YouSaid · the spoken record

Holmes

lines on the record: 557
first: 2007-04-04
most recent: 2010-07-07
sittings or episodes: 25
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Yet, as detailed in the annex to the report, our access to conflict-affected populations is too often unsafe and not timely enough, and too frequently impeded. Millions of vulnerable people are deprived of assistance as a result. Enhancing access to those in need is identified as the fourth challenge in the report. Many factors interfere with access, but three constraints are the most severe and most widespread. First is burdensome bureaucracy. Permissions and travel notifications restrict the movement of humanitarian actors, while customs and quotas on goods stifle the flow of aid. The result is that those in need do not receive the assistance they need when and where they need it. In Gaza, for example, the criteria used by the Israeli authorities for allowing the import of goods remain unpredictable.”
2009-06-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6151 (2009) · source
“Among the protection tasks assigned to peacekeeping missions, creating conditions conducive to the provision of humanitarian assistance has in many cases been critical. It has, no doubt, helped save lives in such places as Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Sudan, but peacekeeping missions are not present in all situations. Moreover, humanitarian organizations should not need to rely on such missions to help ensure their access to civilians in need. The Council itself has called on all parties concerned, including non-State actors and neighbouring States, to cooperate fully with the United Nations in providing safe, timely and unimpeded access to civilians in armed conflict.”
2009-06-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6151 (2009) · source
“It means the development, on a more systematic basis, of mission-specific protection strategies and the spread of best-practice innovations. It also means, to paraphrase resolution 1674 (2006), ensuring not only that protection is prioritized in decisions concerning the use of available capacity and resources, but more crucially still that the capacity and resources provided are genuinely appropriate for the task of protecting civilians. These and other issues will be addressed in the forthcoming independent study commissioned by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, to be completed this summer. Its recommendations for improving the impact of protection mandates will be shared with the Council.”
2009-06-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6151 (2009) · source
“The inclusion of protection activities in the mandates of United Nations peacekeeping and other relevant missions has been a significant feature of the Council's efforts to improve protection on the ground. From Sierra Leone in the past to the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Sudan, peacekeeping operations have made and continue to make important contributions to the safety and security of civilians. The challenge now, as identified in the report, is to maximize their impact by addressing the disconnect between mandates, intentions, expectations, interpretations and implementation capacity. Practically, that means providing clear and practical guidance to heads of missions and force commanders on implementing protection mandates.”
2009-06-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6151 (2009) · source
“It is essential also to gaining access to those in need and to establishing a safe and secure environment in which the activities of humanitarian organizations are accepted and respected. Various initiatives can and have been pursued to this end. These include training and the conclusion of special agreements or codes of conduct, through which groups commit to comply with their obligations. As recommended by the Secretary-General, as a first step towards a more comprehensive approach to addressing the actions of non-State armed groups, I would urge the Council to convene an Arria formula meeting to discuss the experience of United Nations and non-governmental actors in engaging armed groups, and to help identify additional measures that the Council and Member States could take to improve their compliance.”
2009-06-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6151 (2009) · source
“As I mentioned in my briefing in January (see S/PV.6066), it is relatively straightforward, if not always productive, for us to raise concerns over the conduct of hostilities and other protection issues directly with States and national armed forces. But, as humanitarians, we cannot talk only to one side. We must be able to engage and seek compliance by all parties to conflict, including non-State armed groups - the second of the five challenges identified in the report. Unpalatable though this may be for some States, the simple yet brutal reality is that the failure to engage armed groups is always likely to mean more, not fewer, civilians killed and wounded.”
2009-06-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6151 (2009) · source
“This includes consistently condemning Violations, without exception, and demanding compliance. It also includes the threat and application of targeted measures in cases of non-compliance, and requests for reports on Violations and the mandating of commissions of inquiry where concerns exist regarding serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. But the Council's concern cannot be limited only to those situations formally on its agenda. Even conflicts that are not perceived by all Council members to have implications for international peace and security can have a dramatic impact on the protection of civilians and can warrant Council action.”
