HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING
BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Wednesday, 25 January 2006
ANNAN SENDS LEGAL CHIEF TO LEBANON TO DISCUSS INTERNATIONAL COURT
The Secretary-General has requested the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, Nicolas Michel, to travel to Beirut this week. Mr. Michel will meet with Lebanese officials to discuss the process for helping the Lebanese authorities to identify the nature and scope of the international assistance needed for those charged with the killing of former Prime Minister Hariri and others to be tried by a tribunal of an international character in keeping with resolution 1644 (2005).
Asked whether the United Nations has any recommendations on expanding the investigation in Lebanon, the Spokesman said that for now, Nicolas Michel will be listening to senior Lebanese Government officials, to find out what the Government wants. He noted that this is the beginning of a process.
SRI LANKA: ANNAN PLEASED THAT DIRECT TALKS WILL TAKE PLACE
The Secretary-General is very pleased to learn that, for the first time since April 2003, the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have agreed to hold direct talks in mid-February in Geneva.
The Secretary-General welcomes the renewed efforts by the Government of Norway to facilitate the resumption of talks. To advance the peace process, it will be important to put an end to the escalating violence in the North and East and to strictly uphold the ceasefire. The people of Sri Lanka deserve a new hope that peace could be in reach.
SECURITY COUNCIL CONDEMNS ATTACK AGAINST U.N. PEACEKEEPERS IN D.R. CONGO
The Security Council held consultations today on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), to discuss the latest report by the Secretary-General on that mission, which recommended a six-month extension for the peacekeepers. The Council was briefed by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi.
After that discussion, Council members held consultations on a Presidential Statement concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). They then went into a formal meeting to adopt that Statement, which condemns the recent attack against UN peacekeepers in DRC.
SPORTS CAN FOSTER PEACE, ANNAN SAYS IN SWITZERLAND
The Secretary-General is in Davos, where he attended the opening Media Lunch at the World Economic Forum, on “the Impact of Sports in the World.”
He talked about sports as a powerful tool for fostering understanding, tolerance and peace, noting that the United Nations is drawing increasingly on the potential of sport in its work around the world.
The Secretary-General said he believed the period of the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Turin is long enough for people who are destroying their own countries and killing each other to pause for a moment, look around them and see the damage they are doing. He added, “Hopefully some of them will not pick up the weapons again and realize there is another way.”
The Secretary-General also held a number of meetings with the leaders from the business and political world and opinion makers gathered at Davos. Among them, he met with Amre Moussa, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, and also with Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Tomorrow evening, the Secretary-General will address the plenary discussion on “A New Mindset for the UN.”
SUDAN: U.N. ENVOY CALLS ON DARFUR REBELS NOT TO HARASS HUMANITARIAN WORKERS
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, has called on all parties in Darfur – and in particular the rebel movements there – to exercise restraint and to allow humanitarian workers free passage.
His call follows an attack Monday by the rebel Sudan Liberation Army on an 80-truck convoy in North Darfur in which around 20 government police officers escorting the vehicles were killed.
Meanwhile, the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) says that one of its helicopters crashed shortly after take-off today in the village of Dyalla near Golo in the Jebel Marra area, in West Darfur. The helicopter had been carrying 3 crew members and 13 staff members from non-government organizations.
The latest information from the Mission is that one of the passengers is missing and that the rest of them survived with no life threatening injuries. The helicopter has been sent to Dyalla to evacuate NGO staff members due fighting in the area between the Sudan Liberation Army and the Sudanese Armed Forces.
The UN Mission has sent a rescue team to evacuate the injured.
NEW DATA SHOWS GROWING AIDS EPIDEMIC IN CHINA
China’s AIDS epidemic shows no signs of abating, according to a report released today by the Chinese Ministry of Health, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The report shows that an estimated 70,000 new HIV infections occurred in China in 2005 and that 650,000 people are now living with the virus there.
UNAIDS and WHO commend the Chinese Government’s work on improving its surveillance systems and data collection, but also urge it to support further work on HIV prevention, treatment and care throughout the country.
U.N. AGENCIES WORK TO STEM MENINGITIS OUTBREAK IN UGANDA
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that more than 200,000 vaccine doses and syringes, are needed to immunize approximately 133,000 Ugandans, following a meningitis outbreak in that country. The majority of the 175 cases, which include 11 fatalities, have been reported in western Uganda, but four cases have been confirmed in neighboring Kenya as well.
So far, WHO and its partner Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) have provided enough medicine to treat between 800 and 1,000 patients. WHO is also working with UNICEF and the Ugandan Ministry of Health to alert communities, increase awareness, and bring about quick referrals of suspected cases to designated health facilities.
According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the situation is made worse by the extremely dry weather, which has concentrated nomadic populations in crowded temporary settlements, thereby contributing to the disease’s rapid transmission.
ANNAN TO MEET WITH HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS IN SWITZERLAND
This week is Holocaust remembrance week, and tomorrow morning, from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m., the Department of Public Information’s Non-Governmental Organizations Section will hold a briefing on that topic in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium. Dan Gillerman, Permanent Representative of Israel to the UN, and Judea Pearl of the Daniel Pearl Foundation will speak.
Also tomorrow, a candlelight vigil will be held in the visitors’ lobby from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Under-Secretary-General for Public Information Shashi Tharoor will introduce six Holocaust survivors, who will each light a candle representing the six million Jews who died and read excerpts from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
On Friday in Zurich, Switzerland, the Secretary-General is scheduled to meet with Auschwitz survivors and young people to mark the first international Holocaust remembrance day.
