HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING
BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
ASSOCIATE
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Friday, June 17, 2005
HOPEFUL TREND
IN ISRAEL & PALESTINE MARRED BY VIOLENCE & LOW LEVEL OF TRUST, U.N. POLITICAL
CHIEF SAYS
Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran
Prendergast today told the
Security Council that the
Israelis and Palestinians are “slowly and not without difficulty” meeting
to coordinate implementation of Israel’s initiative to withdraw from Gaza and
parts of the northern West Bank.
He said those meetings, and a meeting scheduled in the
next few days between the Israeli Prime Minister and the Palestinian
President, are indicative of a hopeful trend since the beginning of the year.
Yet renewed violence and the low level of mutual trust continue to work
against progress.
Prendergast noted that in Israel, opponents of
disengagement still voice their opposition to the planned withdrawal.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority still faces a number of serious internal
challenges, which have deepened partly as a result of the Authority’s efforts
to institute comprehensive security reform. He called recent violent incidents
among the Palestinians “deeply disturbing.”
He also expressed the UN’s particular concern over the
serious escalation in rocket and mortar attacks by Palestinian militants
against Israeli targets. Prendergast reminded both sides of the need to take
special care to protect innocent civilians, in accordance with international
and humanitarian law.
He also briefed the Council on
Lebanon, saying it is imperative at this very delicate period that all
concerned exercise the utmost restraint and maintain calm along the Blue Line.
Noting the completion of Lebanon’s elections on Sunday,
Prendergast said it is a major achievement for Lebanon to have held elections
on time. He called on all concerned parties to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty
and cease any actions that could be destabilizing.
The Council followed his briefing with consultations, in
which Council members discussed the Middle East further.
SECURITY
COUNCIL EXTENDS UN GOLAN HEIGHTS MISSION
The
Security Council began its work this morning by unanimously
adopting a six-month extension of the
UN Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights.
Meanwhile, the Secretary-General transmitted a
report to the Security Council on the work of the
International Advisory and Monitoring Board for the Development Fund for
Iraq.
That report notes the audit reports received by the Board
from the KPMG firm. Those reports continue to be critical of the controls in
place in the spending ministries, the United States agencies and the Iraqi
administration concerning Development Fund resources.
TOP UN
INVESTIGATOR IN LEBANON BELIEVES VEHICLE CAUSED EXPLOSION
A day after the international commission into the killing
of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, and twenty others, was
declared operational, its head investigator, Detlev Mehlis, gave a
thorough press briefing in Beirut.
At this point, Mehlis said, he is 99.9% sure that the
explosion which killed Prime Minister Hariri was above ground, with explosives
having been placed in a white Mitsubishi pick-up truck. Mehlis asked anyone
with information on this truck or on any other aspect of the crime to come
forward.
By the next few days, he will have a staff from over 20
countries. He said that all of his staff shared one goal: to uncover the
truth.
UN ENVOY WRAPS
UP MISSION TO BOLIVIA
Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs
Jose Antonio Ocampo, the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Bolivia,
wrapped up a mission to that country last night, following a meeting with
President Eduardo Rodriguez to brief him on his delegation’s work.
The delegation had also traveled to the city of Santa
Cruz on Thursday.
The delegation is expected back at UN Headquarters on
Monday, and they will report to the Secretary-General on their work.
INVESTIGATION
TO PROCEED IN DILEEP NAIR’S CASE
In response to questions asked in recent days about
former Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services Dileep Nair,
the Spokesman said that, following a review by a third party of the
allegations regarding OIOS management, the Secretary-General has decided to
proceed with an investigation.
The initial review was carried out by Jerome Ackerman, a
former President of the UN Administrative Tribunal.
The Secretary-General has asked Ackerman to conduct the
investigation with haste, and to complete it within 30-45 days.
Asked what Ackerman is to investigate, the Spokesman said
that he would look into the hiring of people in Nair’s office, as well as
general management issues within OIOS.
The Spokesman added that the Secretary-General had
earlier this year received more information about those issues by the Staff
Union, and he decided to turn to a third party to see if there was enough
information to proceed with an investigation.
Asked what would be the consequences of this
investigation, given that Nair has retired from the United Nations, Dujarric
said that it would give Nair a chance to clear his name, and would give the
staff members closure. For the United Nations, it would provide lessons in how
to improve management within OIOS.
