HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MICHELE
MONTAS
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Wednesday, July
23, 2008
SUDANESE
PRESIDENT ASSURES SECURITY FOR UN PEACEKEEPING MISSION IN DARFUR
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir met briefly today
with the African Union-United Nations Joint Special Representative for
Darfur, Rodolphe Adada, and other senior members of the UN mission’s
leadership when he
visited the headquarters of the United Nations – African Union Mission
(UNAMID) in El Fasher.
According to UNAMID, the Sudanese President reassured
the UNAMID leadership of the government’s preparedness to provide security
for UNAMID security and convoys.
Due to the President’s visit and airport closure
associated with it, the scheduled arrival of the Egyptian engineering
contingent has been postponed. New dates are to be confirmed.
Meanwhile, the suspension of the temporary relocation
of non-essential UN personnel has remained in place since Friday, July 18.
Only about 300 people have been temporarily relocated from Darfur.
Meanwhile, the UN system in Sudan, consisting of 18
organizations and departments
signed an agreement with Sudan identifying UN support in four major
areas of development, namely peacebuilding, governance and rule of law;
livelihoods and productive sectors, and basic services.
GROUP OF FRIENDS ON MYANMAR HEARS FROM
SPECIAL ADVISER
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today
convened meeting of the Group of Friends on Myanmar. The meeting included a
briefing by the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser, Ibrahim Gambari, on his
upcoming visit to the country planned for mid-August. This is the fourth
meeting of the group, which was established last December.
Asked who
participated in the meeting, the Spokeswoman said the participants were:
Australia, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Russia,
Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United
States, Vietnam, the European Community and the European Union.
SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS MANDATE OF U.N.
MISSION IN NEPAL, THEN TAKES UP SOMALIA
This morning, the Security Council
voted to extend the mandate of the UN Mission in Nepal by six months.
Then, the Council heard in an
open meeting
from the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou
Ould-Abdallah, who said that the priority in that country should be to stay
the course and follow through on the implementation of the recent Djibouti
Agreement.
He said that choices for bringing peace to Somalia
could include re-hatting the African Union force currently on the ground,
establishing an international stabilization force or having the Security
Council establish a UN peacekeeping force. He said that, given the
favourable political context following the Djibouti Agreement, “it is time
for the Security Council to take bold, decisive and fast action.”
The Council has followed its open meeting on Somalia
with consultations on that topic.
Asked whether the Department
for Peacekeeping Operations believes that UN peacekeepers should go to
Somalia, the Spokeswoman said that first, the Security Council has to decide
on the matter. The United Nations would implement whatever the Security
Council decides, she said.
DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF CONGO ON SECURITY COUNCIL AGENDA TODAY
At 3:00 this
afternoon, the Security Council will hold consultations on the
UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Ross Mountain, the Deputy Special Representative of the
Secretary-General and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, has been visiting the North Kivu province since yesterday. He
is accompanied by the Congolese minister of planning. Both men will be
meeting with local authorities and representatives of UN agencies to assess
the implementation of the security and stabilization plan for eastern DRC,
which is a programme reached between the government and various eastern
armed groups.
Meanwhile, the UN Mission (MONUC)
reports several violations by various armed groups of the ceasefire in the
Ituri province. On Monday, two local armed groups exchanged fire in the town
of Tchey. No casualties are reported, and the battle ended following the
intervention of UN peacekeepers. In South Kivu, UN peacekeepers intervened
three times this week to put an end to gun battles between local Congolese
groups.
KOSOVO: U.N.
ENVOY MEETS SERBIAN OFFICIALS IN BELGRADE
The Secretary-General’s
Special Representative for Kosovo, Lamberto Zannier, traveled to
Belgrade today to meet with Serbia’s Foreign Minister, Vuk Jeremic, and
Serbia’s Minister for Kosovo, Goran Bogdanovic.
He will travel this evening from Belgrade to New York,
where he will present on Friday the Secretary-General’s regular
report on Kosovo to the Security Council.
The purpose of Zannier’s introductory meeting in
Belgrade today was to move forward with dialogue on the practical issues
that the Secretary-General had highlighted in his last special report to the
Security Council.
