الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة

Noon briefing of 7 November 2007

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY MARIE OKABE
DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

BAN KI-MOON BEGINS SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR

  • Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is paying an official visit to Argentina today, and he will meet early this afternoon in Buenos Aires with the country’s Foreign Minister, Jorge Taiana. After that, he will meet with the presidents of Argentina’s Senate and Chamber of Deputies.

  • This evening, the Secretary-General and Madame Ban Soon-taek will meet with the country’s President and President-elect, Nestor Kirchner and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

  • The Secretary-General yesterday spoke to reporters about his visit over the coming days to Argentina, Brazil and Chile, which he said were politically and economically important members of the United Nations that also play a key role in our common efforts to address climate change issues.

  • He added that, after his visit to the Latin American countries, he will travel onward to Tunisia, where he will attend an international conference on counter-terrorism that is organized by the United Nations, the Tunisian Government and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

  • From there, he said, he will travel to Valencia, Spain, to participate in launching the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

U.N. ENVOY ADVISES AGAINST MYANMAR'S RETURN TO STATUS BEFORE CRISIS

  • The Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, met today with Myanmar’s new Prime Minister General Thein Sein, to whom he delivered a letter from the Secretary-General addressed to Senior General Than Shwe.

  • He and the Prime Minister had open and detailed discussions on ways to further improve Myanmar’s cooperation with the United Nations to address the country’s political, human rights, humanitarian and socioeconomic challenges in the wake of the recent crisis.

  • Gambari stressed that a return to the status quo before the crisis would not be sustainable, and suggested specific steps for Myanmar to meet international expectations in this regard. These include the need for dialogue with the opposition without delay as part of an inclusive national reconciliation process, as well as necessary confidence-building measures in the humanitarian and socioeconomic areas, including the establishment of a broad-based poverty alleviation commission.

  • Later in the day, Gambari met with the diplomatic corps in Myanmar to provide an update on his visit so far.

  • Tomorrow, he is scheduled to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for the fifth time since his first visit to Myanmar. He is also to meet with members of the Central Executive Committee of her National League for Democracy party, officials of the National Unity Party, and other relevant interlocutors, as well as the United Nations Country Team in Yangon.

  • Gambari is scheduled to return to UN headquarters by Monday, 12 November.

  • Asked whether Gambari would meet with Senior General Than Shwe, the Spokeswoman said that would be known by the end of Gambari’s trip.

  • Asked about the content of the message being conveyed by Gambari, Okabe said that Gambari is on a difficult mission and is pressing hard on all of the issues – human rights, reconciliation and poverty alleviation. He is particularly focused on promoting dialogue between the government and the opposition.

  • Tomorrow, she noted, he will be meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, in what she called an important meeting.

U.N. HUMANITARIAN OFFICIAL IS EXPELLED FROM SOUTH DARFUR

  • Asked about reports that the head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan has been asked to leave, the Spokeswoman said that, according to preliminary reports from OCHA, its Head of Office Wael Al-Haj-Ibrahim has not been rendered persona non grata by Sudan, but rather has been forced to leave South Darfur.

  • This is a directive from the State Governor, and is being taken up by the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator with central authorities in Khartoum, she said.

  • Okabe said that the United Nations is extremely concerned about the potential ramifications of this decision. OCHA plays a pivotal role in South Darfur, working with the Government of Sudan, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations and the donor community to coordinate assistance to up to one million vulnerable internally displaced persons.

  • This is particularly of concern, she said, as it violates the letter and spirit of the Joint Communiqué on the Facilitation of Humanitarian Assistance in Darfur and the Joint Communiqué signed between the Secretary-General and the President of Sudan on the occasion of the Secretary-General’s visit to Sudan

NEW DEPUTY CHIEF OF U.N. ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME IS NAMED

  • The Secretary-General has appointed Angela Cropper of Trinidad and Tobago as Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director for the UN Environment Programme.

  • Cropper currently serves as an independent member of the Senate of the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament and as President of a charitable organization committed to sustainable development.

  • She has held a number of senior positions with the Caribbean Community and Common Market Secretariat (CARICOM) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and has also received a number of environmental awards in recognition of her achievements in that field.

SECRETARY-GENERAL NOTES PROGRESS
IN IMPLEMENTATION OF RESOLUTION 1701

  • The Secretary-General, in his latest report to the Security Council on the implementation of Resolution 1701, says that Israel and Lebanon continue to display an enduring commitment to carrying out that resolution.

  • He says that he hopes that the humanitarian exchange carried out between Israel and Hezbollah on 15 October will promote decisive action to meet the humanitarian demands of resolution 1701, in particular the release of the two abducted Israeli soldiers.

  • The report includes the work that the senior UN cartographer has done on the provisional definition of the Shab’a Farms, the geographical content of which is spelled out in the report. The Secretary-General expresses his hope that this effort will strengthen a diplomatic process aimed at resolving this key issue.

  • And the Secretary-General once more calls on all Lebanese leaders to hold a constructive political dialogue, enabling the election of a President that would enjoy the broadest possible acceptance, in accordance with the constitutional rules and time frame and without foreign interference.

MILITARY BUILDUP CONTINUES ON ETHIOPIA/ERITREA BORDER

  • In the Secretary-General’s latest report on Ethiopia and Eritrea, he says that the situation in the Temporary Security Zone and the border region between the two countries remains tense.

  • Eritrea, he says, has moved more in than 2,500 troops and heavy military equipment into the Zone, while both countries have conducted military exercises along the border. Eritrean restrictions on UN peacekeepers and helicopter flights continue, and the UN Mission has been unable to convey a meeting of the Military Coordination Commission since July 2006.

  • The Secretary-General also reports that even as Ethiopia says that it has accepted the 2002 border delimitation decision of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission without preconditions, the country continues to assert that the security conditions for demarcation of the border do not exist.

