HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC,
SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
WEDNESDAY, 10 MAY 2017
 
SEARCH FOR MISSING PEACEKEEPER CONTINUES IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

• The UN Mission in the Central African Republic today reports that the search for the missing peacekeeper continues in collaboration with local actors in Mbomou and Bangassou.
• There are now ten wounded soldiers, including nine Moroccans and one Cambodian. Seven of the wounded are in Bangui at the UN Mission’s level II hospital (five of them have minor injuries and two of them have more severe injuries, that are not life threatening). Three of the wounded are at the UN Mission’s level I hospital in Bangassou and are being treated for light injuries. This is regrettably the biggest attack against peacekeepers in the country so far.
• Earlier today, the President of the General Assembly, Peter Thomson, arrived in Bangui on a pre-scheduled trip, and visited the wounded peacekeepers at the UN Mission’s military hospital in the capital. He was accompanied by senior officials of the Central African Republic, including the president of the National Assembly and the Prime Minister, along with the Head of the UN Mission, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga. Mr. Thomson paid homage to the fallen peacekeepers and saluted the bravery and dedication of peacekeepers, who often serve in dangerous and very difficult conditions around the world in the name of peace.
• In a statement issued yesterday, the Secretary-General strongly condemned the attack. He said that attacks against UN peacekeepers may constitute a war crime. The Secretary-General also called on all parties to heed President Faustin Archange Touadéra’s call to cease violence and work together towards the stability of the country.
• In response to questions on the compensation for peacekeepers killed in the line of duty, the Spokesman said that the families or legal beneficiaries receive compensation of US$70,000. The compensation is initially made to the Government of the peacekeeper’s country, which certifies to the UN that the funds will be transferred to the family.

• The Secretary-General arrived today in London ahead of the London Somalia Conference, which is taking place tomorrow.
• Today, he addressed a crowd of close to 2,000 people, NGO members, academics, the general public and others, at the invitation of the UN Association for the United Kingdom.  He told participants that the world is facing three main challenges today: the changing nature of conflict; the fragility of political, economic and ecological environments in many parts of the world; and the mistrust and anger among those that globalization has left behind. To rescue multilateralism, we need to have a strong commitment to reform multilateral organizations, he said.
• On climate, he reiterated that green business is good business and highlighted the necessity for the UN to make this case and continue to mobilize the whole international community.
• Finally, the Secretary-General stressed the need to combat the fact that the human rights agenda is losing ground to the national sovereignty agenda.

• The Deputy Secretary-General will depart New York for Vienna today.
• Tomorrow and Friday, she will participate in the Vienna Energy Forum, themed “Sustainable energy for the implementation of the SDGs and the Paris Agreement”, and meet with senior Austrian Government officials, as well as with the heads and staff of UN system entities. She will also attend a High-Level meeting on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, hosted by the President of the Austrian National Council at the Austrian Parliament.
• On 12 and 13 May, the Deputy Secretary-General will participate in the UN Climate Change conference in Bonn. She will meet with the President of COP22, held in Marrakech in November 2016, and the Presidency of the upcoming COP23 from Fiji. The Deputy Secretary-General will also meet the Mayor of Bonn, as well as Heads and staff of UN system entities.
• The Deputy Secretary-General will proceed to Doha on 13 May, where she will attend the 17th Annual Doha Forum as Special Guest on behalf of the Secretary-General. The theme of this year’s forum will be Development, Stability and Refugee Crisis. She will return to New York on 15 May.

• The Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, starts a new regional tour today. He arrived in Riyadh today to attend a World Bank meeting on Yemen and meet with Yemeni and regional authorities. He will then attend the Doha forum on 14-15 May.
• He is also expected to brief the Security Council by the end of this month.
• Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Health, 14 cases of cholera have now been confirmed in several governorates, including Amanat Al Asimah, Al Mahwit, Amran, Al Dhale and Sana’a, since 27 April.
• The UN and partners are taking immediate steps to assist health authorities contain the outbreak of cholera. This includes re-opening 26 diarrheal treatment centers across 15 governorates and establishing six more of those centres in the most impacted areas, as well as sending medicines and supplies and strengthening the surveillance system.
• It is vital that pledges made by donors in last month’s pledging conference are disbursed immediately so that the UN and partners can continue essential and life-saving operations and respond to the urgent needs of the Yemeni people.

• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the Nimrud bridge, 30 km south of Mosul, re-opened to foot traffic yesterday, and today it is planned to be re-opened to vehicles as well. The bridge had been closed since 2 May as a result of high water levels caused by heavy rains. Closure of the bridge had added further complexity to the Mosul response operation, forcing humanitarians to pre-position supplies on the western bank of the Tigris and find alternative channels for medical evacuations.
• Since the beginning of the Mosul military operations in October 2017, some 622,000 people have been cumulatively displaced from the area.

• In Libya, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs led a scoping mission to Benghazi yesterday to strengthen coordination on humanitarian issues in the area and work on establishing more systematic humanitarian visits to Benghazi.
• Humanitarian priorities identified during the mission are: support to life-saving medical care, demining, psychosocial support needs, and comprehensive assistance to the internally displaced population in the area. This was the first such visit to Benghazi in three years, due to the challenging security environment. Planning is underway for a follow-up mission in the coming weeks.

• Today the Executive Council of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) opened its annual session in Geneva with a focus on strengthening weather and climate services to protect lives, property and the economy from increasingly extreme and unusual weather.
• WMO said that with extreme weather and climate conditions on the rise, it is essential to advance the global agenda on disaster risk reduction, sustainable development and climate change.
• The Forum will continue until 17 May.

• Today millions of people around the world are celebrating the Day of Vesak. The Day acknowledges the contribution that Buddhism has made for over two and a half millennia to the spirituality of humanity.
• In his message to mark the Day, Secretary-General António Guterres said the message of compassion of Lord Buddha is timeless, and that “in our interconnected world, there can be no peace as long as others are in peril; no security as long as others suffer deprivation; no sustainable future until all members of our human family enjoy their human rights.”

• Today is World Migratory Bird Day, which highlights the need for international cooperation to conserve these creatures and their habitats for the benefit of mankind.
• According to the UN Environment Programme, millions of birds migrate every year along global flyways between continents, but many of them are facing steep declines in their population due to habitat loss caused by land-reclamation and changes in global agricultural practices as well as poaching.
• The theme this year is “Their Future is Our Future – A Healthy Planet for Migratory Birds and People” which is closely linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

• In response to questions on the formation on 9 May of a new Government in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Spokesman said that the United Nations continues to encourage all Congolese stakeholders to implement the 31 December political agreement, including the establishment of transitional institutions envisaged under the agreement.

• The Spokesman paid tribute to longtime UN staff member Jim Sutterlin who died peacefully on 8 May. During his career at the UN, he worked as a speechwriter for Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, as a Director of the office of Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, and as one of the officials who prepared Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s influential report, “An Agenda for Peace”.
• Even after retiring, he helped inform the world about the work of the United Nations, working at Yale University to resuscitate the UN Oral History Project, which ultimately encompassed more than 200 interviews.
• We send our condolences to Mr. Sutterlin’s family.