HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
U.N. HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Thursday, November 2, 2006
ANNAN ARRIVES
IN URUGUAY FOR IBERO-AMERICAN SUMMIT
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has arrived in Montevideo,
Uruguay, where he is to attend the Ibero-American Summit.
He is scheduled to speak as the summit opens tomorrow,
and he is also expected to meet with Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez, among
other leaders, on the margins of the summit.
LEGAL IMMUNITY LIFTED FOR INDICTED U.N.
PROCUREMENT OFFICIAL
The following statement was released last night after the
indictment of Sanjaya Bahel by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of
New York:
Sanjaya Bahel, a UN staff member, has been the subject of
an internal fact-finding investigation into allegations of misconduct related
to his procurement functions, conducted by the Procurement Task Force, which
reports to the Organization's Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).
He was formally charged with misconduct by the Organization on 31 August 2006
and has been suspended without pay since that time.
The United Nations provided its final report to the
competent authorities of the United States and India. The United States
Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York commenced its own
investigation into the activities of Mr. Bahel. The United Nations has been
cooperating fully with the Office of the United States Attorney during the
course of its investigation.
Today (Wednesday), the Secretary-General received a
request from the U.S. authorities to waive Mr. Bahel's immunity from legal
process. The Secretary-General confirms that he has waived Mr. Bahel's
immunity.
Asked about Bahel’s status, the
Spokesman said that he understood from the US Attorney’s office that Bahel was
arrested on Wednesday. He had returned to New York a few days ago.
Responding to comments that
OIOS had cleared Bahel in an earlier investigation, the Spokesman emphasized
that no one would dispute, as the US Attorney’s office said, that “the
indictment is based on the exhaustive work done by the Special Procurement
Task Force”, which reports to OIOS.
The United Nations, Dujarric
said, had concluded its investigation into Bahel in August and since then
worked closely with the U.S. Attorney, an effort that led to his arrest.
Although there had been
problems in the past, he conceded, in following up on earlier OIOS audits, in
this case, following an examination into procurement practices in UN
peacekeeping operations into the field, eight UN staff had been placed on
leave. Then, he said, the Task Force was formed. Following its investigation,
Bahel was suspended without pay, and the information in his case was
transferred to the U.S. Attorney.
The chronology of events was
that leads are being followed up, and the UN’s procedures have been tightened
in the past couple of years, he said. This, the Spokesman stressed, is one of
the lessons learned from the Volcker investigation, which clearly highlighted
the need for better follow-up mechanisms to audit reports. The result,
Dujarric said, is that people who commit misconduct at the United Nations will
have to face charges.
Asked about the status of other
investigations, the Spokesman said that six cases have now been completed,
including Bahel’s case. Of those, two staff members have been fully exonerated
of any alleged irregularities and are now back at work. Another two are also
back at work but have been asked to respond to allegations of mismanagement. A
final decision on action to take on another staff member is now pending.
He noted that the
Secretary-General and other senior officials have underscored the significant
effort that has gone into reorganising the procurement service to manage it in
the best possible way.
SECURITY
COUNCIL SETS ITS AGENDA FOR NOVEMBER
The Security Council
held consultations this morning in which it approved its programme of work for
November.
During its consultations, the Security Council also
received an update from Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations
Jean-Marie Guéhenno about the elections in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo.
Yesterday afternoon, after consultations, the Security
Council
adopted a resolution endorsing the decisions by the African Union’s Peace
and Security Council to renew the mandates of the President and Prime Minister
of Cote d’Ivoire for a new and final transition period not exceeding 12
months. The resolution also details the Prime Minister’s mandate in
implementing the road map drawn up by the International Working Group for Cote
d’Ivoire.
D.R. CONGO: VOTE COUNTING CONTINUES WITH
NO MAJOR INCIDENTS
The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC)
reports that polling stations were re-opened today in the town of Bumba in
Equator Province and in the Ituri district town of Fataki, where voting was
suspended last Sunday after a Congolese soldier had shot to death two
electoral workers. The security situation all across the vast country remains
calm, the Mission says.
Meanwhile, vote counting continues without any major
incidents. The Mission says that reports from various parts of the country
note that compared to the July general elections, there is a significant
improvement in the organization of the ballot-counting operation.
The Mission adds that the Independent Electoral
Commission had dismissed as a fraud a document posted on the Internet
purporting to present the results of the run-off presidential election. The
Commission warns against further efforts to disrupt the process and stresses
that provisional results will be public on 12th November and the final results
on 19 November.
Asked whether the European
Force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had communicated any intention
to stay in that country beyond 30 November, the Spokesman said that he was not
aware of any such communication. He said that the UN Mission in the country
had been working well with the European Force, which was a valuable addition
to the UN forces.
SOMALIA: ISLAMISTS’ GROWING INFLUENCE
THREATENS
TRANSITIONAL FEDERAL INSTITUTIONS
The UN Political Office for Somalia says that the Special
Representative of the Secretary-General for that country, Francois Lonseny
Fall, will be in New York next week to brief the Security Council.