Also on Friday, Shashi Tharoor, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, will hold the first universal observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust under the theme “Remembrance and Beyond” in the General Assembly hall from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. The day designated by the General Assembly, 27 January, is the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.
SPOKESMAN: ANNAN HOPES MERCEDES MATTER WILL BE RESOLVED
Asked repeatedly about a Mercedes, mentioned in the September report of the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) headed by Paul Volcker, the Spokesman said that the matter of the tax emption having been granted by the government of Ghana is being dealt with by the Secretary-General’s son, Kojo Annan, and the Ghanaian authorities.
Queried about a recent accident involving the car and its current status, the Spokesmna encouraged the correspondent to call Kojo Annan’s lawyers. The Mercedes, he said, is Kojo Annan’s business.
Asked numerous times about the history of the car’s ownership, the Spokesman said that, as Volcker’s report made clear, the Secretary-General had provided money to his son for the purchase of a car, but was not aware that the car was being purchased in his own name.
The Secretary-General very much hopes that his son will be able to settle the matter of the tax exemption and do the right thing, Dujarric added. Kojo Annan, at the urging of his father, is trying to do the right thing, he said.
PROCUREMENT REPORT WILL GO TO INTERESTED MEMBER STATES
Asked whether the Office of Internal Oversight Service’s (OIOS) report on a procurement audit has gone to Member States, the Spokesman said that the OIOS report is in the process of being made available to interested Member States. He noted, in response to questions, that the OIOS is looking at arrangements to make that report available to the States that request it.
Asked about one staff member who said there had been a vendetta against some staff, the Spokesman noted that a number of people have been placed on special leave, but said that was an administrative measure and not a disciplinary one. He would not discuss specific names of people placed on leave.
Asked whether there were any guidelines for the length of time between when staff members could leave UN procurement and when they could begin work for private sector companies, the Spokesman said there was not, but that the issue of “revolving door” policy would be examined by the new Ethics Office to examine.
ANNAN CLOSELY FOLLOWING IRAN-RUSSIA DISCUSSIONS
Asked about the talks between Iran and Russia on enriched uranium, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General has been closely watching the discussions between Russia and Iran, which appear to be encouraging.
Asked about comments from the Secretary-General that the International Atomic Energy Agency’s special session next week was not likely to lead to a referral to the Security Council, the Spokesman said that the referral of the matter is up to Member States.
The Secretary-General, he said, has always encouraged continued discussions within an IAEA context. The Secretary-General, he added, was also encouraging the Iranians to halt nuclear fuel research. He noted that the Secretary-General was speaking to IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei today.
UNITED NATIONS WILL WORK TO BRING BACK N.G.O. SPEAKER
Asked about the exclusion of a Pakistani woman, Mukhtar Mai, from a speaking engagement at the United Nations last week, the Spokesman said that was an unfortunate matter.
He said that the decision to cancel her speaking engagement was done at the NGO section of Economic and Social Affairs, and added that, if senior management at the United Nations had been aware of the matter, they would have found a way to have Mukhtar Mai speak.
He noted that there was a phone call today between UN Chef de Cabinet Mark Malloch Brown and Munir Akram, the Pakistani Ambassador to the United Nations, in which it was made clear that the United Nations will contact the non-governmental organization that had sponsored Mukhtar Mari so that she will have a forum to speak.
Her story, Dujarric said, is an important one, and the United Nations will try to find a way to bring her back.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
NICOLE KIDMAN JOINS U.N. WOMEN’S FUND AS AMBASSADOR: The UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) is kicking off its 30th anniversary with the appointment of actress Nicole Kidman as its new Goodwill Ambassador. The Fund will hold a press conference tomorrow in New York, where she will be introduced by UNIFEM’s Executive Director Noeleen Heyzer. In her new role, Ms Kidman will work with UNIFEM to advance women’s rights and gender equality around the world, focusing special attention on critical gender concerns such as ending violence against women.
STATES MUST SHOW COMMITMENT TO NUCLEAR TREATY: Asked about recent comments made by the French President on the use of nuclear arms, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General has repeatedly made it clear that Member States need to demonstrate their seriousness in dealing with nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. He believes that all nations need to show their commitment to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and to take concrete measures to ensure that nuclear weapons will neither be tested nor used.
U.N. URGENTLY NEEDS DONATIONS FOR DROUGHT-HIT KENYA: Turning now to northern and eastern Kenya, which has been plagued by drought, the World Food Programme (WFP) today said that it would run out of food aid within weeks for 2.5 million people there, unless new donations were received immediately. Warning that a “humanitarian disaster” was brewing, the agency said it didn’t even have enough for the 1.2 million people it was currently feeding, let alone for the expected increase to 2.5 million next month.
IRAQ MONITORING BODY MEETS IN PARIS: The International Advisory and Monitoring Board for Iraq (IAMB), the audit oversight body for the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), met this week in Paris. Its next press release could be out on the IAMB web site as early as Friday, but more likely on Monday.
NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED HITS RECORD HIGH: The International Labour Organization (ILO) today said the world is facing an “unprecedented global jobs crisis of mammoth proportions.” In a statement issued at the World Economic Forum in Davos, ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said the number of people out of work, worldwide, is at its highest point ever and continues to rise. He said about half of the unemployed are young people. Somavia urged delegates to make decent, sustainable work a top priority in development planning, and to promote training.
MAURICE STRONG: Asked what Maurice Strong was going to come back to work for the United Nations, the Spokesman said he status was unchanged.
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