HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING
BY FRED ECKHARD
SPOKESMAN FOR THE
SECRETARY-GENERAL
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Wednesday,
October 27, 2004
ANNAN
CONGRATULATES ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ON WITHDRAWAL VOTE
Secretary-General
Kofi Annan congratulated
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on the historic vote in the Knesset,
which produced a clear majority in favor of his initiative to withdraw from
Gaza and parts of the northern West Bank.
The Secretary-General
remains supportive of a full and complete Israeli withdrawal, leading to the
end of the occupation of the Gaza Strip.
The Secretary-General
very much hopes that the Israeli withdrawal will have the effect of reviving
peace efforts, which must be based on the Roadmap.
As such, withdrawal could be an important step towards a process that will
eventually result in the end of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank,
paving the way for the establishment of a sovereign, democratic, viable and
contiguous Palestinian
state living side by side in peace with a secure Israel.
The Secretary-General
has reviewed the report by the Investigation Team from the Secretariat which
has inquired into the Israeli allegations against personnel of the
UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
The Secretary-General
takes note of
the team’s conclusion that the allegation that a rocket was loaded into an
UNRWA ambulance was unjustified as the object, in fact, was a folding
stretcher of the type carried as normal equipment in UNRWA ambulances. He
also takes note that, following the team’s visit, the Government of Israel
has admitted that it wrongly identified the stretcher as a Qassam Rocket and
has publicly withdrawn the allegations.
The Secretary-General
acknowledges the cooperation of the Government of Israel with the United
Nations team in dealing with this inquiry. He expects that any issues of this nature will be addressed
through normal diplomatic channels. He
welcomes the offer of the Israeli authorities to work towards strengthening
their cooperation with the United Nations and UNRWA.
The Secretary-General
reiterates his full confidence in the integrity and impartiality of Peter
Hansen, Commissioner-General of UNRWA. He commends UNRWA personnel for their
dedication in providing vital assistance under very difficult circumstances
to the Palestinian refugee communities in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory and the region.
RESTRICTIONS CONTINUE ON AID TO NORTH DARFUR
The UN mission in Sudan
reports that insecurity and restrictions on humanitarian access continue to
impede the timely and effective delivery of humanitarian aid in North Darfur.
Some roads remain closed for UN operations.
The mission also
reports that pressure and intimidation continue to be reported by those
displaced in the conflict. Agencies say that the internally displaced in
South Darfur continue to receive threats and pressure from the local
authorities to encourage them to return to their villages.
In West Darfur,
internally displaced persons report that they are increasingly being
harassed, intimidated and questioned by police about their relationship with
the rebel SLA.
Meanwhile, the World
Health Organization reports that the first round of the polio
vaccination campaign in North Darfur has covered more than 90 percent of the
targeted population and that it has completed the polio vaccination campaign
in West Darfur.
The
World Food Programme, in the first survey
of internally displaced people (IDPs) and residents across western Sudan,
said today that almost 22 percent of children under the age of five are
malnourished and almost half of all families do not have enough food. While
much has been done for months now to feed as many people as possible in Darfur, the survey underlines how much remains to be done, says the WFP.
In
Baghdad today, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq,
Ashraf Qazi, met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiar Zubari. Their
discussion focused on the international conference on Iraq, which is to be
held in Egypt later in November, as well as the security situation and
preparations for the country’s first democratic elections, scheduled for
end of January 2005.
Qazi
reiterated his satisfaction with the work of UN experts who have providing
technical assistance to the Iraqi Independent Electoral Commission. He said
work is proceeding as planned, noting that he expected the number of
electoral workers to increase.
Qazi
told the Foreign Minister that it was never envisaged that the number of UN
electoral workers deployed in Iraq would reach the number deployed in Afghanistan
due to major differences in the nature and scope of the work undertaken by
the United Nations in the two countries.
Qazi
stressed that the United
Nations will
continue to work with the Iraqi interim government and will devote every
possible resource to ensure a successful political transition process.
He
said that realistic conditions, namely the security situation, are a major
factor in determining the scope of work and the number of UN staff deployed
in the country.
Also
today, Qazi visited the headquarters of the Association of Muslim Scholars,
which is a Sunni organization. He met with the association’s leader,
Sheikh Harith al-Dahri, and other senior members.
Qazi
was briefed by Sheikh al-Dahri on the organization’s stand on the
political process in the Iraq, especially the elections and the
international conference. Qazi told the group the UN is doing all it can to
help Iraq through the transitional process and that the UN stands ready to
assist effort to achieve national reconciliation as mandated by resolution
1546.
Asked how many UN
electoral experts were present in Iraq, the Spokesman said the current
number was eight, out of a ceiling of 35 international staff, set by the UN
Security Coordinator. He said the United Nations plans to increase the
number of electoral experts, while staying within the security ceiling.
