The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's briefing by Martin Nesirky, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon everybody. We have with us Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, and Susana Malcorra, who is the Under-Secretary-General for Field Support. They were both with the Secretary-General in Haiti yesterday and they can take questions on that and anything else related to ongoing efforts to help the people of Haiti. We have about half an hour, so I'll hand the floor over to you straight away.
**Briefing by Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations
Good afternoon. I won't describe what we saw yesterday, because many of you were with us and you have seen it on TV. I would like to stress what our efforts are for the time being. Firstly, we need to make sure that our Mission is back on its feet. We now have the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. [Edmond] Mulet; the Principal Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General is Mr. Tony Banbury. The Force Commander has been in place from the first day and the Police Commissioner, General [Gerardo Christian] Chaumont, from Argentina, arrived two days ago. So, the leadership of the Mission is there now, and the Mission is operating, of course, not from its headquarters but from the Logistics Base, which, as you know, has been mostly untouched. Every day, we are reinforcing this Mission by sending the adequate personnel needed to reinforce the Mission.
As you have seen also, we have asked for additional troops to come from the provinces to reinforce those in Port-au-Prince. We have 3,400 troops in Port-au-Prince, together with the police.
Also this morning there was a session of the Security Council and we recommended the Council to consider an increase in numbers of troops by 2,000, and to increase the number of police by 1,500. The main tasks for these additional troops are threefold. Our assessment is that the security situation still remains under control under the control of the Force Commander, General [Floriano] Peixoto from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Globally, the situation remains under control.
Of course, there are sporadic incidents here and there, mostly due to the frustration of not getting food and water quickly enough. So while we have enough troops for global security we have now to increase the number of troops and police to escort the humanitarian convoys, which are increasing drastically daily. And it's very important that the humanitarian convoys can reach people rapidly, otherwise we will have security problems.
So, the main request for the additional troops is because we are stretched. We have to escort all requests we receive from humanitarian convoys, which are, of course, tremendous. For example, just for the World Food Programme (WFP) alone -- 60,000 [tons] of food needs to be distributed. And over 200 distribution points, with request for MINUSTAH security escort. So, it shows --
Question: 60,000--?
Under-Secretary-General Le Roy: 60,000 tons of food, just from WFP, at over 200 different distribution points. So, for that, they need escorts. And of course we need our forces on the ground to ensure security, but they have to ensure, of course, also, the escort of the humanitarian convoys.
Secondly, for the military, it is of increased importance to secure humanitarian corridors that we are establishing between Port-au-Prince and the Dominican Republic; and also between Port-au-Prince and the northern port of Haiti. So, we are establishing these humanitarian corridors with many other actors, and of course we need troops to secure these humanitarian corridors.
We have already received a pledge from the Dominican Republic of a battalion, which is roughly 800 troops, to help us to secure the corridor between Port-au-Prince and the Dominican Republic. That will take, of course, 800 out of the 2,000 increase that we have requested this morning. We are hearing that many other countries will make pledges soon.
For the military, there are three priorities: firstly, escorting the humanitarian convoys; secondly, securing the humanitarian corridors; and thirdly, to constitute a reserve force, in case the situation unravels and the security situation deteriorates.
For the police itself, we are asking for an increase of some specialists like forensic experts, corrections officers and others. Also, for provisions to secure the delivery of humanitarian assistance in the various points of distributions.
You have all seen the tension on TV. It's time there is distribution of food. We consider it important to have enough police to ensure security and order when food or water or other distribution is being done. And, of course, this is being done with augmentation from the Haitian national police. You have seen the Haitian police are back on the street in limited numbers. And of course, we have very much to continue to support and to train them.
We have made also the request to bring additional equipment for Haitian national police -- for example uniforms, because some of them have been destroyed. They need to be visible in the street to ensure, to help us to ensure, to help to ensure law and order.
I may stop here. Maybe Susana, you want to add, at this stage, additional information.