HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY FRED ECKHARD
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Wednesday, 18 August, 2004
UNITED NATIONS TO COMMEMORATE 1ST ANNIVERSARY OF 19th AUGUST BOMBING IN BAGHDAD
Tomorrow will mark the 1st anniversary of the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad. Twenty-two UN staff members died in that terrorist attack and many more were injured.
Ceremonies will be held in Geneva, Amman, New York and Baghdad.
The Secretary-General will attend the Geneva ceremony. He is expected to deliver remarks and unveil a commemorative plaque.
Family members of the deceased will light candles in memory of their loved ones. The events in Geneva will be simulcast to New York and Amman. Participants in all three locations will jointly observe a minute of silence following the Secretary-General’s remarks.
In New York, the Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, will preside over a similar ceremony in the Trusteeship Council Chamber, starting at 8:30 a.m. Fréchette will unveil a commemorative plaque which will ultimately be placed near the meditation room in the Visitor’s entrance along with flag that flew over the UN office in Baghdad on 19 August 2003.
The Deputy Special Representative for Iraq, Ross Mountain, will preside over the ceremonies in Amman.
In Baghdad, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Ashraf Qazi, will attend an event with Iraqi national staff as well as survivors of the attack and relatives of the deceased.
The only official event on the Secretary-General’s programme for today in Geneva is a meeting with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour.
U.N. MISSIONS CONCERNED OVER VOLATILE SITUATIONS IN BURUNDI AND DR CONGO
The UN missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) and Burundi (ONUB), are expressing concern about the volatile situation along their common border and taking all possible preemptive measures to avert a major crisis.
The Secretary-General and the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, Jean Marie Guehenno, spoke extensively about the situation in the region yesterday evening.
Guehenno will be asking the Security Council if he may brief Council members on developments in the DR Congo and Burundi tomorrow. He has confirmed that he will speak to the press at the stakeout after this meeting.
Asked what special measures MONUC has taken in light of developments there, the Spokesman said UN staff had been alerted.
Asked what action MONUC has taken on the ground, and if Guehenno is prepared to make recommendations to the Council to prevent another genocide, the Spokesman said: “I’m not ready to say that we’re anticipating another genocide in the area.”
“We are concerned about public statements by leading officials and military personnel in the area about possible intention to retaliate for the massacre and that’s why we have put our people on alert,” the Spokesman added. “We have limited means of course, but we have deployed additional troops to he border area. We are continuing helicopter surveillance over the border area, we are patrolling Lake Tanganyika.”
SUDANESE GOVERNMENT TO PRESENT FURTHER ACTIONS TO COMPLY WITH DARFUR PLAN OF ACTION TOMORROW
In Khartoum, the Joint Implementation Mechanism will hold its fourth meeting tomorrow evening. The Foreign Minister is expected to present further actions to be taken by his government to meet its commitments under the Darfur Plan of Action.
He is also expected to present a list of the Janjaweed militia on which it has influence. According to the Plan of Action for Darfur, these militia are to be instructed by the government "to cease their activities forthwith and lay down their weapons."
The members of the Joint Implementation Mechanism will travel to Darfur for several days starting on 26 August to assess the progress made by the government in fulfilling its commitments.
The Secretary-General's Special Representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, spoke today by phone with John Garang, leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement regarding the Southern Sudan/Naivasha peace talks.
On the humanitarian side, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs will release its August Darfur Humanitarian Profile later today, which provides an update on operations in the region during July.
The UN now estimates that there are more than 1.2 million internally displaced persons in Darfur, up from one million reported last month. The report indicates that the estimate of the total number of conflict-affected people in Darfur was 1.48 million people as of 1 August.
The World Food Programme reports that as the rainy season reaches its peak it is urgently scaling up its air operations into the region, with a particular emphasis being placed on El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, the state worst affected by the rains.
UN Humanitarian agencies are also expressing concern over recent reports that thousands of displaced people spontaneously returning to southern Sudan from the north are facing continued harassment and abuse.
QAZI MEETS IRAQI PRESIDENT TO DISCUSS U.N. ROLE IN IRAQ
Earlier today in Baghdad, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Ashraf Qazi, met with Iraq’s President Ghazi al Yawer. They discussed a number of issues, including the on-going National Conference and the situation in Najaf.
