HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MICHELE MONTAS
SPOKESPERSON FOR
THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS,
Monday, October
19, 2009
BAN KI-MOON
CALLS AFGHAN PRESIDENT, URGES RESPECT FOR CONSTITUTIONAL PROCESS
Asked about the findings of the Election Complaints Commission regarding
fraud in
Afghanistan, the Spokeswoman said that the Secretary-General this
morning spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The Secretary-General
urged Karzai to respect the constitutional process, and he was pleased to
hear that the President will fully respect the constitutional order.
Asked further about the findings on fraud, Montas said that the information
at this stage consists of reports. It is for the Independent Electoral
Commission to take the orders of the Election Complaints Commission and
apply them to the preliminary results and draw a new tally and announce
final certified results; that has not happened yet.
Asked about the possibility of a second round of voting, she said that no
one underestimates the challenges faced in conducting a second round.
However, the Spokeswoman emphasized that the need for a second round cannot
be dictated by the difficulties faced. A credible government is needed. If a
second round is called for, we need to scrupulously abide by the law.
She added that the United Nations had, early on, pointed to the reports of
fraud, including during the briefing provided a month ago to the
Security Council by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for
Afghanistan, Kai Eide.
SECRETARY-GENERAL STRONGLY CONDEMNS TERRORIST ATTACKS IN IRAN
In a
statement, the Secretary-General strongly condemned the terrorist
attacks that took place on Sunday in the Sistan-Baluchistan province of
Iran, which resulted in the death of a large number of people and many
injured.
He extends his condolences to the families of the
victims and to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and wishes
those injured a full recovery.
SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES RELEASE OF TWO KIDNAPPED
AID WORKERS IN DARFUR
The Secretary-General
welcomes the release on Sunday of two staff members of the international
non-governmental organization GOAL, who were abducted in Darfur, Sudan on 2
July 2009.
The Secretary-General commends the thousands of
humanitarian personnel working in Sudan for their critical efforts and
underscores the importance of their work. He also stresses that the primary
responsibility for the safety and security of all humanitarian and
peacekeeping personnel working in Sudan lies with the Government of Sudan.
REPORT:
RESOLVING INTERNAL CONFLICTS IN CHAD AND SUDAN KEY TO PEACE AND STABILITY IN
SUB-REGION
In his latest
report on the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and
Chad (MINURCAT),
the Secretary-General says the mission is making steady but limited progress
in the implementation of its mandate, to provide wide security within its
area of operation.
But he adds that sustained engagement by the Government
of Chad and its partners is essential, especially for the return of refugees
and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Noting that tensions between Chad and Sudan continue,
the Secretary-General says that the parties, together with regional actors
and the international community, must reinvigorate meaningful peace efforts.
He also stresses that the long-term peace and stability of the region
depends primarily on resolving the internal conflicts prevailing in both
Sudan and Chad.
The Secretary-General also notes that the proliferation
of arms, tribal disputes and border tensions continue to plague eastern Chad
and to complicate the security and social environment. He says it is
essential that the Government of Chad redouble its efforts to address the
sources of insecurity.
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY EXPECTS SUDANESE GOVERNMENT TO
DELIVER ON OBLIGATIONS TO IMPROVE LIVES OF SUDANESE
Asked about the UN stance on Sudan at a time when the United States has
reviewed its policies on the country, the Spokeswoman said that, at the
moment, there is reason for anxiety, as we are less than six months from
elections and preparations are lagging behind.
Then in January 2011, there will be a referendum on whether the South of the
country will secede, and we need to help the Sudanese prepare for the
outcome of this vote.
It will be important to be open and transparent about how things are going,
Montas said. If we do not see real progress then the Security Council will
have to make some decisions about how it wants to move forward.
Asked about the US policy review, the Spokeswoman said that the
Secretary-General appreciates the efforts of the US and other influential
partners to help the Sudanese improve their situation and will continue to
study the new US policy.
Our reading, she said, is that it reiterates a position held by much of the
international community. There is a clear expectation that the Sudanese
Government will deliver on its obligations to improve the lives of
its citizens.
DARFUR: A.U.-U.N. MISSION WARNS OF POSSIBLE RENEWED
FIGHTING
The AU-UN Mission in Darfur (UNAMID)
has expressed grave concern over a military build-up by the Government of
Sudan and by forces of the Sudan Liberation Army/Abdul Wahid Faction,
observed by peacekeeping field personnel in the areas of Sortony and
Kabkabiya in North Darfur.
UNAMID says that the sizeable
and unusual military activities may signal the impending start of a new
cycle of armed confrontations in the area.
The Mission has issued a
solemn call on all parties to the Darfur conflict to refrain from resorting
to any new acts of violence. UNAMID further stresses that the only way for a
peaceful resolution of the Darfur conflict is through dialogue and
negotiations.
UNAMID also reports an attack
over the weekend by unknown gunmen on an escort of one its formed police
units that left three Mission policemen wounded, two of them critically.
