.HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON
BRIEFING
BY FARHAN HAQ
ASSOCIATE SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
U.N.
HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Thursday,
April 16, 2009
U.N.
HUMANITARIAN OFFICE REPORTS RESUMED FIGHTING IN SRI LANKA
Following the end of the temporary ceasefire in
northern
Sri Lanka, fighting in the vicinity of the No Fire Zone is reportedly
intense, and small arms fire, mortar fire and aerial attacks have resumed.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, more than 64,000 people have crossed from conflict
areas. Some 63,000 of them are accommodated in various camps, while 800
displaced persons are in hospitals in various districts.
The International Red Cross was able to evacuate 988
people from the No Fire Zone during the cease fire period.
A ship with approximately 1,030 tons of humanitarian
supplies is being loaded for departure to the No Fire Zone and is expected
to leave in three days.
In the camps in the Vanni region, shelter construction,
site clearing, educational support, health care, water supply and sanitation
assistance are continuing. But water and sanitation services remain
inadequate.
OCHA says that the continued use of schools and other
education establishments as sites for internally displaced persons continues
to put a strain on the education services in the district, which is
affecting both displaced students and host students.
Asked whether Chef de Cabinet Vijay Nambiar was currently in Sri Lanka, the
Spokesperson said that he was. In that regard, he noted that the
Secretary-General is doing his utmost to alleviate the situation in Sri
Lanka and high-level contacts were continuing to be pursued on that matter.
Haq said that the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) did not appear to have responded constructively
in allowing civilians to leave. This is truly disappointing, he said.
Civilians must be allowed to leave the area of violence. They must not be
used as targets of political or military designs.
WATCHDOG
CONFIRMS INSPECTORS HAVE LEFT NUCLEAR SITE
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
reports that its inspectors departed the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea (DPRK) today.
The Agency’s inspectors at the Yongbyon nuclear
facilities removed all IAEA seals and switched off surveillance cameras
yesterday. That happened after the DPRK informed the inspectors on 14 April
that it had decided to cease all cooperation with the IAEA, requested
removal of containment and surveillance equipment and required the
inspectors to leave the DPRK at the earliest possible time.
SECURITY
COUNCIL SUPPORTS SECRETARY-GENERAL’S RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IRAQ-KUWAIT CONFIDENCE
BUILDING
The
Security Council this morning, in its closed consultations, received a
briefing by Gennady Tarasov, the Secretary-General’s High Level Coordinator
dealing with missing Kuwaiti and third country persons and property in Iraq.
He presented the Secretary-General’s recent
report, which suggests that a confidence and cooperation-building
period, lasting until July 2010, should be introduced to further encourage
Iraq and Kuwait to achieve visible and significant progress and to
strengthen the patterns of their practical cooperation.
The Council President, Ambassador Claude Heller of
Mexico, read a press statement concerning the briefing afterward. He said
that Council members supported the Secretary-General’s proposal for a
confidence and cooperation building period, and they agreed to finance the
High Level Coordinator’s activities for a further six months.
The Council also received a briefing today on the
Development Fund for Iraq and the UN escrow account, from the Controller,
Jun Yamazaki.
Asked about a complaint from
Serbia regarding the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK),
the Spokesperson noted that the Security Council discussed that Mission
under other matters in today’s consultations.
LEBANON
TRIBUNAL SEEKS SUBMISSION OF REASONS FOR CONTINUED DETENTION OF SUSPECTS
On Wednesday, the Pre-Trial
Judge for the
Special Tribunal for Lebanon ordered the Prosecutor to file, by 27 April
2009, reasoned submissions stating whether or not he requests the
continuation of the detention of the persons held in Lebanon in relation to
case concerning the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
In setting this time limit,
the Pre-Trial Judge took into consideration the fundamental guarantee of a
fair trial, on the one hand, and the specificities of the case concerned, on
the other. In this regard, he stated that it is a fundamental right,
enshrined in all human rights instruments that any individual arrested or
detained be brought promptly before a judge to rule on his or her detention
status. The Pre-Trial Judge noted, however, that the Hariri case raised
difficult issues of terrorism, and that the judicial record relating to it
was particularly complex and voluminous.
TIMOR-LESTE
ENVOY: NO DEMOCRACY WITHOUT RULE OF LAW
Nearing the seventh anniversary of the restoration of
independence of Timor-Leste, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative,
Atul Khare, today
stressed that the rule of law may exist in the absence of democracy, but
democracy without the rule of law cannot exist.
The Special Representative also said that establishing
a culture of democracy and a truly democratic system takes many years and
can only be achieved if the rule of law is one of the guiding principles
that lead the process.
Highlighting that Timor-Leste has witnessed important
developments and reforms on its way towards firmly establishing rule of law
and democracy, he said an independent and efficient judiciary is a key
element of the rule of law.
DEPUTY
SECRETARY-GENERAL APPEALS FOR STRONGER RESOLVE TO ACHIEVE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
The Deputy Secretary-General is currently in Montreal,
Canada, where, this morning, she addressed the annual Summit on the
Millennium Development Goals.