  • He calls on Eritrea to withdraw its forces and military equipment from the Security Zone and to lift restrictions on UN peacekeepers. He urges both countries to extend full cooperation to the Commission so as to allow it to proceed with the demarcation of the border. He also urges them to reactivate the Military Coordination Commission, which provides a unique framework for dialogue.

TRIAL BEGINS OF MAN ACCUSED OF INCITING SERB NATIONALIST FORCES

  • The trial of former Serb political leader Vojislav Seselj began earlier today at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.

  • In its opening remarks to the bench, Tribunal prosecutors have accused Seselj of inciting Serb nationalist forces to commit war crimes with “poisonous ideas.”

  • They said that the speeches he made during the 1990s conflicts in Bosnia and Croatia have led to murder, torture and persecution of non-Serbs.

  • Seselj surrendered to the ICTY voluntarily in February 2003, vowing to clear his name of three charges of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes.

SECURITY COUNCIL RECOGNIZES IMPORTANCE OF REGIONAL GROUPS
IN CONFLICT PREVENTION AND RESOLUTION

  • There are no meetings or consultations of the Security Council scheduled today.

  • The Security Council yesterday afternoon finished a formal meeting by issuing a Presidential Statement recognizing the important role of regional and subregional organizations in prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.

  • In a statement read by Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda, who chaired yesterday’s meeting, the Council reaffirmed that it had the primary responsibility for the maintenance of peace and security, but also recognized that regional organizations were well positioned to understand the root causes of conflicts close to home and to influence their prevention and resolution.

U.N. ENVOY REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO HELP RESOLVE CRISIS
IN EASTERN DR CONGO

  • The Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) has an update on the special mission that the Secretary-General has assigned to Haile Menkerios, the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs. The special mission aims to help resolve the crisis in the eastern part of that country, along with its underlying causes.

  • Last weekend, Menkerios was in Goma, in the North Kivu province, to exchange views with Congolese civilian and military officials. He also met with civil society leaders and representatives of ethnic communities affected by the recurring violence there, which has displaced some 800,000 people to date.

  • Speaking to reporters upon arrival in Goma, Menkerios described his mandate and reaffirmed the United Nations’ commitment to assist the DRC government in finding lasting solutions to the security and humanitarian crisis in the region. Menkerios on Monday left Goma for Kigali, where he is now consulting with the Rwandan leadership.

MAJORITY OF WOMEN IN NORTHERN LIBERIA WERE VICTIMS
OF WARTIME SEXUAL VIOLENCE

  • According to a new survey released today by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than half the women in Lofa County, northern Liberia, were victims of sexual violence during the most recent conflict.

  • Ninety percent of them reported at least one incident of physical violence and more than 98 per cent lost shelter.

  • The Lofa survey, which was conducted in October 2007, is the first scientific survey on the experiences of women during the conflict.

U.N. AGENCIES ASSIST ABDUCTED CHILDREN IN EASTERN CHAD

  • Asked about reports that some UN agencies may have supported the non-governmental organization Zoe's Ark in its work in Chad, the Spokeswoman said that UN agencies have been at the forefront responding to the urgent needs of the 103 young children caught up in an abduction scandal in the eastern Chad town of Abéché, and have been tried to bring the children back to their own communities as soon as possible.

  • She later told the reporter that UN refugee agency staff on the ground had acted in good faith when they were asked soon after the NGO's arrival six or eight weeks ago for a few tents and a generator to help needy children. "Everyone was fooled by them," according to the UNHCR spokesman.

BAN KI-MOON URGES MEMBER STATES TO BAN CLUSTER MUNITIONS

  • In his statement to this year’s meeting on Certain Conventional Weapons, the Secretary-General urged members to address the horrendous humanitarian, human rights and developmental effects of cluster munitions by concluding a legally binding instrument of international humanitarian law.

  • Adding that the use, development, production, stockpiling and transfer of these munitions must be completely banned, the Secretary-General urged that, until such a legal instrument is adopted, members must take domestic measures to immediately freeze the use and transfer of all cluster munitions.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

BAN KI-MOON IS IN CONTACT WITH REGIONAL LEADERS OVER PAKISTAN: Asked whether the Secretary-General had spoken to the leadership in Pakistan over the past day, the Spokeswoman said she had nothing new to report, adding that he had mentioned to reporters on Tuesday that he was in touch with key leaders on the issue. She reiterated that she had nothing to announce about appointing an envoy for Pakistan.

ONLINE GAME SIMULATING REFUGEES’ ORDEAL MAKES DEBUT: The UN Refugee Agency has released an online game, in which schoolchildren experience what it is like to become persecuted refugees. In Against All Odds, players face language barriers and prejudice, are interrogated, and race against the clock to find safety and asylum. You can find the game, which is also available in Swedish, German, Greek and Norwegian, at WWW.PLAYAGAINSTALLODDS.COM.

HUMANITARIAN APPEAL IS LAUNCHED FOR FLOOD VICTIMS IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has issued a joint appeal, with the government of the Dominican Republic, for $14 million to provide humanitarian assistance over the next six months to survivors of Tropical Storm Noel. Priority needs include water and basic sanitation, food aid, and restoring livelihoods.

U.N. EMERGENCY TEAM ARRIVES IN MEXICO: U.N. Disaster Assistance and Recovery Team has arrived in Mexico, following the recent floods in the states of Tabasco and Chiapas. The World Food Programme and the Pan-American Health Organization have also mobilized specialists to distribute medicines, food and supplies. OCHA notes that, although the emergency response by Mexican authorities was immediate, the situation in the region remains dire. Thousands are still awaiting rescue, and it is expected to take at least two more weeks for waters to recede to their normal levels.