HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING
BY FRED ECKHARD
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
ANNAN: HARIRI’S
LOSS NEEDS TO BE ANALYZED
FOCUS SHOULD NOW BE ON FINDING THOSE RESPONSIBLE
Secretary-General Kofi Annan
was asked this morning
by reporters about the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri, and said that he considered Hariri “a friend, a man who has done a lot
for Lebanon, and a great patriot.”
He said that “a great political leader has been removed
from the scene,” and the impact of his loss would need to be analyzed.
The Secretary-General said he trusted that every effort
woul
He said that he had also recently sent his envoy,
Terje Roed-Larsen, to the region to discuss the implementation of
Security Council
resolution 1559.
The Secretary-General said that Roed-Larsen had carried a
message from him to Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad, which mentioned that “we needed to see more progress and hope
that there will be actual action and clear signs of withdrawal by the time I
submit my next report to the Security Council.” That report is due in April,
he added.
SECURITY
COUNCIL ASKS ANNAN TO REPORT URGENTLY ON HARIRI KILLING
The
Security Council held consultations today on
Eritrea and Ethiopia
and the Middle East.
The Under-Secretary-General for
Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, briefed on the
Middle East, in response to a Council
request following yesterday’s
assassination of former Prime Minister
Hariri. The
Secretary-General joined the Security Council discussion on Lebanon.
[In a
statement read at a formal meeting following consultations, the Security
Council President, Ambassador Joel Adechi of Benin, the Council condemned the
terrorist bombing in Beirut that killed Hariri, and requested the
Secretary-General to report urgently on the circumstances, causes and
consequences of this terrorist act.]
ANNAN THANKS U.N. NUMANITARIAN STAFF FOR
WORK ON TSUNAMI RELIEF
The
Secretary-General met this morning with the staff of the
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to thank them
for the work they had done after last December’s devastating
tsunami.
Noting that many of them had given up their winter
holidays to deal with the disaster, the Secretary-General said that that was
what the UN was all about.
In addition to personnel in New York, OCHA staff from
Geneva participated in today’s meeting – through a video link. OCHA
representatives in Indonesia and Sri Lanka were patched in by telephone.
Responding to questions from OCHA staff members, the
Secretary-General said
Bill Clinton, his new tsunami envoy, would help promote natural disaster
reduction strategies. He also voiced concern that various governments were
arguing over where to establish a center for disaster preparedness.
Asked about involving the private sector in humanitarian
relief efforts, the Secretary-General said he was committed to improving
cooperation.
He added that the United Nations was being flexible when
it came to channeling monetary donations, noting that some companies did not
want their contributions to go towards administrative costs.
NEW JUDGE ELECTED TO INTERNATIONAL COURT
OF JUSTICE
Shortly after 11:00 a.m., the
Security Council began a meeting on the election of a member of the
International Court of Justice.
The announcement of the results
of the vote was awaiting completion of the same election in the
General Assembly. Just before noon, the Council suspended consultations to
announce the results.
The Security Council
announced
that Judge Ronny Abraham has received a majority of votes, and has been
elected to the International Court of Justice. He will serve out the remainder
of Judge Gilbert Guillaume’s term, which ends on February 5, 2009.
U.N.
ENVOY TO ATTEND MINI-SUMMIT ON DARFUR, SUDAN
The Special
Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan,
Jan Pronk, will be travelling tomorrow to N'Djamena where he will be
attending, at the invitation of the Chadian Government, a mini-Summit to be
held on
Darfur, on Wednesday. The participants to the Summit are the Presidents of
Chad, Nigeria and Sudan. Alpha Oumar Konare, the Chairman of the AU Commission
will also take part in the Summit.
Pronk will also attend the
meeting of the Ceasefire Joint Commission which will held on 16 and 17
February.
