HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Tuesday, September 5, 2006
ANNAN WILL DESIGNATE FACILITATOR TO WORK
ON ISRAELI-LEBANESE PRISONER RELEASE
Secretary-General Kofi Annan was
in Egypt today, where he met in Alexandria with President Hosni Mubarak and
Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
Following those meetings, he held a
joint press
conference with the Foreign Minister, in which he said he was leaving the
region quite satisfied with the discussions that he has had. He said that he
was convinced that the countries in the region would work for the full
implementation of Security Council
resolution 1701 and added, “The ceasefire is fragile, but I believe we are
taking steps to consolidate it.”
With regards to the abducted Israeli
soldiers and the Lebanese prisoners, the Secretary-General said that he has
accepted appointing a facilitator who will work with the two parties to find a
solution to this problem. Speaking to the press yesterday in Saudi Arabia, the
Secretary-General said he would designate someone “discreetly and quietly” to
work to find a solution.
Over the past three days, the
Secretary-General met with the leaders of Iran, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Following his meeting on Sunday with
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Secretary-General said that the
President had reaffirmed his country's support for the implementation of
resolution 1701. “He has indicated that Tehran will
work with us in a collective effort to reconstruct Lebanon,” the
Secretary-General added. He is now travelling to Turkey.
Asked about the identity of the
facilitator, the Spokesman said he did not know who that person was, and said
he had nothing to add to the Secretary-General’s comments.
The Secretary-General, he said, had
received the accord of both parties to appoint a facilitator. The
Secretary-General, Dujarric added, feels confident that he has the backing of
both sides to continue on this path.
The Spokesman, in response to a
question, clarified that the official was called a “facilitator” and not
“mediator”.
Asked why the Secretary-General had
announced the facilitator’s appointment, the Spokesman said that the
Secretary-General had felt that he needed to make that announcement. Dujarric
said the announcement should come as no surprise, following the
Secretary-General’s statements in Lebanon and in Israel that his good offices
were available to resolve this issue.
Asked about the Secretary-General’s
interlocutors in Lebanon, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General and
his party have been talking to Lebanese Government officials, including
ministers in that government who are from Hezbollah.
Asked about a possible exchange of
prisoners among Israelis and Palestinians, the Spokesman said the
Secretary-General’s focus has been on the Lebanese-Israeli prisoner issue,
although the United Nations is aware of the reports concerning Corporal Gilad
Shalit.
Asked about the Palestinian
legislators who have been arrested, Dujarric said that the Secretary-General
had raised the issue of the Palestinian legislators with the Israeli
authorities and with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The
Secretary-General expressed his concern and called for their release.
Asked about the possibility that the
blockade on Lebanon could be lifted, the Spokesman said that the
Secretary-General today had expressed his hope that the blockade could be
lifted in the next 48 hours, following his conversations with a number of
officials in the region and in Europe. It is one of the top issues on the
agenda in his discussions with leaders he has met in the region.
Asked whether there is a need for a
high-level Security Council meeting on a new Middle East initiative, the
Spokesman noted that resolution 1701 points out the need to revitalize a
comprehensive peace process in the Middle East. Dujarric added that he
discussed this issue with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.
Asked whether the Middle East Quartet
is finished, the Spokesman said, that during this trip, the Secretary-General
is fulfilling his work under resolution 1701, but that should not be
interpreted as any step away from the Quartet’s work. "The trip should not be
seen as an obituary for the Quartet," he added.
ISRAELI
FORCES WITHDRAWS FROM SEVERAL AREAS IN SOUTHERN
LEBANON
The
UN Interim Force in
Lebanon (UNIFIL) reports that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) withdrew
yesterday from several areas in
southern Lebanon. The UNIFIL Ghanaian Battalion established seven new
checkpoints and carried out intensive patrolling in the area, confirming that
the IDF were no longer present there.
The Lebanese Army is to deploy in the
areas that were vacated by the IDF today. Earlier today, the Lebanese Army
moved into the southern town of Bint Jubayl for the first time in three
decades, a day after UN peacekeepers went into the town after Israeli forces
vacated it.
