HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MARIE OKABE
ASSOCIATE SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE
SECRETARY-GENERAL
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Friday, July
30, 2004
SECURITY
COUNCIL ADOPTS RESOLUTION ON SUDAN
ANNAN WELCOMES ADOPTION, CALLS
FOR ACTION IN DARFUR
Secretary-General
Kofi Annan welcomed the adoption today of resolution
1556 by the Security Council on the situation in Darfur,
Sudan.
The Security Council
adopted that resolution this morning, by a vote of 13-0 with two
abstentions, China and Pakistan.
According to a statement,
the Secretary-General looks forward to the swift and sustained
implementation by the Government of Sudan of the commitments it entered into
with the United Nations, in their Joint Communiqué of July 3, 2004.
Meanwhile, he hopes that the resolution will ensure that concerted action is
taken to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur and urges all actors
to play their part in protecting the civilian population and improving the
desperate plight of the people of the region.
The Secretary-General
welcomes the Security Council’s strong support for the efforts of the
African Union. He intends to respond quickly to the request that the United
Nations assist the African Union with planning and assessments for its
mission in Darfur. He urges Member States to respond to the Security
Council’s call for them to reinforce the international monitoring team by
providing personnel and other assistance.
ANNAN
DISCUSSES SUDAN, COTE D’IVOIRE AT ACCRA SUMMIT
In Accra, Ghana, this
morning, the Secretary-General first attended a discussion on the situation
in Darfur, Sudan,
in the margins of the Summit being held on Cote
d’Ivoire. The Darfur meeting was called by President Olusegun Obasanjo
of Nigeria in his capacity as Chair of the African Union (AU). African Union
Commission Chair Alpha Oumar Konare, Ghanaian President John Kufuor and
several other heads of state also attended.
The group was briefed
by the former Nigerian President, Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar, who recently
carried out a fact-finding mission to Chad and Sudan, including Darfur, as
Personal Envoy of the AU Chairman.
In a statement issued
after that meeting, the African leaders collectively expressed their concern
about the deterioration that had taken place since the Government of Sudan
had pledged earlier this month to take effective steps to restore security.
They discussed the
African Union’s observation mission in Darfur and agreed that this African
force needs to be significantly expanded. They said they were finalizing
arrangements with the troop contributors to this expanded force and called
on the international community to provide logistic and financial support for
it.
The Summit meeting on
Cote d’Ivoire then resumed in closed session, following a closed session
on Thursday that went on until 8:00 p.m. The participants today first called
in the Ivoirian Prime Minister, Seydou Diarra, to ask him about his views on
a political solution to the constitutional dilemma.
They then called on
the President of Cote d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo.
Also this morning, in
the margins of the Summit, President Obasanjo convened a breakfast meeting
to discuss the situation in Liberia.
The Secretary-General was represented at that meeting by
Assistant-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi.
The Secretary-General
learned with dismay and sadness of the brutal killing on Thursday in Iraq
of two contractors of Pakistani nationality who had been held hostage for
several days. The Secretary-General, in a statement,
conveyed his deepest sympathy and condolences to the Government of Pakistan
and to the families of the victims.
The Secretary-General
reiterated his condemnation of all hostage-takings and acts of violence
against innocent civilians. Such acts are utterly unacceptable and are aimed
at undermining Iraq’s political and economic reconstruction.
The Secretary-General
expresses his
strong dismay at today’s series of bombings against the Embassies of the
United States and Israel, as well as the Office of the Prosecutor General,
in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent. Reportedly, two people were killed and
about a dozen were injured in the attacks.
The Secretary-General
condemns these criminal acts in the strongest terms. Targeting of diplomatic
missions and civilians is a crime that cannot be justified by any cause.
INSECURITY HAMPERING EFFORTS TO FEED
HUNGRY IN DARFUR
The World Food Programme
(WFP) said that the rainy season and the constant insecurity were still major
obstacles to WFP’s work to feed all the hungry people in Darfur. The security
of the local population and of WFP’s staff could not be guaranteed. Fighting
between armed groups, banditry, rape, looting and general acts of violence
continued. In July, WFP had distributed 11,000 tons to 685,000 persons.
Nutritional surveys continued to show dangerously high levels of malnutrition
and mortality rates.
The World Health
Organization (WHO) said WHO and other partners had completed the first round
of a vaccination campaign in Darfur against cholera in one camp, reaching
42,000 persons. Cholera vaccination had to be administered twice within a
10-day period so a second round would be held shortly There was also a polio
vaccination campaign ongoing .
The UN High Commissioner
for Refugees
reports that this week it completed the relocation of Sudanese refugees
from several major border sites in eastern Chad. The 14,673 refugees were
moved further inland in less than three weeks despite obstacles like heavy
rains and flooded riverbeds.
