PRESS CONFERENCE BY HUMANITARIAN RELIEF COORDINATOR

Addressing a press conference at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, the United Nations' top humanitarian official said "the civilian population in Lebanon and in northern Israel have been the biggest losers in this senseless cycle of violence that is now exactly one month old".

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland, said Lebanon was one of the worst places in the world in terms of humanitarian access. There were over two hundred thousand people in the country to whom humanitarian workers had no access. Despite the assurances given by both the Lebanese and Israeli Governments to him, as well as through messages from Hizbollah, Mr. Egeland said the humanitarian convoys have not been working as they were supposed to.

"The Hezbollah and the Israelis could give us access in a heartbeat", he said. "Then we could help the 120,000 people in southern Lebanon. I don't think that any military advantage has been gained in these last days or will be gained in the next few hours. And we could save a lot of lives." Since United Nations' agencies had established humanitarian corridors to Beirut, Tyre and elsewhere along the coast of Lebanon, there had been systematic bombing of the coastal roads, which was the lifeline of civilian populations.

"Civilians were supposed to be spared and in this conflict they are not", he said. Today, convoys were going down to Saida from Beirut as well as to Balbek, that being despite ongoing bombing of Balbek. United Nations workers had not been able to get access to Tyre, which was the most besieged of the major towns in Lebanon, and other parts of southern Lebanon. Moreover, nearly one-third of the population of Lebanon has fled their home, due to the insecurity in the region. At the same time, the rain of missiles into Israel has continued unabated.

Expressing hope that the Security Council would be able to pass a resolution to end this crisis today, Mr. Egeland stressed that "there was only a political solution to this crisis, there was no humanitarian solution". If the resolution called for an end to the violence that would effectively translate into a dramatic turn of events opening the door for all the humanitarian efforts that have largely been on standby and who would rush in to areas previously off limits to assist civilian populations that have been under siege. Thus far, humanitarian agencies have been able to transport 650 tons of humanitarian assistance to besieged populations, but that was far too little, he added.

According to the health authorities in Lebanon, at least one thousand people have been killed in this conflict, Mr. Egeland said. This figure could be higher since many areas have yet to be accessed. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, an increasing number of whom have been fleeing the country altogether. The proportions were changing in that there were now more and more refugees as people were giving up and leaving for Syria and elsewhere.

Speaking to the humanitarian situation globally, Mr. Egeland said "this last month has been one of the worst ever in terms of providing assistance to vulnerable populations worldwide and safety and security to humanitarian workers in the field". Dozens of humanitarian field workers have been killed in last month alone; 17 workers from the non-governmental organization Action contre la faim were killed execution style in Sri Lanka last week. The United Nations had demanded for an independent investigation to look into this killing. Moreover, nine humanitarian workers were killed in Darfur in the last weeks, which was the worst ever since the conflict in that region began in 2003. Aid workers have also been killed in Lebanon.

Turing to Darfur, Mr. Egeland said there was currently a record low access for humanitarian workers to this region, where the United Nations was operating its largest humanitarian operation. There was more than a one hundred per cent increase in violent clashes in the first half of 2006 compared to the first half of last year. "The situation in Darfur was going from really bad to catastrophic".

Concerning the Democratic Republic of Congo, while the recently held democratic elections were viewed as a key to solving the long-standing conflict in that country, there had been over 500,000 newly displaced people requiring the assistance of international agencies from January to June this year, he said. This amounted to an average of 84,000 displaced people per month, which was three times more compared to figures for this time last year. It was estimated that more than 90 per cent of those displaced persons was due to armed conflict.

On the situation in Gaza, there were still major problems in terms of lack of water and electricity and over the deteriorating humanitarian conditions overall. The bombing of the power plant in Gaza was one of the many examples of unjustifiable military targeting. Similarly in Lebanon over 70 bridges had been bombed leading to a major disruption of civilian life. These actions were "a recipe for more hatred and more insecurity", he said.

Asked what guarantees humanitarian workers had from the parties for delivering assistance, Mr. Egeland said it had been virtually impossible for the United Nations to conduct its humanitarian activities in areas in southern Lebanon below the blue line. For other areas, to date the United Nations had requested ten convoy movements with the Israelis of which eight were granted. Underlining the seriousness of the situation, Mr. Egeland recalled that last Sunday OCHA had sent a convoy to Tyre at which time a civilian vehicle some one hundred meters before it was bombed and the driver was killed. Responding to a related question, Mr. Egeland said there was a general rule that anything moving south of the Litani River was deemed hostile unless it was a previously approved humanitarian convoy.

Regarding sea access to the port of Tyre, Mr. Egeland said the United Nations planned to establish four coastal humanitarian hubs – in Tripoli in the north, in Beirut, in Saida and in Tyre in the south. Additionally, a fifth humanitarian hub was planned for Zahle near the Syrian border. These hubs would serve as a centre for humanitarian operations in those areas, as well as storage facilities for humanitarian supplies and a base for coordination between United Nations and local agencies.


"The war will not be over unless there is restitution to the hundreds of thousands of victims", Mr. Egeland said in response to a question. "There is a national emergency in Lebanon like non other in the history of Lebanon".

Asked for his comments on the action to be taken by the Security Council, Mr. Egeland said he was optimistic about the pending Council decision since the situation in the region had become so intolerable for so many people and since the alternative to a breakthrough would be a complete catastrophe. "There has to be a comprehensive political solution connected with a security solution that provides security to both Lebanese and Israelis. Nobody wants to go back to a situation with a potential for conflict breaking out at any moment".

Concerning the fuel shortages in Lebanon, Mr. Egeland said that situation was the single most worrying humanitarian crisis at the moment. Fuel had already run out for four hospitals in the south of Lebanon and the nation's electric grid would cease to work if no more fuel supplies came in.

Asked for an overall assessment of the situation in Tyre, Mr. Egeland said there were some 20,000 left in the city where the situation was very desperate. No significant supplies had been getting in there for the past several days despite repeated calls by the United Nations.