HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY FARHAN HAQ
ASSOCIATE
SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
U.N. HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Tuesday,
January 16, 2007
BAN KI-MOON MEETS WITH U.S. PRESIDENT AND ELECTED
OFFICIALS
Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon is in
Washington, D.C., today, where he met with President George W. Bush at the
White House.
While in Washington, the
Secretary-General will also meet with members of the U.S. Congress, both
Republicans and Democrats, including key members of both the Senate and House
of Representatives' committees dealing with foreign relations.
This afternoon, the
Secretary-General will also give a speech laying out his priorities at the
Center for Strategic and International Studies. Among other things, he will
talk about the need to confront the tragedy of Darfur, to make serious efforts
for progress in the Middle East, to invigorate disarmament and
non-proliferation efforts and to resolve the uncertainty over Kosovo’s status.
The Secretary-General will
be back at UN Headquarters tomorrow afternoon.
MORE
THAN 34,000 CIVILIANS KILLED IN IRAQ IN 2006
The UN Assistance Mission
for Iraq (UNAMI) issued its ninth bimonthly
report on the human rights situation in the country today, which says that
more than 6,000 civilians were killed during November and December. The
Mission’s Human Rights Office calculates that the total civilian casualty
figure for last year was more than 34,000, with more than 36,000 civilians
injured.
According to the bimonthly
report, the situation is particularly grave in Baghdad, where most of the
casualties also bear signs of torture.
Sectarian violence,
especially in Baghdad, is singled out as a major cause for an ever-growing
trend in displacement and migration of all Iraqis, as well as the targeting of
various professional groups.
Asked why the UN’s latest
casualty figures on Iraq were higher than those put forth by the Iraqi
Government, the Spokesman said the United Nations used figures provided by two
Iraqi sources, namely Iraq’s Ministry of Health and the Medico-Legal Institute
of Baghdad.
Asked if the United
Nations was doing anything to help the Iranians captured by the Americans in
Iraq, the Spokesman said the UN’s help had not been requested on that matter.
BAN
KI-MOON APPEALS FOR EARLY MIDDLE EAST QUARTET MEETING
Asked about U.S. Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice’s recent peace initiatives in the
Middle East, the Spokesman said the United Nations had been kept abreast
of her efforts. Haq noted that Rice had informed the Secretary-General of her
Middle East tour prior to her departure.
Asked if the United
Nations was involved in these recent efforts, the Spokesman said the United
Nations was keeping track of what was going on, and appreciated all efforts to
bring the Israelis and Palestinians together. He also reiterated the
Secretary-General’s desire for a Quartet meeting to happen as early as
possible, possibly in February.
Asked if there was a
reason that Rice’s tour was taking place before the Quartet meeting, the
Spokesman said the Quartet needed to meet regardless, in order to assess the
latest developments and move the Road Map forward.
Asked about the venue for
the Quartet meeting, the Spokesman said one would have to wait and see what
would be convenient for all Quartet members.
SECURITY
COUNCIL REQUESTS EARLY PEACE SUPPORT DEPLOYMENT
IN CHAD AND CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
The Security Council held
consultations this morning on the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE)
and other matters.
Assistant
Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hedi Annabi is briefing Council
members on the
Secretary-General’s last report on Ethiopia and Eritrea, which came out
last month.
SPECIAL ENVOY ON KEY MISSION IN SUDAN FOR
NORTHERN UGANDA
Joaquim Chissano,
Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Lord Resistance Army Affected Areas,
arrived yesterday in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, for consultations on
how to move forward the peace negotiations and reach a political settlement to
end the LRA insurgency in northern Uganda and southern Sudan.
The Special Envoy met
yesterday with Sudanese First Vice-President and southern Sudanese President
Salva Kiir and the Facilitator of the peace negotiations, southern Sudanese
Vice-President Riek Machar.
Chissano will also meet
with meet with the LRA negotiators before heading to Khartoum for a
consultation with Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir and senior officials.
The World Food Programme
today started food distributions to 500,000 people in northeastern Uganda’s
Karamoja region, where families are reeling from the effects of the third
drought in six years.
Asked if Chissano was
slated to meet with Joseph Kony and Vincent Otti, the leaders of the LRA, the
Spokesman reiterated that Chissano would meet the designated LRA negotiators,
not the LRA leadership. Haq later added that Chissano had neither the mandate
nor the intention to meet Kony, Otti or any other International Criminal Court
indictee.
