HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC,
SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2016
 
SECRETARY-GENERAL VOICES HOPE CUBA WILL CONTINUE TO ADVANCE ON PATH OF REFORM AND HUMAN RIGHTS

• In a statement issued over the weekend, the Secretary-General expressed his sadness upon learning of the death of Fidel Castro Ruz, former President of Cuba. In the statement, the Secretary-General said that President Fidel Castro will be remembered for his leadership of the Cuban revolution and for advances in Cuba in the fields of education, literacy and health.  He said his revolutionary ideals left few indifferent.    
• The Secretary-General hopes Cuba will continue to advance on a path of reform, greater prosperity and human rights.  At this time of national mourning, he offers the support of the United Nations to work alongside the Cuban people.

• The Secretary-General is back in New York after speaking on Saturday at the Global Sustainable Transport Conference in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.  He told the participants that sustainable transport has to answer to the needs of those who have the least.  When it does, we can bridge more than physical distances; we can come closer as one human family.
• In welcoming remarks at the conference, he noted that the Paris Agreement on climate change has entered into force years before anyone would have thought possible. Now, he said, our challenge is implementation. Sustainable transport can help get us there; but, he added, on the road to progress, we need to flash a red light to stop business as usual. We need to flash a green light to wise investments in innovative technologies that reduce fossil fuel consumption and boost energy efficiency.
• Speaking to the press in Ashgabat, the Secretary-General noted that the protection of human rights is a fundamental requirement for progress. This is the moral obligation of all governments – and it is the surest way to empower people to build lasting peace and prosperity.

• The UN is extremely concerned by reports of intensified fighting and indiscriminate aerial bombardment on eastern Aleppo city during the last few days, which reportedly killed and injured many civilians and triggered the displacement of thousands to western Aleppo, within eastern Aleppo and to the north to Sheikh Maqsoud. The situation remains highly volatile and fluid.
• Eastern Aleppo, where an estimated 275,000 people live under horrific conditions and in desperate need of assistance, has remained inaccessible to humanitarian workers since early July 2016. The last remaining World Food Programme rations ran out on 13 November and supplies from other partners are close to being depleted, effectively leaving eastern Aleppo city without food.
• The UN and partners stand ready to respond to the needs of internally displaced people through whichever modality is more appropriate, including cross-line and cross-border operations.  We urge all parties to the conflict to put an end to indiscriminate bombing and shelling, to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, and to enable life-saving humanitarian assistance, as required under international humanitarian and human rights law.

• The Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, met separately today with the leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.
• Speaking to the media after his meetings, Mr. Eide said that both leaders had expressed a continued desire to find a way to solve the Cyprus problem.
• He noted that the leaders’ second meeting earlier this month in Mont Pèlerin, Switzerland, had been a setback to a process and that there was a need to find a way to overcome it.
• Mr. Eide said that the United Nations would try to help develop ideas, but that it was up to the leaders to make the decision to return to the table and to orchestrate the coming weeks in order not to lose the momentum of the talks.

• The peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) reports that it has observed Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) troops firing on Opposition troops at the Nassir airstrip in Upper Nile, and heard SPLA troops firing rocket-propelled grenades towards Opposition positions in Kedbek. The UN mission was also informed by Opposition troops that the SPLA took control of Dablual in Unity following clashes in the area on 23 and 24 November.
• UNMISS also reports that large numbers of militia have been moving into the Equatorias in support of a planned government offensive. In light of the warnings that we have received regarding the potential for genocide in South Sudan from the Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, it is essential that all parties cease hostilities and any planned offensives. We will continue to monitor developments very closely and ensure that the Security Council is made aware of any ongoing or imminent violence that could harm civilians and further derail the prospect for peace in South Sudan.

• The UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) yesterday condemned the attack against internally displaced people that took place in Luhanga, North Kivu.
• Around 50 combatants of an armed group known as Mayi-Mayi Mazembe attacked over 1000 families of Hutu origin, killing at least 21 civilians. In response, UN peacekeepers who were in the vicinity of the camp immediately deployed and engaged the armed group, repelling the attack.
• UN troops assisted the wounded and evacuated 15 injured to a hospital in Goma. MONUSCO has also deployed reinforcements to the area, as well as a fact-finding team, in close coordination with the Congolese army.

• The UN Resident Coordinator in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Tapan Mishra, has taken part in a joint mission with the Government and humanitarian agencies in the country to visit some of the areas hardest hit by devastating floods three months ago.
• Nearly 12,000 families in the North Hamgyong province whose homes were destroyed have since moved into hew homes.
• International organizations have been providing food, shelter, medicine, and water and sanitation relief, among other items.
• In response to a special request by the Government, some agencies have also contributed towards roofing for the new homes and public institutions such as nurseries, kindergartens, schools, health clinics and hospitals.

• Tomorrow will be the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and, in a message to mark the occasion, the Secretary-General says that Israeli and Palestinian leaders still voice their support for the two-State solution. However, without urgent steps to revive a political perspective, they risk entrenching a one-state reality.
• The Deputy Secretary-General will speak at an event marking the International Day tomorrow.

• Tomorrow, the Secretary-General will speak at an event organized at the New York Academy of Sciences on the role of science in support of the Sustainable Development Goals, including climate change. That will take place off campus.

• The Secretary-General is announcing today the appointment of Olufemi Elias of Nigeria as the Registrar of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, with effect from 1 January 2017. 
• Mr. Elias will succeed John Hocking of Australia, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his service, including his instrumental role in setting up the Mechanism and overseeing the construction of its new premises in Arusha, Tanzania.
• Mr. Elias has been serving as the Executive Secretary of the World Bank Administrative Tribunal since July 2016, a position which he also held from 2008 to 2013.