HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING
BY MARIE OKABE
ASSOCIATE
SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Thursday, March 10, 2005
ANNAN OUTLINES
U.N. STRATEGY AGAINST TERRORISM
Terrorism is a direct attack on the core values of the
United Nations, and the United Nations must be at the forefront in fighting
it, Secretary-General Kofi Annan
told the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security in
Madrid today.
He set out the main elements of a principled,
comprehensive strategy against terrorism, outlined by his
High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and
Change. He highlighted the need to dissuade disaffected groups from
terrorism; to deny terrorists the means to carry out attacks; to deter states
from supporting terrorists; to develop state capacity to fight terrorism; and
to defend human rights during that fight.
The Secretary-General noted that the Panel
called for a definition of terrorism, which would make it clear that any
action constitutes terrorism if it is intended to cause death or serious
bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a
population or compelling a Government or international organization into, or
away from, action. He said, “I believe this proposal has clear moral force,
and I strongly urge world leaders to unite behind it.”
He said that, we must respect and listen to the victims
of terrorism around the world and do what we can to help them, and to spare
others from meeting their fate.
Before he addressed the closing plenary, the
Secretary-General this morning met with a group of organizations representing
victims of terror, accompanied by King Juan Carlos of Spain and former
Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The summit is being held a year
after the terrorist bombings that took place last March 11 in Madrid.
The Secretary-General is meeting with other leaders
attending today’s summit this afternoon, including the President of Portugal,
the Prime Minister of Norway and the Foreign Minister of Germany.
U.N. ENVOY AND EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT
DISCUSS
SYRIAN WITHDRAWAL FROM LEBANON
The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the
implementation of Security Council
resolution 1559,
Terje Roed-Larsen, met today in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, with Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak, to exchange views on the resolution’s implementation.
They discussed the withdrawal of Syrian troops and intelligence from Lebanon.
Other subjects of conversation included the upcoming
parliamentary elections in Lebanon, the militias operating in Lebanon and the
wider stability of the region. Following the meeting, Roed-Larsen stated that
the President and himself saw eye-to-eye on the issues and that they would
stay in full contact.
Roed-Larsen thanked the government of Egypt for the
constructive role it is playing in safeguarding the stability of the region.
He will travel next to Jordan.
The Secretary-General, in response to a question from a
reporter in Madrid yesterday, said that he hopes to have a sense of how
quickly a withdrawal can take place when Roed-Larsen reports back to him. He
added, “I hope he will be able to come back with a timetable.”
Asked about the
Secretary-General’s position on whether Hezbollah is a political party or a
terrorist organization, the Spokeswoman noted that Hezbollah is not included
on the list put out by the
1267 Sanctions Committee, which concerns sanctions against individuals and
entities linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The
Counter-Terrorism Committee, she added, may eventually come out with its
own list.
IRAQ: ELECTION OUTCOME OFFERS NEW HOPES
FOR PROSPERITY
The outcome of Iraq’s January elections offers a new
opportunity for Iraqis to cast off the legacy of war and dictatorship and
build the foundations for a democratic and prosperous country, the
Secretary-General says in his latest
report to the Security Council on
Iraq.
Yet elections, he adds, are but a first step for
achieving these goals. The key to a successful transition is that it be as
inclusive, participatory and transparent as possible. This means creating a
sustainable political process that all Iraqis feel they have a stake in.
The report says that failure to engage now in national
dialogue and reconciliation could bring strife far more damaging than the
compromises necessary for reaching a national consensus achieved through
peaceful means.
The Secretary-General says that full Iraqi ownership of
the constitution-making process will be particularly important. Special
Representative Ashraf Qazi is already consulting with a wide range of Iraqi
representatives to promote dialogue and consensus-building in support of the
political transition, including the writing of the constitution.
Meanwhile, the report says, the United Nations is equally
committed to assisting the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq in the
preparations for the national referendum on the constitution and the elections
that are to follow.
Qazi is scheduled to brief the Security Council on the
report next Wednesday.