Meanwhile, the Secretary-General’s latest
report on
Somalia is out on the racks today. In it, he says that the expansion of the
influence of the Islamic Courts poses a serious threat to the transitional
federal institutions and raises security concerns for the self-declared
autonomous Somaliland and Puntland regions.
The Secretary-General’s report, which covers the period
from 20 June until 23 October, also addresses the preparations by the African
Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development for their proposed
peace support operation in Somalia and describes in detail the UN’s activities
in the areas of humanitarian assistance, rule of law, public health and water
and environmental sanitation.
GRAVE ABUSES OF CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
CONTINUE IN BURUNDI
Available today is the Secretary-General’s
report on
children and armed conflict in Burundi. In it, the Secretary-General says that
despite the substantial progress achieved in addressing the grave abuses of
children’s rights, violations are still occurring with considerable level of
impunity.
The report explicitly identifies the parties to the
conflict responsible for serious violations, including the Hutu rebellion and
the Government’s intelligence and police apparatus.
The report also contains a series of recommendations with
a view to securing strengthened action for the protection of war-affected
children in Burundi and preventing any action which could affect their rights
after the signing of the September Agreement between the Government and the
last active rebel group.
LEBANON: U.N. SPEARHEADS OIL SPILL
CLEAN-UP OPERATION
Regarding the
Lebanon oil spill, currently, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP),
together with the International Maritime Organization, continues to coordinate
the international response
Clean-up operations of beaches and underwater areas are
ongoing, with the shoreline being the next target area. The majority of
floating oil has now been recovered.
Recommendations for the long-term treatment of the oily
waste will be included in UNEP's broader environmental impact assessment
report, which is due out in a few weeks.
As winter approaches, a continuing need exists for
personal protective equipment and shoreline clean-up equipment.
SELECTION
PROCESS FOR FOOD AGENCY CHIEF CLARIFIED
Regarding
questions posed yesterday on the appointment of the new head of the World Food
Programme (WFP), the Spokesman later clarified that the Secretary-General and
the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) would
interview the candidates and jointly make a decision on the individual they
would wish to appoint to the post.
They would then
jointly inform the WFP Executive Board. The Board would conduct its own
consultations and then revert back to the Secretary-General and the head of
FAO before an announcement was made.
INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM ENDS FIRST-EVER
MEETING
The Internet
Governance Forum concluded its inaugural session this morning in Athens.
Attended by representatives from more than 90 countries,
information technology firms, NGOs and the Internet community, the Forum
allowed interested parties that do not normally sit around the same table to
discuss topics ranging from cyber-crime and freedom of expression to the
digital exclusion of the developing world.
ANNAN CONCERNED
BY VIOLENCE IN GAZA
Asked about the
Secretary-General’s reaction to additional deaths reported in Gaza, the
Spokesman said that the Secretary-General continues to be concerned at the
level of violence, and has called for the violence to cease and for all sides
to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian and human rights
law.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
CAPITAL MASTER PLAN BRIEFING
TO COME: Asked about a briefing on the
Capital Master Plan, the Spokesman said that Under-Secretary-General Christopher
Burnham was still at work at the United Nations, and either he or someone from
his office may brief later. He noted that among the aims of the Plan is to
provide better working facilities for the media.
ONLY ONE SENIOR U.N. OFFICIAL
RECEIVING HOUSING SUBSIDY: Asked about
information from the United States that eight UN officials had been receiving
housing subsidies, the Spokesman clarified that, although the US Mission had
received such information from the United Nations earlier this year, the United
Nations, upon further checking, had determined that only one senior UN official
at headquarters had received a housing subsidy.
WATER SCARCITY MUST BE ADDRESSED IN AFGHANISTAN:
Addressing drought and water scarcity should be a national priority for
Afghanistan, according to a two-day
workshop that concluded in Kabul yesterday. The discussion could not have been
more timely, with over 2 million people currently facing the consequences of
this year’s drought, a recurrent phenomenon in Afghanistan.
NEW CHILDREN’S HEALTH CAMPAIGN UNDERWAY IN GHANA:
UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the World Bank are all
supporting a new
health campaign for children in Ghana. During the week-long campaign, millions
of children will be immunized against measles and polio and be given Vitamin A
supplements. In addition, children in northern Ghana will be de-wormed, and all
children under two will be given insecticide-treated bed nets free of charge.
MORE EFFORT NEEDED TO REVERSE SPREAD OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS:
The Secretary-General has sent a
message to the
Seminar on Strengthening Global Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, being held
today in Bali, Indonesia. In that message, he says that the recent nuclear test
by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, as well as the continuing concerns
over Iran’s nuclear programme, have underscored the urgent need for the
international community to re-energize its efforts to contain and reverse the
spread of nuclear weapons.
U.N. AGENCY COORDINATES REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH STUDY:
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the first study of global
reproductive health will be
published later this week. Coordinated by the WHO, the evaluation shows a
picture of declining financial support, increased political interference and an
overall reluctance to tackle threats to sexual and reproductive health.
Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. 212-963-7162
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