UN
HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Monday, January 18, 2010
 

*There will be a briefing on Haiti at 4 p.m. with Alain Le Roy,
Under-Secretary-General for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and
Susana Malcorra, Under-Secretary-General for the Department of Field
Support.
 

BAN KI-MOON ASKS SECURITY COUNCIL FOR EXPANSION OF U.N. MISSION

• Secretary-General Ban
  Ki-moon briefed the
  
  Security Council on his visit to Haiti, in closed consultations, and
  
  told the press afterward that, during his visit, he saw vast
  destruction and vast need.  Haiti needs immediate and urgent support, he
  said.
   

• The Secretary-General
  said he wants to help ensure the coordination of the huge amount of aid
  that is pouring into the country. Two challenges stand out: to unplug
  the bottlenecks, and to ensure coordination.
   

• To advance all of these
  goals, the Secretary-General said, he recommended that the Security
  Council raise the number of UN police officers in the UN Stabilization
  Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
  by 1,500, or 67 per cent over current levels. He also recommended that
  the Council boost the number of troops by 2,000, a nearly 30 per cent
  increase for six months.
   

• The Secretary-General
  said, “The Haitian people need to see that today is better than
  yesterday. They need to believe that the future will be better than the
  past.”
   

• The Security Council also
  considered a draft resolution concerning an expansion of MINUSTAH’s
  personnel, which was circulated by the United States.
   

• Yesterday, the
  Secretary-General wrapped up his visit to Port-au-Prince on Sunday with
  a
  
  press encounter in which he told the Haitian people: “I am
  here to say: “We are with you. You are not alone. Help is already
  arriving.” He also stressed that the UN would take charge of the
  leadership in coordinating the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
   

• During his 6 hour-visit, he visited MINUSTAH staff
  as well as the remains of the UN headquarters, the Christopher Hotel,
  and met with Haitian President René Préval and other officials.
   

• He also paid tribute to the UN staff whose lives
  were lost in the earthquake,
  
  including the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in
  Haiti, Hédi Annabi, Principal Deputy Special Representative, Luiz Carlos
  da Costa, and Acting UN Police Commissioner in Haiti, Doug Coates.
   

• In the week since the earthquake struck Haiti, more
  than 250,000 ready-to-eat food rations have been distributed by the
  United Nations World Food Programme and the U.S. military.
   

• WFP, in a statement issued by its Executive
  Director Josette Sheeran, says it is streaming humanitarian assistance
  into Haiti, opening up air, sea and land corridors, and rehabilitating
  emergency telecommunications systems for the entire humanitarian
  community. Within the next week, WFP aims to move the equivalent of 10
  million ready-to-eat meals so that people whose homes have been
  destroyed, and who have no access to cooking facilities can feed their
  families. To achieve this, WFP is establishing 4 humanitarian hubs to
  deliver food assistance in Port au Prince, and at least 30 others at
  locations across Haiti.
   

• Meanwhile, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to
  Haiti, former US President Bill Clinton will be en route to the
  University Hospital in Port au Prince shortly. He brought along supplies
  of food and water, medical supplies, generators, gas cans and solar
  flash lights.

SECURITY COUNCIL
EXPRESSES SUPPORT TO BAN KI-MOON'S HAITI MISSION EXPANSION PROPOSAL

• In a statement to the press read by Security
  Council President Ambassador Zhang Yesui of China, the members of the
  Council recognized the significant contributions of those who have
  fallen and express their sincere gratitude for the ongoing dedication of
  the staff, troops and police of MINUSTAH who work tirelessly for peace
  and stability in Haiti.
   

• Security Council members also expressed their
  support to the proposal of the Secretary-General to increase the overall
  level of MINUSTAH to support the immediate recovery and stability
  efforts.
   

• The President also said the members of the Council
  are working on a rapid response to the proposal of the
  Secretary-General, and will follow the situation in Haiti closely.
   

