HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING
BY
FRED ECKHARD
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Monday, June 13, 2005
SECRETARY-GENERAL BRIEFED BY ENVOY ON
MEETING WITH SYRIAN PRESIDENT
Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Paris this morning. Shortly after
his arrival, he met with his Special Envoy Terje Roed-Larsen who briefed him
on his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which took place on
Sunday.
The Secretary-General issued a
statement from Paris saying that Larsen had told him that his discussion
with the Syrian President was constructive and helpful. The Secretary-General
was encouraged by Roed-Larsen’s report. He will continue to work together with
President Assad, the Syrian government and other parties for the full
implementation of Security Council resolution 1559.
Asked for details about Roed-Larsen’s meeting with
President Assad, the Spokesman said that the meeting was tete-a-tete, and
lasted for more than two hours.
Asked about the verification team that was returning to
Lebanon, the Spokesman said the team is in the process of being deployed.
The team, he said, is the same three-member one as had previously traveled to
Lebanon. Currently, the three members were proceeding to Beirut from separate
locations. He declined to give a timetable for their work.
Asked why the team was going back, the Spokesman said the
United Nations was reacting to reports that there could be security elements
from Syria still in Lebanon. The Secretary-General’s responsibility, he noted,
is to verify the complete withdrawal of such forces.
Asked whether the Secretary-General was meeting with
European and other officials on Lebanon in Paris, the Spokesman said that no
such meeting was on his program.
ANNAN TO MEET FRENCH PRESIDENT, BRITISH
PRIME MINISTER
Later today the Secretary-General will have a meeting
with the newly appointed Foreign Minster of France, Philippe Douste-Blazy.
Tomorrow, the Secretary-General will deliver an address
to a meeting hosted by President Jacques Chirac of France and the Office of
the
Global Compact, on business contributions to the millennium development
goals. Also tomorrow the Secretary-General will hold separate bilaterals with
President Chirac and Prime Minister Tony Blair, and will have a working lunch
with President Chirac and Prime Minister Blair.
Asked about the Secretary-General’s travel plans, the
Spokesman said that he is to return Tuesday from Paris, and is expected back
in the office on Thursday.
SECRETARY-GENERAL CONCERNED BY BOMBINGS
IN IRAN
The Secretary-General has learned with great concern of
the loss of lives and the severe injuries of many bystanders as a result of a
string of bomb explosions in Teheran and other cities in the country.
He
reiterates that no cause can justify the use of violence and the
indiscriminate targeting of innocent civilians. He expresses his condolences
to the families of the bereaved and the Government of the Islamic Republic of
Iran.
SECURITY COUNCIL BRIEFED ON COMPLETION
STRATEGY OF TRIBUNALS
The
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia will have to
conduct trials in 2009, and trials will most likely continue until the end of
that year. That is the estimate that the Tribunal’s President, Judge Theodor
Meron, gave the
Security Council in its open meeting on the work of the two Tribunals this
morning.
Judge Meron and Tribunal Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte
emphasized the importance of arresting the most notorious fugitives indicted
by the Tribunal, including Ratko Mladic, Radovan Karadzic and Ante Gotovina.
Judge Erik Mose, President of the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, said that there has been
steady progress in that Tribunal’s work, with trials scheduled to be completed
by the end of 2008.
ATTACKS, LOOTING REPORTED OVER THE
WEEKEND IN DARFUR
A number of security-related incidents have been reported
by the UN Mission in Sudan during the week-end in
Darfur, including attacks on and looting of humanitarian and commercial
trucks, a tribal militia attack on a village and an alleged rape of four
girls.
The Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for
Humanitarian Affairs and Development, Manuel Aranda Da Silva, will visit Kalma
camp in South Darfur on Wednesday, along with Sudan’s Deputy Foreign Affairs
Minister.
They will assess the situation in the camp, which is the
largest camp for internally displaced people in Darfur,with a population of
approximately 140,000. Citing banditry and security incidents, the Sudanese
Government has imposed a blockade on the camp whereby no commercial traffic to
the camp is allowed, and displaced persons cannot travel to Nyala.
Meanwhile, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative
for Sudan, Jan Pronk, will head the UN and partners team during the Joint
Implementation Mechanism visit to West Darfur, scheduled to take place on 15
and 16 June. The visit aims at assessing the progress made almost a year after
the signing of the Joint Communiqué between the Secretary-General and the
Sudanese Government.
UN ENVOY FOR IRAQ CONGRATULATES KURDISTAN
PRESIDENT
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for
Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, today congratulated Masoud Barzani on his inauguration
as President of the Kurdistan Regional Government. He reiterated his assurance
that the United Nations will work to establish an effective, transparent and
fair relationship between the Kurdistan authorities and the Government in
Baghdad.
On Saturday, Qazi welcomed the role that the
Secretary-General of the Iraqi Islamic Party, Mohsen Abdel Hamid, is playing
along with other Sunni political leaders in supporting the constitutional
process.
