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STORY: UN / HOLMES
TRT: 3.16
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 29 APRIL 2009, NEW YORK CITY
RECENT 2009, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
29 APRIL 2009, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, press conference
2. Med shot, journalists
3. SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“We believe there are some fifty thousand civilians still trapped there, it may be more, it may be less; the government figures are much less but we think fifty thousand is a reasonable figure for an estimate of how many are there and is certainly a significant number. And of course these people are in great danger from the continuing fighting; the numbers of civilian casualties hither too has been pretty horrific in the last three months.”
4. Med shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“We have not been able to achieve that so far, I discussed that while I was there, and the view of the president was very clear that such a mission at the moment would not be safe or appropriate, and therefore he could not give an agreement, but we will continue to pursue that because we think its worthwhile getting there as soon as possible.”
6. Med shot, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“The exodus of about one hundred and ten thousand people in the course of last week in a very short space of time of course has posed, despite advance planning, very considerable logistical challenges in terms of shelter and food and water and other basics services I think we’re beginning to get a grip on that. The government and UN agencies and NGOs have been doing a heroic job in putting out very large number of tents.
8. Med shot, journalists
9. SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“There is controversy about the position of the doctors there and whatever information they may be able to provide because the government at least says that these people are obviously operating -and how ever worthy they may be these individuals - under pressure from the LTTE and therefore whatever they say cannot be taken at face value. We have tried to allow for that, to cross check and to make sure that the figures we have in our private estimate are as good as they can be but because we have reservations about how fully defensible they are that’s why we have not put them out as official figures.”
10. Med shot, press conference
FILE – SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT HANDOUT
11. Various shots, Sri Lankan military flyover imagery
The United Nations (UN) Emergency Relief Coordinator today said he believed there were some fifty thousand civilians still trapped in the combat zone in Sri Lanka, with the LTTE refusing to let them leave, and with fighting continuing.
John Holmes told journalists at a press conference at the UN that the government figures were much less but he thought fifty thousand was a reasonable figure for an estimate of how many people where there.
With regard to sending a special team to the combat zone Holmes said that he had not been able to achieve that “so far”. He said he discussed that issue while he was in Sri Lanka, but the view of the president was that such a mission at the moment would not be safe or appropriate.
Holmes said that the second crisis was the exodus of about one hundred and ten thousand people in the course of last week, which in a very short space of time had posed very considerable logistical challenges in terms of shelter and food and water and other basic services.
With regard to the number of civilian casualties Holmes said that there was controversy about the position of the local doctors there and whatever information they might be able to provide, because the government claimed that they were operating under pressure from the LTTE and therefore what they said could not be taken at face value.
According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), reports indicate that camps and hospitals treating wounded civilians are struggling to cope with the outflow of civilians. More than 100,000 people have escaped from the combat zone over the past week.
