HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE NOON BRIEFING
BY FRED ECKHARD
SPOKESMAN
FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Monday,
May 24, 2004
ANNAN WELCOMES TALKS BETWEEN
KOREA
· Secretary-General Kofi
Annan welcomes the
resumption of the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)-
step.
· He hopes that the discussions between Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi and Chairman of the DPRK National Defense Commission
Kim Jong Il, which has helped to resolve some difficult issues, will
lead to a normalization of bilateral relations.
· The Secretary-General is pleased to note the commitment
of the two leaders to continue to resolve the nuclear issue within the Beijing process. This is also the message that his Personal Envoy,
Maurice F. Strong, received during his visit to the DPRK last week.
· The Secretary-General is grateful for
to resume providing humanitarian aid to the DPRK, which has been the
subject of special efforts by the United Nations.
SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES
· The Security Council met
in consultations today to discuss a draft resolution on Iraq,
which was introduced this morning. [The next consultations on the
is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.]
· Council members are also expected to discuss a
new date for the vote and the open debate on the resolution regarding UN peacekeepers and the International
Criminal Court. That meeting had been scheduled for today but was
postponed at the request of the resolution’s sponsor.
· Asked when the Council would vote on the
be addressed to Council members.
BRAHIMI MET REPRESENTATIVES
OF
· The consultations of Lakhdar
Brahimi, the Secretary-General’s Special Advisor, continue.
· His activities over the past few days have included
meetings with the Japanese and Chinese representatives in Iraq,
the Iraqi National Founding Congress, and the current Minister of Education,
Dr Ala’ Alwan. He also met the Islamic Dawa Party, of which the Minister
of Communications, Dr Haidar el-Obadi, was a representative.
· This afternoon, he met three groups: one representing
the Iraqi Republican Coalition, another representing the city of Fallujah, and the
last representing Sunni clerics. He listened to their aspirations and
opinions about what they think their new government should look like,
and briefed them on his own activities.
· Asked whether Brahimi would brief the Security Council before it votes on a resolution
on
said the question of the Council’s intentions would need to be addressed
to Council members, adding that Brahimi wasn’t expected back before the
end of the month.
U.N. MISSION IN COTE
TO DISARMAMENT CAMPAIGN
· Addressing the people of
Representative to that country, Albert Tevoedjre,
has reiterated the UN’s full support for the country's disarmament campaign.
· In a public statement released in Abidjan Sunday,
Tevoedjre said the United Nations would assist the Government of National
Reconciliation as well as the National Disarmament Commission based on
the mandate determined by the Security Council.
· He emphasized that all parties to the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement
had endorsed the aim of disarmament and underscored the responsibility
of the Government of National Reconciliation in reaching this goal. He
added that the United Nations could in no way substitute for the country's
authorities or for parties to that Agreement.
U.N. ENVOY WELCOMES DISARMAMENT
COMMITMENT BY AFGHAN LEADERS
· In Afghanistan today,
the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Jean Arnault,
met in Kabul with the Governor of Herat, Ismail Khan, General Ustad Atta
Mohammad, Commander of the 7th Corps and General Daoud, Commander of
the 6th Corps.
· They discussed key aspects of the national agenda,
including disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, security, the
fight against drugs and the restoration of law and order.
· In a statement, Jean Arnault said he welcomes the commitments made
by all three interlocutors, particularly in the area of disarmament,
and he trusts that this will result in tangible benefits for demobilized
soldiers as well as for the stability and security of
CONGOLESE REMINDED OF RESPONSIBILITIES
FOR SUCCESSFUL TRANSITION
· Over the weekend, the Under-Secretary-General
for Peacekeeping
Operations, Jean-Marie
Guéhenno, continued his official visit to the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC). At an event in Kinshasa he reminded the
Congolese people of their responsibilities with regards to the huge tasks
ahead to achieve a successful Transition in the DRC.
· “The International Community only plays a supportive
role to the central one, which is to be played by the Congolese themselves,” he
said.
