HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON
BRIEFING
BY
FRED ECKHARD
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS,
NEW YORK
Monday, April
18, 2005
ANNAN TO VISIT
INDONESIA AND INDIA
Secretary-General Kofi Annan will be traveling this week,
first to Indonesia, and then to India.
He will attend the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta and
the Commemoration of the 1955 Asian-African Conference in Bandung, Indonesia.
From Jakarta, he goes to New Delhi, where he will make a
two-day official visit to India.
He leaves tomorrow night, and is scheduled to return to
New York on Thursday, 28 April.
Asked whether the United
Nations was doing anything regarding the dispute between Japan and China, the
Spokesman noted that the Secretary-General would be in Indonesia when the
leaders of both countries would attend the meetings there, and hoped to have
bilateral meetings while in the country.
The Secretary-General today
told a reporter that China and Japan had an economic and political
relationship, which he hoped would encourage them to resolve their
differences.
ANNAN WELCOMES
“IRREVERSIBLE” DIALOGUE BETWEEN INDIA & PAKISTAN
The Secretary-General warmly
supports the efforts by India and Pakistan to advance the ongoing
dialogue.
He welcomes the joint statement
issued by the leaders of the two countries this weekend which outlined
additional confidence building measures aimed at achieving durable peace in
the region.
In particular, he is
encouraged by their declaration that the dialogue had become “irreversible”.
ANNAN CONGRATULATES NEW LEADER OF
NORTHERN CYPRUS
The Secretary-General
notes the outcome of the elections in Northern Cyprus held on 17 April.
He is glad that the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot
community has been clarified and he welcomes the renewed evidence of
commitment to a peaceful resolution of the Cyprus issue.
In the context of his mission of good offices, he
congratulates Mr. Mehmet Ali Talat and looks forward to working productively
with him in the continuing search for peace on the island.
ECUADOR: ANNAN CONCERNED BY INSTABILITY
The Secretary-General is
following with
concern the latest developments in Ecuador.
The present crisis may
aggravate an already unstable situation.
The Secretary-General calls on
the Government and the opposition to find a constitutional solution to the
crisis through dialogue.
He urges all Ecuadorians to
maintain a peaceful and constructive attitude.
SECURITY COUNCIL VOTES FOR ARMS EMBARGO
ON D.R. CONGO
The
Security Council today adopted unanimously a resolution on arms sanctions
on the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), numbering it Security Council
resolution 1596.
The resolution bans military equipment for any recipient
in the DRC, except to those police and soldiers who make up the country's
national army, and those arms used for technical training and for the
UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The resolution also expresses serious concern regarding
the presence of armed groups and militias in the country's north-east,
particularly in the North and South Kivu provinces and the Ituri district.
D.R. CONGO: U.N. PEACEKEEPERS COME UNDER
FIRE,
STILL MANAGE TO DISMANTLE MILITIA CAMPS
In the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), UN peacekeepers in the Ituri
district, in the country’s north-east, are carrying out a search and cordon
operation in Katoto, north-east of the city of Bunia.
The peacekeepers came under fire but nevertheless were able to dismantle two
militia camps in the area.
The UN Mission in the DRC says that at this stage there are casualties to
report, and while militia members appear to have fled, the peacekeepers have
been able to seize ammunition supplies.
The operation continues.
SUDAN: SECURITY SITUATION IN DARFUR HAS
FAILED TO IMPROVE
The Secretary-General’s monthly report on
Darfur is out on the racks today.
In it, the Secretary-General says that the security
situation in Darfur in March saw no improvement. He reports increased military
activity undertaken by all parties and attacks against international
personnel. The government, he says, continues to pursue the military option on
the ground with little apparent regard for the commitments it has entered
into.
The killing of civilians and combatants alike must stop,
he urges, and a genuine cease-fire must be observed.
He notes that the African Union’s Peace and Security
Council will meet later this week to decide on steps to strengthen the African
Union mission.
The Secretary-General himself is expected to submit by
April 24 a report to the Security Council on how to reinforce the African
Union effort in Darfur.
No date has been set yet by the Security Council for a
discussion of this report.
HIGH-LEVEL MEETING OF ECONOMIC & SOCIAL
COUNCIL
OFFERS FRESH OPPORTUNITY FOR CHANGE
The Secretary-General this morning opened the special
high-level
meeting bringing together the Economic and Social Council and
representatives of the major international financial and trade institutions.