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT CONFIRMS WAR CRIMES
CHARGES AGAINST DARFUR REBEL LEADER
Prosecutors of the
International Criminal Court (ICC)
meeting in The Hague today
confirmed war crimes charges against a Darfur rebel leader, Bahr Idriss
Abu Garda.
He is suspected of war crimes
allegedly committed on 29 September 2007 against the African Union
peacekeeping mission in the Sudan.
It was the first time that
the ICC judges issued a summons to appear rather than a warrant of arrest.
Judges had considered that Abu Garda would appear before the Court
voluntarily and that his arrest was not necessary. “The presence of Abu
Garda at the confirmation of charges hearing shows his willingness to
cooperate with the court,” stated Silvana Arbia, Court Registrar.
GUINEA: SENIOR
U.N. OFFICIAL DISCUSSES INVESTIGATION INTO KILLING OF PROTESTERS
The Assistant
Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Haile Menkerios, has been visiting
Guinea and the sub-region since last Friday, to prepare the ground for a
Commission of Inquiry to
investigate the violence that took place in Guinea on 28 September.
The mission left Conakry
today for Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, where Menkerios is scheduled to meet
with President Blaise Compaoré this afternoon, in his capacity as the
mediator for Guinea mandated by ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West
African States.
Over the weekend, the mission
first arrived in Abuja, Nigeria, where Menkerios met with a range of
regional leaders, including the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr.
Mohamed ibn Chambas, the African Union Peace and Security Commissioner,
Ramtane Lamamra, and the AU Chairman, Jean Ping. The ECOWAS Summit welcomed
the Secretary-General’s decision to establish the Commission of Inquiry and
the African Union and ECOWAS pledged their full support for the work of the
Commission.
The mission then traveled to
Conakry on Sunday, where they met with Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, the head
of the National Council for Democracy and Development. They also held a
meeting with the Prime Minister and his entire Cabinet. In addition, the
mission also consulted representatives of political parties, civil society
organizations and trade unions. There was broad support for an international
Commission of Inquiry among Guinean stakeholders, and Captain Camara invited
the Commission to begin its work as soon as possible in order to help
establish the truth about what took place on 28 September.
D.R. CONGO:
THOUSANDS OF DISPLACED PERSONS BEGIN TO RETURN HOME IN NORTH KIVU PROVINCE
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),
approximately 110,000 people displaced by conflict have returned to their
areas of origin in the North Kivu province in the last two months, according
to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
It adds that in the areas of return, assistance is
being provided to the entire community, without differentiating between
returnees and others, in order to promote the successful reinsertion of
these returnees.
The World Food Programme (WFP)
has been providing three-month food rations to the internally displaced
persons (IDPs) returning to their home areas in North Kivu, while the UN
Refugee Agency (UNHCR)
has provided non-food items. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
has assisted the returnees with farm tools and other agriculture inputs.
OCHA also says that an estimated 980,000 people remain
displaced and in need of continued humanitarian assistance in North Kivu.
DEPUTY
SECRETARY-GENERAL OPENS “DELIVERING AS ONE” CONFERENCE IN RWANDAN CAPITAL
The Deputy Secretary-General is in Kigali, Rwanda,
today, where she opened the Delivering as One conference. The conference
brings together eight pilot countries as well as a few countries with
similar experiences to exchange experiences and lessons learned.
The Deputy Secretary-General will also hold bilateral
meetings with senior officials of the Government of Rwanda and an informal
exchange with women parliamentarians.
On Thursday, the Deputy Secretary-General will deliver
the keynote address at the Second Metropolis Women International Network
Forum, in Seoul. During her visit, the Deputy Secretary-General will hold
bilateral meetings with the Prime Minister and other senior officials of the
Government of the Republic of Korea. The Deputy Secretary-General will
return to New York on Monday, 26 October.
PAKISTAN:
FRESH DISPLACEMENT FROM GOVERNMENT’S NEW MILITARY OFFENSIVE
The Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that, since Saturday, the military
operations in the tribal areas of South Waziristan, in northwestern
Pakistan, have intensified and resulted in considerable new
displacements of civilians.
The humanitarian community
estimates that over 170,000 people may be displaced as a result of the new
military operations, which could bring the total number of displaced persons
up to 250,000.
At present, the IDPs are
accommodated with host families and no camps have been set up in the two
northwestern districts of Pakistan. The UN and its partners, working through
local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), are currently providing
humanitarian assistance to the area of displacement by distributing food and
non-food items.
The Pakistan Humanitarian
Response Plan is now just over 60 per cent funded.
Asked about UN assistance for
Pakistan, the Spokeswoman recalled that the primary responsibility for
helping the IDPs rests with the Government of Pakistan, with the United
Nations providing assistance.
LEBANON: U.N.
MISSION REPORTS EXPLOSIONS IN THE SOUTH
According to preliminary
information available to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL),
at least two explosions occurred during the weekend in southern Lebanon. No
injuries have been reported. Preliminary indications are that these
explosions were caused by explosive charges contained in unattended
underground sensors which were placed in this area by the Israel Defence
Forces (IDF), apparently during the 2006 war.
