HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Monday, June 26, 2006
SMALL ARMS CLAIM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF
LIVES EACH YEAR
Secretary-General Kofi Annan this morning addressed the opening of the
UN Small Arms Review Conference, and he warned that tens of thousands of
lives are lost each year because of the trade in illicit small arms and light
weapons. “These weapons may be small,” the Secretary-General said, “but they
cause mass destruction.”
He welcomed the progress made in dealing with small arms,
with nearly one-third of all States having made efforts to collect weapons
from those who are not legally entitled to hold them. Yet important challenges
remain, including a need to reach agreement on a realistic and effective
approach to end-user certification.
The Secretary-General also stressed that the review
conference is not negotiating a global ban on guns, nor does it wish to deny
law-abiding citizens their right to bear arms in accordance with national
laws. We have his speech upstairs.
Earlier this morning, the Secretary-General received the
Million Faces Petition, calling for an international arms trade treaty, from
its one-millionth signer, a Kenyan victim of gun violence. The
Secretary-General
said he would transmit that call onward to the President of the Review
Conference.
The conference opened with the election of the President
of the Conference, Prasad Kariyawasam, the Permanent Representative of Sri
Lanka to the United Nations.
ANNAN CONDEMNS SUICIDE BOMBING IN SRI
LANKA
The Secretary-General
condemns today’s suicide bomb attack in Sri Lanka which killed Major
General Parami Kulatunga, the third-highest ranking officer in the Sri Lanka
army, and three other people near the capital, Colombo.
He expresses his heartfelt condolences to the families of
the bereaved and the Government of Sri Lanka.
The Secretary-General reiterates that no cause can
justify such acts of violence. The Secretary-General appeals to the parties to
redouble their efforts to resume peace talks under the facilitation of the
Norwegian Government.
ANNAN CALLS FOR RELEASE OF ISRAELI
SOLDIER
The Secretary-General is alarmed about the recent events
in Gaza and Israel, and is following developments closely. He is concerned
about the attack that took place yesterday, when Palestinian militants
tunneled from Gaza into Israel, and killed two Israeli soldiers and took
another hostage. He calls for the safe and immediate release of the captured
soldier.
The Secretary-General urges all parties to exercise
restraint at this grave moment, and to take all possible steps to avoid
further escalation and bloodshed.
U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY ARRIVES IN
TIMOR-LESTE FOR MEETINGS WITH ALL SIDES
The Secretary-General’s Special
Envoy for Timor-Leste, Ian Martin, arrived in Dili today to plan the next
stage of United Nations assistance to Timor-Leste.
Martin will meet leaders of all
sides of the Timorese political spectrum as well as religious and civic
organizations and the UN country team before reporting to the
Secretary-General on the make-up of an increased UN mission, should one be
approved by the Security Council.
Meanwhile, the head of the
UN Office in Timor-Leste, Sukehiro Hasegawa, has asked political leaders
to ensure that their followers restrain themselves from any behaviour that
might result in violence, following the resignation of Prime Minister Mari
Alkatiri today.
On the humanitarian front, the
UN Children’s Fund, the
World Food Programme and the
International Organization for Migration say that food supplies and other
support items were sent to the camps despite the disruption of traffic by the
demonstrators.
Assessment teams have been sent
out to the outlying districts to determine the needs of the displaced
persons.
TOP U.N. PEACEKEEPING OFFICIAL TO BRIEF
SECURITY COUNCIL THIS WEEK
Ashraf Qazi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for
Iraq, today welcomed the broad-ranging initiative by Prime Minister Nuri
Al-Maliki on National Reconciliation in Iraq.
Qazi, in a statement, said that, at a time when violence
and sectarian strife continue to mark the loss of life all across Iraq, it is
important that the new government has chosen to widen the door for dialogue.
All parties should see this as an opportunity for a new beginning and
reinvigorate the spirit of national unity to ensure wise governance in the
days ahead.
The statement added that the efforts of the Prime
Minister should receive the utmost encouragement from national, regional and
international forces.
The United Nations is ready to facilitate and assist in
the implementation of the issues outlined in the reconciliation project of the
Prime Minister, in accordance with its mandate.
U.N. MISSION IN SUDAN ATTENDS FIRST
MEETING OF DARFUR JOINT COMMISSION
The
UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) its representatives attended a voluntary
Janjaweed disarmament ceremony in Nyala, in
South Darfur, sponsored by the state government there, where some 150
members of the militia surrendered their weapons.
Asked about the partial suspension of UN operations in
Darfur, the Spokesman said that the information received from UNMIS today is
that any such restrictions had been reversed today. He added that he did not
think the ban had any impact on UN operations, given the short time between
when the order went out and when it was reversed.
The Spokesman said that the crux of the matter was
related to flight manifests and regulations by which the United Nations needs
to communicate flight manifests with the Government of Sudan, and to an issue
arising over one particular UN flight.
The order, Dujarric said, was only related to activities
by the UN Mission in Sudan and not to greater UN humanitarian activities in
Darfur.
Asked whether the United Nations had transported a rebel
leader, as had been reported, the Spokesman said that the UN Mission had said
it would look into its flight manifests.
Asked when the Under-Secretary-General for
Peacekeeping Operations,
Jean-Marie Guéhenno, would brief the
Security Council on Sudan, the Spokesman said that briefing was likely to
be on Tuesday afternoon, and added that Guéhenno had been asked to speak to
reporters afterward.
DRUG
CONSUMPTION IN WESTERN EUROPE RISES TO ALARMING LEVELS
Cocaine consumption in Western
Europe is reaching alarming levels, while opium production in Afghanistan
could rise again this year despite a welcome decline in 2005, the Executive
Director of the
UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa,
said today.
The UN Office’s
2006 World Drug Report showed that global opium production fell five
percent in 2005 while cocaine production was broadly stable. Seizures of both
drugs, especially cocaine, reached record highs.
OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
GLOBAL COMPACT
BOARD TO HOLD FIRST MEETING ON WEDNESDAY: The inaugural meeting of the
Global Compact Board, which was appointed by the Secretary-General in April,
will take place on Wednesday at UN Headquarters. The meeting itself is not open
to the media, but individual board members will be available for media
encounters tomorrow, as well as on Wednesday afternoon.
*** The guest at the Noon Briefing was the
Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict,
Radhika Coomaraswamy. She spoke about her recent visit to Uganda and the
Secretary-General’s report about children and armed conflict in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. 212-963-7162
Fax. 212-963-7055
