SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR FREE, FAIR AND SECURE
POLLING FOR SOUTHERN SUDAN REFERENDUM

• On the eve of the
  referendum for the self-determination of the
  people of Southern Sudan, the Secretary-General
  commends the Government of National Unity of
  Sudan and the Government of Southern Sudan for
  their leadership, wisdom, and concerted efforts
  in ensuring that the referendum is held, as
  scheduled, on 9 January 2011, in an atmosphere
  of peace and cooperation.
   

• The Secretary-General also
  commends the work of the South Sudan Referendum
  Commission in Khartoum and its bureau in Juba,
  and expresses his gratitude to all international
  partners, including those that have deployed
  observer missions, for their support to this
  process.
   

• The Secretary-General urges
  the parties to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace
  Agreement to continue to do everything necessary
  to ensure free, fair, and secure polling.  The
  United Nations will continue for its part to
  provide full support to the referendum process
  and to the implementation of the Comprehensive
  Peace Agreement.

   

• The Secretary-General calls
  on all the people of Sudan to observe this
  occasion in the spirit of brotherhood and peace.

 

SECURITY, HUMANITARIAN
SITUATION TOP TALKS BETWEEN AFRICAN UNION-U.N. ENVOY
AND SUDANESE OFFICIAL

• Ibrahim
  Gambari, the Joint Special Representative of the
  African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID),
  met Thursday with the Sudanese Presidential
  Adviser in charge of the Darfur File, Ghazi
  Salah Al-Deen.
   

• They
  discussed the security and humanitarian
  situation following recent fighting and
  heightened tensions between the Government of
  Sudan and Darfur movements in areas of North and
  South Darfur states.
   

• 
  Following that meeting, the Mission was informed
  of a commitment by Sudanese security authorities
  in Sector South to allow air and road movements
  unless there are specific security threats,
  which will be communicated to UNAMID.

 

DARFUR: ARAB-AFRICAN BODY
RENEWS SUPPORT FOR PEACE PROCESS LED BY QATAR AND
AFRICAN UNION-U.N. MEDIATOR

 

U.N.
MISSION IN COTE D’IVOIRE IS SENDING TEAM TO DUEKOUE

• Asked
  about the response to the situation in Duekoue,
  in
  
  Côte d’Ivoire, the Spokesperson said that
  the UN Mission is sending a humanitarian team to
  the area to assess the situation. He said that
  UNOCI peacekeepers are present in the area and
  are working to protect civilians.

   

• Asked
  about food aid to displaced people fleeing Côte
  d’Ivoire, Nesirky said that UN humanitarian
  bodies are keenly aware of the needs of the
  people who have fled to Liberia or other
  countries. The World Food Programme (WFP)
  is providing food aid, he noted.
   

• He added
  that there are also some 12,000 internally
  displaced people in the country.

 

SECRETARY-GENERAL UNVEILS
INDEPENDENT PANEL TO FIND SOURCE OF HAITIAN CHOLERA
OUTBREAK

• In a
  
  statement issued Thursday, the
  Secretary-General announced the establishment of
  

  an independent panel of experts to seek to
  determine the source of the cholera outbreak in
  Haiti.  The panel will review all of the
  information and data available to date and
  travel to Haiti to conduct investigations on the
  ground.   The panel will operate completely
  independently from the United Nations and will
  have access to all UN records, reports,
  facilities, and staff members as required.  It
  will present a written report of its findings to
  the Secretary-General and to the Government of
  Haiti.
   

• The
  panel will be chaired by Dr. Alejandro Cravioto
  (Mexico) of the International Center for
  Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. The
  other three members of the panel are Dr. Claudio
  Lanata (Peru) of the Instituto de Investigacion
  Nutritional in Peru, Daniele Lantagne of Harvard
  University in the United States, and Dr.
  Balakrish Nair of the National Institute of
  Cholera and Enteric Diseases in India.

   

• Asked
  about reports saying that Nepalese peacekeepers
  may have been the source of the cholera
  outbreak, the Spokesperson said that the
  Secretary-General believes it is important to
  determine the source of the outbreak, as he
  showed by forming the panel and asking for it to
  begin its work immediately. He added that we
  should not prejudge what the panel might find;
  the findings will be made public in due course.

 

HAITI: CHILDREN CONTINUE TO
SUFFER ONE YEAR AFTER EARTHQUAKE, UNICEF WARNS

• The UN
  Children’s Agency (UNICEF)
  is released a
  
  report marking next week’s one-year
  anniversary of the Haiti earthquake.
   

• It says
  that relief and recovery efforts have been
  extraordinary but that children in Haiti
  continue to suffer from inequitable access to
  basic water, sanitation, healthcare, and
  education services and protection from disease,
  exploitation, and unsanitary conditions.
   

• UNICEF
  says that Haiti poses huge institutional and
  systemic challenges that predated the
  earthquake, and that require more than an
  emergency response to resolve.
   

• Also,
  the UN Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti (OSE)
  has released a new analysis of pledges made for
  post-earthquake recovery activities, showing a
  2010 disbursement rate among public sector
  donors of 63.6 percent.

   

• This is
  an update from 55 public sector pledge-makers
  who were present at the 31 March 2010
  international donors’ conference last year.
  These donors pledged approximately $2.01 billion
  for recovery activities in 2010. Of the $2.01
  billion pledged, $1.28 billion – 63.6 percent –
  was disbursed by year-end.