UNITED
NATIONS STEPS UP DELIVERY OF DARFUR SUPPORT PACKAGE
TO AFRICAN UNION
The United Nations and the
African Union are stepping up preparations to move the UN support to the AU
force in Darfur (AMIS) to its second phase, now that the delivery of the UN
Light Support Package is ongoing, according to the
UN Mission in Sudan.
The United Nations and the
African Union will hold this weekend a final round of consultations on the
second phase of UN support to AMIS, referred to as the Heavy Support Package,
which will include additional personnel and equipment.
Once finalized, the
details of the Heavy Support Package will be brought to attention of the
Government of Sudan.
The UN support to AMIS, including the Heavy Support Package, met the support
and endorsement of the Government of Sudan during the Addis Ababa
Consultations and the Abuja Summit of the AU Peace and Security Council both
held in November 2006.
JOINT
HUMANITARIAN TEAM ASSESSES CIVILIAN NEEDS IN SOMALIA
The first UN inter-agency
mission to Mogadishu, since the Transitional Federal Government assumed
control over southern Somalia, took place today.
In northern Somalia,
meanwhile, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
is conducting a one-month needs assessment for internally displaced persons.
During that mission, UNHCR also intends to deliver shelter materials and basic
supplies to the displaced.
On the Somalia-Kenya
border, OCHA is concerned that the closed frontier is leading to a
deteriorating health situation, with cases of dysentery, diarrhoea, and
malaria going untreated. But in southern Somalia, the World Health
Organization has been able to bolster major hospitals with medicines, medical
supplies and fuel.
TRIBUNAL
UPHOLDS LIFE SENTENCE FOR FORMER RWANDAN OFFICIAL
The Appeals Chamber of the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) today
upheld the life sentence for
Emmanuel Ndindabahizi, a former finance minister of Rwanda, for his criminal
responsibility in the 1994 genocide, which the Court said is the “crime of
crimes”.
Taken into ICTR custody in
September 2001 after his arrest in Belgium, the former finance minister was
convicted in 2004 of two counts of crimes against humanity and one count of
genocide. It still has to be determined in which country he will serve his
life sentence.
BAN
KI-MOON TAKES NOTE OF INDICTMENT OF FORMER U.N. OFFICIAL
Asked to
comment on today’s fraud charges against the former head of the oil-for-food
programme, Benon Sevan, the Spokesman said the United Nations had just been
informed about the media reports concerning the indictment, and had yet to
formally receive information about that indictment.
However, he
added, the Secretary-General has noted that the United Nations has been
cooperating with the authorities about follow-up to the Volcker reports, and
will continue to do so. The Secretary-General also reiterated the commitment
to have the United Nations uphold the highest ethical standards, the Spokesman
added.
Asked about
normal procedures for indicted UN officials, the Spokesman said the United
Nations typically provided cooperation through the provision of information to
the relevant authorities and, if needed, by waiving the immunity of UN
staffers so that they could give testimony or be tried.
Asked if the
UN had a relationship with Interpol, the Spokesman said that the two bodies
did indeed have a relationship and cooperated with each other on a range of
matters. Haq later added that the UN and Interpol signed a cooperation
agreement in 1997.
Asked if
there had been cases in the past where the Secretary-General had recommended
that UN staffers be extradited, the Spokesman said he was not aware of any.
However, extradition was typically a bilateral affair between countries, he
added.
Asked what
Benon’s rank had been and about his pension, the Spokesman said Sevan would
receive whatever pension he was entitled to, and that he had been an
Under-Secretary-General. Asked why the United Nations could not interfere with
the pension of discredited staff members, he Spokesman said the UN pension
fund was not controlled by the UN, but rather a separate body.
Asked about the UN’s
relation with Benon Sevan now, the Spokesman said that Sevan was no longer
working for the UN. His immunity had been waived last year. In response to a
further question, Haq said that the United Nations had decided not to
reimburse Sevan for his legal fees following the adverse findings against him
by the Volcker Committee.
BAN
KI-MOON URGES STRONG ACTION ON CHILD RECRUITMENT
IN NEPAL AND SRI LANKA
Out on the racks today are
two reports by the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict – one
focusing on
Sri Lanka and one on
Nepal.
