Wednesday,
May 5, 2010
 

SECURITY COUNCIL BRIEFED ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN NEPAL

• The
  
  Security Council will discuss
  
  Nepal this afternoon at 3:00 pm. Karin Landgren, the
  Secretary-General’s Representative for Nepal, will brief the Council on
  the recent developments there and the work of the
  
  UN Mission in Nepal, in an open meeting followed by consultations.
   

• Earlier today, the Council held a private meeting
  with the troop contributing countries for the
  
  UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad.

SECRETARY-GENERAL’S REPORT: NO SUBSTANTIVE PROGRESS MADE IN NEPAL’S PEACE
PROCESS

• In his
  
  report to the
  
  Security Council on the work of the
  
  UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), the
  
  Secretary-General highlighted that no substantive progress has been
  made on the main outstanding tasks of the peace process in
  
  Nepal since his January report to the Council.
   

• The Secretary-General also said the prospect of a
  serious political-constitutional crisis resulting from failure to
  promulgate the constitution by 28 May has raised concerns.
   

• He appeals to the Government and the parties to
  resolve without delay the remaining political impediments, and
  underlines that only adherence to existing commitments and a negotiated
  settlement, will offer a satisfactory outcome for the future of Nepal.
   

• Should the Government, in consultation with the
  parties, request an extension of UNMIN’s mandate, the Secretary-General
  recommends that the Council respond positively. He underlines his
  expectation that such a request specify the areas in which UNMIN should
  strengthen its support, in order to both expedite progress in the peace
  process and to enable the Mission to complete its mandated tasks.
   

• The Secretary-General also expressed strong hope to
  see the parties move forward in the implementation of the agreements
  they have reached, with the aim of adopting a new constitution and
  ensuring long-term peace, stability and prosperity.

SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR REVISED MANDATE FOR U.N. MISSION IN CHAD AND
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

• The
  
  Secretary-General’s latest
  
  report on the
  
  UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) has
  been issued. In it, the Secretary-General lays out a revised mandate for
  the Mission.
   

• Last January, the Chadian authorities said that
  they would bear the primary responsibility for the security and
  protection of civilians, following the end of the current mandate of
  MINURCAT on 15 May.
   

• Under the revised mandate of the mission, and
  subject to the decision of the
  
  Security Council, the mandate that MINURCAT now has for the
  protection of civilians will cease. MINURCAT’s military component will
  be reduced from its current 3,300 strength in Chad to 1,400 troops and
  500 support elements. Some 1,400 troops will be withdrawn by 15 July
  2010.
   

• The remaining 1,900 troops will be in Chad until 15
  October 2010, when they will cease all operations and commence their
  final withdrawal, subject to approval by the Security Council.
   

• The Secretary-General recommends that the Council
  approves a revised mandate for MINURCAT for one year.

SECRETARY-GENERAL NOTES LACK OF ACCESS TO PARTS OF DARFUR

• The
  
  Secretary-General’s
  
  report to the
  
  Security Council on the
  
  African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has been
  issued. In it, the Secretary-General notes
  positive developments in Darfur, including progress in the negotiations
  in Doha, improvement in the relations between Chad and the Sudan and an
  elections process that took place largely without violence.
   

• In that context, the increasing deployment and
  operational capabilities of UNAMID, especially in remote areas, have
  helped to improve the safety and security of the Darfuri population,
  including through expanded patrolling, community policing and improved
  collaboration with Sudanese authorities, he says.
   

• Nonetheless, there remain
  serious challenges to the achievement of a lasting peace in the region,
  including the ongoing reports of violence in many areas of Darfur, the
  lack of participation by key stakeholders in the political process and
  the failure of the electoral process to include large groups of
  Darfurians.
   

• The Secretary-General notes the continued denial of
  access to UNAMID by the various parties – particularly to areas in which
  clashes have reportedly occurred, such as Jebel Marra,
  
  Darfur.
   

• He also says that the continued refusal by Abdul
  Wahid to join the Doha process and negotiate with the Government of the
  Sudan, coupled with his movement’s refusal to allow UNAMID and
  humanitarian agencies to gain access to areas under its control,
  constitute serious impediments to the peace process in Darfur.
   

