HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON
BRIEFING
BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
ANNAN ENVOY TO ATTEND GARANG BURIAL
CEREMONY IN SOUTHERN SUDAN
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sudan,
Jan Pronk, will attend the burial ceremony of Vice President John Garang
scheduled to take place in Juba in southern Sudan on Saturday, August 6.
The
UN Mission in Sudan, meanwhile, reports that violence continued today in
various parts of Khartoum and its outskirts. In one incident, southern
Sudanese from squatter and displaced persons’ areas in the outskirts of
Khartoum attacked a market, which they looted.
In another area in the outskirts of Khartoum, northerners
attacked a school and reportedly killed six or seven people, including
children, according to the UN mission. The southerners, the mission says,
reportedly retaliated and killed an Imam from the same area.
A 12-hour curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. remains in effect
in Khartoum.
In southern Sudan, the situation is reported to be calm.
In response to a question, the
Spokesman said that Pronk was in close contact with the Sudanese Government
about the recent violence. He said that the United Nations hopes that these
are isolated events and that calm will quickly return to Khartoum and its
environs.
SECURITY COUNCIL BEGINS WORK UNDER
JAPANESE LEADERSHIP
The
Security Council this morning held consultations to adopt its program of
work for August, in its first meeting under Japan’s Security Council
Presidency. Japanese Ambassador Kenzo Oshima, the Council President, spoke to
reporters about the Council’s work over the coming month.
Also in this morning’s consultations, Council members
received a briefing from Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations
Jean Marie Guéhenno on
Sudan, including the weekend death of Garang.
Council members then went into a formal meeting to adopt
a
Presidential Statement on Sudan, in which the Council expressed its
profound regret over Garang’s death. It called on all Sudanese to honor his
memory by restoring peace and calm throughout Sudan.
Council President Oshima preceded that meeting by
expressing Council members’ regret over the death of King Fahd of Saudi
Arabia.
IRAN CONFIRMS IT WILL RESUME URANIUM
CONVERSION
The
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that it received a
note verbale from Iran yesterday, saying that Iran has decided to resume its
uranium conversion activities at Isfahan.
The Agency, in a letter it wrote in response,
informed Iran that, in order to implement effective safeguards at Iran’s
uranium conversion facility, it would need to install additional surveillance
equipment, as well as to verify the nuclear material in question. The IAEA
further said that it was in the process of preparing the necessary equipment,
which it would be installing sometime next week.
The Agency told Iran that it is essential that Iran
refrain from removing its seals and moving any nuclear material until the
surveillance equipment is installed and the IAEA has verified the material.
Asked about the
Secretary-General’s views about the situation, the Spokesman said that the
Secretary-General urges restraint and patience on the part of the Iranian
authorities. He believes that they should wait for the latest proposal from
the three European States -- France, the United Kingdom and Germany --
before making any attempts to restart their nuclear activities, Dujarric said.
In his dealings with the three
European Union countries, the Secretary-General is convinced that they are
constructively engaged in the search for a solution and therefore encourages
Iranian authorities to continue to work with them. The Secretary-General, he
said, supports the process between the EU-3 and Iran.
U.N. ENVOY WINDS UP TALKS WITH SOMALIA'S
PRESIDENT, PRIME MINISTER
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for
Somalia,
Francois Lonseny Fall, returned to Nairobi yesterday after talks in Jowhar
with President Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi of the
Transitional Federal Government.
Security permitting, Fall plans to visit Mogadishu later
this week for discussions with the Speaker of Parliament, MPs and Cabinet
Ministers, as well as civil society groups there.
Yesterday’s meeting in Jowhar focused on three key
issues: the seat of the transitional Federal Institutions, security and
reconciliation. At a joint press conference following the meeting, Prime
Minister Gedi expressed the Government’s willingness to work with the United
Nations and in particular with Fall on resolving the current difficulties.