UNIFIL Command has been in
contact with both parties, and UNIFIL immediately launched an investigation
to ascertain all the facts and circumstances relating to the presence of
these devices and to establish how the explosions were triggered. UNIFIL
investigators are working in close coordination and cooperation with the
Lebanese Armed Forces.
Asked about Israeli aircraft
flying over Lebanon, the Spokeswoman said that, during the Lebanese Armed
Forces and UNIFIL operations and the investigation on the ground, Israeli
aircraft were hovering over the area for a prolonged period of time in
violation of Lebanese airspace. UNIFIL Command protested to the Israeli
Defense Forces and called on them to immediately cease this air violation.
Lebanese troops fired at the aircraft with small arms.
MIDDLE EAST:
UNICEF GOODWILL AMBASSADOR CONCLUDES SIX-DAY MISSION
Over the weekend, actress and UNICEF Goodwilll
Ambassador Mia Farrow wrapped up her six-day
mission to the Middle East. In addition to her recent trip to Gaza, she
also visited Sderot and Tel Aviv in Israel, and Jenin and Ramallah in the
West Bank.
In Sderot, Farrow met with young students and a group
of parents whose children had been killed or injured by rocket fire from
Gaza over the past years. She also met with parents and children living in a
nearby kibbutz. Farrow said the children spoke to her about “the violence,
their fear and their dream for peace.”
In and around Ramallah, Farrow met with former child
detainees, who had been sentenced to prison after being detained by the
Israeli military.
Meanwhile, the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for
the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO)
reports that fifty-eight truckloads of goods entered Gaza from Israel on
Sunday, through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Half of those truckloads
contained fruit, dairy products and frozen meat. But the Karni conveyor belt
crossing and the Nahal Oz fuel pipelines were closed.
Asked about the
Secretary-General’s response to the report by the fact-finding commission on
Gaza headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, the Spokeswoman said that the
Secretary-General is waiting to see what response the General Assembly will
have as it considers the Goldstone report.
HIGH
COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS PROBES HONDURAS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has
deployed a
mission to Honduras. The team arrived on Sunday and will stay until 7
November. Its job is to compile information for a special report requested
by the Human Rights Council.
That report will focus on human rights violations in
Honduras since the coup d’état last June. It will be submitted to the 13th
session of the Human Rights Council, which will be held in March 2010.
MORE THAN SEVEN
MILLION AFFECTED BY PHILIPPINES TYPHOONS
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
says that, as of 15 October, more than 7.4 million people in the Philippines
had been affected by Typhoon Parma and Typhoon Ketsana.
OCHA adds that the bulk of the United Nations Disaster
Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team left the Philippines on 16 October
having completed its assigned mission.
During its 15-day mission, the UNDAC team conducted 39
rapid needs assessments and follow-up/monitoring missions with the
Government and other partners. Now as Tropical Cyclone Lupit approaches,
another UNDAC team is on standby.
REPORT
HIGHLIGHTS PLIGHT OF TEMPORARY WORKERS WORLDWIDE
Temporary workers have been the first to lose their
jobs as a result of the financial and economic crisis, according to a new
report by the International Labour Office (ILO).
ILO says that the private
employment agency industry has grown at an incredible pace over the past
three decades and is used by enterprises to rapidly adjust to the shifting
economic realities. Since mid-2008, enterprises have used this
pressure-valve function to lay off temporary workers, while often leaving
their core workforce intact, adds
ILO.
The report stresses the importance of balancing the
need for labour flexibility with workers’ needs for employment stability, a
safe work environment, decent conditions of work and social security.
BAN KI-MOON URGES SRI LANKA GOVERNMENT TO SPEED UP
EFFORTS TO ADDRESS POST-CONFLICT CHALLENGES
Asked about the Secretary-General’s meeting last week with the Sri Lanka
Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe, the
Spokeswoman said that the meeting was a continuation of discussions the
Secretary-General held on the margins of the General Debate and those
pursued by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe
during his visit to Sri Lanka.
She said that the discussions concerned the need to accelerate the
Government’s efforts in addressing post-conflict political, humanitarian and
human rights challenges -- in particular, the urgent issue of resettlement
of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and freedom of movement of IDPs.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
U.N. HUMANITARIAN CHIEF ON
MISSION TO UGANDA: United Nations
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes will embark on a
mission to Uganda from 20-24 October. He will attend the African Union Special
Summit on Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa. Holmes
will also assess the situation in Uganda, where the humanitarian community has
been working with the Government to ensure that some two million people
displaced by the conflict with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) are able to
achieve a durable solution to their displacement.
UNDP HEAD TO VISIT FINLAND, NORWAY AND SWEDEN:
UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark began an official
visit to Finland, Norway, and Sweden today. She will be meeting with senior
government officials and participating in the European Development Days in
Stockholm.
United Nations, S-378
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