Qazi reiterated the Secretary-General's concern regarding the deteriorating situation in the holy city and expressed hope that a peaceful solution would end the crisis.
Throughout the day, Qazi met with a number of Iraqi personalities representing several regions who are attending National Conference, which continued today. As for the conference proceedings, the delegates are currently voting for the interim assembly.
DISARMAMENT CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED IN LIBERIA
In Liberia, more than 200 ex-government soldiers who fought for former President Charles Taylor surrendered their weapons to UN peacekeepers yesterday in the remote area of Nimba County – where Liberia’s civil war first began in 1989.
The surrender came on the first day of the launch of the UN Mission’s latest disarmament and demobilization program in the country.
At the launch, the UN Mission’s Force Commander, Lt.-Gen. Daniel Opande, said the latest exercise was critical to dispel the notion that there were cross-border movements of weapons into neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire.
WEST AFRICA FACES WORSENING LOCUST CRISIS
West Africa is facing a worsening locust crisis as more swarms arrive in Mauritania, Mali and Niger.
The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Director-General, Jacques Diouf, is currently visiting Mauritania for a first-hand look at the swarms and the damage they cause.
FAO says that in Mauritania, adult locusts could start to appear by the end of August, while there are reports that swarms are present in various parts of Senegal. Meanwhile, the initial locust situation for Morocco and Algeria was becoming calm.
FAO says the main reason for the enormous numbers of locusts is that a series of good rains have fallen, which created favourable conditions for their growth in the region and allowed at least four generations of the pest to breed one after the other.
UNDP CHIEF PRAISES EFFORTS TO OVERCOME FLOOD LOSSES IN BANGLADESH
Mark Malloch Brown, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is on a three-day visit to Bangladesh, ending Thursday to meet with national leaders, visit development projects, and observe the damage caused by one of the worst floods ever seen in the country.
Speaking to journalists, Malloch Brown praised government efforts to overcome the losses caused by the flood.
On Tuesday, the Administrator traveled by boat through areas of the capital normally accessed by road. Weaving through outcrops of land crammed with temporary shelters, bails of hay and livestock, Malloch Brown visited Government and-UNDP supported aid distribution centers.
To bolster Government relief efforts, and reach three million of the poorest flood victims, UNDP and the World Food Programme are distributing food and non-food items, such as hygiene kits, soap and clothes through national and international non-governmental organizations, thanks to a grant from the UK Department for International Development.
Today the Administrator visited the boarder area between Bangladesh and Myanmar, where a 25 year struggle over land and resources between ethnic groups and settlers from other parts of Bangladesh has left most of the region’s 1.3 million people stranded in poverty and in dire need of development opportunities.
UNDP is working to help revitalize the region through community-development and strengthening of local institutions.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
ANNAN CALLS FOR TEAMWORK IN REBUILDING HAITI: The national soccer teams of Brazil and Haiti will play a friendly match in Port-au-Prince. To mark this game, played in the name of peace, a video message from the Secretary-General will be played. He will tell the thousands of soccer fans that remarkable team work and individual talent, as it will be displayed on the field, represents what is needed to build a new Haiti.
NEW CONVENTION ON I.D. FOR SHIPPING INDUSTRY TO COME INTO FORCE: An international convention designed to create a new biometric identity verification system for the world's 1.2 million maritime workers has received enough ratifications to go into force in February next year. The International Labour Organization (ILO) said the system will help bolster international security in the global shipping industry. ILO adds that the system is also designed to ensure the rights and freedoms of maritime workers and facilitate mobility in the exercise of their profession – for example when they board their ships to work, take shore leave or return home. The convention has been ratified by France and now Jordan – two member states had to do this before it could go into force.
UNITED NATIONS TO HELP STRENGTHEN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN ASIA : The United Nations Environment Programme has signed an agreement to help strengthen environmental management in parts of Asia. The agreement with the Economic Cooperation Organization includes strengthening environmental law and enhancing environmental education and training programmes. The Economic Cooperation Organization is an intergovernmental regional organization, established by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, and now embracing also Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The organization’s purpose is to promote the socio-economic development of member States.
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