in the Gulf, for instance, since 1949.
We've had a defense relationship with most of these Arab states, Saudi Arabia
and the other Gulf states for the entire time that they've been independent
countries. And of course, since the AWACS sale to Saudi Arabia in the early
1980s, we've had a tradition over the last 25 years of significant arms sales
to these countries.
QUESTION: Hi, thanks for having this call for us. This full package, this
whole initiative started about a year ago before there were changes in US
posture towards Iran, and I was just wondering if there's any concern that the
way the package is being sold as this counter to Iran, that that might
undermine the current effort to enlist Iran's support in Iraq?
Under Secretary burns: Well, first of all, Farah, let me say that the
package of assistance agreements announced today speak really to our broadest
strategic interest in the region and that is having strong partners. And so the
primary rationale for going ahead with US military assistance to Israel, Egypt
and the other Arab countries is to strengthen them, so that they can be strong
on all the other issues that are important to them and to us.
Second, I would bring you back to the point I made in my introductory
comments, this is not a departure for the United States and this is not a new
initiative. We have been we've had a security assistance relationship with most
of these countries for decades, for some of them since the very beginning of
their existence as independent nation states. And so it's not as if we're
somehow introducing a new element in the region. We think both the presence of
the United States in the region as a strong country and the strengthening of
our partners is the best way to ensure long-term stability and long-term
peace.
Third, the Iran element is one factor. It's not the overriding factor in why
we're doing this. But it is true that if you travel to Israel, if you travel to
Egypt and if you travel to each member of the Gulf Co-operation Council, there
is a high degree of concern about Iran's quest to become a nuclear weapons
power. But also about the fact that Iran has, as you know, funded and armed
most of the Middle East terrorist groups that are bedevilling Israel, the
moderate Palestinians, the Lebanese Government and the Iraqi Government, from
Hamas to Hezbollah to the Shia militants in Iraq.
And so Iran is a factor in this, but it wasn't the overriding factor and we
certainly would have gone forward with these sales regardless. But I think the
Iranian factor has been such an acute concern for these countries, as they
mentioned to us, that's been true in the Gulf security dialogue that Secretary
Rice has had, she's had four meetings since September that issue has come up
repeatedly. It's true in our conversations with all these countries. So it's a
factor among several that lead us to put forward these packages today.
Question: So there's no, sort of, quid pro quo regarding Iraq support. These
countries could get tremendous amount of US military equipment but still not be
supportive or even be the opposite with regard to Iraq?
Under secretary Burns: There are no formal quid pro quos at all behind this,
but it stands to reason that given the fact that Iraq is the number-one
American foreign policy interest globally, we would want our friends in the
region to be supportive, not only of what the United States is doing in Iraq,
but what the but of the Iraqi Government itself. And we've made that point;
obviously, repeatedly to these countries and we'll that will continue to be a
major emphasis on our part.
Question: Hi, Nick. It's Zain. I'm also a Pain. Just one thing; there's a
feeling that your strategy could backfire and what it will do, on the one hand,
is allow Ahmadi-Nejad to get a lot more support for his own hard-line faction
in Iran, as well as generate instability in the region and not the security
that you want. What are your thoughts on both?
Under Secretary Burns: Zain, pleasure to talk to you. I'm sorry if we got
your name, if someone got your name wrong. Well, I guess the way I'd answer
that question would be to say that Iran has worried everybody in the region. If
you travel around the Middle East, whether it's to Israel or the Palestinian
territories or to the Gulf countries, as well as the other countries of Levant,
everyone's concerned by the fact that Iran is arming and funding Hezbollah and
Hamas, Palestinian-Islamic Jihad, PFLP General Command.
It was striking when Secretary Rice had her last Quartet meeting in Lisbon.
I think it was the same day Ahmadi-Nejad was in Damascus meeting with the
frontive country that supports terrorism in the Middle East. It supports
everything that the rest of the world is trying to defend against. And so the
Iranians are the ones who have caused this concern. Now we would call upon the
Iranians to stop their military assistance to terrorist groups and we call upon
them to stop their financial assistance.