2009-06-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6151 (2009) · source
“We have seen significant progress in efforts to address the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions with the adoption last year of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Such progress is welcome, but there is a broader concern, expressed in the report, at the indiscriminate and severe humanitarian impact of explosive weapons more generally, particularly when used in densely populated areas, as we have seen in recent conflicts. I join the Secretary-General in urging Member States, in consultation with relevant United Nations and other actors, to consider this issue further, including addressing the widespread use of improvised explosive devices in densely populated areas. As noted in the Secretary-General's report, the Council has an important role to play in promoting systematic compliance with the law in situations on its agenda.”
2009-06-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6151 (2009) · source
“Since January, a wave of attacks on the civilian population by the Forces democratiques de liberation du Rwanda, including all too common acts of rape and other forms of sexual violence, has driven more than 370,000 people from their homes. Alarmingly, the allegations of Violence and abuse committed against civilians extend to members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo engaged in Operation Kimia II in South Kivu. Elsewhere in the region, the Lord's Resistance Army continues to spread fear and death among the civilian population, with frequent attacks and abductions in Haut Uele. The choice of weapons is critical in minimizing and reducing the impact of hostilities on civilians.”
2009-06-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6151 (2009) · source
“Yet their impact on civilians is no less devastating, the responsibility of those who orchestrate them no less grave, and the need for systematic and effective condemnation from those in positions of authority and influence, including religious authorities, no less urgent. Civilians continue to die in Afghanistan also as a result of the actions of pro-Government forces, particularly during air strikes. I welcome recent statements from the incoming leadership of United States and international armed forces in Afghanistan on the need to reduce civilian casualties, review rules of engagement and ensure their strict observance. We will monitor such efforts closely, just as we continue to carefully monitor the situation of the civilian population in the North and South Kivu provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
2009-06-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6151 (2009) · source
“In Afghanistan, the number of civilians killed and injured in the fighting continues to rise as the conflict intensifies, particularly in the south. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reports that 261 civilians were killed in May alone. Anti-Government elements remain responsible for the majority of these civilian deaths through attacks on residential areas and schools, the use of improvised explosive devices and, often, targeted or otherwise reckless suicide attacks. Suicide attacks and bombs left in public places have become so commonplace, not just in Afghanistan but also in such places as Iraq and Somalia, as to warrant no longer the same degree of attention and 3 outrage as they once did.”
2009-06-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6151 (2009) · source
“While the weapons have finally * and thankfully-fallen silent in Sri Lanka, deaths of civilians in places such as Somalia, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo constantly remind us of the urgent need for parties to conflict to be much more scrupulous in their efforts to spare civilians from the effects of hostilities. In the Somali capital Mogadishu, for example, the eruption last month of renewed hostilities between forces aligned with the Transitional Federal Government and non-State armed groups has been marked by the bombing of civilian areas and street battles, with little or no regard for the safety and security of the civilian population. Since the first week of May, more than 200 civilians have been killed and over 800 wounded, while some 160,000 people have fled their homes.”
2009-06-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6151 (2009) · source
“The first is enhancing compliance by parties to conflict with international humanitarian law and human rights law, with particular concern over the conduct of hostilities. The lack of compliance leads not only to the death and injury of hundreds of civilians in conflicts every week, but to the displacement of thousands more. The word displacement does not do justice to the reality - that is thousands of innocent civilians forced every single week to flee attacks and the destruction of their homes, their communities and their livelihoods, and to fall into an existence marked by danger, suffering and psychological anguish.”
