HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING

BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS,  NEW YORK

Monday, 20 March, 2006

 

KOFI ANNAN PLEASED BY RELEASE OF IRANIAN JOURNALIST 

• Secretary-General Kofi Annan is pleased that Akbar Ganji, an Iranian journalist, is now free after having served a six-year prison sentence.  The Secretary-General wishes him good health.  In August 2005, the Secretary-General appealed to the Iranian authorities to grant Mr. Ganji’s release on humanitarian grounds following a prolonged hunger strike.

 ANNAN MEETS WITH CONGOLESE PRESIDENT IN BRAZZAVILLE 

• Today, the Secretary-General met in Brazzaville with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo, Isidore Mvouba, as well as with members of Parliament, the diplomatic corps and the UN country team.

• He then met this afternoon with Congolese President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, who currently heads the African Union. That meeting was tete-a-tete; they discussed UN reform, the work of the Security Council, and developments in Darfur, Liberia, Iran and the June elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

• The Secretary-General and Nane Annan, accompanied by the Congolese President and first lady, presided over a ceremony to destroy arms collected by the Congolese authorities. In a statement, the Secretary-General commended President Sassou-Nguesso and the Congolese people for committing themselves to engaging in dialogue and reconciliation.

• Later today, the Secretary-General also plans to meet with opposition leaders, before attending a state dinner in his honor, hosted by the President.

• Asked whether the Secretary-General had been discussing Iran during his recent talks with world leaders, the Spokesman noted that he had talked about Iran with President Sassou-Nguesso, whose country currently serves on the Security Council.

STATES NEED HELP TO FIGHT SMALL ARMS, SECURITY COUNCIL TOLD 

• The Security Council is holding an open debate this morning on small arms, and Hannelore Hoppe, the Officer-in-Charge of the Department for Disarmament Affairs, told the Council that the recent adoption by the General Assembly of an international instrument to identify and trace illicit small arms and light weapons was an important step forward in fighting the spread of such arms.

• She noted that the Secretary-General’s recent report on small arms underscores that, despite progress made so far, more needs to be done to implement fully some key recommendations. She noted the need to support States in their efforts to improve the effectiveness of arms embargoes imposed by the Council.

U.N. PEACEKEEPERS ATTACKED BY ARMED ASSAILANTS IN SOUTH SUDAN 

• The UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) says that one of its temporary operating bases in Yambio, in the country’s south near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was attacked over the weekend, leaving two Bangladeshi peacekeepers wounded.

• Shortly after midnight on Saturday, around 100 armed men entered Yambio and tried to contain the peacekeepers at the base in order to loot other compounds in the town.

• The two wounded peacekeepers were both hit by ricocheting bullets rather than from bullets which were fired at them. Initial indications are that the attackers were looking to obtain communications equipment.

• Three of the attackers were killed in the attack, which ended soon after local Sudanese troops reached the scene.

• UNMIS says security will be upgraded at the base.

U.N. ENVOY DISCUSSES SYRIAN WITHDRAWAL FROM LEBANON WITH SENIOR OFFICIALS IN CAIRO 

• Terje Roed-Larsen, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1559, met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo today.

• Roed-Larsen said afterwards that they had discussed the situation in the broader Middle East, which is now reaching a critical juncture in its history.

• The Special Envoy also met with the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Amr Moussa, and with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Ghait on Sunday night.

• Upon the conclusion of his talks in Cairo, Roed-Larsen left for Doha this afternoon for consultations with senior Qatari officials. Qatar currently represents the Arab group in the Security Council.

• Asked whether Roed-Larsen was going to Lebanon, the Spokesman said he would travel there.

• Asked whether Roed-Larsen’s job had changed, given his recent travels, the Spokesman said it had not. Part of his approach in dealing with the implementation of resolution 1559, Dujarric explained was to visit all countries with a role in its implementation, including the members of the Security Council and Lebanon’s neighboring Arab countries.

• The Spokesman noted that Roed-Larsen had recently visited the capitals of all five permanent Security Council members and was now traveling to countries in the region.

U.N. AGENCY CONCERNED BY DWINDLING FOOD STOCKS IN GAZA STRIP 

• Food is running out in the Gaza Strip, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).

• WFP has therefore appealed to the Israeli authorities to allow food shipments to reach the tens of thousands of people in Gaza who depend on such aid to survive. At the same time, the agency has called on the Palestinian Authority to ensure the security of humanitarian aid workers inside the occupied Palestinian territory.