The recent discussions between the two men focused on the
efforts underway to enable groups and parties that were not represented in the
Transitional National Assembly to participate in the drafting of the
constitution and participate in the subsequent referendum and elections
scheduled for October and December this year.
Qazi also met on Saturday with the former Iraqi Prime
Minister, Iyad Allawi. They had wide-ranging discussions about the ongoing
political process and the risk of political fragmentation in Iraq as the
country approaches the 15 August deadline for drafting the constitution.
ANNAN CALLS FOR EXTENSION OF FORCE IN
GOLAN HEIGHTS
The Secretary-General says that the situation in the
Israel-Syria sector has remained generally quiet, in his latest
report to the Security Council on the
UN Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights.
Nevertheless, he writes, the situation in the
Middle East is very tense and is likely to remain so, unless and until a
comprehensive settlement covering all aspects of the Middle East problem can
be reached.
Under the prevailing circumstances, he considers the
continued presence of the UN Force in the area to be essential, and recommends
that the Council extend its mandate for a further six months, until the end of
December.
UN MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN WELCOMES END OF
ABDUCTION
The
UN Mission in Afghanistan today expressed its relief and pleasure at the
safe release late last week of a staff member of the non-governmental
organization CARE, Clementina Cantoni.
The UN Mission welcomed her release and
thanked the Afghan authorities for their role. It also expressed its gratitude
to the Afghan people, who expressed their clear outrage at her kidnapping and
offered wide-scale public support for her safe release.
UN ENVOY TO ARRIVE IN BOLIVIA TODAY
The Secretary-General’s
Personal Envoy to Bolivia, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social
Affairs José Antonio Ocampo, will be arriving in that country this afternoon.
Ocampo is going to Bolivia
after the new President renewed the invitation from former President Carlos
Mesa. The goal of his mission will be to assess how the UN can be helpful to
Bolivia as it tackles the political transition and economic issues.
Ocampo will meet with a broad spectrum of actors in order
to assess the situation and report back to the Secretary-General.
REPORT WARNS OF THREATS TO LIBERIA’S
TRANSITION PROCESS
A new
report by the Secretary-General on Liberia voices hope that the peace
process will succeed now that disarmament is complete and all armed factions
have been dissolved.
But he warns that potential sources of instability
continue to threaten the transitional process. These include delays in
restructuring Liberia’s armed forces and in helping ex-fighters find other
employment.
The report also notes that the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL)
lacks the mandate and capacity to ensure that diamonds aren’t being used to
fuel the conflict, and recommends that the Security Council consider enabling
the mission to help the Government in providing security to diamond- and
timber-producing areas.
The Secretary-General calls on States to support Liberia
so that it can continue to make progress in meeting the conditions required
for sanctions to be lifted.
IAEA BOARD OF GOVERNORS RE-APPOINTS
ELBARADEI
The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA)
convened in Vienna today, and, by consensus, it appointed Mohamed ElBaradei to
a third term as the Director-General of the Agency.
The Board of Governors also intends
during its session to discuss the Safeguards Implementation Report for 2004
and a report by the Director-General on the implementation of safeguards in
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
GENERAL ASSEMBLY ELECTS PRESIDENT: Ambassador Jan
Eliasson of Sweden was elected today as President of the 60th session
of the
General Assembly.
UN LOOKS FORWARD TO REPORT BY US PANEL: Asked about
a report from a panel mandated by the US Congress to examine the United Nations,
the Spokesman said the United Nations looks forward to the issuance of its
report.
UN reform efforts, Eckhard said, are well underway and are being pursued
actively, and the United Nations wants to see what the panel, which represents a
wide range of views, has to say about it.
WORK OF UN ENVOY TO COLOMBIA HAS FINISHED: Asked
whether James LeMoyne continues to work as the Secretary-General’s Special
Representative for Colombia, the Spokesman said LeMoyne paid his farewell call
to the Secretary-General last week. He will not be replaced. The Government of
Colombia, Eckhard said, did not see the reason for a UN good offices mission in
that country at this time.
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL TO TRAVEL TO DOHA: Deputy
Secretary-General Louise Fréchette is due to arrive in Doha, Qatar on Tuesday
evening to address the opening of the South-South Summit which begins the
following day. The Deputy Secretary-General will also hold a number of bilateral
meetings.
SECRETARY-GENERAL GIVES MESSAGE TO MEDIA SEMINAR:
Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Shashi Tharoor
in Cairo today read the Secretary-General’s message to a two day International
Media Seminar on Peace in the
Middle East. The Secretary-General urged Palestinians to do more to prevent
acts of violence and terror, and also stressed the need to avoid unilateral
actions, such as the Israeli Barrier and continued settlement expansion, that
could prejudge the resolution of final status issues or the implementation of UN
resolutions.
UN ENVOY CALLS FOR STABLE AND TOLERANT KOSOVO:
Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative
for
Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen, today told a conference on Pristina that all
political leaders and institutions there must "show that they are acting to
build a stable, tolerant, multi-ethnic and democratic society in Kosovo - one in
which all communities live in peace with each other and which is at peace with
its neighbors."
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