28 April 2002
Security Council Wants Jenin Mission Underway Quickly
(Backs secretary general's efforts to break impasse with Israelis)
(480)
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- After holding emergency consultations on Israel's
refusal to allow a UN fact-finding mission into the Jenin refugee
camp, the Security Council April 28 backed Secretary General Kofi
Annan's efforts to get the team into the area as soon as possible.
Security Council President Sergey Lavrov of Russia said that "the
members of the council remain firm in their insistence on full
implementation of resolution 1405. They are concerned at the continued
delay in the arrival of the fact-finding team."
The council members "strongly support the secretary general in his
efforts to ensure the immediate deployment of the fact-finding team to
Jenin with the full cooperation of Israel and the Palestinian
Authority," Lavrov said.
The council has scheduled another meeting for April 29 to get another
update on the talks. "The members of the council expect a positive
report from the secretary general by 29 April, that is tomorrow," the
council president said.
Lavrov also called in Israeli Ambassador Yehuda Lancry to inform the
envoy of the council's decision.
The secretary general first agreed to delay the departure of the
mission until April 27 after Israel said that it wanted further
discussion on the team's mandate and composition. Annan then agreed to
another delay to give the Israeli cabinet an opportunity to approve
the mission.
Representatives of Israel's Defense Ministry, Foreign Ministry, and
Defense Forces meet with UN officials from the offices of peacekeeping
operations and legal affairs on April 25 and 26. Undersecretary
General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast chaired the sessions.
Prendergast briefed in the council on the latest developments April
28.
In the meantime, the team, headed by Martti Ahtisaari of Finland, has
been in Geneva preparing for its departure to the Middle East and had
expected to leave for the region on April 28. Its departure was
delayed after the Israeli cabinet said that conditions were "not yet
right" for the mission to take place.
Annan then asked the council for another 24 hours to try to work
things out with Israel.
The secretary general spoke with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Perez
twice during the day.
During the one-hour private meeting April 28, council members were
supportive of the secretary general's approach to the talks and his
demand that the group be allowed in as soon as possible, diplomats
said.
During the consultations, Prendergast reported that the issues
revolved around whom the UN team would have access to on the Israeli
side, the team's freedom of movement in the West Bank and in the Jenin
camp, and the presence of Israeli officials in meetings between the
team and non-Palestinians, diplomats said.
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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