In the Sri Lanka report,
the Secretary-General notes that, despite previous commitments by the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the group continues to recruit
children. He also notes allegations that certain elements of the Sri Lankan
Security Forces are involved in aiding the recruitment and/or abduction of
children by the LTTE’s breakaway Karuna faction. The Secretary-General calls
on the Sri Lankan Government to immediately investigate those allegations.
The Nepal report,
meanwhile, contains recommendations on taking stronger action for to protect
war-affected children in Nepal, including the need for dedicated child
protection expertise in any future UN mission to that country.
REFUGEE
AGENCY HELPS BUILD HOMES FOR AFGHAN RETURNEES
Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
says that, since
the repatriation to Afghanistan started in 2002, more than 1 million Afghan
returnees from Pakistan and Iran have built homes with UNHCR assistance.
Shelter is one of the most
pressing needs of returning Afghans, and UNHCR says that its shelter programme
is designed to help the most vulnerable returned refugees and internally
displaced people across Afghanistan. In the last five years, it has worked
with the Afghan government and partner agencies to distribute over 160,000
shelter units to help the most vulnerable returnees.
CLIMATE
CHANGE AMONG BAN KI-MOON’S TOP PRIORITIES
Asked for the
Secretary-General’s position on climate change, the Spokesman said it was
clear that the need to act was urgent and that the basic scientific evidence
for climate change was well established. The Secretary-General had already
said that climate change would be one of the priorities on his agenda.
Pressed for a readout of
yesterday’s meeting between the Secretary-General and Yvo de Boer, Executive
Secretary of the UN Convention on Climate Change, the Spokesman later added
that the two had discussed and had an exchange of views about climate change.
The Secretary-General stressed his belief that climate change is an important
issue that has serious consequences for humanity, including social and
economic impacts.
ECONOMIC
AND SOCIAL COUNCIL TO ELECT NEW PRESIDENT
Tomorrow afternoon, the
Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC) will hold the first part of its annual organizational session and
elect its President and Bureau for 2007. The event will take place at 3 p.m.
in the ECOSOC Chamber in the presence of the Secretary-General, who will also
address the Council.
ECOSOC members are also
expected to adopt the Council’s provisional agenda for their February session
and discuss other organizational matters.
Asked who the new
President of ECOSOC would be, the Spokesman later added that it would be
Ambassador Dalius Cekuolis of Lithuania.
BAN
KI-MOON URGES CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT OF U.N. SECURITY
The seventh summit on the
safety and security of UN and associated staff is taking place today, and Chef
de Cabinet Vijay Nambiar
delivered a
message on the Secretary-General’s behalf, saying that effective security is a
core aspect of UN operations which we must always strive to improve.
He said that effort would
require robust cooperation, and thanked the staff union for its keen interest.
NINE
MEMBER STATES SETTLE THEIR DUES AHEAD OF BUDGET DEADLINE
The UN Budget Office
informs that as of this week a total of nine Member States have paid in full
their contributions to the current budget.
They include Azerbaijan,
Bolivia, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Finland, Norway, South Africa,
Suriname and Zambia.
And a reminder that Member
States have until 31 January to settle their dues in full.
OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
U.N. STAND
ON FORCED MASS EVICTIONS IS UNCHANGED:
Asked for a UN reaction to reports about forced evictions in Zimbabwe, the
Spokesman said these reports would have to be verified. Last time such evictions
had taken place, the UN’s Anna Tibaijuka had written an extensive report,
criticizing the evictions policy.
DEPUTY
SECRETARY-GENERAL TO SPEAK TO THE PRESS AFTER ASSUMING OFFICE:
Asked for the position of the Deputy Secretary-General designate on current
Tanzanian legislation, the Spokesman noted that that the Deputy
Secretary-General designate had not yet taken up her duties officially. After
she did so, in the near future, she would speak to the press.
BAN
KI-MOON URGES STATES TO COMPLY WITH SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS:
Asked for the Secretary-General’s position on reports that some countries were
not cooperating with Security Council-mandated sanctions on the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Spokesman said the Secretary-General
expected all Member States to comply with all resolutions of the Security
Council. As for the implementation of these particular sanctions, that matter
was in the hands of the Security Council and its sanctions committee dealing
with the DPRK.
*The guest at the noon briefing today was Toby
Lanzer, UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Central
African Republic. He will brief on the humanitarian situation in the northern
part of the country.
Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. 212-963-7162
Fax. 212-963-7055