2009-06-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6151 (2009) · source
“Yet, and as the five months since my last briefing have once again shown (see S/PV.6066), the reality on the ground has not changed in the same way at all. We cannot be remotely satisfied with the situation that we see in so many parts of the world today. Lip service to the principles of international law is no substitute for real action. And the latter is in sadly short supply. Much greater efforts are required to enhance compliance and, for that matter, accountability on the 09-38266 ground - that is to say, compliance by all parties to conflict with the applicable law and with the demands and decisions of the Council, and accountability for those individuals and parties that fail in those respects. The Secretary-General's report sets out five core challenges.”
2009-06-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6151 (2009) · source
“In the last 10 years, the protection of civilians in armed conflict has assumed a prominent place on the Council's agenda, as manifested in these regular open debates, the Secretary-General's periodic reports and the four thematic Security Council resolutions on the protection of civilians. Most importantly, concern for the protection of civilians has increasingly permeated the country- specific deliberations and decisions of the Council. Regular meetings of the Expert Group on the Protection of Civilians and the systematic application of the revised aide-memoire - a published, user- friendly version of which has been distributed to the Council this morning i should further enhance the Council's response to protection issues in a more comprehensive and systematic way.”
2009-06-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6151 (2009) · source
“As the report of the Secretary-General (S/2009/277) before the Council today makes clear, a large part of the reason for that distressing state of affairs lies in the fundamental failure of parties to conflict, deliberately or otherwise, to respect and to ensure respect for their obligations to protect civilians. It is a failure that demands, in the words of the Secretary-General, a reinvigorated commitment from us all to the Council's agenda on the protection of civilians and to promoting respect for the principles of international humanitarian law, human rights law and refugee law.”
2009-06-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6151 (2009) · source
“Mr. Holmes: Thank you, Mr. President, for this opportunity to brief the Council. On this day in 1945, 50 States gathered in San Francisco to sign the United Nations Charter in an expression of their determination, in the words of the 09-38266 Preamble, to save succeeding generations from the scourge and the untold sorrow of war and to ensure the use of armed force only in the common interest. That determination to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war remains unfulfilled in all too many parts of the world. The sorrow and, I would add, brutality of war continue to be felt by untold millions of civilians, trapped by conflict or forced into flight. It is precisely against them and their rights and interests that armed force is so often used with devastating effect.”
2009-06-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6151 (2009) · source
“09-36683 Lastly, the Council will not be surprised to hear me say that what is needed above all is political progress towards a lasting settlement in Darfur, towards a durable understanding between the Sudan and Chad before current tensions and intermittent violence on both sides of the border explode out of control, and towards resolution of the many challenges in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the North and the South. Then the resources currently devoted to humanitarian assistance can be more productively used on the huge development tasks ahead. 09-3668} That is a serious agenda indeed not only for the United Nations and humanitarian community, but also for the Governments concerned, the international community in general, and this Council in particular.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“Thirdly, the humanitarian situation in South Sudan, with the current level of civilian casualties, displacement and abduction of children, is of major concern. The Government of South Sudan, UNMIS and the international community must take active steps to prevent further destabilization. Fourthly, to meet the requirements of the new situation, we will need to rework the financing needs for humanitarian assistance not just in Darfur, but throughout North and South Sudan. The results of a review of the Work Plan for Sudan should be available later this month. I look to both the donor community and the Government for continued and accelerated help.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“First, it is important to acknowledge and to welcome the recent efforts of the Government to respond positively to the need to work much more closely with the international humanitarian community, and the new steps that it has taken to support the requirements of its own people in Darfur through their own efforts. The next meeting of the expanded high- level committee, on 17 June, will be an important chance to measure where we are on implementation of agreements. Secondly, we still need to see a return of humanitarian capacity and full freedom of movement to northern Sudan, further loosening of bureaucratic impediments and considerable improvement in the security environment to enable us to address the needs of the population, which will only be exacerbated by the rainy season.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“With a myriad of critical challenges facing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, including the Abyei adjudication, the North-South border demarcation, elections and, ultimately, the referendum, the international community cannot afford to lose focus on southern Sudan. Whatever the inadequacies of the Government, the people there continue to need significant humanitarian assistance as well as major financial and development support, not least faced as they are with the devastating financial consequences of low oil prices and the global economic crisis. In that regard, I am particularly concerned about cuts to social services, primarily in health and education. Let me conclude by summarizing where I believe we are.