HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MICHELE MONTAS
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Friday, May 16, 2008
U.N.
HUMANITARIAN CHIEF HEADS TO MYANMAR THIS WEEKEND
Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon today provided an informal briefing to the General Assembly on a range
of topics, notably the critical situation in Myanmar and the challenges posed
by rising food prices and climate change, as well as China’s earthquake and
his recent travels in Africa and Europe.
On Myanmar, the Secretary-General said he has asked
Special Coordinator John Holmes to visit Myanmar this weekend.
Holmes, he said, will deliver a third letter from the
Secretary-General and attempt to establish contact with the Myanmar leadership
with a view toward discussing how the United Nations can assist the
government’s immediate and longer term relief effort.
He added that he hopes that the meeting of ASEAN Foreign
Ministers on 19 May and a further high-level pledging conference that he has
suggested for May 24 or 25 will help to mobilize resources in response to this
unprecedented crisis for Myanmar, as was the case in response to the tsunami
in 2004.
On the China earthquake, the Secretary-General commended
Beijing authorities for their fast and effective action and expressed his
sincere condolences to the victims and their families.
While fully confident in the Chinese government’s
capacity to manage the crisis, the United Nations has offered resources from
the Central Emergency Response Fund and is dispatching experts from rescue and
relief operations.
The Secretary-General also noted the work done earlier
this week by the Task Force dealing with the food crisis, which he said is
working hard to ensure that key elements of a comprehensive framework on food
issues will be available by the time of the High-level Conference on World
Food Security in Rome from the 3rd to the 5th of June. He called that
conference one of the most important events planned for 2008.
MYANMAR: UNITED NATIONS RUSHES RELIEF
SUPPLIES TO REMOTE AREAS
Two weeks since Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, the United
Nations is continuing its active humanitarian aid efforts.
The International
Telecommunication Union has
deployed
100 satellite terminals to Myanmar to help restore vital communication links,
which are vital for the efficient coordination of humanitarian relief
operations. The mobile terminals are easily transported by road and air and
can be used both by humanitarian workers and the cyclone survivors themselves.
A UNICEF team, meanwhile, has
reached the remote
areas of Myanmar, where the situation is dire for children. More than 70
UNICEF assessment and relief missions are in the region, distributing
essential survival kits, including plastic sheeting for shelter, water
purification materials, medicines, mosquito nets, and cooking materials. The
agency warns that children who survived the cyclone are now facing an
increasing risk of disease.
A third plane from the Office of the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR)
reached Yangon yesterday, carrying 40 tons of aid supplies from its stock
in Dubai. The goods were distributed late Thursday evening and today to
UNHCR’s humanitarian partners. Those partners are now continuing the
distribution of those supplies to as many as 5,000 families in the Irrawaddy
Delta.
Medical care is currently being focused on the survivors
staying in the relief shelters. Local non-governmental organizations report
that their volunteers are now accessing remote parts of the affected areas.
Asked whether John Holmes would
visit the Irriwaddy Delta, the Spokeswoman said his itinerary would become
clearer once he arrives in Myanmar; he expects to do so on Sunday. She
confirmed, in response to a further question, that Holmes had received a visa
for Myanmar.
Asked about the UN response to
the referendum held last weekend, the Spokeswoman noted that the
Secretary-General had expressed the view that the priority is to assist the
people in need in Myanmar. The United Nations did not have observers on the
ground to verify referendum results, she added.
Asked about the applicability
of the responsibility to protect concept to Myanmar, Montas said that it is up
to the Security Council to decide how it applies. For the Secretary-General,
she added, the responsibility to protect is an important concept, which he has
shown by appointing an adviser who deals with it.
Asked whether UN agencies were
being targeted for harassment, the Spokeswoman said she was not aware of any
such harassment.
EMERGENCY FUNDS SET ASIDE FOR CHINA
QUAKE SURVIVORS
The Secretary-General is pleased to
announce a grant
of up to $7 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund following the
earthquake that struck Sichuan, China, on 12 May 2008. The grant will be used
by United Nations agencies, funds and programmes to help meet the most urgent
humanitarian requirements.
The United Nations stands ready to provide further
support, as required, to the Government of China in its efforts to respond to
the humanitarian needs caused by the disaster.
Meanwhile, UN agencies are responding to the Chinese
Government’s request for life-saving supplies.
UNICEF is sending tents, blankets and school kits. It is
also procuring health, water and sanitation materials, which will be
dispatched as soon as possible. The World Food Programme, for its part, is
purchasing enough ready-to-eat noodles to feed nearly 120,000 people for a
week.
For its part, the UN International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction stresses the need to upgrade and retrofit schools, hospitals and
other critical infrastructure in the world’s earthquake-prone areas, since
collapsed buildings are the main killers when earthquakes strike.
Asked whether China is talking
to the United Nations about specific aid that it needs, the Spokeswoman said
that China had already said that it would welcome aid, but the specifics are
still being discussed. She noted that the United Nations has international and
local staff on the ground to help with distribution.
