HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY MARIE OKABE DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Asked about Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's question on why the United Nations had operated its outpost in Khiam even amid the fighting, the Spokeswoman noted that UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been present in the area since 1978, on a UN Security Council mandate.
She noted that the military observers at Khiam were posed in a well-marked and established outpost. Also, the United Nations had received repeated assurances that they would not be attacked, and repeated calls were made by UNIFIL, by officials in New York and by the Secretary-General to Israeli officials concerning the safety of UNIFIL personnel.
Ultimately, she said, the United Nations had guarantees that the outpost would not come under fire.
Asked about the Secretary-General's reaction to the failure, so far, by the Security Council to adopt a Presidential Statement on the death of the observers at Khiam, the Spokeswoman said that he was disappointed that the Council was not able to pronounce itself on an important statement on the death of the four observers.
Asked whether the Secretary-General would retract his Tuesday statement about the "apparently deliberate" targeting of the outpost, given an e-mail that allegedly counters the United Nations' understanding of the events, the Spokeswoman responded, "No."
UN patrol base in El- Khiam, East of South Lebanon, which received a direct areal bomb hit from IDF where four UN Observers lost their life.
Southern Lebanon, 27 July 2006. UN Photo
Southern Lebanon, 27 July 2006. UN Photo
Nothing sane to add... It seems now that all hell is officially loose once the peace keepers start getting bombed and... ignored.
.
