HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC,
SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2017

 

U.N.CHIEF AND AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION CHAIRPERSON MEET AT FIRST JOINT ANNUAL CONFERENCE
  • The Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, are met for the first AU-UN Annual Conference.
  • Issues they discussed included the complementarity between Agenda 2030 and the Agenda 2063 of the AU, countering terrorism, and financing for AU-lead operations, as well as some country-specific and regional situations  - Libya, Mali, Central African Republic, Somalia, Boko Haram, among others.
  • The Secretary-General and the Chairperson signed a Joint UN-AU Framework for Enhancing Partnership on Peace and Security and briefed the press outside of the Trusteeship Council.
  • The Chairperson will also give a press conference at 3.45 p.m.
SECRETARY-GENERAL TO ATTEND WORLD BANK SPRING MEETINGS IN WASHINGTON D.C.
  • Tomorrow, the Secretary-General will travel to Washington to attend the Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group over the weekend. The Deputy Secretary-General will depart New York tonight to participate in these Meetings as well.
  • On Friday, he will address the opening segment entitled “Meetings on Financing for Peace: Innovations to Tackle Fragility”. He will then speak to the Development Committee during a Ministerial level lunch, and in the afternoon, he will meet with climate leaders from the public and private sectors.
  • On Saturday morning, the Secretary-General will speak at the opening plenary of the International Monetary and Financial Committee and in the afternoon he will address a High-level meeting on Famine and Fragility.
  • We expect the Secretary-General to be back in New York on Saturday evening.
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MUST MOVE BEYOND CONTAINMENT IN LIBYA, U.N. ENVOY TELLS SECURITY COUNCIL
  • The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya, Martin Kobler, briefed the Security Council this morning. He said that the institutions of the Libyan Political Agreement must deliver if they are to maintain credibility and legitimacy. He warned that the divisions in these institutions are setting Libya down a worrying path.
  • Mr. Kobler added that armed groups are gaining power and that Libya is witnessing new and heightened violence. He called for the use of violence to obtain short-term objectives to end and for the momentum in the political process to be renewed.
  • He went on to suggest seven points on the way forward, including the need for all security actors to refrain from any action that may trigger escalation and for national reconciliation at all levels. He particularly stressed the need for the international community to move beyond containment, noting that issues such as border security, migration and terrorism must be addressed, but that they are symptoms not root causes of the crisis.
DISCOVERY OF MASS GRAVES HIGHLIGHT UNFOLDING HORROR IN D.R. CONGO – U.N. RIGHTS CHIEF
  • UN investigators in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have confirmed the existence of at least 17 further mass graves in Kasai Central Province, which has been the scene of clashes between soldiers and members of a local militia known as Kamuina Nsapu.
  • This brings to 40 the number of mass graves documented by the UN in Kasai Central and Kasai Oriental Provinces since August 2016.
  • The presence of the additional graves was confirmed during an investigation mission by staff from the UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) and UN Police (UNPOL).   
  • The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said that this discovery of yet more mass graves and the reports of continued violations and abuses highlight the horror that has been unfolding in the Kasais over the last nine months.
  • He is urging the Government to ensure a prompt, transparent, and independent investigation to establish the facts.
  • Should there be no effective national investigation, he said that he will not hesitate to urge the international community to support an international investigation.
  • There was also an incident yesterday in Munigi camp, a camp for former combatants next to Goma. Sixteen MONUSCO staff were held for a few hours and then returned safely to their homes. 530 former combatants from South Sudan live in Munigi camp which is not under MONUSCO’s supervision. The Mission is investigating this incident.
U.N. MISSION IN SOUTH SUDAN ENHANCING ABILITY TO PROTECT CIVILIANS
  • The Secretary-General has sent a letter to the President of the Security Council summarizing the progress in implementing the recommendations of the independent special investigation into the violence in Juba in July 2016 and the actions of the UN Mission. In March 2017, an independent follow-up mission led by Maj. Gen. Cammaert returned to South Sudan to assess progress.
  • On the basis of the conclusions of the assessment, the Secretary-General's letter observes that significant work has been undertaken over the last five months to enhance the ability of UNMISS to protect civilians, better plan and prepare its response to crisis situations and increase staff safety and security. Of particular note is the establishment of a weapons-free zone around the Protection of Civilians sites and UN House in Juba, which has contributed to a significant drop in reported crime and violence, including sexual and gender-based violence. Peacekeepers are also conducting dismounted patrols within the area throughout the day and night, as well as cordon-and-search operations within the Protection of Civilians sites to disrupt arms trafficking.