BAN KI-MOON WELCOMES POSITIVE
STEPS IN BURUNDI PEACE PROCESS
The
Secretary-General has been
informed of the
arrival in Bujumbura of a delegation of the Palipehutu-FNL, accompanied by
members of the Facilitation and Political Directorate of the Burundi peace
process. The Secretary-General welcomes this positive development.
In a statement, he
strongly urges the Palipehutu-FNL to engage in good faith in the Joint
Verification and Monitoring Mechanisms and Political Directorate.
The
Secretary-General remains deeply concerned by the ongoing fighting and the
suffering it has inflicted on the population. He calls on the Government and
the Palipehutu-FNL to immediately cease military action and to take measures
to build confidence in, and support, the peace process.
The
Secretary-General expresses his appreciation to the leaders of the Regional
Peace Initiative for Burundi and to the South African Facilitation for their
tireless efforts.
U.N. ENVOY WELCOMES AGREEMENT TO END
FIGHTING IN ABYEI, SUDAN
Ashraf Qazi, the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for Sudan, says he is very concerned about the security
situation in Abyei, following recent clashes between members of the Sudanese
Armed Forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. As a result of the
fighting, thousands of civilians have fled the area.
Qazi welcomes the agreement to end the fighting which was
reached between the two parties yesterday at a meeting of the Area Joint
Military Committee under the chairmanship of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).
He hopes that the agreement will bring to an end the
violence in this volatile area, and calls on both sides to respect all its
provisions, including an immediate cease-fire and the removal of other armed
groups from Abyei town.
He further urges the parties to ensure that civilians and
civilian installations are fully protected.
This latest development in Abyei, whose complex problems
represent one of the most difficult challenges facing the successful
implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Sudan, underscores the
importance of fully implementing the Abyei Protocol.
As a first step, Qazi says, the parties need to establish
an interim administration to ensure the delivery of much-needed basic services
to the community and to act as an effective mechanism for resolving
differences and preventing potential conflicts.
CHAD: REFUGEE AGENCY IS VERY CONCERNED
ABOUT RISING VIOLENCE
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) says it is
very concerned by escalating violence in eastern Chad, including a fatal
attack on gendarmes near a refugee camp and increased levels of vehicle
hijacking.
UNHCR says it fears that the attack on the Sudanese
capital Khartoum by rebels last weekend could further destabilize the security
situation in the east and it has reduced its activities and staff movements as
a precautionary measure.
Asked about the dispute between
Sudan and Chad, the Spokeswoman said that the Secretary-General was trying to
contact the African Union on this subject. She said it was a matter of
personal importance to the Secretary-General, who had attended the signature
in Dakar, Senegal, last year of the agreement between the two Governments.
SECURITY
COUNCIL WELCOMES RECOMMENDATION
TO RELOCATE U.N.’S SOMALIA OFFICE TO MOGADISHU
The Security Council yesterday afternoon unanimously
approved a
resolution strongly supporting the approach proposed by the Secretary-General
to promote an ongoing and inclusive political process in Somalia.
Among other things, the Council welcomed the
Secretary-General’s recommendation, set out in a recent report, to relocate
the UN Political Office for Somalia and the country team headquarters from
Nairobi to Mogadishu, or an interim location in Somalia.
It also decided that the UN office shall enhance its
support to the Transitional Federal Institutions with the aim of developing a
constitution and holding a constitutional referendum and free and democratic
elections in 2009.
Meanwhile, after week-long consultations in Djibouti, the
Somali Transitional Federal Government and the opposition Alliance for the
Re-Liberation of Somalia are calling on the Secretary-General and on the
Security Council to help them restore normalcy to their war-plagued country.
The parties made the appeal in a communiqué issued by
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for
Somalia, who convened and presided over the meeting in Djibouti.
The parties also agreed to meet again in Djibouti on the
May 31st for further discussions.
In related news, the Office of the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) says it has
completed the
distribution of aid to more than 40,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in
over 50 settlements west of Mogadishu.
The aid was delivered to IDPs living along a 30-kilometre
stretch of road linking Mogadishu to the town of Afgooye, west of the Somali
capital.
According to UNHCR, more than 40,000 civilians have fled
the volatile Somali capital since March this year following an increase in
violence between the Transitional Federal Government troops and the
insurgents. Overall, an estimated 800,000 people have fled Mogadishu since
violence engulfed the city in February 2007.
NEPAL: UNITY OF MAIN POLITICAL PARTIES
SHOULD CONTINUE
In his
report to
the Security Council on United Nations assistance in Nepal, the
Secretary-General said that, although a further extension of the mandate of
the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) is not
anticipated, the United Nations stands ready to provide continuing support for
the completion and consolidation of the peace process and for the long-term
development of Nepal.
The Secretary-General also highlighted that his Special
Representative and the Resident Coordinator will be in discussion with the new
Government once it is formed regarding whatever assistance it may request.
Adding that the country’s recent Constituent Assembly
election is a milestone in the peace process, he stressed that the immediate
tasks of Government formation and preparatory work for drafting the
constitution are now of the utmost importance.