SECURITY COUNCIL CONSIDERS SUDAN
RESOLUTION
AMID CONTINUING REPORTS OF INSECURITY IN DARFUR
At 3:00 p.m., the Security
Council is scheduled to hold consultations on
Sudan with a view to holding a formal meeting afterwards.
A draft resolution on Sudan has
been turned into “blue” – which is the form that can be voted on.
In continued reports of
incidents illustrating the state of insecurity from Darfur, the UN Advance
Mission in Sudan today said that a humanitarian convoy was ambushed by armed
tribesmen on camels on the road from in south Darfur. The attack caused one of
the vehicles to lose control and overturn. It was the second incident on the
same road in two days.
ANNAN
RECOMMENDS SECURITY COUNCIL MISSION TO
ETHIOPIA & ERITREA
The Secretary-General’s
report on Ethiopia and Eritrea is out as a document today.
In it, the Secretary-General says the Security Council
may find it opportune to reaffirm and demonstrate its commitment to support
the peace process, including the demarcation of the boundary, by returning to
Ethiopia and Eritrea.
He recommends the timing of such a mission to be no later
than this summer.
The Security Council is scheduled to discuss the report
tomorrow afternoon.
REFUGEE AGENCY
CALLS FOR ACTION AFTER LATEST
GULF OF ADEN DROWNINGS
The UN
Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
fears that more than 100 people may have died at sea in the past week
while attempting to reach Yemen aboard smugglers' boats from Somalia.
UNHCR has called for concerted
international efforts to deal with human traffickers and to solve the root
causes that push people to take such risks.|
In one of the accidents, a vessel carrying 93 passengers
sank on 3 March in the Gulf of Aden after developing a technical problem,
according to witnesses.
AFGHANISTAN:
FLOOD PREPARATION ACTIVITIES UNDERWAY
The
UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the
UN Environment Programme are
supporting an initiative to clean up the Kabul riverbed, to prepare for
potential flooding as the snow melts in the country. The cleaning of the
riverbed, which is being carried out by the municipality of Kabul, will also
reduce water pollution, given the amount of garbage and silt that is there.
Meanwhile, UN assessment teams have been deployed in
various other provinces to deal with questions of flood preparedness as the
snows melt following an unusually severe winter.
U.N. AGENCIES ADDRESS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS
IN TSUNAMI-HIT AREAS
Regarding tsunami relief activities in Aceh, Indonesia,
the
UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says it has distributed educational supplies
to some 240,000 primary school students over the past two and a half months.
To support UNICEF’s teacher training activities, the
World Food Programme has agreed to provide
two-month food rations to 1,000 newly recruited and trained teachers, who will
be posted throughout the province.
Meanwhile, the UN
Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees says it has delivered close
to 6,800 tents – along with basic supplies – to some 20 locations along Aceh’s
west coast.
For its part, the
International Labor Organization is helping to provide vocational skills
to displaced children between the ages of 15 and 17. The goal of the training,
which starts on Monday, is to keep young people away from exploitative and
hazardous work.
In other news, the UN’s
World Tourism Organization
reports that, due to reconstruction throughout the Indian Ocean region,
tourist arrivals for next winter might even exceed pre-tsunami figures.
OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
NO LETTER RECEIVED ON VIENNA
CONVENTION WITHDRAWAL: Asked about media
reports of a letter from the U.S. Secretary of State concerning a U.S.
withdrawal from an optional protocol to the
Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the Spokeswoman said that the
United Nations has not yet received that letter.
MOROCCAN FOOD SECURITY EXPERTS TO GO TO NIGER:
Morocco will
send 27 farming experts and technicians to Niger to work with local experts,
as part of an agreement between the two countries, the Islamic Development Bank
and the
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The Moroccan experts will advise in
areas such as water management and crop intensification. The agreement is part
of FAO’s
South-South Cooperation Programme.
HUMMUS STANDARDS COULD BE APPROVED IN 2 YEARS: Three
very popular Middle Eastern foods -- hummus, tahineh and ful medammes -- have
made significant process in the food standards setting process, the
Near East Coordinating Committee announced today. The committee is a
regional body of the
Codex Alimentarius Commission, the UN body that sets food safety, quality
and trade standards.
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