We've tried to open the door to them. We have this channel in Iraq where
Ambassador where Ryan Crocker, our Ambassador, has been meeting with the
Iranian Ambassador to Iraq. We've certainly offered through Solana,
representing the interests of the P-5, our renewed interest in having
negotiations on the nuclear issue, but we've been rebuffed by Iran. So it's the
Iranians that have started that have caused the concern in the first place.
I think in the region, it's going to be understood that one of the reasons
for these sales one of them, but not all, not the totality, is to enable these
countries to strengthen their defences and therefore, to provide a deterrence
against Iranian expansionism and Iranian aggression in the future. Now that's
not the only reason we're doing this, but it is a leading factor and I think
it's the Iranians who have to answer questions about their regional policy. The
countries of the region want the U.S. to be present, they want the US to have a
security assistance relationship with them, and they want the United States to
remain a strong influence in the region. And this statement today buttresses
that ambition. The countries of the region do not want to see Iran strengthen
its own position and continue to fuel and fund these radical groups. That's how
I'd answer your question.
Today's announcement will be seen, I would predict, by the governments in
the Gulf, as well as in Egypt and in Israel, as a reaffirmation of the American
commitment to their security. They have told us that this type of step by us, a
comprehensive way to address security concerns of the region, is absolutely
necessary. So on the contrary; I don't think it's going to embolden the
Iranians or give them an excuse to continue doing what they're doing. It is the
region's wish that we engage in these, in this military assistance, because the
Iranians have caused the concern in the first place.
Question: Oh, good. I wonder if you could talk a bit about the relationship
of this proposed arms sale to US basing and access agreements and I wonder if,
parallel to your technical negotiations with the Gulf States, whether you're
going to be renegotiating any status of forces agreements or expanding American
lily pad or CLS access agreements.
Under Secretary Burns: What we're announcing today is essentially our, the
levels of our assistance to Israel and Egypt and the intention to continue with
our decades-long military assistance policies towards the Gulf States. And, of
course, we also have basing agreements and status of forces agreements with all
of these countries. They're not directly tied to these levels of assistance,
but they're part of our overall military co-operation. So I'm not in a position
today to say that we're ready to announce any new developments; that's the job
of Department of Defence (DOD). And I don't want to let you think, from what
I've just said that somehow there is an announcement imminent. I think we'll
continue; we want to continue with the type of military cooperation we've had
regarding basing, but that's a DOD issue for the future.
Question: Thanks, Nick. Following up on the Iran question, you've made
considerable efforts to try to reach out domestically to so-called, the
formers, or moderates, or democracy groups inside Iran. Won't this help
Ahmadi-Nejad internally not only externally but internally to follow up on
Zain's question, In Getting a Counter-Reaction in Solidifying His Domestic
Support?
Under Secretary Burns: I don't think so at all, I mean Andrea, I actually
think it works the other way. If you look at most of the recent public opinion
polls about Iranian attitudes that have been published, the Iranians,
obviously, are proud of their country, they're nationalistic, they want their
country to succeed, but they are open to a relationship with the United States,
most Iranians. They don't want to see their country in conflict with other
countries. And I think what this will serve to do is to remind most Iranians
that we are seeking a peaceful relationship with Iran. And I know that's true
of the Arab states; no one wants to have a conflict-ridden relationship.
But if the Iranians that have caused a major, major turbulence in the region
by going forward with this Damascus these summits in Damascus with Syria, with
Hamas and Hezbollah all represented by the strengthening of their military and
political assistance to most of the Middle East terrorist groups, this package
answers the concern that the Arabs have. I think within Iran itself, it will
have the effect among the reformers in Iran of indicating again how isolated
the Iranians are and how few friends they have in the region.