Over the past 24 hours, a total of
eight Israeli air violations were reported by UNIFIL.
A UN de-mining team from the Chinese
contingent disposed of over 1260 unexploded ordnances during the past week.
On Saturday and Sunday, meanwhile, the
first large contingent of 880 Italian troops arrived in Lebanon, joining
UNIFIL II. It is expected that on 10 September, an additional Italian company
of 120 officers and soldiers will arrive in South Lebanon. The total number of
UNIFIL troops is currently estimated at approximately 3,100.
Asked whether Israel has accepted
Muslim countries in the expanded UNIFIL, the Spokesman said that the United
Nations is working with Indonesia to deploy their troops as soon as possible
to the theatre. The United Nations is also talking to Qatar, which just
announced that it would join UNIFIL.
He reiterated that the UN force was
expected to include countries from various regions, and for it to have
political and military legitimacy.
Asked about other troop contributors,
Dujarric said that Spain and Turkey could also be expected to join the force.
The United Nations, he said, feels
confident that UNIFIL can reach the level of 5,000 troops by mid-September,
with the full force deployed within about 90 days.
Asked whether there is a troop
contributors meeting for UNIFIL, the Spokesman later said that there is a
technical level meeting today, just involving those countries that have
offered support for the maritime task force in Lebanon.
Asked about the investigation into the
attack on the UN base in Khiam, the Spokesman said that the UN’s board of
inquiry was at work talking to Israeli officials and to UNIFIL people on the
ground.
Asked about the air violations, the
Spokesman noted that those violations are reported to the Security Council on
a daily basis.
Asked about demining work in Lebanon,
the Spokesman said that the main UN demining unit from UNIFIL is Chinese,
while a British non-governmental organization was working on the civilian side
with the UN Mine Action Service.
EFFORTS ARE UNDERWAY TO
REHABILITATE LEBANON’S WATER SYSTEM
The
UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that it is working with the Lebanese
authorities to try to rehabilitate the water system that used to serve up to
750,000 people in the south. UNICEF is also fixing labels on the bottled water
it is distributing, to better inform families and children about the threat of
unexploded ordnance.
Meanwhile, the
Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees has helped a Lebanese NGO to set up a summer
camp in the town of Jezzine, to help children who were emotionally affected by
the war.
ANNAN:
DARFUR AT A “CRITICAL STAGE;”
CONSENT FOR U.N. FORCE NEEDED FROM SUDANESE GOVERNMENT
While in Alexandria, the
Secretary-General was also asked
about
Darfur, which he
described was at a “very critical stage” and again reiterated his position
regarding the need for the consent and cooperation of the Sudanese government
for the UN operation there.
He went on to say, the international
community has been feeding and helping about three million people in camps and
elsewhere in Darfur, and if it were forced to leave because of lack of
security, lack of access to the people, then what happens?
“The government,” he said, “will have
to assume responsibility for doing this and, if it doesn't succeed, it will
have lots of questions to answer to the rest of the world.”
He again said that the international
forces were going to help the Sudanese people, to help the government protect
the people and assist them. “We are not going there to invade. We have no
other intentions,” he said.
Asked what the United Nations will do
to deal with Sudan, the Spokesman said the Secretary-General had been explicit
in his description of the situation there as tragic, and had made clear that
the United Nations was not going in as an invading force.
The Secretary-General, he said, was
worried by the presence of Sudanese military assets in Darfur, and wanted to
see movement on this issue. The Secretary-General, he noted, had stressed
governments’ responsibility to protect their own people.
Asked what happens if agreement cannot
be obtained on a UN force, the Spokesman said it was clear that a long
transition from an African Union force to a UN force is needed, and the United
Nations is working with the African Union on that. The Sudanese Government
must also make efforts in this regard, he said.
