HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON
BRIEFING
BY MARIE OKABE
DEPUTY
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Friday, July 15, 2005
ANNAN UNDERGOES SHOULDER OPERATION
Secretary-General Kofi Annan is undergoing an operation today to repair a
shoulder injury.
The Secretary-General
hopes to be able to go home later in the day.
Asked whether
the Secretary-General would be away from UN Headquarters for at least a week,
the Spokeswoman said that it was expected that he would be recovering at home
for at least some days next week.
Asked whether
the Secretary-General would meet with officials from the Group of Four nations
on Sunday or Monday, the Spokeswoman said that he did not expect to meet with
any officials over the weekend.
UNITED
NATIONS CONDEMNS TARGETED KILLINGS
The office of the United
Nations Special Coordinator for the
Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO), Alvaro de Soto,
condemns today’s targeted killings of Palestinian
militants in the West
Bank and Gaza.
Without
prejudice to Israel’s right
to legitimate and proportional self-defense, UNSCO reiterates the United
Nations’ consistent and vocal opposition to extra-judicial killings.
The restraint
that Israel has
observed, by and large, in the last few months, has been noted. It is to be
hoped that, at a time when the Palestinian Authority is clearly moving to
enforce law and order, Israel, and all other parties, will refrain from
activities that might contribute to a further escalation of the situation.
Earlier today, Alvaro de
Soto also condemned yesterday’s Qassam rocket fire against Nativ ha’Assara,
which killed an Israeli woman and left others wounded. The incident
illustrated once again the imperative and urgency of ensuring security and
ending violence.
ANNAN
NAMES NEW SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR LIBERIA
The Secretary-General has informed the Security
Council of his intention to appoint
Alan Doss of the United Kingdom as his Special Representative for Liberia
to replace Jacques Klein.
The Security Council is expected to respond
within the next couple of days.
Doss has had a long and
distinguished career with the United Nations. He is currently serving as
Principal Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Côte
d’Ivoire.
U.N.
AIDS EXPERT TO BRIEF SECURITY COUNCIL MONDAY
On Monday morning, Peter
Piot, Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS),
will brief the Security Council on progress made on implementing Security
Council
resolution 1308, which was adopted five years ago and called on the United
Nations and member states to develop effective AIDS education, prevention,
testing and treatment strategies for peacekeepers
ELECTION
REPRESENTATIVE FOR COTE D’IVOIRE NAMED
The Secretary-General has
decided to appoint
António Monteiro of Portugal as the High
Representative for the Elections in Côte d’Ivoire.
Monteiro is a former
Portuguese Foreign Minister and he has also served as Portugal’s Permanent
Representative at the UN.
The
UN Mission in Cote d’Ivoire, meanwhile, reports that it chaired a
reconciliation meeting between ethnic groups inside the zone of confidence as
part of its work to bring peace in a region known for its inter-ethnic
clashes. The UN mission proposes to help rehabilitate the houses that have
been destroyed, rehabilitate the village school and bring the two communities
together in a spirit of peace and reconciliation.
SECURITY
COUNCIL COMMENTS ON SOMALIA, SUDAN
There are no meetings or
consultations of the
Security Council scheduled today.
Yesterday afternoon,
following its consultations on Somalia, the Security Council adopted a
Presidential Statement, expressing its concern at recent disagreements and
increased tensions among Somali leaders.
The Council said it stands
ready to consider in due course a request by the African Union’s Peace and
Security Council for an authorization of an exemption on the arms embargo
imposed against Somalia.
Afterward, Council
President Adamantios Vassilakis of Greece read out a
statement to the press, welcoming the inauguration of the Presidency of
the new Government of National Unity in
Sudan on 9 July. “The members of the Council congratulate the people of
Sudan on this historic event which is the result of the hard work and
determination of the parties,” he said, adding, “For lasting peace in Sudan,
there must be an end to the conflict in Darfur.”
U.N.
MISSION IN HAITI CONDEMNS JOURNALIST MURDER
The
UN Mission in Haiti has issued a
communiqué condemning as “brutal and vile” the murder of Haitian
journalist Jacques Roche, whose body was found Thursday.
The mission said the
attack was also an assault on the freedom of expression and a crime against
the entire Haitian society.
TWO
MILLION VOTERS REGISTERED IN D.R. CONGO
At a rate of 130,000 a
day, the voter registration process in the capital city of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kinshasa, has this week passed
the 2 million mark. DRC has an electorate of an estimated 28 million.
Also in the
DRC, UN peacekeepers conducted yesterday further operations in the Kivus,
the purpose being, as before, to widen the zone of influence of the UN force
there, to flush out armed groups from the area, and
to enhance the confidence of the local population in the peacekeepers.
U.N.
EXPERTS ASK IRAN TO HELP JAILED JOURNALIST
Five senior experts who report on
human rights today expressed their profound concern at the alleged
continued refusal by the Iranian authorities to provide the imprisoned
journalist Akbar Ganji with appropriate medical attention for his severe
asthma.
