HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MARIE OKABE
DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
U.N.
HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Wednesday,
August 1, 2007
SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES INITIATIVE
BY KOSOVO CONTACT GROUP FOR FURTHER NEGOTIATIONS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a statement
issued in his name, said: "The Contact Group has
briefed me of its
agreement on the modalities for further negotiations between Pristina and
Belgrade. This effort will be led by a Troika comprising representatives of
the European Union, the Russian Federation and the United States.
I welcome this initiative by the Contact Group.
I hope that the new period of engagement will lead to agreement on Kosovo’s
future status, which remains a priority for the United Nations.
The international community must find a
solution that is timely, addresses the key concerns of all communities living
in Kosovo and provides clarity for Kosovo’s status. The status quo is not
sustainable.
The United Nations Office for the Special Envoy
for Kosovo (UNOSEK) will
be associated with the process by standing ready to provide information and
clarification on request.
The United Nations will
continue to play a constructive role in the new period of engagement and
continue its major role on the ground in Kosovo.
The Contact Group will
report back to me by 10 December."
Asked when the Kosovo
talks would begin, the Spokeswoman said that would be up to the Contact Group
to announce. Asked more generally about a timeline for the talks, she noted
that the Contact Group would report back to the Secretary-General by 10
December, or about 120 days.
Okabe added that the
Secretary-General had met with the Contact Group members on Tuesday, and, by
this statement, endorsed the Group’s initiative.
Asked whether there is any
space for the Secretary-General to be involved, the Spokeswoman noted that the
Statement refers to how the UN Office of the Special Envoy for Kosovo will be
associated with the process by standing ready to provide information and
clarification on request.
BAN
KI-MOON TO REAFFIRM U.N. ENGAGEMENT IN HAITI
TO SUPPORT STABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS
The Secretary-General is
on his way to Haiti for a two day visit.
On this trip, the
Secretary-General will reaffirm the continuing engagement by the United
Nations to support the Haitian authorities in creating the conditions for
stability and sustainable development. The Secretary-General will make use
this opportunity to review the situation in Haiti, including the successes so
far and the challenges ahead in such areas as judicial reform,
anti-corruption, drug trafficking and border management.
Tonight, he will meet with
Haitian President René Préval and Prime Minister Jacques Édouard Alexis. The
Secretary-General will be the guest at a dinner hosted by President Préval
this evening. That dinner will be preceded by a joint press conference by the
Secretary-General and the President.
During his visit, the
Secretary-General will also be meeting with other members of the government,
such as the Senate President and the Justice Minister, as well as with the
Mayor of Cité Soleil and representatives of churches, civil society, the
private sector.
The Secretary-General will
also meet with the leadership of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH),
which currently comprises a total of nearly 9,000 uniformed personnel.
According to the UN
Special Representative in Haiti, Edmond Mulet, significant progress was made
in the country—thanks, among other things, to the cooperation between the
United Nations and the Haitian National Police. Security operations carried
out in the capital, Port-au-Prince, for instance, have contributed to bringing
back relative calm to Cité Soleil, Martissant, Grand Ravine and Ti Bois.
The Secretary-General will
start his official visit to Barbados on Friday.
ENORMOUS
WORK REQUIRED TO ENSURE START OF DARFUR HYBRID FORCE
In a formal
meeting
yesterday afternoon, the Security Council unanimously
authorized the establishment, for an initial period of 12 months, of an
African Union-UN hybrid operation in Darfur, or UNAMID, for short. The hybrid
operation shall consist of up to 19,555 military personnel and a civilian
component, including up to 3,772 police personnel and 19 formed police units
of up to 140 personnel each.
The
Security Council decided that the hybrid operation would have an initial
operational capability for its headquarters by no later than this October, and
would assume authority from the African Union Mission in Sudan by the end of
this year.
The Secretary-General
addressed the
Security Council after the vote, telling them, “By authorizing the deployment
of a hybrid operation in Darfur, you are sending a clear and powerful signal
of your commitment to improve the lives of the people of the region, and close
this tragic chapter in Sudan’s history.”
He also said that we must put in place the
complex and vital peacekeeping operation authorized by the Council, adding
that the resolution will give even greater momentum to UN efforts to establish
the hybrid operation.
The Secretary-General added that it is crucial
that the meeting this week in Arusha of the Darfur parties yield positive
results, so as to pave the way for negotiations and, ultimately, a peace
agreement.
Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping
Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno told reporters that “enormous work” would be
required between now and the end of the year to make sure that UNAMID can
start operations on time.
Asked whether the
Secretary-General believes that 26,000 personnel are sufficient to deal with
Darfur, the Spokeswoman said that number was the recommended one that the
Secretary-General provided in his report to the Security Council, which the
Council has now approved.
She added that Guéhenno
had pointed out that the task now is to get the troops and the police put
together as quickly as possible.
Asked how the UN
Secretariat interprets the language in the resolution concerning the
protection of civilians, Okabe said that the United Nations was pleased that
the protection of civilians was included in the resolution. That principle was
one that the United Nations has consistently advocated.
U.N.
PROVIDES ASSISTANCE TO FLOOD VICTIMS IN SUDAN
Also from Sudan, in the
wake of flooding in the southern and eastern parts of the country, the Office
from the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
says the United Nations and its partners have so far distributed essential
food and non-food items to tens of thousands of people, as well as chlorine
products to half a million people without clean water.
OCHA says the emergency is
likely last for two or three more months, potentially requiring aid for up to
1.5 million people.
REPUBLIC
OF CONGO ASSUMES SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY
The Security Council also adopted a
resolution yesterday extending the arms sanctions in effect in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo until 10 August.
There are no meetings or consultations of the
Council scheduled for today, which is the first day of the Presidency of the
Republic of the Congo of the Council for the month of August.
