SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS ON GUINEAN
AUTHORITIES TO RESOLVE TECHNICAL AND LOGISTICAL ELECTION
CHALLENGES

• The
  Secretary-General
  
  takes note of the decision by Guinean authorities to
  postpone, due to technical reasons, the second round of the
  country’s presidential elections that were scheduled to take
  place on 19 September 2010. He calls upon the country’s
  authorities to quickly address the outstanding technical and
  logistical challenges in order to create the conditions
  necessary for the holding of transparent and credible
  elections as soon as possible. He warns those who may
  attempt to disrupt an orderly and peaceful transition that
  they would be held accountable by Guineans and by the
  international community as a whole.
   

• The
  Secretary-General further calls upon all Guineans to
  exercise utmost restraint during the electoral campaign and
  to refrain from all acts of violence or incitement. The
  Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West
  Africa, Said Djinnit, is actively engaged with national,
  regional and other international actors to help Guinea
  create a conducive atmosphere for the completion of the
  electoral process in a timely and peaceful manner.
   

• Asked about
  Djinnit’s activity, the Spokesperson said that he was
  engaged with the Guinean authorities, the Economic Community
  for West African States (ECOWAS) and others in dealing with
  the issue.

 

SECRETARY-GENERAL RECEIVES INITIAL REPORT
FROM PANEL OF INQUIRY ON GAZA FLOTILLA INCIDENT

• The
  Secretary-General received the initial progress report he
  requested from the Panel of Inquiry on the 31 May 2010
  Flotilla Incident, as noted in a
  
  statement issued late on Wednesday. As expected, this
  first report is largely procedural in nature.
   

• The
  Secretary-General was heartened that the Panel unanimously
  reported it had the means available to it to respond to the
  high international concern that has been expressed
  concerning the flotilla incident.
   

• The
  Secretary-General looks forward to the Panel’s substantive
  treatment of the flotilla incident after it has received and
  been able to review reports from both Israel and Turkey on
  their national investigations.
   

• The
  Secretary-General is pleased that the Panel is now fully
  underway and focused on fulfilling its very important
  responsibilities. He is encouraged that the Panel reported
  it had conducted its proceedings in a positive and collegial
  atmosphere.
   

• Asked about reports received by
  the panel, the Spokesperson said that the panel has received
  an interim report from Turkey on the progress with respect
  to its national investigation. An interim report from Israel
  is still forthcoming.  Once both are in hand the Panel will
  begin the substantive review, which will of course also
  cover final reports from the parties when they are received.
   

• He added
  that the panel is clearly focused on the work that it has to
  do.

 

SECRETARY-GENERAL CALL ON WORLD LEADERS TO
ACT WITH URGENCY AT NEXT WEEK’S MDG SUMMIT

• This morning, the
  Secretary-General participated in the launch of the 2010
  Millennium Development Goals  (MDGs)
  Gap Task Force Report -- the task force he created in 2007
  to assess progress on Goal Eight, the global partnership for
  development.
   

• He
  
  said that this year’s report focused largely and
  necessarily on the impact of the global economic crisis.  It
  shows that the upheaval has caused further shortfalls on
  aid, trade and debt, and on affordable access to medicines
  and technology, he added.
   

• The
  Secretary-General noted that although official development
  assistance (ODA) is at an all-time high, $20 billion in
  commitments were still missing for this year. Africa
  accounts for 80 per cent of that gap, he added.
   

• He said that,
  taken as a whole, this report
  paints a picture that should motivate world leaders to act
  with urgency at next week’s
  
  Summit. But while the gaps are
  serious, let us not be daunted by them, he added. Despite
  setbacks, shortfalls and obstacles, we have the tools and
  the resources to achieve the Goals by 2015.
   

• He urged world
  leaders to renew their commitment to the global partnership
  for development. 

 

SOMALIA: U.N. ENVOY EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER
SECURITY SITUATION AND POTENTIAL IMPACT ON REGION

• Augustine Mahiga,
  the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for
  
  Somalia, briefed the
  Security Council this morning, in his first time in that
  capacity. He expressed concern about the security situation
  in Somalia and its potential impact on the entire region.
   

• With only eleven
  months to go before the end of the transition period, he
  said, the Transitional Federal Government and the
  international community should show heightened political
  resolve to preserve and expand the fragile peace ushered in
  by the Djibouti Agreement. He appealed to Member States to
  move toward practical actions to support Somalia, including
  in financial and material support for the African Union
  Mission, AMISOM.
   

• Also, the Deputy
  High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kyung-wha Kang, has
  issued a
  
  statement following a three-day visit to the region, in
  which she called for an end to the culture of impunity in
  Somalia.

 

U.N. REPRESENTATIVE IN AFGHANISTAN VISITS
KANDAHAR AHEAD OF WEEKEND ELECTIONS

• Staffan de Mistura,
  the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for
  
  Afghanistan, visited the southern city of Kandahar
  today, to meet with local leaders and electoral officials
  and express UN support for Saturday’s parliamentary polls.
   