 

WESTERN SAHARA: U.N. REFUGEE
AGENCY ANNOUNCES RESUMPTION OF FLIGHTS BETWEEN
REFUGEE CAMPS

• The UN
  Refugee Agency (UNHCR)
  
  announced that flights between refugee camps
  in Tindouf and the Western Sahara Territory were
  expected to resume today. This is part of the
  agency’s Confidence Building Measures programme
  to facilitate visits of Sahrawi families that
  have been separated for more than 34 years.
   

• UNHCR is
  also planning to host a meeting in Geneva in
  February this year with all the parties to
  discuss the implementation of other components
  of the Confidence Building Measures programme
  which, when implemented, will benefit a larger
  number of Sahrawi families.

 

SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES SOMALI
TRANSITIONAL FEDERAL INSTITUTIONS TO FINISH DRAFTING
NEW CONSTITUTION

• The
  Secretary-General’s latest report on
  
  Somalia is out as a document today. In it,
  he urges the transitional federal institutions
  to complete the drafting of a new constitution
  and to work toward meeting the August 2011
  deadline for the political transition.

   

• He says
  that security remains the single most critical
  challenge confronting the country, with the
  presence of foreign extremist fighters rapidly
  turning it into the next front for the fight
  against international terrorism.
   

• The
  Secretary-General therefore appeals to the
  international community to provide urgent
  military, financial, logistical and other
  support to the Transitional Federal Government.
  He also acknowledges the call from the African
  Union Peace and Security Council to the UN
  Security Council to reaffirm its commitment to
  deploy a UN peacekeeping operation in Somalia in
  replacement of the current AU Mission (AMISOM).
   

• Also
  available is the Secretary-General’s periodic
  

  report on the work of the UN Mission in
  Sudan (UNMIS).

 

U.N. URGES NIGERIA TO STEP UP
ACTION TO HALT LEAD POISONING

• In a new
  
  report, the UN Office for the Coordination
  of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
  and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
  are urging Nigerian authorities to prevent
  further lead poisoning in northern Nigeria.
   

• The
  publication calls for polluted villages to be
  cleaned up as soon as possible to ensure that
  children suffering from lead poisoning can
  return to their villages for recovery and
  follow-up care after treatment.

   

• To date,
  more than 18,000 people have been affected in
  northern Nigeria, with 200 children reportedly
  having died. Joint investigations by OCHA and
  UNEP have revealed that the cause is acute lead
  poisoning from the processing of lead-rich ore
  for gold extraction taking place inside homes
  and compounds.

 

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

TIMING OF
NEXT MIDDLE EAST QUARTET MEETING DEPENDS ON
PRINCIPAL MEMBERS:
Asked about
the timing of the next meeting of the Quartet, the
Spokesperson noted that the Secretary-General spoke
with European Union High Representative Catherine
Ashton on Thursday, and they discussed the
possibility of a meeting of the Middle East Quartet.
The timing of such a meeting would be up to the
principal members of the Quartet.

 

U.N.
REFUGEE AGENCY WARNS FLOOD VICTIMS IN BALKANS NEED
CONTINUED ASSISTANCE:
With Bosnia and Herzegovina, and neighbouring
Montenegro, having experienced the worst flooding in
decades, the UN Refugee Agency (UNCHR)
has warned that those hit hard by the rains will
continue to need assistance during the winter
months. Flash floods last month uprooted some 40,000
people, one quarter of whom were displaced by
violence in the region in the 1990s. To date, UNHCR
has helped to distribute food and other items to
more than 2,000 people in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
while in Montenegro, it has assisted authorities in
moving 600 people to communal shelters after their
settlements were threatened by floodwaters.

 

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED
NATIONS[1]
8-14 January 2011

 

Saturday,
8 January

 

There are no
major events scheduled today.

 

Sunday, 9
January

 

There are no
major events scheduled today.

 

Monday,
10 January

 

This
morning, the Security Council is scheduled to be
briefed by the Department of Political Affairs
(DPA).

 

At 12:00
p.m., Nigel Fisher,

Deputy Special Representative for Haiti, will be the
guest at the Noon Briefing.

 

At 12:45
p.m., Cheick Sidi Diarra, UN Special Adviser on
Africa and High Representative for the Least
Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries
and Small Island Developing States, will hold a
press conference to discuss recent developments
concerning these states, ahead of a week-long
meeting at UN Headquarters.

 

Tuesday, 11 January

 

There are no
major events scheduled today.

 

Wednesday, 12 January

 

At 2:00
p.m., Héctor Marcos Timerman, Foreign Minister of
Argentina and Incoming Chairman of the Group of 77,
will hold a press conference.

 

Today is the
one-year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake. At
4:45 p.m., the Secretary-General will take part in a
wreath-laying ceremony in the General Assembly
public lobby. Participants will be asked to solemnly
observe silence for a period of 47 seconds, which
was the duration of the earthquake.

 

Thursday, 13 January

 

This morning, the Security
Council will hold consultations on the UN Regional
Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA).

 

At 11:30
a.m., the Secretary-General will hold his first
press conference of the year.

 

Friday,
14 January

 

Today, the
Security Council is expected to adopt a resolution
on the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI). It
will also hear a briefing and hold consultations on
Somalia.