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Near-verbatim transcription of UNMEE press briefing 13 Sep 2002

UNMEE PUBLIC INFORMATION
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's press briefing chaired in the Eritrean capital, Asmara by UNMEE Spokeswoman and Chief of Public Information, Gail Bindley-Taylor Sainte, via a videoconference linking Addis Ababa and Asmara. Also in attendance were, Franklyn Kargbo, Chief of Human Rights and Joshua Lincoln, Political Affairs Officer, and in Addis Ababa, Sammy Mwiti, Information Officer, Mathias Leitner, Political Officer and Elio Tamburi, Human Rights Officer.

MEDIA BRIEFING NOTES

POLITICAL

On 4 September, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Ambassador Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, briefed the Security Council in informal consultations on the status of both the peace process and the Mission's operations. The Council proceeded to discuss a draft resolution that would extend the mandate of UNMEE until 15 March 2003. On 6 September, the Council adopted resolution 1434(2002) in formal session.

Having renewed UNMEE's mandate, the Council decided in its resolution to review frequently the status of the peace process, and the progress made by the parties in the implementation of their commitments under the Algiers agreement, including those relating to the implementation of the Boundary Commission's delimitation decision. The Council will also periodically review any implications for UNMEE, with particular reference to the process of territorial transfers during demarcation.

In its resolution, the Council welcomed the recent release and repatriation by Eritrea of 279 prisoners of war and strongly encouraged Ethiopia to follow through on its own pledge to release and repatriate POWs and civilian internees. The Council also expressed concern regarding reported incidents of cross-border harassment and abductions of civilians on both sides, and called on both parties to ensure an immediate end to such incidents and to cooperate fully with UNMEE investigations.

The Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Cheikh-Tidiane Gaye, who was also Officer-in-Charge of UNMEE, on Monday, 9 September, met in Addis Ababa with the Ambassador of Greece to Ethiopia, Spyros Aliagas, and briefed him on the peace process. The following day, DSRSG Gaye also briefed a visiting delegation from the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies headed by Major-General M. C. Osahor.

The Director of the Office of the SRSG, and the Principal Political Affairs Officer, on Tuesday, 10 September, met in Asmara with the Commissioner for Coordination with the Peacekeeping Mission (CCPM), Brigadier-General Abrahaley Kifle, to discuss arrangements for marking this year's International Day of Peace. The Day will be observed in Eritrea and Ethiopia on Saturday, 21 September. The Day will also be marked at UN Headquarters in New York by several events beginning with the ringing of the peace bell by the UN Secretary-General at 12.00 Noon on Friday September 20.

SRSG Legwaila Joseph Legwaila returned to the Mission area from New York Headquarters on 10 September. Today, the SRSG will brief members of the diplomatic corps in Asmara on his mission to the UN Headquarters to brief the Security Council.

MILITARY

The overall situation in the Area of Operation (AOR) remains calm.

On 7 September at 2030 hours, a casualty evacuation was undertaken from Gergera to Asmara involving two civilian boys of village Hashaso Upper in Sector Centre, who were injured following a mine blast incident at 1400 hours in an area south of the village.

On 8 September, the Indian Construction Engineering Company recovered a dead body of a civilian boy from a well two kilometers South of the Irish Camp.

Force Commander Major-General Patrick Cammaert left the Mission Area on 8 September to attend a seminar on Peacekeeping Operations in Hawaii. The Deputy Force Commander and Chief Military Observer Brigadier General Peter M. Manyara is now the Acting Force Commander.

On 12 September, Brigadier-General Manyara visited Sector West where he was updated on the Civil Military Cooperation (CIMIC) programmes being implemented in the area. The Sector has benefited tremendously from CIMIC activities, with 13 projects having so far been successfully completed. An additional 15 CIMIC projects have been approved while nine new proposals have been submitted. Five of these are in Eritrea and four in Ethiopia.

Today--13 September--the Acting Force Commander will visit Sector Centre Headquarters at Adi Grat following which he will pay a routine visit to the Bada area.

In Sector West, the INDBAT Engineer Company is continuing repairs of the Shilalo - Shishabet - Mukuti road track. Meanwhile in Sector Centre, the INDBAT Engineering Company is repairing the road leading from Adi Seraw to Monoxito.

As usual, Demining Contingents continue with their work throughout the Temporary Security Zone. On 10 September, KENBAT Engineers disposed off a 82mm bomb, which they unearthed in the course of their duty.

HUMAN RIGHTS

On Saturday, September 7, a group of 110 Ethiopians and persons of Ethiopian origin were repatriated from Eritrea. On the same day, 49 Eritreans and persons of Eritrean origin were repatriated from Ethiopia. Both repatriations took place under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross. UNMEE's Human Rights Office conducted interviews with cross-sections of these persons at Adwa reception camp in Ethiopia and Mendefera transit camp in Eritrea respectively. Both groups of individuals repatriated to the "other" country cited the desire to be reunited with family members and economic hardship resulting from discrimination, as their main reason for choosing to leave.