He
told them that the coming months offer a unique opportunity to make real
changes in the international system, which can make the world freer, fairer
and safer. The stakes, he said, could hardly be higher for the September
Summit to review progress since the Millennium Declaration.
The Secretary-General noted that the chances of winning
commitments to reach the 0.7 percent target for official development
assistance, to address Africa’s special needs and to mitigate climate change
will be greater if they are placed squarely in the context of the September
Summit.
RICH STATES SHOULD OPEN THEIR MARKETS TO
GOODS
FROM LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
The Secretary-General was in Washington, D.C., on
Saturday to attend a dinner of the International
Monetary and Financial Committee of the International Monetary Fund and the
Development Committee of the World Bank.
He
told the assembled Finance and Development ministers that the UN, the
World Bank and the IMF are not only all working on the same issues – aid,
debt, trade, development – but also that they also share a vision of
development priorities.
He highlighted a number of development objectives that
donor countries should carry such as the 0.7 percent development aid target
and ensuring greater access to their markets for goods coming from least
developed countries.
SECURITY COUNCIL REAFFIRMS SUPPORT FOR
U.N. MISSION IN HAITI
The Security Council’s four-day
working mission to
Haiti came to an end on Saturday. It was the Council’s first-ever mission
to the Caribbean nation.
At a press conference on
Saturday, the leader of the mission, Ambassador Ronaldo Mota Sardenberg, the
Permanent Representative of Brazil to the UN, expressed confidence
that general elections will be held this year as scheduled.
He also reaffirmed the
Council’s support for the
UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti, and praised the work of peacekeepers
there, one of whom was killed last week.
The Council mission’s
activities during the visit included meeting with leaders from different areas
of Haitian society, as well as the Interim Prime Minister and President. It
also visited the cities of Cap Haitien and Gonaives.
The mandate of the UN Mission
in Haiti expires on 1 June, and the Council is expected to vote on a mandate
extension next month.
MILLIONS OF GIRLS STILL DENIED BASIC
EDUCATION
More children than ever are going to school. That is the
good news from UNICEF’s latest “Progress
for Children”
report.
But the report – which focuses on gender parity in
primary school attendance – also
says that millions of girls are still denied a basic education, and that,
in many parts of the world, the gender gap in primary school attendance
remains too wide.
In her last visit to Geneva as UNICEF’s Executive
Director, Carol Bellamy today
launched the report with the warning that, without a "quantum leap," the
world would miss its chance to meet Millennium Development Goal number two,
namely universal primary education by 2015.
In response to a question about when Ann M. Veneman would
be assuming her functions as the new UNICEF Executive Director, the Spokesman
later said, according to UNICEF, Ms. Veneman would start on May 2.
CONGRESS ON CRIME OPENS IN BANGKOK
The 11th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and
Criminal Justice
opens today in Bangkok, Thailand.
The Secretary-General
issued a message to the congress, in which he said that many of the States
parties to international treaties on organized crime and corruption have not
implemented these treaties adequately.
The Secretary-General also called on all States to ratify
and implement these conventions, while helping one another to strengthen
domestic criminal justice systems.
The
Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice will run through 25
April.
UN ENVOYS FOR COTE D'IVOIRE AND LIBERIA
DISCUSS WAYS
TO PREVENT CROSS-BORDER MOVEMENTS OF ARMS AND MERCENARIES
The Secretary-General's
Special Representatives for Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia, Pierre Schori and
Jacques Klein respectively, met in Monrovia over the weekend to review issues
pertaining to inter-mission cooperation including mixed patrols to monitor
movement of arms and mercenaries across the border.
Schori and Klein also
discussed the alleged recruitment in Liberia of children formerly associated
with armed groups destined for Cote d’Ivoire.
This was Schori’s first
visit outside Cote d’Ivoire since he arrived to take up his duties as Head of
the United Nations Operation in Cote d’Ivoire on last week.
UNITED NATIONS
WILL COOPERATE WITH U.S. JUDICIAL PROCESS
The Spokesman was asked about
an investigation being carried out by a U.S. Attorney, involving sealed
indictments concerning the oil-for-food program, and he noted that the United
Nations has not been contacted by the U.S. Attorney’s office regarding those
indictments.
