HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
U.N. HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Thursday, October 12, 2006
SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSING DRAFT RESOLUTIONS ON GEORGIA,
NORTH KOREA
The
Security Council had two items on its
consultations agenda today: discussions on a draft resolution on the
UN Observer Mission in
Georgia, and another on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
PEACEBUILDING COMMISSION MEETING ON SIERRA LEONE
The
Peacebuilding Commission
is meeting today on Sierra Leone at UN Headquarters.
Today’s meeting, and the one scheduled
for Friday on Burundi, are expected to kick-start the process by establishing
them as eligible under the Peacebuilding Fund, which
Carolyn
McAskie, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support,
briefed the press on yesterday at UN Headquarters.
MORE THAN $200 MILLION PLEDGED SO FAR FOR EMERGENCY FUND
The Advisory Group of the
UN Central Emergency
Response Fund met in Geneva today to take stock of the Fund’s work and
make recommendations for 2007.
Thus far, 52 Member States, a Japanese
prefecture and a private organization have pledged more than $273 million to
the Fund’s grant facility since its inauguration last March. Of those pledges,
nearly $267 million is “in the bank.”
Since its inception, the Fund has
given $174 million to over 250 projects in 26 countries experiencing
humanitarian crises.
Among its achievements over the past
seven months, the Fund allowed the World
Food Programme to get food to the needy in
Timor-Leste following last April’s violence. It also helped to make the
use of helicopters possible in
Darfur, so that humanitarians could gain access to isolated
internally displaced
persons.
Speaking at a press conference today
in Geneva, Jan Egeland,
the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said that the Fund was
“living proof that the United Nations can reform, is reforming and is getting
better.”
OCHA: CLOSURES CONTINUE IN OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
In a
report available today, the UN Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that no
significant improvement in
Palestinian movement has been observed in recent months.
Closures continue to carve up the West
Bank, leading to the isolation of communities, in particular the cities of
Nablus and Jerusalem as well as the Jordan Valley, OCHA reports.
It says that as of 20 September, the
West Bank closure system comprised 528 checkpoints and physical obstacles,
representing an increase of almost 2% since June.
The closure system is a primary cause
of the humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the report
adds. It notes that the Israeli Government says that the purpose of these
obstacles is to protect Israeli citizens from Palestinian militant attacks.
ATMOSPHERE OF FEAR GROWING IN DARFUR I.D.P. CAMPS
The
UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs has released today its “Sudan
Humanitarian Overview” for the month of September, and its findings
include that in general, the atmosphere of fear and insecurity in the camps
for internally displaced people is growing.
The
UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS)
says
it has received reports that two cars belonging to an NGO were shot at by
armed men on camels in Goussa Shark, near the town of Nyala in
South Darfur, on Wednesday. UNMIS also received reports that sporadic
shooting was heard in El Fasher, North Darfur, following an altercation
between two soldiers.
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL TO SPEAK
ON USE OF FORCE
The
Deputy Secretary-General, Mark
Malloch Brown, is in Washington today where he has been invited to speak at
the Brookings Institution.
He will be addressing an international
conference on “The Use of Force and Legitimacy in the Evolving International
System.”
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
U.N. ENVOY FOR HORN OF AFRICA TO
STUDY FOOD SITUATION IN ERITREA: The
Secretary-General’s Special Humanitarian Envoy for the Horn of Africa,
Kjell Magne
Bondevik, arrives tomorrow in Asmara, Eritrea, for an official mission that
will last until 18 October. The purpose of Bondevik’s visit is to look at the
food security situation in Eritrea in the wake of the rainy season.
REMAINS EXHUMED IN CYPRUS:
The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus met formally this morning in Nicosia
to discuss the progress made to date on the exhumation, identification and
return of missing persons’ remains. Since the end of August, some fifty remains
of missing individuals have been exhumed and approximately twenty-four have
undergone anthropological analysis at the Committee’s laboratory in the UN
Protected Area in Nicosia.
ANNAN TO ATTEND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
EVENT FOR NEW SECRETARY-GENERAL: Asked whether the
Secretary-General will be present
at the Friday event in the General Assembly
on the appointment of a new Secretary-General, the Spokesman said that he would
be there.
*** The guest at noon today was Legwaila Joseph
Legwaila, Special Adviser on Africa, who discussed the New Partnership for
Africa's Development.
Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. 212-963-7162
Fax. 212-963-7055