· Guéhenno added that recent decisions made by Congolese
authorities, including the signing of the Ituri Commitment Act and the
nominations of Governors, were major steps in the right direction.
· On Saturday, Guehenno travelled to
President Museveni. On Sunday, he flew to Ituri, in the north-east of
the DR Congo. Guehenno’s visit comes midway in the DR Congo’s transition
that is, a year after the Transitional Government was put in place and
a year before the elections scheduled for June 2005.
CHILD LABOUR CONVENTION CLOSER
TO UNIVERSAL RATIFICATION
·
No. 182 – the world's fundamental international standard for
combating the worst forms of child labour.
· The International Labour Organization (ILO) says the
ratification puts the convention within sight of achieving universal
ratification by all of the Organization's 177 Member States.
·
The Convention provides the basis for national law
and practice against the worst forms of child labour, and it’s received
the most ratifications in the shortest time of any Convention in the
85-year history of the ILO. Should the Convention be ratified by
all ILO's Member States, it would become the first ILO convention ever
to receive universal support.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
PROTEST
OVER ISRAELI MILITARY’S INCURSION INTO U.N. PREMISES: The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has protested against
an incursion last Thursday by Israeli military forces into its Jenin
Camp Reconstruction Project Office in the West Bank .
During the incursion, a shot was fired in the direction of the Agency’s
senior project manager as he attempted to gain access to the office.
EBOLA
OUTBREAK IN SOUTHERN SUDAN: The World
Health Organization’s South Sudan Early Warning and Response Network is working closely
with Sudanese health authorities and partners to create a Crisis Committee
to control an outbreak of Ebola
hemorrhagic fever (EHF). This follows tests performed by the Kenya
Medical Research Institute and by the United States Centers for Diseases
Control and Prevention which have confirmed the presence of EHF in
Yambio, Western
Equatoria, southern
the health authorities of Yambio County have reported a total of 19 cases of EHF, including 4 deaths.
FIRST WEST AFRICA DISARMAMENT MEETING HELD The first sub-regional meeting on Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration
of ex-combatants (DDR) in West Africa, convened by the UN
Office for West Africa (UNOWA), took place in Dakar on 21 May 2004 . Representatives
from UN peace missions, DDR National Commissions and development partners
from
Leone
stressed the need to harmonize national DDR programs in West Africa, a region where violence easily spreads across
state boundaries and with massive cross border circulation of combatants
and illicit weapons.
ANNAN
WARNS OF CONSEQUENCES OF LOSS OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY: Last Saturday
was the International
Day for Biological Diversity, and in a message to
mark the occasion, the Secretary-General warned
that the consequences of failing to stop the loss of biodiversity are
too awful to contemplate. He called on national governments and all
individuals, local communities, sectors and organizations, to support
and promote actions aimed at reducing the rate of biodiversity loss.
COUNTRIES IN NEAR EAST INTERESTED
IN TREE PLANTING: Countries
in the Near East , the most
parched region in the world, are showing increasing interest in planting
trees to boost water quality and food security but face an imminent
water shortage and the threat of deforestation due to agricultural
expansion and urbanization, according to
the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Some 20 countries are discussing the role of forests in food and water
security at a four-day meeting at the FAO’s Near
East Forestry Commission in Beirut beginning today.
HUMAN
RIGHTS IS TOPIC OF SECRETARY-GENERAL’S LECTURE SERIES: A reminder
that the next installment of the Secretary-General’s
Lecture Series is on tomorrow. The lecture, entitled “Who is Afraid
of Human Rights?”, will take place at UN headquarters from 1:25 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. The Secretary-General
will chair the lecture, and the three guest speakers are: Ambassador
Najat Al-Hajjaji of
the UN
Commission on Human Rights, Professor Ali Mazrui of the Institute of Global
Cultural Studies, at Binghamton University, and William
F. Schulz of Amnesty International USA.
** The guest at today’s briefing
was the Chairman of the General Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee, Ambassador Luis Gallegos of
on an international convention on the rights of persons with disabilities
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