HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
U.N. HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Monday, October 9, 2006
SECURITY COUNCIL RECOMMENDS BAN KI-MOON
AS NEXT SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS
The
Security Council recommended to the
General Assembly that Foreign
Minister Ban Ki-moon of the Republic of Korea
be appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations for a
five-year term starting January 1, 2007.
That recommendation was made in a
resolution adopted in a private meeting by acclamation.
The President of the General
Assembly has received a letter from the President of the Security Council
informing her of the Council’s recommendation and will
consult the Chairs of the regional groups as soon as
possible to determine a date for the appointment.
ANNAN
WELCOMES DECISION ON NEXT SECRETARY-GENERAL
Secretary-General Kofi Annan
welcomes the
decision of the Security Council to recommend His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon,
Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea, to the General Assembly for
appointment as the next Secretary-General of the United Nations.
He has the highest respect for Mr.
Ban, having had the pleasure of working with him both in his present capacity
and when he was Chef de Cabinet to the President of the General Assembly.
The Secretary-General hopes that the
General Assembly will be able to reach a decision on this important matter in
the near future, so that the incoming Secretary-General designate will have
time to prepare fully for his assumption of office on 1 January.
For his part, the Secretary-General
will do everything possible to ensure a smooth transition.
Asked whether the
Secretary-General would ask for all Under-Secretaries-General to resign, the
Spokesman said that would be a decision for the next Secretary-General to
take. He noted that in the past, some senior UN officials have resigned during
transitions. He added that the contracts of most senior officials end this
coming January or February.
SECURITY COUNCIL CONDEMNS NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR TEST
The Security Council today held
consultations on the nuclear test announcement by the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Security Council President Ambassador
Kenzo Oshima told reporters that Council members strongly condemned the DPRK
claim and once again urged it to refrain from further testing and return to
the so-called six-party talks.
He said an expert-level meeting was
scheduled at 3 p.m. today to discuss a draft resolution.
ANNAN: NORTH KOREAN
NUCLEAR TEST FLOUTS INTERNATIONAL NORMS
The Secretary-General is
deeply concerned
by the news that the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
has conducted a nuclear test, in spite of repeated worldwide efforts to
discourage it from doing so. This action violates international norms of
disarmament and non-proliferation, as well as the current international
moratorium on nuclear testing. It aggravates regional tensions in and around
the Korean Peninsula, and jeopardizes security both in the region and beyond.
The Secretary-General calls on all
parties to respond to this grave challenge in a constructive manner, and calls
for serious negotiations to be renewed urgently in the framework of the
six-party talks.
The Secretary-General views this test
as yet another reason for the international community to renew its collective
effort to bring the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty into force and to make progress towards
multilateral nuclear disarmament.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Director General Mohamed ElBaradei
said this reported nuclear test threatens the nuclear non-proliferation
regime and creates serious security challenges not only for the East Asian
region but also for the international community. He said the breaking of a de
facto global moratorium on nuclear explosive testing that has been in place
for nearly a decade and the addition of a new State with nuclear weapon
capacity is a clear setback to international commitments to move towards
nuclear disarmament.
Asked whether the
Secretary-General planned to appoint a new special envoy to deal with the
DPRK, the Spokesman said he was not aware of any plan to do so. However, he
added, the Secretary-General continues to follow the situation closely, with
the Department of Political Affairs in the lead. The Secretary-General,
Dujarric reiterated, feels strongly that the best way forward is a negotiated
settlement through six-party talks.
The Spokesman added that the
Secretary-General hopes that the Security Council will act on this issue and
come to a decision in a unified manner.
The Spokesman declined to
speculate on the timing of the DPRK’s actions.
SECURITY COUNCIL REAFFIRMS READINESS
TO SEND MISSION TO AFGHANISTAN
The Security Council also held a
private meeting on Afghanistan.
Tom Koenigs, the Secretary-General's
Special Representative for that country, and Antonio Maria Costa, Executive
Director of the Office on
Drugs and Crime, are at that meeting to talk about recent developments.
[Following the meeting, the Council President, Ambassador
Oshima, read out a press
statement in which Council members expressed
their concern by the security situation in Afghanistan, in
particular in the south and south east, as the Taliban, Al Qaida and other
extremist elements seek to disrupt the work of the Afghan National Security
Forces and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to underpin the
extension of Afghan Government authority throughout the country. They
affirmed their willingness to send a Security Council mission to Afghanistan
at an appropriate time, possibly in November this year, to review the
situation on the ground and to give Afghanistan and its people a message of
assurance of the Council's continuing commitment.]
U.N.
RIGHTS CHIEF CALLS FOR PROBE OF DARFUR MILITIA ATTACKS
The
UN Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is
urging the Government of Sudan to order an independent investigation into
recent militia attacks that may have left hundreds of civilians dead in
South Darfur."
In a
report
prepared with the U.N.
Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) and issued today, OHCHR
says that 300 to 1000 armed militia from the Habbania Arab tribe carried out a
series of attacks on some 45 villages in the Buram locality of South Darfur in
late August.
The death toll is estimated to be as
many as several hundred people – and the attacks appear to have been carried
out with the authorities’ knowledge and support.
Meanwhile, UNMIS has
received reports that three armed men carjacked an NGO vehicle in Kambud
village, north of Kutum in North Darfur, over the weekend.
In South Darfur late last week, UNMIS
says the African Union operation received reports of 25 new cases of
abduction, rape, harassment, torture and other human rights violations against
local residents and internally displaced people.
Also late last week, in West Darfur,
UNMIS says it has received various reports of violence, including an attack by
armed men at the western outskirts of Masteri during which the men stole
cattle and allegedly raped a number of women.
A range of UN bodies and agencies –
from UNICEF to the
U.N. Development Programme and the
U.N. Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs – are
calling upon all
parties to the conflict to comply with relevant resolutions of the Security
Council. They are also reminding the Sudanese
government of its obligation to investigate and prosecute all crimes,
particularly those committed against women and children.
The UN bodies say that in the past
months, attacks on women and girls, both within and outside camps for the
displaced, have soared – and they are urging the African Union forces to
resume regular firewood and area patrols to provide effective protection to
the civilian population.
ISRAELI ARMY HANDS
MAPS OF SOUTH LEBANON MINEFIELDS TO U.N. FORCE
The Acting Force
Commander of the U.N.
Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Brigadier General J.P. Nehra,
met today with senior officers from the
Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to discuss
the situation around the town of Gajjar, to ensure a speedy Israeli withdrawal
from the area.
Gen.
Nehra afterward described the meeting as productive. During the meeting, the
IDF provided UNIFIL with the maps of minefields in Southern Lebanon, as of
June 2000. UNIFIL handed over these maps to the
U.N. Mine Action Coordination Center and
to the Lebanese for review.
HUMAN
RIGHTS COUNCIL’S COMMISSION OF INQUIRY
COMPLETES VISIT TO LEBANON
The three members of the Commission of
Inquiry on Lebanon – that’s João Clemente Baena Soares of Brazil, Mohamed
Chande Othman of Tanzania, and Professor Stelios Perrakis of Greece – have
concluded their mission in Lebanon on Saturday and have returned to Geneva.
The Commission has been mandated by
the Human Rights Council to investigate
the systematic targeting and killing of civilians by Israel in Lebanon and
other matters.
The Commission met with top officials
of the Lebanese Government, as well as with Members of Parliament, NGOs, U.N.
agencies and local and international press.
They visited south Beirut, the Bekaa
Valley and Byblos, and spent four days in southern Lebanon, gathering
information directly from municipalities, communities and citizens.
The Commission will now prepare its
report to the Human Rights Council.
TOP U.N. OFFICIAL IN IRAQ CONDEMNS MURDER OF GENERAL
Ashraf Qazi, the Secretary-General’s
Special Representative in Iraq, condemned
in the strongest terms the assassination this morning of General Amer
al-Hashimi. He called on the Iraqi authorities to relentlessly pursue the
perpetrators and bring them before the law.
Qazi equally condemns all acts of
political and sectarian violence that are tearing at the political and social
fabric of Iraq. He warned that the continuation of this violence can only
serve Iraq’s enemies and obstruct the path to peace and stability.
He also called on all the leaders of
Iraq to implement the 2 October agreement to end the bloodshed.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
SUDAN AND 39 OTHER COUNTRIES FACE FOOD EMERGENCIES:
Forty countries are
facing
food emergencies and require external assistance, with the crisis in the Darfur
region of Sudan still the most pressing humanitarian problem, according to a
Food and Agriculture Organization’s
Crop Prospects and
Food Situation report released today. Prospects
for the 2006 world cereal harvest have deteriorated further since July. In
Darfur, the already precarious food supply situation may worsen if deteriorating
security disrupts the main harvest due to start in the coming few weeks,
according to the report.
ANNAN URGES NEIGHBOURS NOT TO
INFLAME SITUATION IN SOMALIA: Asked about
reports that Ethiopian troops were engaged in combat in Somalia, the Spokesman
noted the Ethiopian Government’s denials that its troops are in Somalia.
However, he said, the Secretary-General is following the situation with
increasing concern, and calls on the Transitional Federal Government and the
Union of Islamic Courts to abide by their previous agreements. He also asks
neighbouring countries not to take any action that exacerbates the situation in
Somalia.
ANNAN CONDEMNS MURDER OF RUSSIAN
JOURNALIST: Asked about the murder of
Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, the Spokesman said that the
Secretary-General condemns the murder, adding that he is dismayed by the killing
of each and every journalist. The Secretary-General hopes that the perpetrators
will be found.
Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. 212-963-7162
Fax. 212-963-7055