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“Almost 20,000 refugees have also fled into the Sudan from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to escape the LRA savagery there. Military efforts to finish off the LRA have so far had limited success and its ravages continue unabated. I can only hope against hope that their leader, Joseph Kony, will still somehow come to sign the peace accord that he abandoned last summer. Meanwhile, United Nations agencies and NGOs, in close cooperation with the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, UNMIS and regional Governments, are doing what they can to deal with the humanitarian consequences for civilians of the LRA's continued existence.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“Such tribal conflicts there and elsewhere, with their political undercurrents, could even come to threaten progress since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. While the United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS) has taken measures to act as a buffer between the tribes by establishing temporary operating bases and is supporting reconciliation efforts, it is painfully clear that this will be a long and difficult process. I urge the Government of South Sudan to take the necessary measures to protect its civilians, mainly women and children, who have been targeted during those tribal clashes. If that was not challenge enough, the renewed presence of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) south of Juba has also provoked large-scale killings and the displacement of as many as 100,000 people.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“Let me now turn to southern Sudan, where I travelled to Jonglei state to assess the impact of ongoing tribal violence. I was shocked not only by the unprecedented destructive nature of the violence, but also by the humanitarian toll. In the town of Akobo, I heard of the destruction of entire villages in the surrounding area, caused not least by the proliferation of more powerful weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades. With around 30,000 people displaced and possibly more than 1,000 killed or taken prisoner, including women and children, tribal reconciliation and disarmament must be a high priority for the Government of South Sudan, and indeed for the international community.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“Given the security situation on the ground today and the challenges facing the mediation effort, I do not believe that the current conditions in Darfur are yet conducive to large-scale return. However, as I also noted throughout my visit, the United Nations and partner agencies are keen to support returns wherever they meet international standards and are voluntary and sustainable. 3 While Darfur is the area of most immediate concern, the expulsions also had a serious potential impact on the three protocol areas and in eastern Sudan, where the expelled NGOs played critical roles in the provision of life-saving humanitarian, recovery and development assistance, with few alternatives available. It is helpful that the four international NGOs that recently received new registrations should be able to resume their work here.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“In that context, I urged and continue to urge the Government to accept fully that work in the area of the protection of civilians is a vital part of modern humanitarian operations, as this Council knows and agrees. I hope that, in that context, the Government will now allow agencies such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration to carry out their planned activities in areas such as camp coordination and verification of internally displaced person (IDP) registrations, in accordance with their global mandates. As in past visits, the issue of IDP returns was once again discussed. I emphasized that the safe and voluntary return of civilians to their places of origin is a shared goal.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“In a number of camps around city centres and state capitals, the availability of basic services such as sanitation was significantly reduced, while primary health facilities lost important capacity in monitoring and surveillance. The World Health Organization, for example, has recently reported that, with the onset of the rainy season, the risk of a cholera outbreak has increased in such camps as Gereida, Kalma, Al Salam, Otash, Kass and Jebel Marra. Meanwhile, we have less visibility of what is happening in remote rural areas due to access constraints and continued insecurity. We have also not yet begun to fill gaps created in less visible though no less vital areas, such as camp coordination, education, secondary and reproductive health, and livelihood assistance.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“It is in any case important, as I reminded the Government, that 09-3668} local partners be credible, professional and able to work with all sections of society in an impartial manner. However effective the efforts of the Government, the United Nations and remaining NGOs have been in preventing a further immediate crisis, they have not replaced, and cannot easily or rapidly replace, the capacity and skills lost. Current levels of assistance in some areas remain well below the necessary standards to which we subscribe. As we enter the "hunger gap" and rainy season, the needs and gaps will only be further exacerbated.