He said the United Nations is
happy that this judicial process is going forward. If the individuals are
named and indicted, he said, the United Nations would cooperate if asked to do
so.
Asked whether the United
Nations would conduct an internal investigation of its own into the matter,
the Spokesman said that the United Nations was “not going to run a parallel
investigation.”
Asked whether the
Secretary-General had met with Tongsun Park, who was named in connection with
this investigation, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General told a
reporter last week that he had never met him.
Asked about the employment of
Maurice Strong, the Spokesman said that he is a Special Adviser dealing with
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, who is employed as directed.
Strong’s involvement in the United Nations dates back to the 1970s, Eckhard
added, including work as an adviser to the Secretary-General on UN reform in
the late 1990s. Strong, he added, has had nothing to do with the oil-for-food
program, and was not involved in Iraqi affairs in the 1990s.
Asked for an update on former
Office of the Iraq Programme head Benon Sevan, the Spokesman noted that delays
in his response to the interim report by the Independent Inquiry Committee
resulted in part from the Committee having documentation with which Sevan
needed to consult.
Asked whether the
Secretary-General would not lift Sevan’s immunity, the Spokesman reiterated
that the Secretary-General has repeatedly said that he would lift the immunity
of anyone found to have committed any wrongdoing.
THIRD PARTY
REVIEWING COMPLAINTS AGAINST DILEEP NAIR
Asked about the farewell call
that the Secretary-General paid today to Under-Secretary-General for Internal
Oversight
Dileep Nair, the Spokesman said that Nair’s term ends on April 20.
However, he said, a third party is still reviewing complaints involving Nair,
and that process will continue even after Nair’s UN service ends.
Eckhard added that Nair was
interested in clearing his name, so he would want to see the matter come to a
conclusion. Any violation of UN rules would be a matter of record, he added.
The Spokesman said that
interviews for a new head of the Office for Internal Oversight Services would
conclude on Tuesday, and an announcement was expected later this week.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
NIGERIAN REFUGEES RETURN HOME FROM CAMEROON: A group
of 250 refugee herdsmen today
returned to Nigeria from Cameroon, where they had been seeking shelter since
fleeing clashes in their homeland three years ago. Many more are expected to
follow later, traveling on foot with their livestock. The group is part of
30,000 Nigerian refugees who fled a community in the eastern part of the country
into northwestern Cameroon in 2002.
ANNAN TO ADDRESS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION’S
FIRST-EVER FINANCE PANEL: This afternoon at 4:30, the Secretary-General will
make opening remarks at the ministerial level panel discussion of the
Commission on Sustainable Development. The panel will debate the economic
benefits of policies on water, sanitation and human settlements. It will be
webcast live.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO DISCUSS UN REFORM: The General
Assembly will begin today to discuss the “In
Larger Freedom” report today by focusing on the report’s recommendations in
four clusters: peace and security; development; human rights and the rule of
law; and the strengthening of the UN.
U.N. MISSION IN KOSOVO APPEALS FOR CALM AFTER MURDER OF
EX- PRIME MINISTER’S BROTHER: The
UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo expressed
shock over the murder of Enver Haradinaj, the brother of former Kosovo prime
minister Ramush Haradinaj, on Friday afternoon. It also appealed to the people
of Kosovo to demonstrate the respect for the rule of law that they have shown
during the past month. In other news, the UN Mission has begun an operation in
the Klinë municipality to excavate a cave, which might have been used to
secretly dispose of human remains, and could be related to the disappearance of
non-Albanian Kosovans in 1998.
U.N. DEVELOPMENT CHIEF TO BE
SELECTED THIS WEEK: Asked about the
selection process for a UN Development Programme Administrator, the Spokesman
said that the last interviews took place on Friday and the final selection
process would conclude this week. He confirmed, in response to a question, that
the short list had narrowed to three candidates.
UNITED NATIONS AWAITS RESULTS
OF W.I.P.O. INVESTIGATION: Asked about a
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
investigation into corruption involving Michael Wilson, the Spokesman said the
Secretary-General had no comment on Wilson, and the United Nations would await
the results of the WIPO investigation.
ANNAN TO BRIEF ON SYRIA AND
LEBANON NEXT WEEK: Asked when the
Secretary-General would brief the Security Council on Syria and Lebanon, the
Spokesman said that was expected to happen early next week.
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