SECURITY
SITUATION REMAINS VOLATILE IN DARFUR
The
UN Mission in Sudan
(UNMIS) says that the security situation in
Darfur remains volatile particularly in North Darfur with reports of
clashes between the signatories and non-signatories to the
Darfur Peace Agreement.
In North Darfur, near El Fasher, a
nurse working for the International Rescue Committee was killed last Friday,
and the health centre where he worked was looted, along with a pharmacy and
guesthouse.
UNMIS has condemned this latest death
of another humanitarian worker in Darfur.
Also in North Darfur, a team from the
African Union Mission in Sudan was held up over the weekend by twelve armed
men while escorting women who were collecting firewood.
The armed men took away weapons and
ammunition as well one vehicle belonging to the African Union.
SECURITY
COUNCIL MET ON PROGRAMME OF WORK FOR SEPTEMBER
The
Security Council held consultations
this morning on the program of
work for the month of September and other matters.
At 1:00 p.m., the
Council President for the
month of September, Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis of Greece briefed
on that program.
U.N.
ENVOY URGES CONSTRUCTIVE TALKS FOR SOMALIA
The Secretary-General’s Special
Representative for Somalia,
Francois
Lonseny Fall, attended the second round of talks between the Transitional
Federal Government of Somalia and the Union of Islamic Courts.
Speaking at the talks in Khartoum,
Fall urged both delegations to enter into a meaningful and constructive
dialogue, which would begin to address the key issues that divided the two
parties.
And on the humanitarian front, the
World Food Programme (WFP) reports that a
WFP-chartered ship docked over the weekend in Mogadishu. It was the agency’s
first delivery in the Somali capital’s port in more than a decade.The ship was
carrying more than 3,000 tons of food, which will now be trucked to
drought-stricken regions in the southern part of the country.
Asked about reports indicating an
agreement among the Somali parties, the Spokesman said that the
Department of Political Affairs was
considering issuing a statement on that matter later today.
D.R. CONGO IS
FIRST STOP ON HUMANITARIAN CHIEF'S TRIP TO
AFRICA
The UN Under-Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator,
Jan
Egeland, arrived in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo today, on the first leg of an eight-day,
three-nation mission to Africa.
Addressing the national press upon his
arrival in Kinshasa, Egeland said he has a key message, which he will deliver
to the national authorities – and that is that “the culture of impunity has to
end.”
During the course of the day, Egeland
held meetings with the UN officials and donors, as well as staff from the
Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs.
Egeland is expected to travel to the
southernmost province of Katanga tomorrow, where he will visit camps for
internally displaced persons as well as some of the towns that have been
seriously affected by fighting throughout the past decade.
Other stops on Egeland’s mission are
expected to include Uganda and Juba,
Sudan.
Asked about the postponement of the
announcement of electoral results in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the
Spokesman said that the UN Organization
Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in that country
understands that the announcement of the provisional results has been delayed,
not only because of the arrest of election workers, but mainly because of the
violent events in Kinshasa that took place on 20-22 August.
The Independent Electoral Commission
(IEC) was not able to work during the three days involved, and this affected
its calendar. The most important thing, the Spokesman said, is that the IEC
said this delay will not affect the electoral calendar; which means that the
second round of the presidential election remains set for 29 October.
AFGHANISTAN’S OPIUM CULTIVATION HAS RISEN AT ALARMING
RATE
Opium cultivation in Afghanistan rose 59% in 2006, largely
due to a dramatic increase in the southern provinces, the
UN Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC)
said on Saturday.
UNODC’s Annual Opium Survey for
Afghanistan showed the area under opium cultivation reached a record 165,000
hectares in 2006, compared with 104,000 in 2005.
“These are very alarming numbers,”
UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said in Kabul after presenting
the survey to Afghan President Hamid Karzai. “Afghanistan is increasingly
hooked on its own drug.”
Meanwhile, a two-day
UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) workshop
designed to help raise students' awareness of
HIV/AIDS has been held in Kabul.
