HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MICHELE MONTAS
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
Thursday, September 20, 2007
TIME TO TAKE
“CALCULATED RISKS” FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE
The Security
Council this morning held its periodic meeting and consultations on the Middle
East.
In his
briefing
this morning, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe
said we are at a very important juncture in the search for peace in the Middle
East. A new push is being made, and holds genuine promise, he noted. But the
situation on the ground remains of deep concern. In that context, he added
that it was necessary to take "calculated risks" for peace.
On Gaza, Under-Secretary-General Pascoe said he was
particularly concerned by reports of mounting human rights abuses at the hands
of paramilitary Hamas forces. At the same time, he expressed worry over the
continued closure of Gaza. He added that the continued division of the
occupied Palestinian territory was a matter of deep political, security and
socio-economic concern.
Pascoe also noted that no action had been taken to ease
obstacles to freedom of movement in the West Bank, and that settlement
construction was continuing on both sides of the barrier in the majority of
settlements.
On
Lebanon, Pascoe said it was paramount that the presidential elections be
held in accordance with the timeframe and procedures stipulated in the
Lebanese Constitution.
Referring to the Middle East-related meetings taking
place this weekend here at Headquarters, he said they would only be as useful
as the agreements and steps of implementation they helped bring about, and the
changes on the ground they helped to catalyze.
Noting that the Secretary-General would impress upon his
Quartet colleagues his concerns for the welfare of the Palestinian people, he
concluded that now was the time for leaders to put their long-suffering people
first, to think of the next generation and to do what needs to be done.
SPECIAL ENVOY BRIEFS SECURITY COUNCIL ON
MYANMAR
The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Myanmar,
Ibrahim Gambari, briefed the Security Council in informal consultations today
on the good offices efforts on Myanmar.
“Undoubtedly, the developments over the last few weeks in
Myanmar have raised serious concerns in the international community and once
again underscore the urgency to step up our efforts to find solutions to the
challenges facing the country,” Gambari told Council members.
Mr. Gambari briefed on his recent consultations in key
capitals and indicated that discussions were still underway with the
government of Myanmar about the timing of his next visit to the country.
Regarding the protests and arrests of recent weeks, he said the
Secretary-General remains very concerned about the condition of those in
detention, particularly those reportedly on hunger strike, and hopes that the
authorities will heed the calls worldwide for their release – as well as the
release of all political prisoners.
While referring again to these latest events as a clear
setback for Myanmar, Mr. Gambari said “we have no choice but to persevere”
through the Secretary-General’s good offices and with the support of the
international community in trying to move events in the right direction,
building on the trust and confidence that has developed so far and working
with all the relevant parties inside the country.
SECURITY COUNCIL ADOPTS RESOLUTIONS ON
LIBERIA AND AFGHANISTAN, MULLS FUTURE U.N. OPERATIONS IN CHAD AND C.A.R.
Earlier today, the Security Council unanimously
adopted a
one-year extension of the UN Mission in Liberia.
And late yesterday afternoon, the Council
adopted an
extension of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan
for one year. That extension was adopted by a vote of 14 in favour, with
Russia abstaining.
Security Council members also discussed a draft
resolution concerning a possible future UN operation in Chad and the Central
African Republic.
SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS LEBANON
TERRORIST ATTACK
THAT KILLED MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
The Secretary-General, in a
statement
issued yesterday afternoon, expressed his shock at the brutal assassination of
Member of Parliament Antoine Ghanem, as well as other civilians, in Beirut
that day. He condemned in the strongest terms this terrorist attack and
expressed his sincere condolences to the bereaved families of those killed.
The Secretary-General calls, now more than ever, for
continued dialogue among all Lebanese and urges all Lebanese to exercise
utmost calm and restraint at this very critical time and to allow judicial
procedures to take their course.
The Secretary-General has also received a letter, sent
yesterday by Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, requesting technical
assistance in the effort to investigate Ghanem’s murder.
ADDITIONAL TROOPS STILL NEEDED FOR
DARFUR FORCE
Yesterday afternoon, the latest meeting of troop and
police contributors to the AU-UN force in Darfur (UNAMID)
was held at UN Headquarters.
Today, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO)
reports that, with regard to force generation for the military component of
UNAMID, they still have not received offers for some essential units, in
particular for the Medium Utility Helicopter units and the Medium Heavy
Transportation companies.
In other cases, troop contributors have said that they
may be able to provide troops for the Hybrid Operation, but by their own
admission, their contribution would not meet UN standards.
For these reasons, DPKO says it welcomes pledges for all
units included in the UNAMID military component.