And it will reinforce a concern that is present among the reformers in Iran
that their country is upsetting the status quo in the Middle East. So I
actually don't think that Ahmadi-Nejad will be able to capitalize very much on
it. I'm sure he will try. I'm sure there will be speeches by Ahmadi-Nejad and
his colleagues over the next couple of days that will try to take advantage of
this. I don't think it's going to succeed inside Iran. It certainly isn't; is
not going to succeed in the Middle East in general, because that concern about
Iran's behaviour already exists.
Question: And aside from hopes or expectations or wishful thinking, what
evidence do you all have that the Saudis and others will respond to an
implicit, at least, quid pro quo and be more helpful regarding Iraq?
Under Secretary Burns: Well, first of all, on the question of security
assistance with the Saudis and others, we've been talking to them for the last
year. So they understand that we're not starting the latent; the last stage of
this, which is the formal process of identifying the specific systems and
equipment that's going to be sold to them.
Secondly, we obvious since Iraq is issue number-one for us and since we have
to succeed there, the Saudis and the others are not under any other impression
but that. We hope they will be and we expect that they will be supportive of
the Iraqi Government. I don't there's no contradiction there and I think
they're very well aware of our views because we talk to them constantly about
the situation in Iraq.
Question: It just seems that the situation has been getting worse with more
Saudi support for Sunni insurgents and you've been talking to them during this
period where the situation has deteriorated.
Under Secretary burns: Yeah. I mean, you saw the Washington Post op-ed by
Ken Pollack and Michael O'Hanlon. We think that there have been you know, there
are some reasons to believe that we are finding some success on the ground. And
we obviously will want to talk to continue to talk to the Saudis and others,
the other Arab states about the need to be openly and politically supportive of
the Iraqi Government.
Question: Hey Nick, Mike Hirsch with Newsweek. I just was wondering. I mean,
do you expect us to forget about or to put aside what has been, you know, the
predominant foreign policy agenda, particularly in the Middle East, of this
Administration? And Secretary Rice has spoken time and again about, you know,
the false stability created by US policy in the past and you had you know, yet
you have talked just now, you know, without any apparent sense of irony about
the decades-long relationship we've had with these regimes, Saudi Arabia and
Egypt and so on. I heard nothing about any conditions placed on this aid.
In fact, you seem to emphatically deny that there was any quid pro quo of
any kind, particularly, you know, conditions in sort of the democratisation,
which, again, was the agenda that we heard so much about early in the second
term. Can you address this apparent contradiction?
Under Secretary Burns: Well, Mike, thank you for your question. We don't
normally deal in irony presenting our views. We try to present them, in effect,
in a forward way. The fact is that given the Middle East is the most turbulent
part of the world and the one most directly tied to vital American interests.
And we never suspended our military assistance to Saudi Arabia or the other
states at any time during this period. We have been constant supporters of
their national security and we never suggested and Secretary Rice never
suggested that we should somehow end the relationship with them that we had
enjoyed with them for decades long.
But we are interested in the long-term political evolution of these
countries towards greater freedom and greater democracy. And the fact is, I
think Secretary Rice. I remember even in her Cairo speech saying this, is that
we couldn't expect to see results overnight. And so we continue with our
security assistance relationship as we had always planned and we had never
indicated anything otherwise back in 2005 and 2006. And yet at the same time,
have a longer-term agenda trying to promote the kind of political and societal
change that will lead to greater freedom.
[Comment by Deputy Minister Pahad: It will be very useful for you to study
this transcript. There are many reports emerging of a possible attack against
Iran. We hope that these reports are not true because it is our belief
that any further escalation of conflict in the region or action against Iran
will only create the conditions for an explosion in the region. We do believe
these reports are not true but all evidence seems to be indicating that we are
reaching a very dangerous situation with regard to Iran.]
Nuclear Non-Proliferation: Iran
The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Wednesday,
25 July 2007, said that its inspectors will visit Iran's Arak reactor, ahead of
further talks planned for August 2007. The announcement in Vienna after
discussions between senior IAEA officials and an Iranian delegation came as
part of efforts to resolve outstanding issues pertaining to the country's past
nuclear programme and to clarify safeguards implementation issues. IAEA Deputy
Director General for Safeguards Olli Heinonen said during the August meeting,
the agency will discuss plutonium contamination and other outstanding
issues.
