HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING
BY FRED ECKHARD
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Tuesday, 29 March, 2005
ANNAN DISTRESSED ABOUT EARTHQUAKE IN INDONESIA, PLEDGES U.N. SUPPORT
Secretary-General Kofi Annan was deeply distressed at the news of a powerful earthquake off Sumatra in Indonesia Monday. His heart goes out to the families of the many victims of this disaster as well as to the Government of Indonesia.
He has sent disaster coordination teams to the area to work with the Government as well as with non-governmental organizations to help assess the damage while UN agencies work with others to help relieve the suffering.
He pledges the United Nations’ support for the people of Indonesia at this difficult hour, as well as its readiness to help with reconstruction efforts at the appropriate time.
U.N. AGENCIES PROVIDING ASSISTANCE TO EARTHQUAKE SURVIVORS
Since the first earthquake struck Indonesia’s Sumatra Island yesterday, the UN has been working to provide assistance to survivors and assess the level of damage. Inter-agency assessment teams were on the ground within twelve hours of the quake.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has delivered medical supplies and has sent a search and rescue team to the hard-hit island of Nias. WHO will also be deploying health professionals, a water and sanitation expert and a logistician to the island on Wednesday.
For its part, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has sent 500 tents as well as blankets and kitchen sets to Nias.
The World Food Programme is using its helicopters to ferry seriously wounded people from the badly damaged hospital in Nias to a hospital on mainland Sumatra.
Meanwhile, a UNICEF boat today arrived at the quake-stricken island of Simeulue, carrying tents, emergency relief materials, and additional personnel to bolster the agency’s already active presence there.
ANNAN RECEIVES REPORT ON OIL-FOR-FOOD INVESTIGATION
The Secretary-General this morning received the second interim report of the Independent Inquiry Committee into the UN’s oil-for-food program from its Chairman, Paul Volcker. The Secretary-General will brief the press on the panel’s findings at a conference at 2:45 p.m. , New York local time.
The Spokesman read out the following statement on the Secretary-General’s behalf:
“I have this morning received from Mr. Paul Volcker and his colleagues the second interim report of their independent inquiry into allegations concerning the United Nations oil-for-food programme in Iraq. I thank them once again for their investigation.
As I had always hoped and firmly believed, the Inquiry has cleared me of any wrongdoing. On the key issue of the award of the contract to inspect humanitarian goods entering Iraq under the oil-for-food programme, the report states clearly that “there is no evidence that the selection of Cotecna in 1998 was subject to any affirmative or improper influence of the Secretary-General in the bidding or selection process.”
I will meet the press later today to make a fuller statement on the findings contained in the report, and to answer questions.”
ADDITIONAL FORMED U.N. POLICE UNIT RECOMMENDED FOR LIBERIA
The Security Council this morning held consultations on Liberia, with Jacques Klein, the head of the UN Mission in that country, briefing Council members on the Secretary-General’s recent report.
In that report, the Secretary-General cites progress in implementing key elements of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. He strongly recommends the deployment of an additional UN formed police unit, to reinforce the UN Mission’s capacity to maintain a secure environment during the upcoming electoral period.
This morning, the Council also discussed a report of the Panel of Experts that deals with Resolution 1579, concerning sanctions on Liberia. That report concludes that Liberia is not yet in a position to make a successful application for participation in the Kimberley Process on diamond trading.
FIRST CONTINGENT OF U.N.-TRAINED POLICE DEPLOYED IN LIBERIA
In Liberia, a first contingent of more than 100 Liberian police trained by the UN was deployed on the streets of Monrovia yesterday.
The 123 recruits completed their nine months of training on Saturday, which among other topics, included human rights education, riot control, and community policing. 85 of the first batch of officers to join the new-look Liberian National Police were brand new recruits.
The UN Mission in Liberia aims to train and equip a new 3,500-strong police force by the end of 2006. Its immediate target is to deploy 1,800 officers throughout the country by the time presidential and parliamentary elections are held in October.