  • The Departments of Peacekeeping Operations and Field Support have also made important changes to enhance training and performance accountability.
U.N. ENVOY VOICES CONCERN OVER ENERGY CRISIS IN GAZA
  • Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, is following with great concern the tense situation in Gaza, where a new energy crisis is currently unfolding. He said that reform of the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company is essential to improve revenue collection and transparency in line with international standards. The de facto authorities in Gaza must ensure that collection rates are improved and that revenue collected in Gaza is returned to the legitimate authorities in order to keep fuel and electricity supply flowing. And all in Gaza must share the burden by paying their bills.
  • He added that Israel also has a significant responsibility to assist by facilitating the entry of materials for repairs and maintenance of the grid and power plant. Egyptian power lines to Gaza also need to be repaired and upgraded.
  • Mr. Mladenov called on all parties to ensure that this vital issue of energy for Gaza is resolved once and for all. The UN stands ready to provide its support in achieving this vital goal.
HIGH WATER LEVELS WORSENING HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN MOSUL – U.N. AGENCY
  • The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that high water levels of the Tigris left two key bridges in the Mosul area impassable this week, preventing displaced people from relocating to camps and emergency sites on the eastern bank, where the majority of space is available. Aid distributions in some camps and emergency sites were also affected, with suppliers unable to reach them.
  • One of the bridges, at Nimrud, reopened yesterday for civilian traffic and use by humanitarian workers. However, a key bridge at Qayyarah is likely to take 2 or 3 more days to be repaired. It is expected that water levels will remain high for a few more days, and impact on distributions and camp construction work is likely to continue.
  • So far, more than 336,000 people have been displaced from western Mosul since the start of military operations on the western neighbourhoods in late February. The cumulative number of displaced people since the beginning of the Mosul operation last fall has reached 484,000 people.
  • The UN Population Fund’s (UNFPA) director for the Arab region has just wrapped up a four-day visit to Iraq, where he met with displaced women and girls receiving services at UNFPA-supported health clinics in western and eastern Mosul.
  • Dr. Luay Shabaneh said he was deeply moved by the stories he heard from those uprooted by the conflict.
U.N. RECOGNIZES LAMPEDUSA MAYOR AND FRENCH NGO FOR WORK SAVING MIGRANT AND REFUGEE LIVES
  • UNESCO announced that this year’s Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize will be awarded to Giuseppina Nicolini, Mayor of the Italian island of Lampedusa, and to the French nongovernmental organization SOS Méditerranée for their work “to save the lives of refugees and migrants and welcome them with dignity.”
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION REPORTS UNPRECEDENTED PROGRESS AGAINST TROPICAL DISEASES
  • The World Health Organization reports today unprecedented achievements in tackling neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), with an estimated 1 billion people receiving treatment in 2015 alone.
  • The report, Integrating neglected tropical diseases in global health and development, demonstrates how strong political support, generous donations of medicines, and improvements in living conditions have led to sustained expansion of disease control programmes.
  • Key achievements include that the eradication of the Guinea-worm disease is within-reach, with only 25 human cases reported last year, and only 12 reported human deaths attributable to rabies in the Americas in 2015.
SENIOR APPOINTMENTS
  • The Secretary-General announced the appointment of Alexander Zuev of the Russian Federation as Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Mr. Zuev succeeds Dmitry Titov, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his dedicated service with the United Nations.
  • Mr. Zuev joined the UN in 1990 and has served with UNDP, UNICEF and the UN Office for Project Services.
  • The Secretary-General received confirmation from the General Assembly concerning his decision to appoint Achim Steiner of Germany as Administrator of the UN Development Programme, or UNDP.
  • In a press release, the Secretary-General noted his gratitude to Helen Clark, who Mr. Steiner will succeed, for her leadership over the past eight years. He described Ms. Clark as “a highly effective communicator and champion of development, environmental protection, democratic governance and institutional reform” noting that she has advocated for the rights of the poor and marginalized, particularly women, LGBTI, refugees and migrants, and people with HIV/AIDS.