HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING
BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS,
NEW YORK
Thursday, April 6, 2006
SECRETARY-GENERAL
BEGINS VISIT TO SPAIN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Madrid this
morning, and he meting with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero right
about now.
Then, in the evening, the
Secretary-General and Nane Annan will be hosted for dinner by King Juan Carlos
and Queen Sofia.
Earlier today, the Secretary-General
held meetings with UN officials in preparation for the start of tomorrow's
meeting of the
Chief Executives Board, which brings together the UN agencies, funds and
programmes.
He also met with Enrique Iglesias, the
Secretary-General of the Secretariat for the Ibero-American Summits.
Asked about the
Secretary-General’s agenda in the Netherlands and whether it would relate to
former Liberian President Charles Taylor, the Spokesman said the
Secretary-General was going to the Netherlands for the [60th] anniversary of
the International Court of Justice. He was also planning to visit the
International Criminal Court and hold wide-ranging discussions with Dutch
authorities on a number of bilateral matters.
On the issue of Charles
Taylor, it was currently being worked out, and it was the Spokesman’s
understanding that a draft resolution on the matter would be circulated in the
Security Council shortly.
U.N.
COHERENCE PANEL CONCLUDING MEETINGS
Today is the last day of the meeting
of the Secretary-General’s High-level
Panel on UN System-wide Coherence in the Areas of Development,
Humanitarian Assistance, and the Environment.
At 2:30 this afternoon, the Panel’s
co-chairs will brief the press on their work so far. The co-chairs are Prime
Ministers Luisa Dias Diogo of Mozambique, Jens Stoltenberg of Norway, and
Shaukat Aziz of Pakistan. Deputy Secretary-General
Mark Malloch Brown will moderate the press conference.
ANNAN HOPES U.S. WILL SUPPORT WORK OF NEW RIGHTS COUNCIL
Asked for a response to reports that the United
States had decided not to run for a seat on the Human Rights Council, the
Spokesman said he had seen the press reports on that topic. He said that the
Secretary-General was disappointed that the United States had decided not to
participate in those elections. However, the Secretary-General very much hoped
that the United States would continue to be an active player in the defense of
universal human rights, support the work of the new Council, and participate
in the Council’s elections next year.
A number of additional Member States
have submitted to the Secretariat their candidacy for the Human Rights
Council, bringing the number to 35. The website is:
www.un.org/ga/60/elect/hrc/. It being updated
on a daily basis. The elections are scheduled to
take place on 9 May.
UNITED
NATIONS IS PREPARING FOR ASSESSMENT TEAM VISIT TO SUDAN
Asked if the
Secretary-General had managed to speak with the President of Sudan, the
Spokesman said that the Secretary-General had not. However, a message had been
left, and the Sudanese authorities were aware that the Secretary-General
wished to talk to the President.
Fielding a
question about the UN’s efforts to send an assessment team to Sudan, the
Spokesman said he expected a planning team to go to Addis Ababa to work with
the African Union, to see when it would be best to send an assessment team on
to Darfur.
He added that, as
of now, visas had not been requested from the Sudanese Government. However, it
was now important to create the right environment so that the United Nations
could go ahead with the full cooperation of the Government of Sudan, which was
necessary. In addition, visas were “just pieces of paper,” in the sense that
some people had recently managed to obtain them, and yet had been denied
access to their planned destinations.
Asked if
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs
Jan Egeland had decided to accept a belated invitation from the Sudanese
Government to visit Darfur, the Spokesman replied that Egeland had seen the
media reports that Sudan was now willing to allow him to visit. However,
neither he nor anyone else at the United Nations had received any official
communication from the Government of Sudan on that. Once Egeland officially
received such an invitation, he would review it and make a decision.
U.N.
ENVOY IN COTE D'IVOIRE MEETS AFRICAN UNION CHAIRMAN
The Secretary-General’s Special
Representative in Côte d’Ivoire,
Pierre Schori, this evening will meet with the Chairman of the African
Union (AU), President Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo, who is in
Abidjan for talks aimed at moving along the peace process in Côte d’Ivoire
Schori and the AU chairman will
discuss ways to carry out the roadmap for peace.
SOME SUCCESSES
REPORTED IN BATTLING BIRD FLU
The
UN Food and Agriculture Organization said today that, despite the fact
that bird flu has been confirmed in at least 45 countries, efforts to combat
it are proving successful on many fronts.
