HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY FRED ECKHARD
SPOKESMAN FOR THE
SECRETARY-GENERAL
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Wednesday,
September 22, 2004
ANNAN CONDEMNS SUICIDE BOMBING IN
JERUSALEM
Secretary-General Kofi Annan,
in
a
statement issued by his Spokesman,
strongly condemned the
suicide bombing that took place today in Jerusalem.
He extended
his condolences to the Government of Israel and the families of the victims
and wishes speedy recovery for the wounded.
The
Secretary-General also urged the Palestinian Authority to take all necessary
measures to put an end to terror and to bring to justice the organizers of
such heinous crimes.
ANNAN SADDENED BY LOSS OF LIFE IN
HAITI FOLLOWING FLOODS
The
Secretary-General said he is deeply saddened by the heavy loss of life and
destruction suffered by the people of
Haiti after the recent devastating floods,
according to a
statement issued through his Spokesman.
He extended his deepest condolences to the families of the hundreds who have
been killed or injured in the floods, especially in the hard-hit northwestern
city of Gonaives.
The United Nations is supporting Haitian authorities in the crisis and are
increasing efforts to deliver food, shelter, health care and clean water to
those most affected by the flooding.
The Secretary-General also urged the international community to quickly
provide Haiti, one of the world’s poorest countries, the support it needs to
recover from this devastating natural disaster.
FIRST HUMANITARIAN CONVOY
ARRIVES IN FLOODED GONAIVES, HAITI
The
World Food Programme has
sent the first humanitarian convoy to
Gonaives.
The convoy of 12 all-terrain trucks carrying 40 metric tons of supplies
reached the city last night, and a second convoy is due to leave Port au
Prince later today.
As well as leaving the whole of Gonaives submerged, the floods also hit Port
de Paix in the northwest, where a joint UN assessment team has reported one
third of the city under water.
Haitian authorities estimate the total number of dead currently at 691 for the
northern region, and the number of missing at some 1,050.
The first part of a
UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team arrived in
Haiti today, and the second part of the team arrives tomorrow. The team is
there to support the Government of Haiti in their response to the emergency
and will work with international aid agencies to make certain critical needs
are met as efficiently as possible.
ANNAN:
U.N. PEACE OPERATIONS ARE AN EXCELLENT INVESTMENT
The
Security Council held
a ministerial
meeting on “Civilian aspects of conflict management and peace building”
chaired by Miguel Ángel Moratinos, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Spain.
In addition
to the Council members, speakers include senior representatives of the African
Union, the European Union and the League of Arab States.
The
Secretary-General spoke first.
Peace-building can be successful,
the
Secretary-General said, referring to El Salvador, Guatemala, Mozambique,
Namibia and East Timor.
But, he
said, it requires a clear strategy, developed and executed by
professionals, grounded in local conditions, reflected in realistic mandates,
and supported by the Security Council and all parts of the UN system.
He urged the Council to sustain its interest and focus on each and every peace
operation, and referred to the “bitter consequences of failed peace building
in Haiti and Liberia.” We must not repeat those mistakes, he said.
Saying that
UN peace operations are an excellent investment, he noted that in the entire
history of the United Nations, just over $30 billion has been spent in
peacekeeping – just one-thirtieth of the amount spent last year alone on
global military expenditures.
Stressing the
need for adequate security, he appealed for support when he proposes new
security measures to the
General Assembly.
KOSOVO MEETING RESULTS
IN SUPPORT FOR AN INTEGRATED
STRATEGY
In a
statement released today, the
Secretary-General said consultations held at UN Headquarters on Monday
with key member states and partner organizations dealing with Kosovo resulted
in “a general understanding of, and support for, an integrated strategy.”
He said there was broad agreement on the need to focus on the economy, on
security, on the need to engage with Belgrade and to bring the Kosovo Serbs
into the process, and on the importance of the standards process.
The
UN Mission in Kosovo will work to identify areas of further transfer and
deeper engagement with Kosovo’s Provisional Institutions of Self-Government
and the
Secretary-General will consider the results of Monday’s consultations in
preparing his recommendations to the
Security Council.
NUMBER OF PEOPLE AFFECTED
BY CONFLICT IN DARFUR RISES TO 1.8 MILLION
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for
Sudan, Jan Pronk,
was in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, where he was
meeting with African Union (AU) officials to discuss how the United Nations
and the AU could better work together in
Darfur.
The
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that the
number of people affected by conflict in Darfur has climbed to 1.8 million, of
whom 1.45 million were
internally displaced persons (IDPs). The new
figures represent an increase of 220,000 IDPs since
1 August.
ANNAN NAMES NEW ENVOY ON HUMAN RIGHTS OF
INTERNALLY DISPLACED
The Secretary-General has
tasked Walter Kälin, a law professor at Bern University, to act as his
Representative on the human rights of internally displaced persons.
Supported by the Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights, Kälin will serve as an independent Expert and will work in close
cooperation with the Emergency Relief Coordinator and, in particular, the
Division on Internal Displacement within the Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
He is currently a member of the UN Human Rights Committee
and was also one of the key drafters of the Guiding Principles on Internal
Displacement.
U.N. ENVOY CONCERNED OVER ISRAELI
AIR VIOLATIONS OVER LEBANON
In a
statement issued today, the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative for
Southern Lebanon,
Staffan de Mistura, expressed his serious concern at the nine Israeli air
violations that have taken place over the past 24 hours.
The United
Nations renews its urgent call on Israel to cease these violations and reminds
all parties that one violation cannot justify another.
Asked how the
Secretary-General responded to a request, made today by Israeli
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, for Syria to withdraw immediately from
Lebanon, the Spokesman declined to comment, noting that the Secretary-General
was expected to report on the matter to the
Security Council in about 10 days.
LIBERIA SET TO SIGN 18 TREATIES,
MOST ON PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS
At 3:00 p.m.,
the Chairman of the National Transitional Government of Liberia, Charles Gyude
Bryant, is scheduled to sign, ratify or accede to 18 treaties, most of them
concerning the protection of civilians.
Liberia’s actions are part of the “Focus 2004” treaty signing event this
week at UN Headquarters, where world leaders are signing and ratifying a
substantial number of treaties on the protection of civilians.
Tuesday,
the event began when six countries (Bahrain, Burundi, Estonia, Lichtenstein,
Malawi and Slovakia) took action on 12 different treaties.
CONCERN EXPRESSED AT SLOW PACE OF
FUNDING FOR LIBERIA
In a
communiqué
issued after the first meeting of the National Transitional Government of
Liberia, United Nations and Economic Community of West African States
Coordination Mechanism, the parties
expressed concern at the
slow pace at which funding is being made available for
Liberia’s reconstruction and recovery.
To date, only
$253 million has been received from the $520 million pledged by donors in
February 2004.
GOVERNMENTS URGED TO PROTECT FARM
WORKERS FROM PESTICIDES
The
Food and Agriculture Organization and the
UN Environment Programme are
calling on governments to strengthen the protection available to
agricultural workers in order to contain – or better yet reduce – the number
of
pesticide poisonings that farmers suffer.
An estimated one to five million cases of pesticide poisoning occur every
year, resulting in several thousand fatalities among agricultural workers.
Most of these poisonings occur in the developing world where safe health
standards can be inadequate or non-existent.
Although these countries use only 25% of global pesticide production, they
account for 99% of the related deaths.
ANNAN TO HOST LUNCH ON
DR CONGO, MEETING ON MIDDLE EAST TODAY
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