"In the weeks to come, we will then talk about other outstanding issues that
are related to Iran's enrichment programme," he said. Javad Vaeedi, head of the
Iranian delegation and Under-Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Council, said
that during yesterday's meeting, "good discussions were held and constructive
progress was made."
Conclusion of visit to Iran by IAEA (11 to 12 July 2007)
An agency delegation, headed by Mr. Olli Heinonen, Deputy Director General
for Safeguards, visited Iran from 11 to 12 July 2007 to draw up a work plan for
the modalities for resolving the outstanding issues related to Iran's past
nuclear programme and to clarify some present safeguards implementation
issues.
During the visit to Iran, agreement was reached on: the designation of new
Agency inspectors; a visit of Agency inspectors to the Heavy Water Research
Reactor at Arak by the end of July 2007 and the finalisation of the safeguards
approach at the Fuel Enrichment Plant at Natanz during early August 2007.
In addition, agreement was reached on the modalities to resolve remaining
issues regarding Iran´s past plutonium experiments. A dedicated meeting will
take place in Iran for this purpose in early August 2007. It was agreed that
Iran and the Agency will subsequently embark on clarifying the open issues
associated with the scope and content of Iran´s enrichment programme, including
uranium contamination found on equipment at a specific location, as well as
studies related to specified projects.
The visit follows the June 2007 meeting between Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, IAEA
Director General, and Dr. Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National
Security Council of Iran. It is clear that sanctions, over and above those
imposed by the United Nations Security Council, are being implemented against
Iran.
The Financial Times UK on Tuesday, 31 July 2007, reported that Washington's
campaign to persuade financial institutions to break ties with Tehran gained
another scalp on Tuesday when Deutsche Bank confirmed it had decided to cease
doing business in Iran. The bank said it had informed clients in Iran on July
20 that they would have to transfer to other institutions by September 14.
It said tougher disclosure requirements introduced by the United Nations and
the European Union and moves by the German government to restrict credit
guarantees, meant it was no longer worth continuing business with Iran. The
bank's move, which was earlier reported in the Wall Street Journal, also comes
after a vigorous lobbying campaign by the US Treasury, which has warned more
than 40 banks across the world that it would follow a strict interpretation of
US and UN restrictions on doing business with Iran.
Deutsche Bank will also cease to seek any new ties with corporate clients in
Iran and wind down activities until it no longer had any relations in the
country.
The Treasury's campaign to persuade banks to impose such "formal sanctions"
has outpaced the US diplomatic attempt to win support for formal multilateral
measures against Iran, which is unlikely to result in another round of UN
sanctions against the country before September. The campaign began when the US
prohibited two Iranian banks, Sepah and Sadaret from gaining access to the US
financial system for dollar transactions through third-party banks.
Some diplomats and analysts say the Treasury is considering further such
executive orders, on terrorism or proliferation grounds, against Iran's Bank
Melli and Bank Markazi, the Iranian Central Bank.
In June, Hank Paulson, the Treasury secretary, hinted at possible grounds
for such a move then he said, "the central bank of Iran is sending money
through Bank Sadaret to Hizbollah."
A move against the Iranian central bank, which is closely involved with the
receipt of hard-currency payments for oil, could have the effect of closing the
entire Iranian economy from dollar transactions. Iran has already announced it
is shifting reserves into other currencies. On Tuesday, Germany
's Commerzbank said it was also debating pulling out of Iran. A spokesman for
the bank said, "We are in the process to find out what business, if any, we can
do [there] in the future."
Iraq
The South African government condemns the suicide bombing in Iraq on
Wednesday 1 August 2007 in which more than 70 people were killed and
approximately 80 injured after four separate bomb blasts in Baghdad. This
situation is very worrying indeed. It is clear that the body count is
increasingly phenomenally but that these are being accepted by the people
knowing there is little they can do.