• He urges Abdul Wahid to engage in negotiations
  under the auspices of the Joint Chief Mediator and he urges those Member
  States with influence over him to encourage him to join the talks in
  Doha.
   

• The
  
  Security Council is scheduled to discuss the report on 20 May.

DEPUTY
SECRETARY-GENERAL ATTENDING WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM ON AFRICA

• The
  
  Deputy Secretary-General is in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, today to
  attend the 20^th World Economic Forum on Africa – which
  continues until Friday.
   

• This year, the Forum will look at how leaders are
  rising to the current challenges facing the continent and using the
  economic crisis as an opportunity to redesign a sustainable roadmap for
  Africa’s future within the new global economy.
   

• The Deputy Secretary-General will, in particular,
  speak during sessions focusing on Fostering Public Sector leadership,
  the Empowerment of Girls, as well as on African continental cooperation.
  She will also hold bilateral meetings with Tanzanian Government
  officials as well as other visiting dignitaries.

TOP U.N.
OFFICIALS APPALLED AT GROWING USE OF CHILD SOLDIERS IN SOMALIA

• In a joint
  
  statement, the
  
  Executive Director of the
  
  UN Children’s Fund, Anthony Lake, and
  
  Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative
  for
  
  Children and Armed Conflict, said they are appalled that the
  recruitment and use of children as soldiers by armed groups in Somalia
  is rising. All parties to the conflict are involved, they say, and in
  some cases children as young as nine years old are being recruited.
   

• They emphasize that the use of children by armed
  forces and groups is a war crime, which must stop immediately. All
  parties must release the children within their ranks. Children who have
  been recruited are victims and must be treated accordingly.

U.N.
OFFICIAL RENEWS CALL FOR RELEASE OF FORMER CHILD SOLDIER OMAR KHADR

• The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for
  
  
  Children and Armed Conflict,
  
  Radhika Coomaraswamy, is calling on the Governments of Canada
  and the United States of America to remove all obstacles to the release
  of Omar Khadr.
   

• Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen, is being prosecuted
  under the US military commission at Guantanamo. He was arrested in
  Afghanistan in 2002 at the age of fifteen. He is the last remaining
  child soldier at the Guantanamo facility.
   

• Coomaraswamy is deeply concerned that his case has
  been brought to trial under the Guantanamo military commission and that
  he has been charged with war crimes. She calls for the immediately
  release Omar Khadr into Canadian custody.
   

• The Special Representative also calls upon both the
  Canadian and US Governments to treat Omar Khadr as a child soldier and
  to undertake efforts for his rehabilitation and reintegration back into
  his community. “Trying young people for war crimes with regard to acts
  committed when they are minors could create a dangerous international
  precedent,” she said.

U.N. OFFICE
ON DRUGS AND CRIME ASSISTING SEYCHELLES WITH PIRACY TRIALS

• The
  
  UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is
  
  working with the Government of the Seychelles and the joint
  Counter-Piracy Programme of the European Union to help ensure the smooth
  operation of a new regional centre to prosecute
  
  piracy.
   

• With naval activity around the Horn of Africa –
  including Somalia – becoming increasingly secure, pirates are moving
  south towards Seychelles, attacking ships based in or operating around
  the archipelago.
   

• The Seychelles’ regional centre will be the second
  of its kind, the first having been established in Kenya, and it will try
  piracy suspects apprehended by the European Union Naval Force Somalia –
  Operation (EU NAVFOR).
   

• UNDOC will help to ensure that the Seychelles’
  police, coastguard, prosecutors, courts and prisons are assisted in
  handling the additional challenges of piracy cases.

OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS

HUMAN RIGHTS:
Asked about the qualifications of

Ivan Simonovic to be Assistant Secretary-General in the

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Spokesperson said
that Simonovic was chosen unanimously by a UN selection panel after a
rigorous search process and that the Secretary-General was happy with the
choice. Asked when Simonovic would start his duties in New York, Nesirky
said that Simonovic would visit Geneva soon to discuss when he would take up
his duties, with the aim of starting sooner rather than later.

AFGHANISTAN:
Asked about the contact the United Nations has had with the family of Louis
Maxwell, a staff member who was killed last year in

Afghanistan, the Spokesperson said that the United Nations has briefed
Louis Maxwell’s family members regularly and provided them with support.