MINE ACTION

The UNMEE Mine Action Coordination Centre (MACC) is conducting a review of its work plan due to the current situation with humanitarian mine action within Eritrea. The MACC will refocus on providing more comprehensive mine action support to the UNMEE Peacekeeping Force. Any future humanitarian mine action support to the yet to be established Eritrean Demining Authority will be primarily through the UNDP Mine Action Capacity Building Program with some in-kind personnel shared between the MACC and UNDP. Of course any such support will only be provided at the request of the new Authority.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE

Now, just a word on something we mentioned in the briefing notes and that's the International Day of Peace 2002. As I mentioned in the briefing notes the Day will be celebrated in New York on Friday the 20th. The celebrations will start with the ringing of the Peace Bell by the UN Secretary-General. There will also be a message for the Day. The Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York has invited all the peacekeeping missions in the UN system to participate in the celebrations. In both Eritrea and in Ethiopia we are planning activities for the Day. We have a number of activities, which are planned for the Day starting at 12 Noon. In the morning we will also have a bicycle race in Eritrea and we are hoping to invite the Eritrean population. As long as you have a bicycle and can ride it doesn't matter what age you are you are invited to come and take part in the ride. We'll tell you more about that, Paul is here and is part of the Committee. In Addis, we are having a day of prayer and that also starts at 12 Noon there. We are hoping that all our journalists will support, not only by publicizing the vent, but we hope you will come as well to the activities that will take place here in the Green Building in Asmara and at our Headquarters in Addis on Mekanisa Road opposite the Vatican Embassy.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Spokeswoman: If there are no questions on either side, perhaps Paul can share a little bit with us on what is planned for the International Day of Peace. Paul Omalla is part of our Committee to help plan this Day and so is Franklyn Kargbo [Chief of Human Rights]. Perhaps Elio Tamburi [Human Rights Officer in Addis Ababa] who is part of the Committee in Addis can say a little bit about what is planned on the Addis side. Next week we will have the full programme in detail. In the meantime we would like you to get the word out there that the International Day of Peace is on the 21st of September.

Paul Omalla: As Gail has said I am part of the Committee but she is actually the Chairperson. Having said that, last year the UN General Assembly passed resolution 55/202 that the 21st of September be marked throughout all UN Member Countries as the day when people of the United Nations will remember and reflect on the ideals of peace. It is much more than a commemoration. What will happen is that in each member country certain activities, which are pertinent to the local situation, will take place. Some people have organized peace marches; others have organized community activities, any such activity that may be relevant to the situation. Here in Eritrea we have planned a number of activities to mark the Day.

One activity, is the bicycle race which we are calling "Cycling for Peace". It is a 110 kilometre race that will stretch across one of the (main) roads around Asmara. We also plan to have a peace march after the cycle race, which will start from where the cycle race ends and go all the way here to the Green Building where we will have speeches both by the UN Country Team and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General. We also intend to have on the 23rd a public screening of the "First Steps to Peace". This is an UNMEE documentary that was shot here which talks about the peace process so far. I would urge everybody to show up especially here in Eritrea where we plan to show it at the Cinema Roma. We will also use that opportunity to introduce one of our projects called the "UNMEE Minutes". This is a one-minute video clip showing what we are doing here in UNMEE. We hope this will be taking place much more regularly in the future.

Apart from that, on the 23rd New York has organized a videoconference that will be hosted by Mrs. Nane Annan with school children in New York. These children will be in contact with other children in other parts of the world. Six sites have been chosen for a special hook up. They are: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, East Timor and Bosnia. The children will make a 30 second presentation to talk of their experiences of what they lost in war and what they gained in peace. These children will be talking to each other and sharing their experiences about war and peace.

That is what we intend to do here for the International Day of Peace. I know that the same preparations are taking place in Addis. Elio Tamburi can talk about that from the Addis side.

Elio Tamburi [Human Rights Officer and Member of Committee on International Day of Peace in Addis Ababa]: I think Paul more or less exhausted many of the subjects that I wanted to touch on. Here in Addis we are also preparing for this important day. We are also organizing activities and events for the 21st and 23rd. The activities in Asmara and in Addis are more or less similar with some variations. For instance, we are also organizing here a bike ride. It is slightly different than the one in Asmara because we have three bikers who have been on this bike ride through Addis Ababa and they started already on the 11th of September. Their ride will culminate here on the 21st at our headquarters where the main celebrations will take place. We are also planning for the 23rd to hook up with the videoconference organized from New York and on the 21st we will also have, as part of the ceremony, here in the headquarters, the showing of the film, "First Step to Peace" in the Outreach Centre. More details will follow next week.

(NOTE: Queries pertaining to the EEBC are to be referred to:

The Office of the Registrar (attention: Ms. Bette Shifman)
Eritrea/Ethiopia Boundary Commission, Permanent Court of Arbitration
Peace Palace, 2517 KJ, The Hague, The Netherlands
Telephone: +31 (0) 70 302 4167;
E-mail:shifman@pca-cpa.org; http://www.pca-cpa.org)

For additional information please contact:

Gail Bindley-Taylor Sainte, Acting Chief of Public Information
UNMEE Headquarters Addis Ababa, telephone: 251-1-443396; Mobile: 251 9 223031
Or UNMEE Headquarters Asmara, telephone: 291-1-150411
or our tie-line in New York: 00-1-212-963-3779