The South African government also expresses its concern that the Sunni
Accordance Front's five cabinet ministers and Deputy Prime Minister would leave
the government. This will further exacerbate the continuing crisis in Iraq and
will only lead to the further escalation of the violence.
Half of Iraq 'in absolute poverty'
Up to eight million Iraqis require immediate emergency aid, with nearly half
of the population living in "absolute poverty", according to a report by Oxfam
and a coalition of Iraqi groups. About four million people are lacking food and
"in dire need of different types of humanitarian assistance", said the report,
released in Amman on Monday. "Iraqis are suffering from a growing lack of food,
shelter, water and sanitation, healthcare, education, and employment," said the
report, compiled by Oxfam and the non government6al organisation (NGO)
Co-ordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI).
The report also says two million people within the country are currently
displaced, while more than two million are refugees. Most of those refugees
have fled to Jordan and Syria. Said Arikit, a spokesman for the UN mission in
Iraq, says the report painted a "grim picture."
"Many of the figures and percentages in the report were actually derived
from UN sources⦠so we concur with the findings," he said. "The government of
Iraq is definitely the authority in Iraq and it bears responsibility for the
welfare of its people." Iraqi services have been left in crisis as most of
those seeking refuge are professionals, according to the report.
"The 'brain drain' that Iraq is experiencing is further stretching already
inadequate public services, as thousands of medical staff, teachers, water
engineers, and other professionals are forced to leave the country," it said.
The entry of Iraqi refugees to neighbouring countries has placed a growing
strain on health, education and social services in the two countries.
Only 60 percent of the four million people who depend on food assistance
have access to rations from the government-run public distribution system, down
from 96 per cent in 2004, the report said. The number of Iraqis without access
to adequate water supplies has risen from 50 percent to 70 percent since
2003.
The lack of effective sanitation was also highlighted by the joint report,
which said 80 per cent of people in Iraq did not have safe access. The report
said children were the hardest hit by the fall in living standards, stating
child malnutrition rates have risen from 19 per cent before the US-led invasion
in 2003 to 28 percent currently.
"Despite the constraints imposed by the government of Iraq, the UN and the
international donors can do more to deliver humanitarian assistance to reduce
unnecessary suffering," the report said.
One recommendation called for the government of Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime
minister, to decentralise the distribution of aid to local authorities, and
make it easier for civil society organisations to operate.
Launch of UN Appeal for Iraq
Warning that a generation of Iraqis could grow up uneducated and alienated,
the United Nations on Friday, 27 July 2007, launched a $129 million appeal to
ensure that tens of thousands of uprooted children who have fled their homeland
can resume their education.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UNICEF jointly
presented the plan to support host governments such as Syria, Jordan, Egypt and
Lebanon in providing schooling for an additional 155,000 young Iraqi refugees
during the 2007-2008 school year.
"These host countries have borne an enormous burden caring for millions of
Iraqis," UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Operations Judy Cheng-Hopkins
told news conference at the United Nations in Geneva, noting that of the more
than 2 million Iraqis have fled the continuing violence in their homeland, some
500 000 are of school age and most currently have limited or no access to
education.
"The sheer number of uprooted Iraqis has outstripped the capacity of their
infrastructure to cope, particularly in the area of education. So we are now
asking for international support specifically aimed at assisting these generous
host governments in getting Iraqi children back into school."
The praise for the host countries was echoed by Deputy Director of UNICEF's
Office of Emergency Programmes Pierrette Vu. "UNICEF believes schooling is a
primary concern in all emergency situations because it can help restore a sense
of normalcy to the lives of children and can help them overcome psychological
and other forms of distress," she said.
"The Jordanian and Syrian governments have done a tremendous job so far of
welcoming Iraqis as guests. The children of Iraq have waited long enough.
Action must be taken now so that children are ready to go to school when
classes begin."
Activities envisaged in the appeal include providing pre-fabricated
classrooms and buildings as soon as possible; identifying existing buildings
that can be used as temporary schools; upgrading water and sanitation in
schools; building new schools or additional classrooms; and rehabilitating
existing schools. Double-shifting in existing schools will be an option.