The Secretary-General said he is encouraged by the
commitment to consensual politics and cooperation that the Maoist leadership
and party have continued to project since the election, and stressed that the
unity of the main political parties and their ability to work together, as
agreed before the election, should continue, and should be extended to other
parties.
Reiterating that these are critical times for long-term
stability in Nepal, the Secretary-General said the United Nations will remain
by the side of the people and leaders of the country, in the historic tasks of
political and social transformation on which they have embarked.
OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
UNITED NATIONS
COOPERATED WITH U.S. AUTHORITIES IN PROBE AGAINST EX-STAFFER:
In response to a question, the Spokeswoman noted that
Vyacheslav Manokhin, a former UN staff member who was summarily dismissed from
service, was sentenced to serve one year in prison by the Manhattan Federal
Court on Thursday. The United Nations fully cooperated with the United States
law enforcement authorities in their investigation of the allegations against
Mr. Manokhin, Montas said.On 27 July 2007, at the request of the U.S. law
enforcement authorities and in accordance with his responsibilities under the
Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, the
Secretary-General waived Mr. Manokhin's functional immunity from legal process,
she added.
BAN KI-MOON
DISCUSSES LEBANON WITH VISITING CARDINAL:
Asked about the Secretary-General’s meeting on Thursday with Cardinal Nasrallah
Pierre Sfeir, the Spokeswoman said that they discussed the overall situation in
Lebanon, including issues pertaining to the implementation of resolution 1701,
and this week's Friends of Lebanon conference call, in which the
Secretary-General participated. Asked whether the Secretary-General would also
meet Lebanese opposition leaders, Montas said he had met some opposition leaders
when he visited Lebanon and would be willing to do so in the future.
THE WEEK AHEAD
AT THE UNITED NATIONS
Saturday, May 17
Today is World
Telecommunication Day and World Information Society Day.
Sunday, May 18
From today through
Wednesday, a Global Renewable Energy Forum, organized in part by the U.N.
Industrial Development Organization, takes place in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.
Monday, May 19
This morning, the
Security Council is scheduled to receive a briefing on Bosnia and Herzegovina.
All day today, and
continuing tomorrow morning, in Conference Room 4, the General Assembly holds
its sixth and final informal review session on the six Chapters of the Monterrey
consensus, focusing on Chapter III: “international trade as an engine for
development.”
All day in the
Economic and Social Council Chamber, the Sierra Leone configuration of the
Peacebuilding Commission holds a high-level stakeholders’ consultation on Sierra
Leone.
From today through
Saturday, the 61st World Health Assembly, the World Health Organization's
supreme decision-making body, meets in Geneva.
From today through 6
June in Geneva, the Committee on the Rights of the Child holds its 48th session.
Today and tomorrow,
in Sana’a, Yemen, a Regional Conference on Refugee Protection and International
Migration, backed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, takes place.
From today through 6
June, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Mr. Doudou Diène, visits the
United States at the invitation of the U.S. Government.
From today through
29 May, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Mr.
Leandro Despouy, visits the Russian Federation at the invitation of the
Government.
Today and tomorrow
in Kuala Lumpur, the “Global Forum on Access and Connectivity: Innovative
funding for ICT for Development” takes place.
Tuesday, May 20
This morning, the
Security Council is scheduled to hold an open debate on post-conflict
peacebuilding.
At 11 a.m. in Room
S-226, Carolina Owens from the Office of the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict; Victoria Forbes Adam, Director
of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers; and Jo Becker from Human
Rights Watch launch the Coalition’s latest Child Soldiers Global Report.
At 3 p.m., the
Economic and Social Council convenes a special meeting on the global food
crisis.
Wednesday, May 21
This morning, the
General Assembly meets to elect 15 new members of the Human Rights Council.
At 11 a.m. in Room
S-226, Andrew Mack, Director of the Human Security Report Project, briefs on the
threat of global terrorism.
In Rome, the Food
and Agriculture Organisation publishes its Food Price Index for April.
Today is World Day
for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
Thursday, May 22
This morning, the
Security Council is scheduled to hold consultations on the U.N. Mission in
Nepal. In the afternoon, a briefing and consultations on Burundi are scheduled.
All day, the General
Assembly holds a thematic debate on human security. At 1 p.m. in Room S-226,
General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim and keynote speaker Prince El Hassan bin
Talal brief press on the debate.
At 11 a.m. in Room
S-226, Jorge Taiana, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Argentina; Ambassador Jorge
Arguello of Argentina; Ngonlardje Mbaidjol, Director of the New York Office of
the High Commissioner for Human Rights; and Estela de Carlotto from Abuelas de
Plaza de Mayo brief on the ratification and entry into force of the
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance. There will be a panel discussion at 5 p.m. in Conference Room 6
on the same topic.
In Geneva, the Human
Rights Council holds a special session on the global food crisis.
Today is the
International Day for Biological Diversity.
Office of the Spokesperson for the
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