He added, in response
to another question, that the United Nations was monitoring the security
situation in the hope of sending more electoral experts once circumstances
permit. The intention, he said, was to send in up to 25 more electoral
experts once the security situation allowed it. Part of that equation, he
said, would lie in the protection elements that the United Nations has tried
to put in place.
Asked about progress
in attracting protection elements, the Spokesman said he had nothing new to
report, either on close protection forces or on an outer protection ring
provided by the multinational force. He said that the United Nations did not
yet have a Member State prepared to provide the protection elements with the
necessary equipment.
This
morning, Ibrahima Fall, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for
the Great Lakes region, briefed the Security
Council in an open meeting on the preparations for a conference to
promote peace, security, development and democracy in the region.
Consultations on the Great Lakes followed the open briefing. In a
press
statement read following the consultations, Council members welcomed the
convening of the first summit and reiterated their support to the principle
of ownership and encouraged all the governments concerned to continue their
efforts to bring about the effective implementation of the outcome.
The
second agenda item of consultations was a briefing by the
Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Georgia,
Heidi Tagliavini.
She
briefed the Council on the Secretary-General’s latest report
on the situation in Abkhazia, Georgia, which says that the peace process
there has come perilously close to a standstill, with the two sides not
having met at the political level since
July.
In a
press statement, Council members underlined the need for renewed efforts
to achieve a lasting political solution of the conflict with the support of
the United Nations, in particular the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General, with the assistance of the Russian Federation in its
capacity as facilitator as well as the Group of Friends.
There
will be a meeting at 3:15 this
afternoon in the Trusteeship Council chamber, chaired by the Presidents of
the Security Council, General
Assembly and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC),
to launch the Sierra
Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report.
Other
speakers will include representatives of Sierra Leone and UNICEF,
and there is a separate "children's version" of the report.
Two
hundred Spanish marines have arrived in Cap Haitien in northern Haiti
to join the UN
peacekeeping mission there.
The
Spanish troops came equipped with armored vehicles and other material, and
they will form a joint brigade with a Moroccan contingent of 150 troops
which is due to arrive in Cap Haitien this coming Sunday.
Later
this week, the newly arrived troops will be deployed in Cap Haitien and in
Ouanaminthe, near the border with the Dominican Republic. The joint brigade
will be tasked with ensuring security in the northeast of Haiti and along
the border, an area in which there is reported to be widespread smuggling
and arms trafficking.
The annual report
of the Office of Internal Oversight Services says that the Office, in its
work over the past year, has helped to save the United Nations some $16
million.
The Office issued
some 1,500 recommendations, calling for improvements to productivity and
accountability for fraud, waste and abuse. Half of these recommendations
have already been implemented by Departments and Offices, the report says.
Today,
the World
Health Organization and its partners launched
the World Alliance for
Patient Safety – a series of key actions to cut the number of
illnesses, injuries and deaths suffered by patients during health care. WHO
says that, on average, one in
10
patients admitted to hospital suffers some form of preventable harm that can
result in severe disability or death.
This
is the first time that a coalition of partners has joined efforts to act
globally to improve patient safety. WHO said the move underlines the need to
take action to reduce the growing number of adverse effects in health care
and their impact on patients’ lives.
ANNAN SHARES IAEA
CONCERNS ON IRAQ EXPLOSIVES: Asked about the
Secretary-General’s reaction to the report about explosive material missing
from Iraq, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General shared the concerns
expressed by UN weapons inspectors and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
but he added that the IAEA has spoken for the UN system.
ANNAN DISCUSSES
SECURITY COUNCIL REFORM WITH AMBASSADORS: Asked
about the Secretary-General’s meeting yesterday with the Ambassadors of
Brazil, Japan, Germany and India, the Spokesman said that one of the topics
under discussion was the possible expansion of the Security
Council. He added that they also discussed plans for the 60th
anniversary of the United Nations next year, when Member States are expected to
follow up on the report of the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and
Change.
U.N. MISSION WELCOMES
GREAT LAKES AGREEMENT: The UN Mission in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC) welcomed the signing of a tripartite agreement on
security in the Great Lakes region. The agreement between the DRC, Congo, Rwanda
and Uganda was signed Tuesday in Kigali.
LIBERIA
REFUGEES ARE HEADING HOME: A
total of 239 Liberian
refugees are heading home today from their camps in Sierra Leone in the fourth
and largest convoy since the operation started, according to the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Those still in exile are discussing their
return options in the wake of a mass information campaign conducted by UNHCR.
HUMAN RIGHTS
INITIATIVE IS LAUNCHED: High
Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour launched the
Secretary-General’s “Action Two” reform initiative this afternoon. That
initiative calls for joint UN action to strengthen human rights actions at the
country level. Today’s launch follows a year-long process in which 21 heads of
UN departments and agencies worked to develop an inter-agency plan of action, to
integrate human rights into the UN system’s humanitarian and development work.
Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. 212-963-7162 -
press/media only
Fax. 212-963-7055
All other inquiries to be addressed to (212)
963-4475 or by e-mail to: inquiries@un.org