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“But I also stressed that the value of these steps would be measured in improvements on the ground in terms of ease and security of operations and of the quality of assistance for the 4.7 million beneficiaries in Darfur, not least the 2.7 million displaced people included in that number. We need to see consistent and sustained implementation of what has been agreed. Meanwhile, I made clear that we would work with the Government on the so-called Sudanization of humanitarian work, in line with our global policy of building national and local capacity. The Government has helpfully made clear that Sudanization does not and will not entail the disappearance of international aid organizations.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“On this issue, I look forward to seeing assurances from the Director-General of National Security on steps to improve access and security translated into a safer environment, particularly in state capitals and along main supply routes. It was also agreed that the new high-level committee mechanism will be replicated at the state level in the three Darfurs to help eliminate the disconnect between federal theory and state practice that we have so often seen in the past. While in the Sudan, I welcomed these positive steps and stressed that we, too, wished to work closely with the Government to create a much more predictable and facilitating environment for humanitarian work.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“It now includes senior Government representatives from all the concerned and influential ministries and a wider spectrum of Member States and regional organizations, as well as NGOs. It was agreed that the committee would henceforth monitor not only the implementation of bureaucratic agreements detailed in the Joint Communique, but also wider issues such as the protection of civilians, voluntary and sustainable returns, independent and joint assessments and ways to improve the safety and security situation of humanitarian staff in Darfur. The latter has become increasingly perilous over the past 18 months, as evidenced by, inter alia, two very disturbing kidnappings in the wake of the 4 March expulsions and a recent attack on a Humanitarian Air Service helicopter flight, and has resulted in severely reduced access.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“Government representatives have made clear, including during my visit, that help from international humanitarian agencies and NGOs is welcome and valued, and have said publicly and privately that not only remaining NGOs, but also new NGOs, including NGOs with new names and new logos, are welcome. Four of the expelled NGOs have taken advantage of this latter flexibility and this week completed initial registration processes in Khartoum. The level of hostile comment in the media has also been reduced. 09-36683 On 7 May in Khartoum, I co-chaired, with the federal Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, the first meeting of an expanded high-level committee that was originally formed to oversee the implementation of the Joint Communique in 2007.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“These joint efforts have also begun to contribute to a more constructive working environment between the Government and the humanitarian community. The Government has also taken some important steps towards rebuilding the cooperation architecture that was so badly fractured in March. It has reaffirmed its acceptance of and support for the 2007 Joint Communique on the facilitation of humanitarian assistance in Darfur as the principal framework for cooperation. In addition, ministerial decrees have extended technical agreements for NGOs, ensured the return to a previously agreed but ignored travel notification system and guaranteed multiple entry visas for all NGO workers.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“However, I am pleased to note that consistent efforts to explain the risks, to reduce tension and to seek a constructive dialogue - not least those led by United States Special Envoy Major General Scott Gration and influential Member States in the region - have begun to result in some positive developments. Following the joint assessment carried out in March by the Government and the United Nations, the humanitarian community has worked with Government line ministries to fill the most critical life-saving gaps left by the expulsions. While it has not been possible to do this in a fully satisfactory or sustainable way, it seems that these efforts have significantly narrowed the gaps and prevented, for now at least, the feared extra humanitarian crises and deaths.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“I also visited South Sudan to assess the extent of recent tribal violence, continuing humanitarian needs there and progress towards sustainable recovery. The overall background is continuing severe humanitarian problems in Darfur, with 4.7 million people still requiring assistance, and major humanitarian needs in other areas too. We continue to believe that the expulsions of 4March were wrong and unjustified, to deplore the often brutal way in which they were carried out and to regret the increased dangers created for hundreds of thousands of people in need in Darfur and elsewhere. The difficult weeks that followed the expulsions were filled with reports of violence targeting NGOs - both those expelled and those remaining in Darfur - and negative rhetoric in the media that put agencies and individuals at increased risk.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“Mr. Holmes: Thank you, Mr. President, for this opportunity to brief the Council on my visit to the Sudan early this past month. That this was briefly delayed until today is a good indication of the many competing challenges we face around the world. The aim of the visit was to review the humanitarian situation in the areas most affected by the Government's decision on 4 March to close three national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and expel 13 international NGOs, and to promote an improved operating environment between the Government and the humanitarian community, based on the development of genuine confidence and trust. In addition to meetings in Khartoum, I visited North Darfur, and in particular the newly displaced populations in Zam Zam camp, just outside El Fasher.”