Asked whether Nair’s pension could be affected, the
Spokesman said that pensions as a matter of policy belong to the staff
members.
UNHCR SAYS
NUMBER OF REFUGEES FELL IN 2004
The UN Refugee Agency
published its annual global statistics for 2004 this morning. They note
that, while the global number of refugees fell to 9.2 million, the lowest
total in almost a quarter of a century, the numbers of internally displaced
and stateless people remained high.
The findings also show that,
besides the Palestinians cared for by the
UN Relief and Works Agency, Afghans remained the largest refugee group,
while Sudanese refugees saw the biggest increase in their numbers. The top
asylum-granting countries were Iran and Pakistan.
The statistics were released
just ahead of World Refugee Day, which will be observed on Monday. To mark the
occasion, the new High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres,
will leave over the weekend for his first field mission, a three-day visit
to Uganda.
UNHCR: CENTRAL
AFRICAN REPUBLIC REFUGEES GOING TO CHAD
The UN Refugee Agency, or UNHCR,
reports that more than 8,500 refugees from the Central African Republic
have arrived in southern Chad since the beginning of the month, because of
clashes between government forces and unidentified armed groups.
As an emergency measure, UNHCR
has sent high-protein biscuits, plastic sheeting, blankets and cooking sets to
the area.
Currently, Chad is hosting more
than 210,000 refugees from
Darfur, as well as an additional 30,000 from the Central African Republic,
who arrived in 2003 after a military coup.
ECOSOC RECEIVES
REPORT ON DEVELOPMENT OF HAITI
In 2004 the
Economic and Social Council tasked an Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti to
advise it on the long-term development of that country, which has now come out
with a
report in which it recommends that one of the first actions of the new
Haitian Government, to be installed on 7 February next year, could be to
consider a
Millennium Development Goal-based Poverty Reduction Strategy, in close
consultation with a broad range of national actors.
The new Government could also focus on a few areas that
would demonstrate to the Haitian people that action is being taken.
Consideration could be given to so-called “quick win” projects as identified
by the Secretary-General’s Millennium Task Force.
PEACEKEEPER
SHOT IN BURUNDI HAS DIED
On 3 June, a South African peacekeeper was shot in the
head at a polling station in
Burundi. Regrettable, he has died of his wounds in a Pretoria hospital.
Also, a routine patrol by the
UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti in Haiti’s Cité Soleil came under fire
on Thursday. Two soldiers from the Peruvian contingent were injured. Both are
reported to be in a stable condition.
ANNAN ADDRESSES
DOCTORS ON WORLD HEALTH
On Thursday night,
Secretary-General Kofi Annan
addressed the Doctors of the World Health and Human Rights Leadership
Awards Dinner.
Telling attendees that his first job had been with the
World Health Organization, he said that the world must not think of health
exclusively as a development or security issue, but instead adopt a more
holistic approach.
The Secretary-General also said that greater resources
must be devoted to disease surveillance and response, and that new and serious
efforts should be made to build health systems in developing countries.
He added that we must move away from the kind of health
interventions that parallel peacekeeping without peace-building -- humane and
essential, but often unsustainable.
OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
SUPPORT OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY FOR ANNAN IS CLEAR:
Asked whether the Secretary-General would consider going to the
General Assembly for a show of support, the Spokesman said there is no need
for him to seek reaffirmation. The support of Member States for the
Secretary-General is clear, he said, and the Secretary-General is proceeding
with his work on
UN reform.
ANNAN DOES NOT RECALL MEETING WILSON: Asked about
the recent statement made by former Cotecna employee Michael Wilson, the
Spokesman said that the United Nations had seen Wilson’s retraction. The
Secretary-General, he said, stands by what he said, that he has no recollection
of meeting Wilson in Paris in late 1998. He added that the United Nations looks
forward to Paul Volcker concluding his work on the issue.
SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS BROOKLYN BOROUGH PRESIDENT:
Asked about the Secretary-General’s meeting today with Brooklyn Borough
President Marty Markowitz, the Spokesman said it was a courtesy call of about 10
to 15 minutes, requested by Markowitz, during which the Borough President said
he would welcome the United Nations in Brooklyn. On that matter, Dujarric added,
there is nothing new to announce regarding the Capital Master Plan.