LAST OF
LIBERIAN REFUGEES RETURN HOME FROM SOUTHERN GUINEA
The final convoy of the
Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) voluntary repatriation programme – for
Liberian refugees in the Kissidougou region of southern Guinea – was
completed last week.
The stage has now been set for the
closure later this month of UNHCR’s field office in that region after 18
years.
Since the beginning of organised
voluntary repatriation to Liberia in November 2004, over 38,000 Liberians
refugees have been repatriated with UNHCR assistance.
Meanwhile, the Government of Liberia
and the UN Children’s Fund yesterday
launched a five-day campaign to give Vitamin A supplements and deworming
tablets to more than 500,000 Liberian children under the age of five.
GENERAL
ASSEMBLY EXPECTED TO MEET FRIDAY TO TAKE ACTION
The President of the
General Assembly,
Jan Eliasson,
will be returning to Headquarters this afternoon, for a week of intensive work
to wrap up the 60th session, according to the President’s
Spokesperson.
The President issued a letter to
Member States last week outlining three important areas of outstanding work,
and stated that he is convinced that, with flexibility and a constructive
spirit, substantial outcomes on each of these issues are within reach. Those
areas are: a counter-terrorism strategy; reform of the Economic and Social
Council; and revitalization of the General Assembly.
It is anticipated that the Assembly
will meet in Plenary on Friday to take action on some of these areas, with the
remainder to be taken up at the closing meeting of the 60th Session
on Monday, 11 September. President Eliasson will then give a wrap-up press
briefing on 11 September. The time for this is to be confirmed.
Today at 4:00 p.m., the General
Assembly will meet in Plenary to take action on a draft resolution on the
situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. By this draft resolution,
the Assembly would express concern at the wide-scale fires in that region, and
stress the necessity of urgently conducting an environmental operation to
suppress the fires. A vote has been requested by Armenia.
Also, the spokesperson for the
President of the 61st session of the General Assembly will be Gail
Bindley-Taylor Sainté, and Freh Bekele will be staying on as Assistant to the
Spokesperson, at least through December.
OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
HIGH-LEVEL GROUP OF
ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS HOLDS WORKING MEETING:
The
High-level Group of the
Alliance of
Civilizations is holding a working meeting at UN Headquarters today and
tomorrow, to review the draft report that is scheduled to be presented to the
Secretary-General in mid-November. On Wednesday at
1:00 p.m., the co-chairs of the Group, Federico Mayor of Spain and Mehmet Aydin
of Turkey, will brief the press on the Alliance’s work.
HOST COUNTRIES HAVE RESPONSIBILITIES
REGARDING ACCESS TO U.N. MEETINGS: Asked whether
the host country could refuse entry to a Head of State, the Spokesman noted that
every country that hosts UN offices has responsibilities regarding allowing
access to UN meetings.
HEAD OF U.N. OFFICE IN BURUNDI
REMAINS IN PLACE: Asked whether Burundi has asked
for the expulsion of the head of the UN office in that country, the Spokesman
said that the head of the office remains at work.
Deforestation causes global warminG: Between 25%
and 30% of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere each year – 1.6
billion tonnes – is caused by deforestation. 200 experts from developing
countries met in Rome last week to address this issue in a workshop
organized by the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change and hosted by the
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). “We are working to solve two of the
key environmental issues – deforestation and global warming – at the same time,”
said FAO Senior Forestry Officer Dieter Schoene.
WORLD IS IN
DANGER OF MISSING TARGETS FOR PROVIDING CLEAN WATER:
A new
report from the World Health Organization
and UN Children’s Fund
says that the world is in danger of missing targets, for providing clean
water and sanitation. According to the report, the rapid population growth in
urban areas is putting great pressure on the provision of services and the
health of poor people.
FAO project achieveS Record rice yields for Egypt:
Egypt has
achieved
record rice yields with varieties that included hybrids developed locally under
a Food and Agriculture Organization-led
project. Egypt's average yields were boosted by the introduction of
newly-developed hybrid varieties such as SK 2034 and SK 2046, which outperformed
the best local varieties by 20-30%.
Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
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