The head of the UN
Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
(UNRWA) said
Thursday that the Agency’s headquarters and field office in Gaza
is continuing to operate fully and will maintain all the services they
provide, despite the relocation of a small number of its staff.
UNRWA Commissioner-General
Peter Hansen said that the relocation of some staff members to Jerusalem
took place following extensive Israeli military operations in Beit Hanoun
and increased unpredictability and insecurity faced by UN staff in crossing
into and out of the Gaza Strip at the Erez checkpoint.
The
delegation from the International
Criminal Court, which undertook a first official mission to the Democratic
Republic of the Congo earlier this week, has wrapped up its visit today.
The
delegation held meetings with senior political and judicial Congolese
authorities to discuss mechanisms of cooperation between the DRC and the
Court when it begins its investigation of grave crimes committed in that
country since July 2002.
Consultations
were also held with representatives of international organizations and
embassies present in the DRC, and with members of the civil society. They
assessed the difficulties of the operation of the Court in the field and the
importance of justice and the fight against impunity for the Congolese
population.
The UN
Mission in Afghanistan has expressed its regret at the decision by Medicins
sans Frontieres to leave Afghanistan.
The Mission says it can appreciate the group’s decision, as security is
indeed a matter of concern in Afghanistan, and says it will be missed.
The Mission hopes
that in the not too distant future, MSF will feel that conditions have
changed, which will enable them to return.
Also, the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees says that the number of Afghan refugees going back home
this year passed the half-million mark this week, with more than 273,000
returning from Iran and more than 230,000 coming back from Pakistan.
U.N,
ASSESSMENT TEAM RESPONDS TO FOOD PROBLEMS IN HAITI
The
UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs this week coordinated a three-day rapid
inter-agency assessment visit to northwest Haiti,
following reports from the non-governmental organization CARE that the
current harvest, due in September, could fail in some areas.
The
team found that short-term food assistance in some areas would be needed to
help the most vulnerable households through the "hungry season"
stretching from October through February, prior to the March harvest.
In
the medium term, however, the mission recommended the introduction of new
farming techniques and water collection schemes.
The
UN team noted that the combination of chronic nationwide poverty, ecological
degradation, which has increased the risk of natural disasters, and
continuing political and social instability, leave Haiti facing
vulnerability to humanitarian crises of varying acuteness for the
foreseeable future. It concluded that long-term responses are necessary if
the trap of dependency on humanitarian aid distributions is to be avoided.
WHO: CHINA ON TRACK TO REDUCE
TUBERCULOSIS BY HALF:
China – one the world’s largest countries affected by tuberculosis – is on
track to meet the Millennium
Development Goal concerning the reduction of the prevalence of the disease
by half by 2015. The World
Health Organization has welcomed the progress although it notes there are
still major challenges ahead. It calls for China to further expand its current
TB strategy across the country.
FAO SUPPORTING CAMPAIGN
AGAINST AVIAN INFLUENZA:
A
veterinary
network for Southeast Asia has been launched to bolster the campaign against
avian influenza, and two similar networks for South and
East Asia will follow soon. The Food
and Agriculture Organization will provide around $1.2 million for the
creation of these platforms.
The
networks will bring together affected and non-affected countries to better
coordinate the control and prevention of bird flu. They will offer training
and information exchange platforms for national laboratories and
surveillance teams from 23 Asian countries.
UNICEF CALLS FOR
EXPANSION IN BREASTFEEDING: UNICEF,
the UN Children’s Fund, is calling for an expansion in breastfeeding
practices, noting that by expanding the number of women who exclusively
breastfeed during their child’s first six months, at least 1.3 million infant
lives could be saved this year. UNICEF’s message comes on the eve of World
Breastfeeding Week. It also called for greater global commitment to protect, and
promote breastfeeding.
UN ASSESSMENT TEAM
SENT TO BANGLADESH: The UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
has deployed a UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team to support
Bangladesh’s Government and the UN Disaster Management Team as they respond to
the flooding crisis. The Team has also agreed to launch a flash appeal for funds
to ameliorate the situation.
THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE
UNITED NATIONS
Russia will take over
from Romania as the Security Council President for the month of August.
The new President of the
Security Council, Ambassador Andrey Denisov of Russia, will hold bilateral
consultations with other Council members on the program of work for August.
In Khartoum, the Joint
Implementation Mechanism, co-chaired by the Secretary-General’s Special
Representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, will meet and will receive a report from
the verification mission that went to Darfur.
The Security Council will
have consultations on its program of work for the month. Security Council
President Andrey Denisov of Russia is expected to brief the press at 1:00 p.m.,
following his presentation of credentials to the Secretary-General at 12:30.
Wednesday, August 4
Thursday, August 5
Friday, August 6
The Secretary-General is
expected to issue a message to mark the anniversary of the dropping of the
atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
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