ANNAN ISSUES MESSAGE ON YEAR OF SPORT: The
Secretary-General, along with International Olympic Committee President, Jacques
Rogge, today issued a message for this year’s Olympic Day Run and the
International Year of Sport and Physical Education 2005. Noting that
well-designed sports programs can be catalysts for economic growth and
cost-effective ways to improve health and education for young people, the
Secretary-General also calls on the sporting community to re-dedicate itself to
community service, the advancement of humankind and universal peace.
DESERTIFICATION DAY OBSERVED: Today is World Day to
Combat Desertification and Drought. In his
message for the Day, whose theme this year is “Women and Desertification”,
the Secretary-General draws attention to one of the world’s most alarming
processes of environmental degradation, which threatens the health and
livelihoods of more than one billion people, and which causes an estimated $42
billion in lost agricultural production each year.
TRIBUNAL OFFICIALS MET US SECRETARY OF STATE: The
President and Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for
Rwanda and the
former Yugoslavia met this week with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
in Washington. She expressed the full support and appreciation of the United
States for the Tribunals’ work.
WORLD LEADERS URGED
TO PUT ‘NATURAL CAPITAL’ AT CENTRE OF POVERTY ERADICATION:
Sound and solid investment in the environment will go a long way towards meeting
international targets on poverty reduction, the supply of drinking water and
fighting the spread of infectious diseases, the head of the UN Environment
Programme (UNEP)
said today. Speaking at a regional launch of a new UN report on the
Millennium
Development Goals, UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said: "The goods
and services delivered by nature including the atmosphere, forests, rivers,
wetlands, mangroves and coral reefs are worth trillions of dollars."
MORE THAN TWO MILLION DISPLACED IN COLOMBIA: The UN
High Commissioner for Refugees
estimates that more than two million people have been displaced inside
Colombia by a decades-old conflict between the government, guerrilla and
paramilitary groups. In a recent incident alone, some 2,500 persons were
displaced or trapped in their villages due to heavy fighting in the province of
Antioquia. UNHCR calls on all parties to the Colombian conflict to respect
international humanitarian law and refrain from involving the civilian
population in armed conflict.
TSUNAMI LED TO ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE IN MALDIVES: A
report issued by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) today
found that the Indian Ocean tsunami caused significant impact on the
Maldives environment. Although Maldives’ world-famous resorts are in good
condition and largely open for business, the tsunami generated approximately
290,000 cubic meters of waste on the country’s 69 inhabited islands that were
severely damaged by the tsunami. Asbestos from crushed roofing material was
mixed into the debris.
POST-TSUNAMI ASSESSMENT DELIVERS ROAD MAP FOR SRI
LANKA’S SUSTAINABLE RECONSTRUCTION: More than 15,000 wells have been made
unusable and over 500 million kg of rubble generated in Sri Lanka as a result of
the Indian Ocean tsunami, according to a final report into the environmental
impacts of the tsunami
launched today by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the
Sri Lankan Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.
THE WEEK AHEAD
AT THE UNITED NATIONS
Monday, June 20
The Security Council has scheduled consultations on missing
Kuwaiti property in Iraq and on the work of the International Advisory and
Monitoring Board dealing with Iraq.
Tuesday, June 21
The Security Council has scheduled a formal meeting on
Liberia sanctions. It then intends to hold an open debate on the protection of
civilians.
The General Assembly will hold a closed informal meeting on
the draft outcome document for the September summit.
Wednesday, June 22
The Security Council has scheduled consultations on Cyprus.
In Brussels, senior UN officials, including the
Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, will take part
in the International Conference on Iraq, co-hosted by the US and the European
Union.
At 2:30, General Assembly President Jean Ping will brief
the press on the informal interactive hearings on Thursday and Friday with
representatives of NGOs, civil society and the private sector.
Thursday, June 23
The Security Council has scheduled consultations on
Guinea-Bissau, and on the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The General Assembly will hold informal interactive
hearings today and Friday on preparations for the September summit.
The World Health Organization will release a report on
genetically modified food.
Friday, June 24
The Security Council has scheduled an open meeting,
followed by consultations, on Afghanistan.
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