2009-06-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6139 (2009) · source
“If the Government can establish proper control over the country's natural riches and provide support and resources to its administration, the Democratic Republic of the Congo can have a bright future, despite the huge and multiple challenges.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“Seventy-six per cent of the population are undernourished and chronically subject to food insecurity. Fifty-four per cent have no access to clean water. Endemic diseases like malaria, cholera, plague and the Ebola virus further weaken already vulnerable people. The 2009 Humanitarian Action Plan estimates that some $831 million is needed to cover humanitarian needs, an increase of 11 per cent from last year. So this is no time to turn our eyes away from the Democratic Republic. As on my first visit, I was impressed by the quality and dedication of many of the officials I met, from district level upwards.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“Continuing and improved humanitarian assistance remains essential to relieve the suffering in the Kivus and in Orientale province but is not enough to enable the people there to rebuild their lives on a durable basis. The authority and capacity of the central and local authorities have to be rebuilt at every level. The international community can help to achieve this, as it has been doing, including through the comprehensive stabilization strategy now being pursued by MONUC together with the United Nations and donor partners. But the Government must also effectively face up to its responsibilities in this respect. 09-23954 In conclusion, let me return to the point that humanitarian needs are substantial throughout the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including the western provinces, and not only in the conflict areas.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“I was able to raise many of these points in Kinshasa with President Kabila, Prime Minister Muzito and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mwamba. We discussed in particular the prospects of the current initiatives producing lasting improvements in the political, security and humanitarian situation in the east and the north. I emphasized to them the importance of doing everything possible to protect civilians, including tackling sexual violence, to address impunity and, especially, to improve the discipline of the FARDC. They agreed, while stressing the need in their eyes to prioritize a rapid return to peace and stability in the short term. I pointed out that there should be no inconsistency between the two imperatives of peace and justice.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“Newly formed joint protection teams, deployed in locations where access is difficult, are already making a difference in anticipating and understanding threats to civilians and in helping the military to interact with the population and better understand their protection needs. I would urge the Security Council and troop- contributing countries to give their fullest support to these changes, and troop-contributing countries in particular to allow maximum flexibility in operating procedures and rules of engagement. I am also convinced that the two additional battalions, together with the two companies of special forces, two engineering companies, extra air assets, and the information analysis capability recently authorized by 09-23954 the Council remain badly and urgently needed to enable MONUC to carry out its testing mandate.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“This is never going to be an easy task, and we should beware of arousing expectations that cannot be met and of unhelpful criticism that takes no account of the real problems and limitations. Units which have been trained for conventional warfare, static defence or patrolling of ceasefire lines, and military structures designed accordingly, cannot convert themselves overnight into the kind of highly mobile and flexible operations, with good local intelligence, contacts and skills, that would be ideal. Nevertheless the civilian and military leadership of MONUC are well into a far-reaching review of operating guidelines, deployments and training.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“The mission will seek to deploy extra troops from elsewhere in the country, including in a few of the key towns like Doruma and F aradj e, and will work to improve some of the roads to help with logistics. MONUC is also urgently looking to acquire more utility helicopters to cover this wide area, in support of the FARDC, where the LRA groups have dispersed. Let me take this opportunity to comment more generally on the work of MONUC from a humanitarian's perspective. The last few months have been especially challenging for them, and the revised mandate from the Council is provoking positive reconsideration of how MONUC can use its limited resources to the best effect in this immense and complicated country in order to help protect civilians.