SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES HOLDING OF SECOND ROUND OF
IVORIAN ELECTIONS

• The Secretary-General
  
  welcomes the holding of the second round of the
  presidential election in
  
  Côte d'Ivoire, despite some violent incidents in
  various areas of the country. He notes that, by
  exercising their right to vote for the second time in
  one month, the Ivorian people demonstrated again their
  desire for lasting peace and stability in their country.
   

• The Secretary-General calls on the
  Ivorian parties and candidates to refrain from
  announcing the results in advance of the Independent
  Electoral Commission. He urges candidates and parties to
  abide by the law in the resolution of any disputes
  related to the electoral process. He calls on them to
  play their part in maintaining a calm environment and to
  accept the proclaimed and certified results in a spirit
  of peace and reconciliation.
   

• The Secretary-General stresses that
  any disruption in the electoral process would not be in
  the interest of the people of Côte d'Ivoire, who have
  waited many years to reach a successful conclusion to
  the crisis, of which these elections are a critical
  step.
   

• The Special Representative of the
  Secretary-General will continue, in the context of his
  certification mandate, all his efforts to safeguard the
  electoral process so that the will of the Ivorian people
  will be respected. The United Nations will provide its
  full support to the completion of the electoral
  operations and to the Ivorian peace process as a whole.

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONCERNED BY INCIDENTS DURING HAITIAN
ELECTIONS, CALLS FOR CALM

• The Secretary-General is
  
  concerned following the incidents that marked the
  first round of the presidential and legislative
  elections in
  
  Haiti on Sunday, 28 November.
   

• The Secretary-General looks forward
  to a solution to the political crisis in the country and
  calls on the Haitian people and all political actors to
  remain calm, since any deterioration in the security
  situation will have an immediate impact on the efforts
  to contain the ongoing cholera epidemic.

U.N. RELIES ON MEMBER STATES TO ADHERE TO CONVENTIONS ON
IMMUNITIES AND PRIVILEGES

• In
  response to questions about documents disclosed by
  WikiLeaks, the Spokesperson said that the United Nations
  is not in a position to comment on the authenticity of
  the document purporting to request information-gathering
  activities on UN officials and activities.
   

• Haq said
  that the United Nations is by its very nature a
  transparent organization that makes a great deal of
  information about its activities available to the public
  and Member States. UN officials regularly meet
  representatives of Member States to brief them on UN
  activities.
   

• He added
  that the
  
  UN Charter, the Headquarters Agreement and the 1946
  Convention contain provisions relating to the privileges
  and immunities of the Organization. The UN relies on the
  adherence by Member States to these various
  undertakings.
   

• In
  response to further questions, the Spokesperson noted
  that the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and
  Immunities of the United Nations says, "The premises of
  the United Nations shall be inviolable.  The property
  and assets of the United Nations, wherever located and
  by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search,
  requisition, confiscation, expropriation and any other
  form of interference, whether by executive,
  administrative, judicial, or legislative action."
   

• Asked
  about follow-up, he said that the United Nations would
  try to obtain more information and respond as
  appropriate.
   

• Asked
  whether the Secretary-General had been informed by the
  US Government in advance of the publishing of the
  documents, the Spokesperson said that he had received
  prior information from US Ambassador Susan Rice.

U.N. MISSION IN SUDAN INFORMED
ABOUT DISPLACEMENTS FOLLOWING REPORTED AERIAL BOMBING IN
SUDAN

• Asked about reports of fighting in
  Sudan, the Spokesperson said that, on 24 November, local
  authorities in Northern Bahr El-Ghazal State stated that
  the Sudanese Armed Forces had conducted aerial bombing
  along the border near Kiir River.
   

• The UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS)
  dispatched a patrol to the area on 25 November and was
  informed that approximately 1,500 persons were displaced
  by the bombing.  The incident was reported to the Area
  Joint Monitoring Committee on 26 November and the matter
  is being further referred to a higher-level authority,
  the Cease-fire Joint Monitoring Committee.
   

• UNMIS is continuing its patrols to
  assess the situation on the ground, while calling on the
  parties to exercise restraint.

SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS MANDATE OF
GROUP OF EXPERTS ON D.R. CONGO

• This morning,
  the
  
  Security Council extended the mandate of the Group
  of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo until
  30 November 2011. The final report of the
  
  Group of Experts should be available online as a
  document today.
   

• The Security
  Council also held consultations on its
  
  1718 Committee on the Democratic People’s Republic
  of Korea and
  
  its 751/1907 Committee on Somalia/Eritrea.

SPECIAL ADVISER VISITS MYANMAR, MEETS DAW AUNG SAN SUU
KYI

• Chef de Cabinet Vijay Nambiar
  visited Myanmar over the weekend, in his capacity as
  Special Adviser to the
  Secretary-General.  He met with a number of officials
  and representatives of the major parties, including Daw
  Aung San Suu Kyi.
   

• He
  
  said he had listened to as many parties as possible
  about their hopes, expectations and concerns at this
  critical juncture for the country’s future direction. In
  this process, strong concerns were expressed by many
  parties about the process and outcome of the recent
  elections, which he urged the Government and the Union
  Election Commission to address as transparently as
  possible.
   

• Nambiar also encouraged the
  Government to build on recent developments towards
  national dialogue for reconciliation and democratization
  in the post-election process.  He said that, in order to
  succeed, any political transition should be broad-based
  and inclusive, and involve not only those who
  participated and won seats in the election, but also
  those who did not or could not.  In this connection, he
  called for the release of the political prisoners.

SECRETARY-GENERAL
SAYS NEXT YEAR WILL BE CRITICAL FOR ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN
PEACE

• In his
  
  message for the International Day of Solidarity with
  the Palestinian People, the Secretary-General says that
  two timelines in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process
  will reach a critical point in 2011.
   

• The
  first, he says, is the pledge by Palestinian President
  Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
  Netanyahu to seek a framework agreement on permanent
  status by September. The other concerns the Palestinian
  Authority’s expected readiness for statehood by August,
  according to the message, which was delivered by Deputy
  Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro.
   

• Few
  Palestinians and Israelis are hopeful that peace can be
  achieved soon, the Secretary-General says.
   

• He
  challenges the two leaders to show statesmanship and
  political courage in reaching a historic peace,
  stressing that the international community must be ready
  to assume its own responsibilities for peace.

CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE OPENS IN
MEXICO

• The
  
  United Nations Climate Change Conference opened
  today in Cancún, Mexico. The conference started with a
  welcome ceremony, attended by the President of Mexico,
  Felipe Calderon.
   

• The opening
  ceremony of the High-level Segment of the conference
  will be held on Tuesday, 7 December, and the Conference
  will run until 10 December 2010.

NEW GLASS PANELS BEING INSTALLED AT U.N. HEADQUARTERS

• In the course of the renovation of
  its Headquarters under the Capital Master Plan, the
  United Nations is starting today with the installation
  of the first new glass panels of the Secretariat
  Building curtain wall.  The 60-year-old single-pane
  glass panels are being replaced with state-of-the-art
  double-glazed panels. The work is scheduled for
  completion in 2012.
   

• After the renovation, the energy
  consumption of the Headquarters complex will be at least
  50% lower, as compared to existing conditions.
  Greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by at least
  45%.