Noting that time is running out to reach the Goals, she
stressed that, in the limited years we have left, we can’t afford to
speculate on what works. We have identified a set of tried and true low cost
interventions that are effective. And we need to put them into place, she
said.
The Deputy Secretary-General emphasized that the Goals
represent the minimum we must do. After all, she said, if the tables were
turned, and one of us lived in a shantytown, we wouldn’t say that the Goals
should be scaled back, or that one Goal is less essential than the others,
or that less should be done.
Later today in Montreal, the Deputy Secretary-General
is slated to give a public lecture at McGill University on "Renewing the
International Partnership for Development".
D.R. CONGO:
JOINT U.N.-CONGOLESE ARMY COORDINATION CENTERS OPEN IN NORTHEAST
The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(MONUC)
says it has set up two joint
coordination centers with the Congolese army to support the Government
in its attempt to restore safety and security in the northeast. The parties
have already appointed their respective commanders at the centers and will
soon name military officers to execute joint operation plans on the ground.
One of the new coordination centers is located in Sake,
while the town of Kiwanja will host the other. Both towns are in the restive
North Kivu province, where Rwandan rebels from the FDLR (Democratic Forces
for the Liberation of Rwanda) continue to attack civilians, Congolese army
troops and UN peacekeepers.
The Mission also reports that the UN Refugee Agency has
repatriated some 6,800 Rwandan nationals back to their country since
January. Voluntary repatriation also continues for former Rwandan rebels and
their dependents.
PIRATES’
PROLONGED DETENTION OF HUMANITARIAN VESSEL HAS SOMALI CIVILIANS AT GREATER RISK
OF HUNGER
The World Food Programme (WFP) is
concerned that people in Somalia will go hungry if the Sea Horse vessel
is not quickly released or replaced by another vessel. The Sea Horse --
hijacked by pirates on 14 April-- was due to load more than 7,000 metric
tons of food for Somalia.
After the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama last week en
route to Mombassa,
WFP also stresses that the Kenyan port is essential to its operations in
Somalia and elsewhere in eastern and central Africa. More than 500,000
metric tons of WFP food arrived in Mombasa in 2008.
If food assistance cannot arrive through Mombasa for
Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, southern Sudan and the eastern Democratic Republic
of the Congo, millions of people will go hungry and the already high
malnutrition rates will rise, according to WFP.
LACK OF COMMON
NUCLEAR STRATEGY HAMPERS PROGRESS IN CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT
The head of the UN Office at Geneva, Sergei
Ordzhonikidze, today
addressed a conference in Rome entitled “Overcoming Nuclear Dangers.”
In his remarks, Ordzhonikidze acknowledged that, while
nuclear-weapon States and their allies focus on non-proliferation,
non-nuclear-weapon States, particularly those in the developing world,
advocate nuclear disarmament first. As a result, he said, there is no common
global strategy to address issues concerning nuclear weapons. And that is
one of the primary causes for the continuing stalemate in the Conference on
Disarmament, he added.
Ordzhonikidze noted prospects for renewed United
States-Russian negotiations. But he added that, while the United States and
the Russian Federation have a vital role to play in providing leadership,
shared goals can only be realized fully through multilateral efforts.
Bilateral initiatives must support and feed into the multilateral mechanisms
to make the disarmament process sustainable and lasting, he said.
COOPERATION
AMONG NATIONS ON SECURITY AND CRIME PREVENTION MORE CRUCIAL THAN EVER
The growing threat of organized crime is at the heart
of the 18th session of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and
Criminal Justice – which opened today in Vienna.
In his opening remarks, the Executive Director of the
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC),
Antonio Maria Costa,
warned that crime had gone global and posed a security threat to cities,
nations and entire regions. He called on countries to change the way they
fight crime and corruption to respond to the unprecedented rise in organized
crime.
Costa asked for greater cooperation to fight organized
crime, adding that the political will of states was more powerful than the
greed and firepower of criminal groups.
The 18th session of the UN Commission on Crime
Prevention and Criminal Justice runs through 24 April.
OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
FIJI’S FUTURE ROLE IN U.N
PEACEKEEPING UNDER REVIEW: In response to a
question, the Spokesperson said that the United Nations continued to review any
future contributions by Fiji to UN peacekeeping on a case-by-case basis. He
noted that the Secretary-General has had a number of contacts on this issue,
including a discussion with the Prime Minister of New Zealand when they met last
week in Thailand.
DARFUR MISSION APPROVES PROJECTS TO ASSIST DISPLACED
CIVILIANS: The African Union-United Nations
Mission in Darfur (UNAMID)
office in Zalingei, West Darfur today approved 19 Quick Impact Projects (QIPs)
on rehabilitation, construction and the provision of educational materials for
schools around the camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs). The projects
would largely target basic schools in IDP Camps. The proposals are estimated to
cost more than $432,000.
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