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“Meanwhile, in meetings with the local commanders of the FARDC and the UPDF, I emphasized the importance of placing the protection of civilians at the centre of their planning as the military operations continue, and of better communication among all concerned about the risks to civilians and to humanitarians. I also discussed with MONUC locally and in Kinshasa what more might be done to strengthen its presence in the area to help to protect civilians and to support humanitarian assistance, following their help for the reinstallation of the humanitarian community in the main local town of Dungu. MONUC, with the FARDC, is already expanding escorts for humanitarian convoys as needed and requested.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“United Nations agencies and partners are working as rapidly as possible with the central and local authorities, the military forces in the area and MONUC to expand humanitarian assistance and step up efforts to protect the local population. These efforts are constrained by the huge 40,000 square kilometre area where the LRA are hiding, their dispersal into several groups, the difficult terrain and isolated location, the chronic lack of infrastructure and the threat still posed by the LRA, including on the major roads. No one doubts the urgent need to remove the LRA threat, one way or another. Their surrender would be the best way.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“The casual brutality, the total disregard for human life and the treatment of women and children in particular are appalling even for those used to the depredations of the LRA in so many places in the last 20 years. The number of deaths since December 2008 is believed to approach 900, with many victims hacked to death with machetes or bludgeoned by clubs. Many women have been raped before being killed. One hundred sixty thousand people altogether are estimated to have fled their homes. Moreover, according to UNHCR, in Southern Sudan's Western Equatoria State, the registered population of Congolese refugees who fled LRA attacks in the Dungu area in January has surpassed 9,000, in addition to the thousands of Sudanese themselves already internally displaced for the same reason.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“3 I also went to the Haut-Uele district of Orientale Province, where the Ugandan People's Defence Force (UPDF) and the FARDC are carrying out joint military operations against the Lord's Resistance Army. The LRA have reacted by carrying out horrific and unprovoked attacks against the local civilian population. In Doruma, I met those displaced by some of these attacks. I was shaken by their accounts and their obvious anger and trauma. The so-called Christmas massacres triggered a wave of displacement from at least 22 villages around Doruma, tripling the population from its normal 6,000 to 18,000. There have been similar attacks elsewhere, including around Faradje.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“Meanwhile, the number of FDLR combatants presenting themselves for MONUC's disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and resettlement or repatriation programme is equally on the rise, having already reached 376, plus 655 dependents, for a total of 1,031, with several hundred more candidates waiting to be screened. Those numbers are striking when compared with the 1,103 total FDLR repatriations and 7,992 civilian repatriations in the entire year of 2008. I hope those developments signify that the running sore of the FDLR presence can now be significantly reduced, if not removed altogether. But robust and comprehensive political solutions will also continue to be needed on both sides of the border.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“At a Goma transit centre run by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), I spoke to young Rwandan refugees, men and women, who had been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1994 and had now decided to return home. During the past month, there has been a significant increase in the number of refugees transiting the centre. The numbers of Rwandan civilians who voluntarily repatriated under the auspices of UNHCR from 1 January to 16 February reached 2,902 f 883 from North Kivu and 2,019 from South Kivu.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source
“In particular, there are hostage populations in the areas concerned who are acutely vulnerable to any abuse or reprisals from the FDLR. So far, our worst fears do not seem to have been realized, either in terms of displacement or in terms of atrocities, but reports at the end of last week, including from Human Rights Watch, painted a disturbing picture of revenge attacks on civilians by the FDLR already beginning. As the operation officially draws to an end, MONUC - already present in numerous key locations - will have a vital role with the FARDC in helping to fill any security vacuum and in preventing FDLR militants from returning to areas they previously occupied and exacting a terrible price from civilians. There are positive signs, too.”
2009-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6083 (2009) · source