BAN KI-MOON
CONGRATULATES NEW NEPALESE PRIME MINISTER

• The Secretary-General warmly
  
  congratulates Mr. Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) on his election as
  the first Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. 
  

• He calls on all parties to cooperate with the
  new Government in order to carry forward Nepal’s peace process.

 

MYANMAR
ENVOY TO BEGIN FIVE-DAY VISIT ON MONDAY

• The Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Myanmar,
  Ibrahim Gambari, will depart later today for a five-day visit to Myanmar
  starting on Monday, 18 August, at the invitation of the Myanmar
  Government. 

• Gambari looks forward to returning to Myanmar and
  continuing his consultations with the Government and other relevant
  parties in the implementation of the good offices mandate entrusted to
  the Secretary-General by the General Assembly. 

 

HIGH
COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES TO VISIT GEORGIA AND RUSSIA

• High Commissioner for Refugees
  
  António Guterres is scheduled to arrive in Georgia on Tuesday, on a
  trip that will also take him to the Russian Federation. He will be
  assessing his agency’s humanitarian operations in both countries and
  discuss with the two Governments any further support they may require.

• Meanwhile, Guterres’ agency’s third
  
  humanitarian flight this week to Georgia was scheduled to arrive in
  Tbilisi today, carrying 38 tons of jerry cans, blankets, kitchen sets
  and telecommunications equipment.

• For its part, UNICEF has been
  
  distributing hygiene kits and bottled water to 3,600 displaced women
  and children in and around Tbilisi. And the Office for the Coordination
  of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that it is currently working on a
  flash appeal for Georgia, which may be launched as early as Monday.

• Asked about comments from Russian Ambassador Vitaly
  Churkin that the United Nations had not approached Russia to discuss
  problems with humanitarian access, the Spokesman said that
  Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon intends to meet with Ambassador Churkin in
  New York on Saturday. He had also tried earlier to contact the Russian
  President by phone, but had not been able to do so.

• Haq noted that the Secretary-General had stated his
  concerns about the humanitarian situation in Georgia in a
  
  statement on Thursday.

• In response to questions about the work done by UN
  humanitarian bodies, the Spokesman added that the Office for the
  Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is receptive to any
  constructive criticism of the maps that it prepares and if any
  information is wrong, it will be corrected.

• Maps on an evolving crisis are extremely fluid, he
  said. OCHA relies on the information available at the time, gathered
  from situation reports from the field and it updates maps as the
  information flows in.  It welcomes more information and support from all
  parties.

• Asked whether the Secretary-General might speak to
  the press over the weekend, Haq said that the Secretary-General had
  intended to make himself available to the press in the near future to
  discuss developments in Georgia, but there was no date to announce yet
  for any briefing. Press would be informed as soon as a decision was
  reached.

• Asked about the Security Council’s consideration of
  Georgia, he said that Council members were discussing bilaterally the
  text of a draft resolution circulated by France, but that the Council
  had not yet scheduled any meeting to consider that resolution.

 

ETHIOPIAN
PEACEKEEPERS EXPECTED IN DARFUR THIS WEEKEND

• The advance party of the first Ethiopian Infantry
  Battalion to join UNAMID, the UN-AU Hybrid Operation in Darfur, is
  scheduled to
  
  arrive in El Fasher over the weekend. This initial arrival will
  bring additional engineering capabilities to the Mission, especially in
  the areas of water installation, the erection of tents and electric
  power lines. The Ethiopian contingent will be deployed in the areas of
  Kulbus and Silea, in West Darfur.

• Meanwhile, UNAMID reports that, following recent
  discussions between Deputy Special Representative Henry Anyidoho and the
  Governor of South Darfur, Ali Mahmoud, about restrictions of fuel
  allocations to the Kalma Camp, UNAMID’s Nyala office has received
  reports that the situation is being resolved. Oxfam informed us that its
  fuel allocation was approved as requested, and they were allocated
  sufficient fuel to run their water pumps in Kalma for a week. Other aid
  groups also reported that they were satisfied with the current
  government fuel allocations.

• Asked about comments attributed to the
  Secretary-General in an Egyptian paper, al-Ahram, concerning the
  International Criminal Court and Darfur, the Spokesman said that the
  paper seemed to have mistranslated into Arabic the sentiments expressed
  in English by the Secretary-General. The Secretary-General, he said, had
  emphasized that the Court is an independent body.

 

SOUTH
AFRICA: REFUGEE AGENCY HELPS DISPLACED FOREIGN NATIONALS WITH CASH DONATIONS

• The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
  (UNHCR) says it has completed an
  
  assessment of conditions for the remaining foreign nationals still
  living in camps for those displaced by recent xenophobic attacks in the
  Gauteng province of South Africa. While most of the 40,000 people
  displaced by the violence have returned to their home within South
  Africa, some 8,000 people remain at camps in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
  And UNHCR says that its implementing partners are assisting them with
  cash donations.

• Meanwhile, the South African Government has
  signaled its intention to close the camps and that’s expected to happen
  as early as next week. 