• He said that he
  visited Kandahar in order to listen to the concerns of those
  involved in supporting and conducting the elections, as well
  as to those of tribal elders who are leaders in their
  communities.
   

• He also issued a
  statement condemning the killing on Wednesday of two polling
  staff of Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission.

 

CAMBODIA: EXTRAORDINARY CHAMBERS INDICT
FOUR FORMER KHMER ROUGE LEADERS

• On Wednesday, the
  Co-Investigating Judges of the
  
  Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia signed
  an order to indict four former Khmer Rouge officials and
  send them for trial.
   

• The four accused
  have been charged with genocide against the Cham and the
  Vietnamese, crimes against humanity, and grave breaches of
  the Geneva Conventions, among other offences. The four
  accused are being held in detention until their appearance
  before the Trial Chamber.

 

CHILD MALNUTRITION AT CRITICAL LEVELS IN
CHAD

• The World Food
  Programme (WFP)
  
  warned today that rates of malnutrition among children
  remain at critical levels in Chad.
   

• The World Food
  Programme Executive Director, Josette Sheeran, said that the
  situation in Chad is still alarming even as harvest time
  approaches in the Eastern Sahel. She said that after a long
  and crippling lean season, “children are weak and need to
  continue receiving food and nutritional support.”
   

• Earlier  this 
  year,  after  erratic rainfall across the eastern Sahel, 
  much  of  the 2009 harvest was destroyed, the landscape
  parched and watering  holes  for  cattle  dried  up.
  Malnutrition rates climbed at an alarming rate.
   

• In response,
  
  WFP mounted emergency food assistance operations in
  Niger and Chad with the aim of meeting the nutritional needs
  of the young children and keeping families fed through the
  lean season when food is in short supply and prices rise.

 

PAKISTANIS STILL
STRUGGLING TO REBUILD LIVES AFTER FLOODS

• Flood affected
  communities in Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  Province (KPK), the first province to be hit by the
  country’s devastating floods, are still
  
  struggling to rebuild their lives, and look ahead to the
  long road to recovery.
   

• “A lot of progress
  has been made, but the way ahead is still long,” said Ahmed
  Warsame, head of the sub-office of the United Nations High
  Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
  in KPK. “We need to ensure that we meet the needs of all
  flood-affected communities and reach out to those most
  vulnerable to ensure they have access to humanitarian
  assistance.”
   

• Currently, over 4.3
  million people are affected by floods in KPK. More than
  192,600 homes have been destroyed or damaged, and an
  estimated 786 schools are still being used as shelters--
  seven weeks into the disaster.

 

SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES ROLE OF GOOD
GOVERNANCE IN PRESERVING OZONE LAYER

• In a
  
  message to mark the International Day for the
  Preservation of the Ozone Layer, celebrated today, the
  Secretary-General says that this day highlights the central
  role of good governance in pursuit of environmental goals. 
  The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone
  Layer – which last year achieved universal ratification – is
  an excellent example of this process, he adds.
   

• The
  Secretary-General encourages Parties to the Montreal
  Protocol to continue to build on this model.  Let us use the
  governance tools contained in the existing ozone and climate
  treaties to reduce environmental threats to sustainable
  development and human well-being, he says.
   

• Also today, a new
  report, published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
  and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says
  that international efforts to protect the ozone layer are a
  success and have stopped additional ozone losses and
  contributed to mitigating the greenhouse effect. The report
  is the first comprehensive update on this subject in the
  last four years.

 

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

SECRETARY-GENERAL
APPOINTS RIMA KHALAF OF JORDAN AS HEAD OF E.S.C.W.A.:
The Secretary-General has appointed Ms. Rima Khalaf, a national
of Jordan, as Executive Secretary and Under-Secretary-General,
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).
She succeeds Mr. Bader Al-Dafa of Qatar. Ms. Khalaf has held
many senior policy making positions in the Jordanian Government
and has served as head of the Regional Bureau of Arab States
with the UN Development Programme.

 

SECRETARY-GENERAL AND HIS REPRESENTATIVE
COMMITTED TO CYPRUS SOLUTION:
Asked about

Cyprus, the Spokesperson reiterated that the
Secretary-General and his Special Adviser, Alexander Downer, are
committed to finding a solution to that long-standing question.

 

SECURITY COUNCIL LOOKS FORWARD TO
REFERENDA PANEL NEXT WEEK MEETING ON SUDAN:
Asked about Sudan, the Spokesperson noted that, in a recent
press statement, the members of the

Security Council said that they looked to the Secretary
General’s September 24 High Level Meeting to focus international
attention and support on Sudan during this time. They also
welcomed the Secretary General’s intent to create a Referenda
Monitoring Panel, in response to a joint request by the
Government of Sudan and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, and
requested that all parties provide full assistance to the panel
once formed.

 

SECRETARY-GENERAL TO MEET SRI LANKA PANEL MEMBERS TODAY:
Asked about the Secretary-General’s panel on Sri Lanka, the
Spokesperson said that the panel members would meet the
Secretary-General this afternoon.