CYPRUS: UN
SPECIAL ADVISER MEETS WITH SECRETARY-GENERAL
Alexander Downer, the recently appointed Special
Adviser of the Secretary-General on Cyprus, is currently in New York for
briefings. He met with the Secretary-General earlier today.
Downer is expected to arrive on 27 July in Cyprus, and
pay courtesy calls on 29 July to the Greek Cypriot leader and the Turkish
Cypriot leader.
The Secretary-General met with both leaders during his
trip to Europe earlier this month.
WTO HEAD CALLS FOR MORE INTENSIVE
NEGOTIATIONS DURING TRADE TALKS
World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Pascal
Lamy, in a speech to the Trade Organization Committee today,
said that the latest round of consultations were “constructive”, but he
noted that progress so far has been modest and uneven. Yesterday’s
discussions touched on a wide range of subjects, involving both agricultural
and non-agricultural goods, subsidies and market access.
Lamy said it was time to move into more intensive
consultations, and he invited delegations to engage each other over the next
several days with greater urgency and a stronger willingness to compromise.
In other news, WTO has also welcomed Cape Verde as its
153rd member.
NEW GLOBAL STANDARD HELPS IDENTIFY
NEXT-OF-KIN IN EMERGENCIES
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
is promoting a new global standard to help rescue workers identify and
notify victims’ next-of-kin in emergencies.
Simply adding the Arabic numericals 01, 02, 03, and so
on to a person’s nominated contact in the mobile telephone directory, such
as "01father", "02wife" or "03husband", will help emergency workers in any
part of the world identify contacts in order of priority and notify them.
BAN KI-MOON
WILL ATTEND AIDS CONFERENCE, AS PART OF FIRST OFFICIAL VISIT TO MEXICO
The Secretary-General will head to Mexico on 3 August
for his first official visit to that country.
The fight against AIDS will be a major focus of the
three-day trip. In Mexico City, the Secretary-General will open the
XVII International AIDS Conference, being held for the first time in
Latin America, with Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa. At the
Conference and during its side events, the Secretary-General is expected to
meet with world leaders, people living with HIV and community groups. He
will reaffirm that the AIDS epidemic is not over and that we need a
long-term vision to respond.
While in Mexico, the Secretary-General will hold
bilateral meetings with the country’s President and Mexican Foreign
Secretary Patricia Espinosa Cantellano. He also plans to address a joint
session of the Mexican Senate and Chamber of Deputies; discuss climate
change policies with Mexican officials, and reach out to the business
community through the UN Global Compact’s Mexico network.
And in connection with the AIDS Conference in Mexico,
the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
reports that it will be launching a resource pack at that gathering to help
with the fight against AIDS. The pack will provide technical guidance
concerning HIV-related education.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
U.N. PEACEKEEPERS IN LEBANON HELP BATTLE
FOREST FIRES: Yesterday evening, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
received a request from the Lebanese Government to help it put out fires some 25
kilometers southeast of Beirut. The fires broke out Monday evening. A UNIFIL
helicopter was immediately dispatched to the area and assisted Lebanese
firefighters in extinguishing the fire until late in the evening. UNIFIL resumed
its fire-fighting effort this morning with a second helicopter.
BAN KI-MOON IS NOT DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN
CAMBODIA-THAILAND DISPUTE: Asked about the
Secretary-General’s response to the dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, the
Spokeswoman said that the Secretary-General had no direct role in that matter.
She noted that a recent meeting of the Association of South-east Asian Nations
(ASEAN) had called for that dispute to be resolved bilaterally.
BAN KI-MOON HAS
SENT LETTER TO SECURITY COUNCIL DETAILING RECENT COMMUNICATIONS FROM ISRAEL AND
HEZBOLLAH: Asked about a letter sent to
the Secretary-General from Hezbollah, the Spokeswoman confirmed that the
Secretary-General had sent a letter to the Security Council, which described the
recent communications received from Hezbollah and from the Government of Israel.
** The guest at noon was Ian Martin, Special Representative
of the Secretary-General and Head of the
United Nations Mission in Nepal, who briefed on the mission’s work.
Office of the
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