Buses will be rented or purchased to transport children to school. The
appeal estimates more than 4 000 new teachers will be required for the 155 000
additional children. The programme will cover salaries, other entitlements and
training costs for the additional teachers.
Many children have already missed have already missed up to three years of
schooling and remedial programmes and psycho-social support will be established
for them and their families in hopes of reintegrating them in the school
system. Training will be provided to school counsellors and teachers to deal
with the special needs of Iraqi children, many of whom suffered traumatic
experiences.
The appeal notes that of an estimated 300 000 Iraqi school-age children in
Syria, only about 33 000 are currently enrolled, although the Government has
given them full access to schools. In Jordan, the Government estimates 19 000
Iraqi girls and boys are in school, while at least 50 000 do not attend.
In a related development, the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) is
convening a meeting of officials from the Health Ministries of Egypt, Iraq,
Jordan and Syria in Damascus, Syria, starting Sunday, to discuss how to ensure
delivery of health care to the Iraqis who have fled their homeland to
neighbouring countries.
"We need to work with all partners to address the key health needs of
Iraqis," WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Hussein A. Gezairy
said, noting that the host countries' national health systems are being
overwhelmed by the growing demand with thousands of people leaving Iraq every
month.
Iraq reconstruction behind schedule
Reconstruction efforts are not proceeding as well as can be expected in Iraq
and the government is to blame for many of the problems according to a new US
report. The report by the office of the special inspector-general for Iraq
reconstruction says the Iraqi government is struggling to administer its budget
for oil, public works and education.
The US congress created the inspector-general post (Sigir) to oversee how
funds were being spent in Iraq. The quarterly report by Stuart Bowen released
on Monday questioned the practices of some US government contractors, but noted
"significant strides" in small-scale US-funded projects.
In his report, Bowen said the handing over of completed US-funded rebuilding
projects to the Iraqi government "has been off the rails" for about a year. He
said, as a result, the projects were being transferred without the Iraqi
government's consent to locals who have little training or resources to sustain
them.
"That raises grave questions about the sustainability of what the US has
constructed," he said. The report indicates a shift of blame regarding the
rebuilding in Iraq. Previously criticism has been directed at large US
companies awarded contracts for reconstruction. Media reports said last year
that government estimates indicated as much as half the budget of some
reconstruction projects had been spent on overhead costs.
The highest proportion of those overheads was incurred by the Halliburton
subsidiary KBR in its oil-services projects. KBR was one of several large US
contractors awarded reconstruction projects in 2003 after the war.
Bowen's report showed serious problems including insufficient oversight,
cost overruns and significant delays in the billion-dollar reconstruction
programme of Bechtel national, another of the contractors. Auditors said a
contractual provision that required all Bechtel invoices to be paid within 10
days of receipt was "troubling" because it raised concerns "about the
reliability of receipt review process."
Bechtel ended the majority of its projects late last year after three years
in the country which saw 52 of its employees killed. So far, more than $99.5bn
has been pumped into rebuilding Iraq, of which $44.5bn was spent by the US on
relief and reconstruction work since 2003. The US has completed nearly 2,800
projects, worth about $5.8bn, constructing power stations and water treatment
plants as of May 31.
But out of these, Bowen's report found that only 435 projects have been
transferred to the Iraqi government, leaving more than 2 300 completed projects
still under US companies.
The report details the failure of the $90 million US-funded Dura power plant,
Baghdad's principal supplier of electricity, after it was turned over to
inexperienced locals who used the wrong fuel.
In some case, the US was still paying to maintain completed projects that
have yet to be handed over to Iraq, according to the report. "The failure of
the asset-transfer programme raises concerns about the continuing operation and
maintenance of US-constructed projects," it said.
Iraq's failure to effectively manage its capital budget was also blamed for
the problems facing reconstruction efforts. The report said the government
spent only 22 percent of its budget in 2006, but noted improved figures in 2007
and predicted an improvement of up to 50 percent if the current trend
continues.