Congolese Ambassador Pascal Gayama will hold
bilateral consultations on the Council’s programme of work for the month, and
the Council expects to hold consultations on that programme tomorrow.
U.N.
EMERGENCY FUND PROVIDES RESOURCES FOR FORGOTTEN CRISES
UN Emergency Relief
Coordinator John Holmes today announced a grant of $40 million from the
Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)
for under-funded emergencies in 16 countries. This is the fourth such
disbursement since the Fund’s launch in March of 2006.
The largest recipients
will be the Democratic of the Congo, the occupied Palestinian Territory,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, and the Central African Republic.
Money from the Fund is
aimed at helping redress imbalances in global aid distribution that leave
millions in so-called “forgotten” crises without assistance. To date the fund
has provided $125 million for such emergencies.
U.N.
RESPONDS TO CRISIS CAUSED BY FLOODS AND LANDSLIDES IN NEPAL
In Nepal, the United
Nations system has
responded
rapidly to the national crisis caused by incessant rainfall there that has
triggered floods and landslides in 28 districts throughout the country.
Rescue, relief efforts and
rapid needs assessments in the affected districts are being carried out in
coordination and collaboration with the Nepal Red Cross Society, local
government, security forces, as well as UN agencies.
The UN Resident and
Humanitarian Coordinator in Nepal, Mathew Hahane, said the UN System in Nepal
stands fully committed to extend all possible assistance to the people of the
affected districts who are suffering from the current natural calamity.
TAJIKISTAN; U.N. OFFICE OF PEACE BUILDING
CLOSES
Yesterday in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, a
flag-lowering ceremony was held to mark the closure of the UN Tajikistan
Office of Peace Building (UNTOP), which
was established in 2000.
The closure of the Office culminates the UN's
15-year political presence in the country, first in helping to bring an end to
the armed conflict and then through the role of UNTOP in helping to
consolidate the peace.
The Representative of the Secretary-General,
Vladimir Sotirov, gave a speech in which he highlighted the Office’s
accomplishments in strengthening national dialogue, helping to build
democratic institutions, and in promoting respect for human rights in the
country. He also recalled the five UN staff members who were killed in
Tajikistan working for the cause of peace.
EX-KHMER
ROUGE OFFICIAL CHARGED FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
The Co-Investigating Judges of the
Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)
have charged Kaing Guek Ieav, known as Duch, for crimes against humanity and
have placed him in provisional detention. He was handed over to the
Extraordinary Chambers’ detention centre yesterday.
Today, Kaing was assigned a lawyer by the
court’s defence support section, since he had said he does not have the means
to pay for his lawyers.
U.N.
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION IS BASED ON ONE-CHINA POLICY
Asked about a new letter, attributed to Taiwan,
that had been sent to the Secretary-General, the Spokeswoman confirmed that
letters had been sent to the Secretary-General and to the President of the
Security Council.
She could not confirm whether an official
response had been sent, but asserted that the UN position on the issue has not
changed.
Okabe recalled that there had earlier been an
application for UN membership by Taiwan conveyed by two Member States, but, in
keeping with resolution 2758 of the General Assembly, it could not be received
and was thus returned by the UN Office of Legal Affairs. Resolution 2758,
which was adopted in 1971, is the basis of the one-China policy of the United
Nations.
WFP WILL FEED 10 TIMES MORE PEOPLE IN ZIMBABWE
The World Food Programme
(WFP) is calling
on donors to contribute urgently towards the $118 million cost of its
massively expanded aid operation.
WFP plans to provide
assistance to 3.3 million people in Zimbabwe -- ten times the number of
current beneficiaries –over the next eight months in order to avert the threat
of widespread hunger. It reports that, with the combination of poor harvest
and worsening economic turmoil, tens of thousands of families are facing
severe food shortages.
WFP warns that without additional
funds, its food stocks in the country will begin to run dry in September and
will be completely exhausted by the end of the year.
UNITED
NATIONS PROMOTES USE OF SPACE TECHNOLOGY
TO FIGHT AVIAN FLU
The United Nations is
taking steps
to have its Member States apply space technology in their efforts to curb the
spread of avian influenza. The focus is now on promoting the creation of an
early warning system partly based on geographic information systems, remote
sensing and the Global Positioning System, among other space technologies.
This will be also be the topic of a 3-day
meeting on space-based monitoring technologies which began earlier today in
Bangkok, under the sponsorship of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, the
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)
and its international partners. About 60 experts from some 20 countries are
taking part in the meeting.
Meanwhile, in Jakarta, the World Tourism
Organization (WTO) completed the
second regional Avian and human Influenza Simulation. The exercise saw the
active
support by the Indonesian government and the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN). It attracted 70 participants from more than 15 countries and
several UN agencies. This follows a similar exercise held in Paris in March,
focusing on readiness to respond to an outbreak of avian flu among humans in
Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
BREASTFEEDING
WITHIN ONE HOUR OF BIRTH
CAN REDUCE INFANT MORTALITY
At the start of World
Breastfeeding Week - which is today - UNICEF
reports that
breastfeeding babies immediately after birth can reduce infant mortality in
developing countries. According to one study, 22% of neonatal deaths can be
prevented by breastfeeding infants within one hour of birth.
“Early breastfeeding
provides critical nutrients, protects infant against deadly diseases and
fosters growth and development”, said UNICEF Executive Director Ann. Veneman.
UNICEF estimates that exclusive
breastfeeding to the age of six months could prevent the deaths of 1.3 million
children under the age of five each year.
*The guest at the briefing
was Dr. Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) who briefed on the significance of climate change on agriculture.
Office of the Spokesman for the
Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. 212-963-7162
Fax. 212-963-7055