With respect to police recruitment, DPKO reports that is
has received 19 firm offers for the 19 required formed police units and over
2,500 pledges for the 3,772 individual police officers.
TOP U.N. OFFICIALS ATTEND MEETING ON
AFRICA AND DEVELOPMENT
At UN headquarters, a closed-door meeting of the
Secretary-General’s UN Millennium Development Goals’ Africa Steering Group
took place today. The meeting was chaired by Deputy Secretary-General
Asha-Rose Migiro in a follow-up to the
Group’s inaugural
meeting last week.
Today’s meeting launched the operational work agenda of
the Steering Group and was attended by top-ranking officials of the UN system,
the Bretton Woods institutions, African and other multilateral organizations
and the 30-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IS DETERIORATING
IN ETHIOPIA'S SOMALI REGION
The humanitarian situation in Ethiopia’s Somali Regional
State has deteriorated substantially in the last few months, according to a
recent UN inter-agency
mission that visited zones in which military operations are currently
underway.
The mission found that the price of food has nearly
doubled, owing to government restrictions on commercial and livestock trade.
Household food reserves are nearly exhausted, and food
aid operations have been seriously delayed. The mission fears that the
situation could rapidly worsen within two or three months unless more food
gets to the population.
RWANDA TRIBUNAL APPEALS FOR MORE FUNDING
TO CONTINUE ITS VITAL WORK
In a report by the Arusha-based International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda to the 62nd
Session of the General Assembly and to the Security Council, the Tribunal
describes its activities between July 2006 and June 2007 and gives an update
on its efforts to meet the deadline of its completion strategy.
The report notes that during the reporting period, the
Tribunal’s three trial chambers rendered five judgments in five cases before
it involving 5 suspects, bringing the total of cases completed in the first
instance to 27 and the number of individuals tried to 33.
Trials involving 22 accused in nine different cases are
now in progress. Meanwhile, one case was transferred to the Netherlands, while
another 30 were transferred to the national jurisdiction of Rwanda.
Among the report’s recommendations, Tribunal officials
appeal for more funding to continue the vital work of bringing to justice the
architects of the Rwandan genocide.
W.H.O. TEAMS INVESTIGATING DISEASE
OUTBREAK IN D.R. CONGO
The World Health Organization (WHO)
says it and
its partners now have substantial teams in the field investigating the disease
outbreak in the western Kasai Province of the Democratic Republic of the
Congo.
There will soon be two fully-functioning labs on the
ground, which will allow for quicker diagnosis of disease.
Of roughly 400 cases of illness and 170 deaths since
April, so far nine cases of Ebola, five cases of typhoid and one case of
Shigella have been confirmed. Test results from 45 further samples are still
pending.
U.N. DRUG PURCHASE FACILITY HAS
REDUCED COST OF HIV TREATMENT
FOR CHILDREN BY NEARLY 40%
It has been one year since the establishment of
UNITAID, the international drug purchase
facility hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO). During the past year,
UNITAID has reduced the price of HIV treatments for children by almost 40%,
and is on course to meet the needs of 100,000 children by the end of this
year.
In other health-related news, author Anna Cataldi, who
served as a UN Messenger of Peace from 1998 to 2007, has just been appointed
by the WHO-hosted Stop Tuberculosis
Partnership as an Ambassador in the fight against that disease.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
SECRETARY-GENERAL HAS NOT MET WITH SPECIAL ENVOY ON
RESOLUTION 1559: The Spokeswoman, in response to a question, said that the
Secretary-General had not met with his Special Envoy for the Implementation of
Resolution 1559, Terje Roed-Larsen, since his comments in the Lebanese press
last week.
POSSIBILITY OF A U.N. FORCE FOR SOMALIA BEING EXAMINED:
Asked about the possibility of a UN force for Somalia, the Spokeswoman noted
that the Departments for Political Affairs and for Peacekeeping Operations were
examining the issue.
NEW SITES ADDED TO UNESCO’S BIOSPHERE PROGRAMME:
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has
added 23 new
biosphere reserves in 18 countries to its Man and Biosphere Programme. Such
sites are examples of innovative approaches to combining conservation and
sustainable development.
*The guests at the
briefing were: Annebeth Rosenboom, Chief of the Treaty Section, Office of Legal
Affairs (OLA); Thomas Schindlmayr from the Secretariat for the Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and Christine Brautigam, Chief of the
Women's Rights Section, Division for the Advancement of Women, on the upcoming
Focus 2007
Treaty Event to bolster international law and strengthen the rule of law.
Office of the Spokesperson for the
Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. 212-963-7162
Fax. 212-963-7055