The agency said that early detection,
vaccination, and compensation programmes in Asia, particularly in Thailand,
Viet Nam and China, appear to have reduced the transmission of the disease
from poultry to humans.
FOOD AID OPERATION TO START IN MINDANAO
The World Food Programme today
announced that it will provide food aid to the Philippines’ autonomous
region of Mindanao, to support the government’s effort to end the
long-standing conflict there.
Plans are underway to start a $27
million food aid operation to help more than two million people from poor and
conflict-torn communities, especially families displaced by violence, former
combatants, poor women, and children.
BELGIUM
AND CUBA CONTRIBUTE TO THE BUDGET
Yesterday’s arrival of cheques from
Belgium and Cuba brought to 73 the number of Member States that have paid in
full their portions of the regular UN budget. Belgium sent in $18,243,534, and
Cuba $815,971.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY WILL BEGIN TO REVIEW
MANDATES
According to an update by the General Assembly
Spokesperson, tomorrow morning,
the General Assembly will hold informal
consultations of the plenary to begin its consideration of the
review of mandates. Assistant Secretary-General Bob Orr is expected to
introduce the report of the Secretary-General in the consultations, which will
be co-chaired by Ambassador Allan Rock of Canada and Ambassador Munir Akram of
Pakistan.
Earlier this week, the President sent
a letter to all Member States announcing that he would convene a meeting of
the Open-Ended Working Group on Security Council reform on 20 April. The
President has invited Member States to comment on developments since the
debate on this subject in the General Assembly last November, and wrote that
he hoped for a constructive and creative exchange of views towards reaching
general agreement on this essential element of the reform agenda. He will
also seek endorsement of the Vice-Chairpersons he has proposed for this
Working Group: Ambassador Paulette Bethel of the Bahamas and Ambassador Frank
Majoor of the Netherlands.
On Monday afternoon, President
Eliasson will be travelling to The Hague, to participate in the ceremonies on
12 April observing the 60th anniversary of the
International Court of Justice. He will return to New York on the afternoon of
13 April.
OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
U.N. STUDYING LETTER FROM PALESTINIAN OBSERVER
MISSION: Asked for a response to the
letter recently received by the Secretary-General from the Palestinian Observer
Mission, the Spokesman said that the letter was still being studied. Asked to
comment on press reports about different versions of the letter, the Spokesman
said that only the official letter, as received from the Palestinian Observer
Mission, was being looked at.
SPOKESMAN SAYS CASE OF ARRESTED HAMAS MINISTER NOW
CLOSED: Asked for a reaction to today’s
arrest by the Israeli authorities of a Palestinian minister, the Spokesman said
that, as he understood it, the case was now closed as the minister been
released. Pressed for a legal opinion from the United Nations as to whether or
not the Palestinian minister had a right to be at the location where he was
detained, the Spokesman declined to answer.
U.N. OFFICIALS DON’T PARTICIPATE IN POLITICAL
RALLIES: Asked if any UN officials would
be participating in an upcoming march in Washington concerning Darfur, the
Spokesman replied that, as a rule, UN officials do not take part in political
rallies.
U.N. UPGRADES PRESS RELEASE SYSTEM:
The Department of Public Information (DPI) today announced
the launch of a new website for United Nations press releases and meetings
coverage summaries, in English and French,
at:
http://www.un.org/apps/pressreleases/. DPI
said the new site provides quick access to coverage of intergovernmental
meetings -- some as they are still in progress-- plus the latest statements by
the Secretary-General, transcripts of the Spokesman’s noon briefing, summaries
of press conferences, departmental and UN system releases. . It also provides
search functions for these various resources, dating back to October 1995, as
well as links to various news and media-related sites at United Nations
Headquarters and overseas offices. Managed by DPI’s
Meetings Coverage Section, the web site can be accessed directly from the
Organization’s main website,
http://www.un.org .
***The guest at today’s noon
briefing was the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for West Africa,
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah who participated in this week’s Economic and Social
Council dialogue on Full Employment and Decent Work.
Office
of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 100178
Tel. 212-963-7162 - press/media only
Fax. 212-963-7055
All other inquiries to be addressed to (212) 963-4475 or by e-mail to: inquiries@un.org