MORE THAN 3 MILLION VOTERS REGISTERED
IN D.R. CONGO
At 5:30 pm on Sunday, 31 July, the voter registration
process closed in Kinshasa, the capital of
Democratic Republic of Congo. More than 2.9 million Kinshasa residents
registered, out of an estimated 3.5 million potential voters.
Meanwhile, registration has been continuing for the past
week in the western province of Bas-Congo and in northeastern Orientale
Province. By Sunday, 230,000 people had registered there.
Registration centers are scheduled to open next Sunday in
southeastern Katanga province and in the Central, Eastern and Western Kasai
provinces.
The elections will be the largest ever supported by the
United Nations. The polls are to usher in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo’s first democratic government in some 40 years, and are to replace the
current transitional power-sharing administration.
UNITED NATIONS
HELPS UZBEK REFUGEES IN ROMANIA
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR)
reports that a team of specialists has arrived in Romania to help
organize the resettlement of some 439 Uzbek refugees who arrived last Friday
from Kyrgyzstan. The agency is also negotiating for the release of 15 others
who are still in the Kyrgyz city of Osh.
And, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise
Arbour, issued a statement praising Romania for hosting the refugees on a
temporary basis, while they are awaiting resettlement. Arbour called the
gesture “generous and courageous,” particularly since the country is
recovering from disastrous flooding.
Asked who will take in the
Uzbek refugees, the Spokesman said that was a matter that UNHCR was working on
right now.
U.N. FOOD AGENCY SAYS NIGER CRISIS
APPEAL UNHEEDED
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization today
renewed its call for emergency assistance to drought victims in Niger.
The FAO said the appeal it made in May had gone largely
unheeded. The agency so far has received about an eighth of the money it
requested. Some 2.5 million people are at risk, FAO said.
Also in Niger, the UN Children’s Fund
reports that it has begun a training program for local health workers. The
World Health Organization
says it is working on programs for children suffering from malnutrition.
URGENT FOOD SUPPORT NEEDED FOR SOUTHERN
AFRICA
In addition to Niger, several countries in southern
Africa are entering a critical phase in their chronic food insecurity
situation. That’s the finding of recent assessments by the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO),
World Food Programme (WFP),
and the Southern Africa Development Community.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),
reports that urgent support is needed for the affected countries, which
include Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Zambia.
ANNAN REPORTS ON SIERRA LEONE INTEGRATED
OFFICE PROJECT
The Secretary-General’s addendum to his
report to the Security Council on the
UN Mission in Sierra Leone is out on the racks today. In it, the
Secretary-General outlines his recommendations for the proposed integrated UN
office in that country, and his ideas for security arrangements for the
Special Court there.
The integrated office, which would be established when
the UN peacekeeping mission ends its work in Sierra Leone at the end of this
year, would be headed by an Executive Representative, who would also serve as
a UN Resident Coordinator.
The Security Council has scheduled consultations on
Sierra Leone for August 10.
GENERAL
ASSEMBLY CONTINUES WORK ON SUMMIT DRAFT
The
General Assembly is continuing today its informal consultations on the
revised draft outcome document on UN
reform for the September summit.
General Assembly President Jean Ping plans to submit to
Member Sates a second revised version of the draft outcome document later in
the week, on Friday.
Following the drawing of lots by the Secretary-General
yesterday afternoon, Thailand will occupy the first front row seat in the
General Assembly Hall during the 60th session of the Assembly.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
SECRETARY-GENERAL’S SHOULDER
HEALING NORMALLY: Asked about the
Secretary-General’s health following his shoulder surgery last month, if he
would need further surgery, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General had
said everything was fine. It is only normal, the Spokesman added, that his arm
would still be in a sling at this point.
ANNAN LOOKING FORWARD TO
WORKING WITH U.S. ENVOY: Asked about the
Secretary-General’s meeting today with John Bolton, the Spokesman said that the
Secretary-General had received Bolton’s credentials. “We look forward to
working with him,” Dujarric added.
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