Saudis back US plans in Mid-East
Saudi Arabia has pledged to explore the possibility of starting diplomatic
relations with the Shia-led government in Iraq, a move long sought by the
US.
Prince Saud said he was "astounded" by recent remarks by US ambassador to the
UN Zalmay Khalilzad, in which he accused Saudi Arabia of undermining efforts to
stabilise war-ravaged Iraq.
"My explanation is that he must have been influenced by the atmosphere at
the UN when he went to New York" [after serving as US envoy in Baghdad]," he
said. Saudi Arabia has not had an embassy in Baghdad since the first Gulf War
in 1990, despite pressure from the US after its forces led the overthrow of
Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The Saudi foreign minister told the visiting US secretaries of state and
defence he would send an envoy to Iraq. Condoleezza Rice called it an important
step. Prince Saud also said Riyadh supported and would attend a Middle East
peace conference proposed by President George W Bush later this year. "There is
an international movement. Israel should respond to these pressures," the
prince said.
[Comment by Deputy Minister Pahad: there is a resolution in the UN Security
Council on Iraq looking at the extension of the force in Iraq as well as an
expansion of its mandate. South Africa does participate in these
discussions and we will brief you further upon finalisation of
deliberations.]
Kosovo
Secretary-General welcomes agreement on new Kosovo initiative
Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's statement on the
new period of engagement on Kosovo:
The Contact Group has briefed me on its agreement on the modalities for
further negotiations between Pristina and Belgrade. This effort will be led by
a troika comprising representatives of the European Union, the Russian
Federation and the United States.
I welcome this initiative by the Contact Group. I hope that the new
period of engagement will lead to agreement on Kosovo's future status, which
remains a priority for the United Nations.
The international community must find a solution that is timely, addresses
the key concerns of all communities living in Kosovo and provides clarity for
Kosovo's status. The status quo is not sustainable.
The United Nations Office of the Special Envoy for Kosovo (UNOSEK) will be
associated with the process by standing ready to provide information and
clarification on request. The United Nations will continue to play a
constructive role in the new period of engagement and continue its major role
on the ground in Kosovo. The Contact Group will report back to me by 10
December.
[Comment by Deputy Minister Pahad: South Africa does participate in all
these discussions. We do believe the idea of the contact group is a good one
and that this will be useful in gaining consensus on the status of Kosovo that
will be accepted by all parties.]
Questions and answers
Question: Deputy Minister Pahad, does the influx of Zimbabwean refugees to
South Africa estimates suggests three million concern the South African
government? Should your government be doing more to assist these refugees?
Answer: I do not want to comment on the figure since this fluctuates. The
reality is that we have many refugees in South Africa. All indications are that
increasing amounts of Zimbabweans are entering South Africa daily. I saw
yesterday that the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs had paid a
surprise visit to what is called a refugee settlement camp. They seem to be
very concerned about the conditions in this camp. They will report to
Parliament on this matter and we do clearly need to see what more we can do to
assist these refugees.
This is a big problem for South Africa but as President Mbeki said, we
cannot build a Chinese wall between us and Zimbabwe. We must do all we can to
help the Zimbabwean people resolve their challenges and so stop this influx
into South Africa.
Question: Deputy Minister Pahad, we have been investigating for a while a
number of Zimbabwean Intelligence Officers living in South Africa and harassing
members of the opposition living in South Africa. Is this something your
government is aware of? If so, what is your comment?
Answer: This has not been brought to our attention but if you have such
information it would be helpful if you could share it with the relevant
departments Safety and Security and Intelligence. They can then analyse this
information and take the appropriate action where necessary.
Question: Deputy Minister Pahad, will South Africa be intervening between
with the Taliban for the release of the hostages?
Answer: We do not have any contact with the group who has kidnapped these
hostages. We do not have any intention at this stage of beginning any
facilitation. We believe that the matter is best left to the South Korean and
Afghani governments, the UN and other role-players with better contacts in the
region. We will consider assisting if we are requested to do so but we do not
have any plans at this stage.