The medical centre at Evin
prison is reportedly not equipped to treat his asthma, they say in a joint
statement, and Ganji’s health has deteriorated.
The human rights experts
urge the Iranian authorities to take all necessary measures to provide Ganji
with adequate conditions of detention, including the necessary medical
attention as required by his condition.
WORLD
FOOD PROGRAMME SEEKING HELP FOR TOGO
The World Food Programme (WFP) today
appealed for $3 million to feed 66,500 people who were displaced by the
recent political turmoil in
Togo.
So far, WFP has managed to borrow enough funds from
its other operations. But now food stocks are running low and there is no sign
of the refugees returning home, the agency reports.
The food aid would go to Togolese refugees in
Benin and Ghana, internally displaced people within Togo itself, and local
communities that are hosting the displaced.
SMALL
ARMS SPECIALISTS AGREE ON TRACING PLAN
Today is the last day of
the Second Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the
Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in
Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, which ran for a week at UN
Headquarters.
Nearly eighty States
participated in the meeting, which was chaired by Ambassador Pasi Patokallio
of Finland, and submitted detailed reports on progress made in implementing
the Programme of Action.
In addition, a working
group presented the meeting with a politically binding international
instrument to enable States to identify and trace illegal small arms and
light weapons. That instrument will now go before the General Assembly during
its upcoming session.
GENERAL
ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT TO MEET SUNDAY ON U.N. REFORM
General Assembly President Jean
Ping will meet with the G4 Foreign Minister son Sunday morning, at 11:00 in
his office. This will be a closed meeting, but photo-ops will be allowed at
the beginning.
The General Assembly is scheduled
to hold a plenary meeting on Monday at 3:00 pm to discuss the draft resolution
submitted by the African Union on Sec. Council reform.
Ping will be traveling to Gabon
during part of next week. He will be away starting Tuesday and will be back on
Friday, 22 July, the day he plans to submit to the General Assembly a revised
draft out come document for September summit.
The 5th Committee held informal
(closed) consultations this morning from 10:00 to 11:00 on the Capital
Master Plan.
UNESCO
NAMES SEVEN NEW WORLD HERITAGE SITES
The UN Educational Scientific and Cultural
Organization,
UNESCO, has placed seven new sites on its World Heritage List, marking
them for conservation and protection. The sites range from cool fjords in west
Norway to some 244 tropical islands in Mexico.
Other sites on the new list are in South Africa
Egypt, Japan, Thailand and Panama. UNESCO also extended two sites already on
the list; India’s Valley of the flowers National Park and uninhabited islands
off the coast of Scotland.
OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
U.N. ENVOY CALLS ON SUDANESE PARTIES
TO ABIDE BY BOUNDARY COMMISSION’S DECISION:
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan, Jan Pronk,
welcomes the Abyei Boundary Commission’s (ABC) presentation of its final report
to the Presidency of the Government of National Unity. He now calls on all
parties to abide by the decision, and reiterates the UN’s commitment to help the
people of Abyei in building a peaceful future within the framework of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
ALLIANCE OF
CIVILIZATIONS: Asked about
the Trust Fund for the
Alliance of Civilizations, the Spokeswoman noted that the Alliance had only
been launched on Thursday, and there was no money in the Trust Fund yet. She
added that there would be a more formal session of the
Alliance this fall.
THE WEEK
AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS
Monday, July 18
The Security Council has
scheduled an open briefing on Resolution 1308, dealing with HIV/AIDS and UN
peacekeeping.
At 11:15 a.m.,
UNIFEM will hold a press conference to highlight women’s role in preventing and
resolving conflict at the local and regional levels on the eve of a global civil
society conference on conflict prevention, taking place at the UN from the 19-21
July.
Tuesday, July 19
Under-Secretary-General for
Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari will open a three-day session at UN
Headquarters. “From Reaction to Prevention: Civil Society Forging Partnerships
to Prevent Violent Conflict and Build Peace.”
Wednesday, July 20
The Security Council has
scheduled an open meeting on the work of the Counter-Terrorism Committee and the
1267 and 1540 Committees.
At 11:15 a.m.,
UNIFEM is sponsoring a press conference by the Women's Rights Caucus of the
global conference "From Reaction to Prevention - Civil Society Forging
Partnerships to Prevent Violent Conflict and Build Peace."
Thursday, July 21
The Security Council has
scheduled an open meeting, followed by consultations, on the Middle East.
Rosario G.
Manalo, current Chairperson of
the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, will be a
guest at the Noon Briefing
Friday, July 22
The Security Council has
scheduled an open meeting, followed by consultations, on Sudan. The
Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, is expected to
brief the Council.
The guest at the noon
briefing will be Ashraf Qazi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for
Iraq.
Office
of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
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