 

CHEF DE
CABINET TO ATTEND OPENING OF REGIONAL PEACE AND DISARMAMENT CENTRE IN NEPAL

• Next Monday in Kathmandu, Nepal, the Chef de
  Cabinet, Vijay Nambiar, will represent the Secretary-General and deliver
  a message on his behalf at a ceremony marking the opening of the new
  office in Kathmandu of the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament
  in Asia and the Pacific. 

• The ceremony is expected to be attended by
  President Ram Baran Yadav and other senior government officials of
  Nepal, as well as members of the diplomatic corps and representatives
  from regional organizations and civil society.

 

GAMBIA:
U.N. AND ECOWAS TO PROBE DEATHS OF GHANA NATIONALS

• A joint fact-finding team, from the UN and the
  Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), was initiated today
  in Abuja, to look into the deaths of a number of Ghanaian nationals, who
  were found buried in The Gambia in 2005.

• The team, which will be based in Abuja, will be led
  by Curtis Ward, a UN-ECOWAS appointee. It will include representatives
  appointed by the Governments of The Gambia and Ghana.

• The team was established at the request of both
  Governments to help bring about a peaceful closure to this matter,
  consistent with the principles of justice and respect for human rights
  and dignity.

 

RIGHTS
COUNCIL ADVISORY COMMITTEE CONCLUDES FIRST SESSION

• In Geneva today, the
  
  Human Rights Council Advisory Committee concluded its first session,
  during which it adopted by consensus thirteen recommendations to the
  Human Rights Council.  

• Among other things, the Committee recommended that
  the Human Rights Council and the Secretary-General make available their
  good offices so as to extend the right of non-refoulement to hunger
  refugees. 

• The Committee also set up a working group charged
  which making recommendations to the Human Rights Council on the right to
  food and the current food crisis. 

• Another decision sets up a drafting group to begin
  preparatory work on a declaration pertaining to human rights education
  and training. 

 

TRADE AND
DEVELOPMENT BODY LAUNCHES ONLINE DATABASE ON COMMERCE IN CREATIVE GOODS

• The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
  today
  
  launched an online database that provides trade statistics on
  creative goods and services. The statistics available on the site cover
  some 235 products related to heritage, arts, media and functional
  creations. The site also shows global trade flows for the decade
  starting in 1996. 

• UNCTAD says the site is a
  "work in progress" that aims at improving market transparency and
  supporting governments in policy making. With the value of exports in
  creative goods estimated at more than 335 billion dollars, UNCTAD says
  the sector is the most vibrant in world commerce.

 

ADVISOR ON
SPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT HAILS OLYMPIC GAMES AS PROMOTER OF PEACE

• Wilfried Lemke, the Secretary-General’s Special
  Advisor on Sport for Development and Peace, said that the power of
  sports in promoting peace has been evident at the 2008 Olympic Games.
  Speaking as the Games reach their midway point, Lemke said in a
  statement that sports builds bridges between individuals and across
  communities, providing a fertile ground for sowing the seeds of
  development and peace.

• Meanwhile, UNAIDS is making
  
  100,000 condoms available to athletes in health clinics in the
  Olympic Villages of Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong. Leaflets and posters
  giving information on HIV/AIDS in English, French and Chinese are also
  available at the Olympic Villages. Among other initiatives, UNAIDS is
  airing video messages by its Special Representatives, German footballer
  Michael Ballack and Chinese basketball star Yao Ming.

 

 

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE
UNITED NATIONS
16 August 2008 – 22 August 2008

Saturday, August 16

Through 25 August, the
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms
of indigenous people, S. James Anaya, continues his visit to Brazil.

Monday, August 18

The Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, begins
his five-day visit to Myanmar at the invitation of the Myanmar Government. 

In Kathmandu, Nepal, Chef de Cabinet, Vijay
Nambiar, delivers a message on behalf of the Secretary-General at a ceremony
marking the opening of a new U.N. Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament
in Asia and the Pacific.

This morning, the Security
Council is scheduled to receive a briefing on its 1540 Committee report and
on the U.N. Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), followed by consultations on UNMIS.

All this week, the ninth
session of the Working Group on the Right to Development takes place in
Geneva.

Tuesday, August 19

Today through Friday, U.N High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
António Guterres travels to Georgia and the Russian Federation. Today and
tomorrow, UNHCR sends two airlift flights to
Vladikavkaz, the Russian Federation.

At 10.15 a.m. in the
public lobby of the General Assembly Building, the Secretary-General attends
a wreath-laying ceremony marking the fifth anniversary of the bombing of the
U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. Composer Steve Heitzeg’s “Song without
borders,” composed in memory of the perished U.N. staff members, premieres
at the ceremony.

Similarly, in Geneva, the anniversary will be observed with a minute of
silence and a wreath-laying ceremony.  

This morning, the Security
Council is scheduled to adopt a resolution on the African Union Mission in
Somalia, followed by a debate and consultations on the U.N. Mission in
Timor-Leste.

Wednesday, August 20

This morning, the Security
Council is scheduled to receive a briefing, followed by consultations, on
the Middle East.

Thursday, August 21

No major events are
scheduled.

Friday, August 22

No major events are
scheduled.