• WFP currently provides food aid to some 430,000 people in the occupied Palestinian territory, 160,000 of them in the Gaza Strip.

 SECURITY AND ECONOMIC SITUATION REMAINS FRAGILE IN BURUNDI 

• The Secretary-General’s latest report on the UN Operation in Burundi (ONUB) is available today.

• In it, he says the security and economic situation in Burundi remains extremely fragile and in need of urgent improvements in good governance, transparency and respect for human rights.

• The report outlines steps that are being prepared for the withdrawal of ONUB by the end of the year. The Secretary-General says that the UN would continue to assess the situation there in the coming months and that the pace of the ONUB drawdown could be adjusted accordingly, in full consultation with the government.

ECONOMIC & SOCIAL COUNCIL TO MEET THIS WEEK TO ABOLISH HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION 

• The Commission on Human Rights decided in Geneva this morning to suspend its work for a further week, in light of the General Assembly’s recent decision to create the Human Rights Council.

• Meanwhile, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), under which the Commission works, is expected to meet this week in New York to formally ask the Commission to end its work.

• Asked about the next step for the Human Rights Commission, the Spokesman said that ECOSOC was to pass a resolution concerning the end of the Commission’s mandate, after which the Commission’s work would be wrapped up. He said that the ECOSOC resolution, when it comes out, would determine the next steps for the Commission.

• The General Assembly, he added, had passed a resolution authorizing the creation of a new Human Rights Council. In that resolution, the General Assembly asked ECOSOC to abolish the work of the Human Rights Commission by 16 June 2006.

 UZBEKISTAN GIVES U.N. REFUGEE AGENCY ONE MONTH TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY 

• The Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today expressed regret over Uzbekistan’s decision to give the agency one month to leave the country.

• UNHCR remains concerned about the fate of four detained Uzbek refugees in Kyrgyzstan, as well as the increasing number of Uzbek asylum seekers who have been detained in former Soviet republics and forcibly returned to Uzbekistan.

• UNHCR’s work in Uzbekistan currently focuses on the voluntary repatriation and resettlement of some 2,000 refugees, mainly from Afghanistan.

• In other UNHCR-related news, top executives of five international companies have pledged to use their business expertise to help the agency in its work with refugees worldwide.

• The announcement came after a week’s visit to Somali and Burundian refugees in camps in Kenya and Tanzania by directors of Nike, Microsoft, Merck, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Manpower.

• Nike offered to work on culturally sensitive athletic clothes for women and announced donations of new classrooms for girls’ education, and sports facilities.

• All five members of the business group promised to help UNHCR in information technology, to streamline its work around the world.

 

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS 

WHEREABOUTS OF UGANDAN REBEL LEADER UNKNOWN: Asked whether the United Nations was aware of the whereabouts of Lord’s Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony, the Spokesman said the United Nations did not know where he was. He added that the United Nations would help the national authorities in dealing with wanted suspects as needed.

U.N. HELPS SURVIVORS OF ECUADOR FLOODS & KYRGYZSTAN AVALANCHES:  The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has allocated two cash grants totaling $80,000 for emergency relief in Ecuador, where heavy rains have led to flooding and landslides in the western part of the country. OCHA has also released emergency funds for southern Kyrgyzstan, which will be used to transport food to the victims of recent heavy snowfalls and avalanches.

U.N. ENVOY MEETS WITH FORMER KOSOVO PRIME MINISTER: The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Kosovo, Søren Jessen-Petersen, today met Ramush Haradinaj, President of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, at the Headquarters of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). The meeting follows the Decision of the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia of 10 March 2006, on modified conditions of provisional release of Haradinaj. They had useful discussions on the recent political developments and the overall security situation in Kosovo.

U.N. CALLS FOR RELEASE OF JAILED MYANMAR JOURNALIST: Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today renewed his request for the liberation of U Win Tin, winner of the 2001 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. "I would like draw attention to the fact that U Win Tin, former editor of the Myanmar daily Hanthawati, is still in prison," Matsuura said.

U.N. COMPLETES FOURTH BRIDGE IN LIBERIAN SOUTHEAST: The UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) today reports that its engineers from the Chinese Contingent had completed a new bridge connecting Maryland and River Gee counties in the country’s southeast.  It is the fourth bridge completed by the Chinese Contingent in the area. Alan Doss, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General said “roads are not only economically important, but they also ensure security, the free movement of people and unify countries.” 

  

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