 U.N. ENVOY CONDEMNS
SPATE OF ATTACKS AGAINST GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS IN AFGHANISTAN

• This morning, insurgents
  carried out coordinated attacks against government institutions in
  Kabul. The location of the attack, in central Kabul, at a time when many
  civilians were present, demonstrates a staggering disregard for civilian
  lives.
   

• The Secretary-General’s
  Special Representative for
  
  Afghanistan, Kai Eide, condemned these attacks in the strongest
  possible terms. There can be no justification for endangering the lives
  of so many people, he said.
   

• He added that such
  attacks will not deter the United Nations from continuing its support
  for the people of Afghanistan and its government institutions.

DARFUR PEACEKEEPERS TO
RECEIVE FIVE ETHIOPIAN TACTICAL HELICOPTERS

• The UN/African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID)
  appears confident to receive at least five tactical helicopters from
  Ethiopia along with a small unit of pilots and engineers. That’s what
  emerged from a coordination meeting held on Thursday in Addis Ababa
  between the Mission leadership and Ethiopian and Sudanese officials.
   

• The Ethiopian unit’s main body will arrive in South
  Darfur later this week, while five of its helicopters are expected in
  mid-February. The Mission says that the much-needed helicopters will
  significantly enhance its effort to stabilize Darfur.
   

INTERNATIONAL CONTACT GROUP SATISFIED BY SPIRIT OF COMPROMISE SHOWED BY ALL
PARTIES IN GUINEA

• A high level delegation of the International
  Contact Group on Guinea met yesterday and Saturday in Ouagadougou,
  Burkina Faso. The delegation held consultations with the President of
  Burkina Faso, Blaise Compoaré, Mediator of the crisis in Guinea, Captain
  Dadis Camara, President of CNDD and General Sekouba Konaté,
  Vice-President of CNDD (National Council for Democracy and Development)
  on the implementation of the Joint Declaration, signed on 15 January.
  
   

• The Delegation commended the efforts of the
  Mediator and expressed satisfaction with the spirit of compromise and
  sacrifice exhibited by all parties and their willingness to place the
  interest of the nation above all other considerations and urged them to
  continue along that path.
   

• The Delegation encouraged the interim Head of
  State, General Sekouba Konaté and the Prime Minister to be appointed to
  ensure full implementation of the Accord in line with the expectations
  of the people of Guinea.
   

• The high level delegation comprised the Minister of
  State for Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, Bagudu Hirse; the President of the
  ECOWAS Commission, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the African Union Special
  Envoy for Guinea, Professor Ibrahima Fall, and the Secretary-General’s
  Special Representative for West Africa, Said Djinnit.

U.N.’S
CENTRAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND ALLOCATES US$100 MILLION TO 14 UNDER-FUNDED
CRISES

• John Holmes, the UN’s
  
  humanitarian chief, today allocated some $100 million to boost
  humanitarian response in 14 neglected emergencies around the world,
  where people are suffering the effects of hunger, malnutrition, disease
  and conflict.
   

• The funds were made available today from the
  Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
  They will be granted to United Nations humanitarian agencies, the
  International Organization for Migration, and to partner organizations,
  including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to support humanitarian
  projects in the affected countries. These countries included Ethiopia,
  Kenya, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Chad, Colombia,
  Eritrea, and Guinea.
   

• This is the first round of allocations from CERF’s
  window for underfunded emergencies in 2010. The second round will be in
  July.
   

IRAQ: DEPUTY
SECRETARY-GENERAL TO HIGHLIGHT PROGRESS AT INT'L COMPACT MEETING

• Deputy Secretary-General Asha Rose Migiro will
  deliver remarks later today on the International Compact for Iraq and
  the way forward in that country. She is expected to say that Iraq had
  made important progress towards the vision laid out in the Compact.
   

• She will also stress the engagement of the United
  Nations in that country and how Iraq is overcoming many challenges to
  set itself again on a path to a violence-free future in matters
  political, social and economic.