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Occupied Arab Territories in Political Turmoil;
 Haiti says the resumption of official international aid cannot be considered a long-term strategy for the country; Jamaica warns of the critical situation in Haiti because of instability, and lack of sustained assistance; The Bahamas calls for a lasting peaceful settlement to the conflict in the Middle East; The president of the general Assembly appeals to States to observe the Olympic Truce during the Athens Games; Jamaica welcomes progress in reducing the digital divide
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UN Envoy Arrives in Baghdad
"The Special Representative stressed the need for the forthcoming conference to be as inclusive of the range of Iraqi opinion as possible in order for its outcome to have maximum credibility among the Iraqi people." On the escalation
of fighting in the Holy City of Najaf, Mr. Qazi reiterated the Secretary-General's
call for a peaceful settlement of differences and respect for humanitarian
law including access to medical assistance for the wounded.
UNHCR Lays Ground for Beefed Up Presence in Darfur
"Over the next week, UNHCR is sending a 10-person team for Darfur. The first team members are expected to arrive in Darfur early next week to join our existing contingent of six international staff in El Geneina and Nyala." The UNHCR team will include a senior field coordinator and two protection officers.
"I think everyone knows that there have been a lot of missed opportunities. At the same time, our role in the UN is to constantly prod and try to improve whatever situations we are faced with." Mr. Falt says
the UN is however satisfied that the Greek organizers have decided
to conducted limited actions for the environment during the Olympic
Games.
Locusts Remain a Threat in West Africa: WMO
"It is expected that the weather will remain hot and humid and the monsoon rains will affect more countries in the coming weeks. So there might be more locusts in the region. " The UN Food and
Agriculture Organization says that many farmers in the region have
stopped sowing seeds because of the locust threat.
UN Human Rights Officers Will Visit Belarus Sunday Members of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention will visit Belarus on Sunday at the invitation of the government. They will visit a number of detention centres in Minsk, the capital, and other cities of Belarus. The spokesman for the UN Human Rights Commissioner in Geneva, Jose Diaz says the working group will meet with government officials including those of the judiciary. "There are also meetings scheduled with representatives of a number of national and local NGOs, non-governmental organizations, lawyers as well as family members of people in detention." The Group is expected to be in Belarus for two weeks.
Three People Die of Bird Flu in Vietnam The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has informed the World Health Organization that three recent deaths from influenza like-illness were caused by bird flu. The UN health agency says these are the first officially reported cases of bird flu in Viet Nam since February. A WHO spokesperson said one of the three deaths was definitely from a strain that is known to jump directly from infected poultry to humans.
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A
small team of UN staff led by the Secretary-General's Special Representative,
Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, arrived in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on Friday
morning. Upon his arrival, Mr. Qazi and his team met with the Iraqi
President Ghazi Al Yawer and later in the afternoon with Prime Minister
Iyad Allawi. Both Iraqi leaders welcomed the return of the UN mission
to Iraq and said the UN should encourage national dialogue and assist
their country in the political and economic fields. UN spokesman Farhan
Haq says the Special Representative reiterated the UN's commitment
to assist the Iraqi people in the political transition towards democracy
by 2005 as outlined by the Security Council.
A
senior official of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, is in the Chadian
capital N'Djamena to discuss the issue of Sudanese refugees with government
officials. UNHCR's Director of Operations for Sudan and Chad, Jean-Marie
Fakhouri, arrived in Chad on Friday after a brief visit in the troubled
Darfur region of western Sudan. UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis
says Mr. Fakhouri is also laying the groundwork for a beefed-up UNHCR
presence in Darfur.
The
spokesman for the UN Environment Programme, Erik Falt, says there
has been a breakthrough in linking the Olympic Games to the environment.
In Athens where the games started today, Mr. Falt says there are a
number of visible actions conducted for the first time in the city.
He notes however, that the environment record for this year's games
is extraordinary.
The
World Meteorological Organization is organizing a number of activities
to study the relation between weather and locusts which are threatening
agriculture in North-West Africa. Swarms of locusts continue to arrive
in Mauritania, northern Senegal, Mali and Niger. The spokesman for
the UN weather agency, Yunjie Zheng says the hot and humid weather
will create favourable conditions for the locusts to breed.