Abbas declares Hamas militia Illegal
'By Sonita Taylor 'Pakistan Times' UN Special Correspondent

UNITED NATIONS: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Saturday demanded that a force led by the ruling Hamas movement be integrated into the existing security structures and reshuffled the leadership of Palestinian security services, says a report from Ramallah.

"The executive force (controlled by Hamas) is illegal... and will be treated as such if it is not immediately integrated... into legal security services as stipulated by basic law," said a statement from the presidency.

Abbas also "decided to reshuffle and make new appointments in the security services and their leadership," it said.

Abbas took the decision "in light of the increasing security chaos, numerous assassinations... that do not spare children, and following the failure by the Palestinian groups and security services to respect the law and protect citizens."

Call by UN

Meanwhile, the U.N. has voiced the hope that Israel and the Palestinians would exercise restraint in light of some recent positive developments and avoid violence such as Thursday’s Israeli military incursion into Ramallah.

In response to a question at the daily briefing on Friday, spokesperson Michele Montas referred specifically to last month’s meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel’s decision to release some Palestinian taxes and Olmert’s meeting Thursday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

“We would hope that all parties would act with restraint to encourage these small steps back towards dialogue and away from violence, such as the Israeli military incursion into Ramallah yesterday,” she said.

Last year, Israel stopped the transfer of Palestinian value added taxes (VAT) following the election victory of Hamas for its refusal to recognize Israel.

Zero Tolerance

Meanwhile, a senior UN official said Saturday that the U.N. is determined to reinforce its policy of zero tolerance against sexual abuse and remains constantly vigilant to fight the scourge.

“We recognize that this is a structural problem and that we need to deal with it structurally and systemically and that the behaviour of a relative few has tarnished the entire reputation of peacekeeping and we will not allow that to continue to occur,” Assistant Secretary-General Jane Holl Lute told a news briefing at UN Headquarters in New York.

The U.N. fields nearly 200,000 people from over 100 countries rotating through its peacekeeping missions around the world every year.

“The reputation of UN peacekeeping is one of our most powerful assets, which is why we have responded over the past couple of years so strongly,” she said, stressing the UN’s three-point strategy of prevention, enforcement and remediation, with repetitive training and the establishment of complaint mechanisms.

The UN has also set up conduct units in all of its major peacekeeping operations, including Sudan, specifically tasked with addressing the problem.

The problem of sexual exploitation surfaced in 2004 when a UN report found that a “shockingly large number” of peacekeepers had engaged in such practices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with payments for sex sometimes ranging from two eggs to $5 per encounter.The victims included many abandoned orphans who were often illiterate.

Team to Somalia

Meanwhile, the United Nations plans to send an assessment team to Somalia as early as next week to evaluate the current situation with an eye at increasing its international staff to conduct humanitarian operations, a senior U.N. official said Friday.

“The transitional government has called upon us to return for humanitarian aid and other things,” Margareta Wahlstrom, the United Nations' acting emergency relief coordinator, told reporters in New York Friday. “That is what we are expecting next week unless something happens.”

Although some logisticians have returned to the region, she indicated she is hopeful that as the political situation stabilizes and if security assurances can be granted, more staff can be dispatched to ramp up efforts to bring relief to those needing it most.

In the wake of the most recent developments, some 30,000 people became displaced, but have since returned to their respective homes and villages.

But about 4,000 displaced people remain along the border with Kenya and are of concern due mainly to the large number of women and children there.

Wahlstrom was optimistic that supplies could be transported to the group and that with close coordination among parties along both sides of the border the situation could be dealt with appropriately.

Given the current situation whereby some stability has returned in the country that has been torn by strife for some 15 years, she stressed that there was a small window of opportunity for the U.N. officials and other nongovernmental organizations who are “very, very ready to work.”

“We have a short window now of opportunity where all these things will be brought to bear,” she noted, adding that it is “extremely important” that the transitional government is ready to talk to all the actors so that the humanitarian efforts and other efforts can be carried out.