Question: Deputy Minister Pahad, has South Africa been approached to offer
more troops to Sudan? Will the 26 000 hybrid force be peacekeepers or peace
enforcers? A senior member of President Mbeki's advisory panel last week said
that South Africa had been approached to host the Darfur peace talks. What is
your position on this?
Answer: The UN resolution is clear that many actions will have to be carried
out under a Chapter VII mandate. The details of this resolution are still being
finalised. In a situation like this, the line between peacekeeping and peace
enforcement is a very grey line. With so many troops in Darfur you will have to
ensure that they have the capacity to deal with peace enforcement, under
Chapter VII as well.
South Africa has committed itself to participating in this force. We already
have a contingent in Darfur as part of the AMIS force. We will give serious
consideration to increasing our presence within the hybrid force. President
Mbeki held discussions with a special envoy from Sudan yesterday. South
Africa's leadership role with regard to this UN resolution on Darfur was
discussed. There was no mention of us facilitating the Darfur Peace
Process.
There is already a process that is underway. As I have said, a meeting will
take place in Arusha tomorrow. The UN and AU special envoys will meet with
signatories and non-signatories in an attempt to find a solution. The challenge
with Darfur is that the warlords keep splitting. We began with three and we now
have 17. If the matter does go back to the Peace and Security Council and if we
are asked to assist, we will consider it. But at this stage I believe it is
more useful for us to support what is currently on the ground and there is no
need for new initiatives.
Question: Deputy Minister Pahad, would you now describe the situation in
Zimbabwe as a crisis?
Answer: The IMF has just predicated that inflation in Zimbabwe will reach
100 000% by the end of the year and this, by any standards is a serious
problem. The SADC Extraordinary Summit did task the SADC Executive Secretary to
visit Zimbabwe to assess the economic situation and formulate recommendations.
He is expected to brief Heads of State and Government at the Summit in 10 days.
There is clearly a very serious problem. The Zimbabwean government has now
indicated that they are fighting an economic war.
Question: Deputy Minister Pahad, is it our moral duty to assist
Zimbabwe?
Answer: Yes, it is incumbent upon South Africa to assist Zimbabwe in terms
of our moral obligation and also in our own national interests. If we do not
begin to assist the Zimbabweans solve their problems, the neighbouring
countries South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia will not be able to sustain the
levels of refugees. President Mbeki has been asked to facilitate the political
process. He is expected to brief the SADC troika in Zambia at the SADC Summit
in two weeks. We will await Summit's recommendations for the way forward.
Question: Deputy Minister Pahad, when you see visual material of
Zimbabwean's trying to enter South Africa, do you feel you could have done more
to assist?
Answer: What more could we have done? We have been urging the government to
address the situation since the crisis developed with the land problem. We have
tried systematically, bilaterally and multilaterally to assist the Zimbabweans
resolve their crisis. In the end, those pictures must be of concern to us
all.
We must also be aware of the impact on our national programmes â it would be
severely strenuous for us to begin absorbing three million refugees into our
social structures. We have to spend more resources, with the UN, to deal with
the matter of accommodation for the refugees. It is clear that we cannot expect
people to live in conditions as those described.
Question: Deputy Minister Pahad, the South African soldiers in Burundi are
the last line of defence. Are we concerned that the FNL is regrouping for an
attack? If so, will these forces be equipped to deal with an attack bearing in
mind they come from a UN peacekeeping operation?
Answer: I think that you are correct that you should deal with this matter
with the Department of Defence. Our message to anyone thinking of renewing
attacks on our forces is that we will have to respond very aggressively to try
to protect our soldiers and ensure that such attacks not succeed.
Question: inaudible
Answer: We were at the Cabinet Lekgotla last week and this matter did not
come up for discussion. I assume that the Department of Defence has its own
contingency plans to deal with this matter.
I believe that prevention is better than cure and that we should, in
consultation with other role-players, including the UN disabuse any members of
the Paliphehutu-FNL of any such notions.
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
2 August 2007