Meanwhile, the
World Food Programme (WFP) says that the lack of funds was limiting WFP's
ability to provide a complete food basket to displaced families in Darfur and
to preposition food stocks ahead of the rainy season in July and August. WFP
had asked for more than $440 million to feed 2.8 million, and it had only
received $240 million so far.
The Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, Wendy
Chamberlin, was in the south of Sudan where she was looking at
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees operations
there and the enormous needs which had to be met if 500,000 Sudanese refugees
were to be able to return home.
Asked if there could be a
compromise on the question of whether the International Criminal Court or
another court would investigate alleged atrocities in Darfur, the Spokesman
said that the matter was being discussed in the
Security Council.
CAMEROON AND NIGERIA AGREE ON CALENDAR
FOR DEMARCATION OF THEIR BORDER
Cameroon and Nigeria have agreed on a calendar for the
demarcation of their border, as well as a work plan under which concrete
barriers will be placed at mutually agreed points along the border.
The
UN Office for West Africa reports that the two countries adopted that plan
following a meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, last week. It adds that the placement
of pillars is to begin in 2006.
Also, the
Secretary-General’s latest report on ways to combat sub-regional and
cross-border problems in West Africa was issued today. In it, he says he is
pleased by the growth of a constructive partnership between the UN system and
Governments and communities in the region. He also cites areas where more
efforts could contribute to conflict prevention and peace-building in West
Africa.
UP TO 35,000 ADDITIONAL DISPLACED
PERSONS REPORTED IN EASTERN DR CONGO
UNICEF, the UN Children’s Fund,
says that the number of civilians uprooted by fighting in the Ituri
district, in the eastern
Democratic Republic of the Congo since the beginning of this year has
risen dramatically over the past week.
Although some 50,000 civilians had fled attacks on their
villages by the first week of this month, monitors had reported an additional
30,000 to 35,000 displaced since then.
UNICEF is undertaking a major relief operation to assist
the estimated 50,000 people who have managed to reach the safety of four
sites, which are currently being guarded by UN peacekeepers.
GLOBAL FUND TO FIGHT AIDS APPROVES
FUNDING WORTH $119 MILLION
The Board of
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria today
approved funding worth up to $119 million for the first batch of grants
that have reached their two-year renewal point.
The Global Fund approves funding for five years, but
initially commits money for only the first two-year phase, so that it can
review the performance of the projects it has funded.
With today’s approval, grant recipients in sixteen
countries will receive money for the second phase of their five-year programs.
OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
ANNAN SOMETIMES MEETS HIS
CHILDREN DURING TRAVEL ABROAD: Asked
whether the
Secretary-General met during his recent travels with his son, Kojo Annan,
the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General sometimes meets with his children
during his travels to Europe or Africa. He declined to give specific details of
when those meetings occurred or what was discussed.
ANNAN URGES RETURN TO SIX-PARTY TALKS ON NORTH KOREA:
Asked at the press encounter about the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,
the Secretary-General said that all sides should work to bring the country back
to the six-party talks. He said he remains hopeful that they will come back to
the talks.
DOWNWARD TREND IN AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY PRICES
THREATENS FOOD INSECURITY:
According to a
report released today by the
Food and Agriculture Organization, the long-term downward trend in
agricultural commodity prices continues. This threatens the food security of
hundreds of millions of people in some of the world’s poorest developing
countries, where the sale of commodities is often the only source of cash.
U.N. ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME URGES NATIONS TO GO BEYOND
KYOTO: The
Kyoto Protocol, which aims to combat global warming, comes into force on 16
February.
Klaus Toepfer, the Executive Director of the
UN Environment Programme,
said today that Kyoto is just the first step, and that more has to be done to
deal with rising world temperatures. He also underscored the importance of
combating global warming in order to meet the
Millennium Development Goals.
*** The guest at today’s Noon Briefing was
Deputy Secretary-General Louise
Fréchette who
briefed on two issues addressed in the interim report of the Independent Inquiry
Committee on the UN Oil for Food Programme -- UN procurement and reform of audit
and oversight.
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