One of the key architects of the program was the Mission’s former Police Commissioner Mark Kroeker, who is now the Civilian Police Adviser with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations at UN Headquarters.
POORLY PREPARED ELECTIONS COULD ADD TO TENSION IN GUINEA-BISSAU
This afternoon at 3:00 p.m., the Security Council will hold consultations on Guinea-Bissau, to be briefed on the Secretary-General’s most recent report by his Representative to that country, João Honwana.
The Secretary-General says the country has improved noticeably, but warns that, if poorly prepared and managed, elections could be an additional source of tension and further instability.
Also in the afternoon, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast will brief the Council in its consultations on the report submitted last week by Peter Fitzgerald on the causes, consequences and circumstances of the 14 February bombing that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.
Council members are also scheduled to discuss a draft resolution on Sudan, with a possible vote afterward.
U.N. ENVOY URGES BISSAU-GUINEANS TO STAY UNITED AHEAD OF ELECTIONS
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for West Africa, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, today urged the people of that country to stay united and at peace as they head to presidential elections on 19 June. “Don’t let Guinea-Bissau fall apart,” he warned.
Ould-Abdallah noted with growing concern that developments in recent weeks have increased political tensions in the country.
ANNAN STRESSED CRUCIAL ROLE OF NGOs IN DARFUR
The Secretary-General met Monday afternoon with international non-governmental organizations to discuss the continuing violence in Darfur, and to underline the crucial role of NGOs in the international community's efforts there.
The Secretary-General stressed as critical the ability of NGOs to operate without restrictions in Darfur and expressed his deep concern about the rising level of threats against relief workers in the province. He called on all parties to ensure their safety and security.
The participants also discussed the urgent need for further action by the Security Council, and the Secretary-General offered to facilitate a meeting between the Security Council and NGOs under the Arria formula.
NO SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS MADE IN COTE D’IVOIRE’S PEACE PROCESS
The peace process in Cote d’Ivoire has made no significant progress since the Secretary-General’s last report, and continues to suffer from the reverberations of the November 2004 attacks, the Security Council was told on Monday afternoon.
Alan Doss, the Deputy Special Representative in that country, told the Council that the road map drawn up by the African Union for Cote d’Ivoire had remained largely unachieved, that the security environment was volatile and that the economic situation was getting worse by the day.
MORE THAN $38 MILLION PLEDGED FOR CAMBODIA’S EXTRAORDINARY CHAMBERS
The pledging conference for UN assistance to the Khmer Rouge trials ended yesterday afternoon with nations pledging $38.4 million to the work of the Extraordinary Chambers in Cambodia.
That is a substantial amount of the $43 million that the United Nations is seeking for its share of the trials’ cost over the three years that the Chambers are to work.
Japan, in particular, pledged $21.6 million, or more than half of what the United Nations expects to pay for the trials’ budget.
The Chambers’ total budget is estimated to be $56.3 million, $13.3 million of which is to come from the Cambodian Government.
The Secretary-General issued a message to yesterday’s conference, saying that “the victims of those horrific crimes have waited too long for justice.” The pledges send a message, he said, that, however late and however imperfectly, “a measure of justice will be done.”
UNICEF, WHO SUPPORT EFFORTS TO HALT EPIDEMIC IN ANGOLA
In Angola, the UN Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, and the World Health Organization are supporting the Angolan authorities in their efforts to halt the epidemic caused by the Marburg virus. So far, 117 people have died in the epidemic, including at least 92 children.
While the outbreak is mainly concentrated in the northern province of Uige, five cases have already been reported in Angola’s capital, Luanda. The Marburg virus is a rare cause of viral haemorrhagic fever syndrome that belongs to the same family as Ebola.
A far reaching communication and social mobilisation campaign is underway, aimed at informing the Angolan population about the measures to take to prevent illness.
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