HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY MICHELE
MONTAS
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

U.N.
HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Thursday, March
15, 2007

SECURITY
COUNCIL HOLDS CONSULTATIONS ON IRAN

• The Security Council
  held consultations this morning on non-proliferation -Iran. A draft resolution
  was circulated.
   

• Then, this afternoon, the Secretary-General’s Special
  Representative for
  
  Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, will brief the Council is an open meeting on the
  Secretary-General’s latest report on the UN Mission in Iraq.
   

• Yesterday, the Council adopted a
  press
  statement on Cote d’Ivoire, by which it welcomed the agreement signed by
  President Laurent Gbagbo and Guillaume Soro in Ouagadougou on 4 March.

BAN KI-MOON LOOKS FORWARD TO FORMATION
 OF PALESTINIAN NATIONAL UNITY GOVERNMENT

• Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
  is pleased that the negotiations for a Palestinian National Unity Government
  have now been completed.
   

• He is looking forward to the
  formation of the government and its programme. He hopes that this process will
  result in a government that will respect existing agreements and reflect
  Quartet principles.

SECURITY ENVIRONMENT IN WEST AFRICA
CONTINUES TO IMPROVE

• Available as a document
  today is the
  Secretary-General’s report on cross-border issues in West Africa, covering
  recent developments in the areas of security, post-conflict reconstruction,
  good governance and transitional justice mechanisms.
   

• In it, the Secretary-General
  writes that while still fragile, the overall security environment in West
  Africa continues to improve, notably in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
   

• Among the recommendations in
  the report, the Secretary-General proposes that the UN and development
  partners broaden their definition of and views on security sector reform to
  include larger economic development strategies.

 ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY CHIEF’S VISIT TO
DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S
 REPUBLIC OF KOREA IS AN ‘OVERALL DOOR OPENER’

• The International Atomic
  Energy Agency (IAEA)
  says
  that its Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, yesterday completed a visit to
  the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), a visit ElBaradei called an
  "overall door opener."
   

• Noting that that has
  improved the "rocky relationship" between his agency and the DPRK since IAEA
  inspectors left the country in December 2002, ELBaradei says the country is
  now considering resuming its membership in the IAEA.
   

• His meetings with DPRK
  officials, he said, also focused on the IAEA´s initial monitoring and
  verification role for the shutdown of the DPRK´s nuclear facilities. The next
  step would be an agreement with the DPRK on specific technical arrangements
  for monitoring and verification, the terms of which would be subject to
  approval by the IAEA Board of Governors.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL LAUNCHES REPORT ON U.N.-E.U. COOPERATION

• Deputy Secretary-General Asha
  Rose-Migiro is in Brussels today, where she is meeting with officials from
  European institutions as well as the Belgian Foreign Minister.
   

• She also launched the
  first-ever comprehensive report on cooperation between the United Nations and
  European Union in the area of development and humanitarian aid following a
  meeting with Louis Michel, the EU Commissioner for Development and
  Humanitarian Aid.
   

• The tangible results of this cooperation are detailed in
  a new report “The partnership between the UN and the EU.” The UN report
  explains that the UN and the European Commission are working together in more
  than 80 developing countries and countries in transition, making a significant
  impact in the areas of development and human rights, humanitarian assistance,
  and post conflict rehabilitation and recovery.

HUMAN RIGHTS
COUNCIL TO DISCUSS DARFUR TOMORROW

• The
  
  Human Rights Council is currently considering various reports on topics
  such as: the defamation of religion; racism; children in armed conflict; the
  right to development; missing persons; and the death penalty.
   

• In a statement to the Council today, High Commissioner
  for Human Rights Louise Arbour said that no country was immune from human
  rights problems and that all countries could therefore benefit from
  cooperation with human rights mechanisms. Copies of her statement are
  available upstairs.
   

• The High-Level Mission to Darfur will present its report
  tomorrow, after which an interactive discussion will take place. The head of
  the Mission, Jody Williams, will hold a press conference at the UN Office at
  Geneva after the presentation.

 LOCUST INFESTATION HAUNTS WESTERN
TIMOR-LESTE

• A locust infestation is causing major concerns in western
  Timor-Leste.
   

• Latest survey results by the
  Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and
  the local agricultural ministry, found some 4,500 hectares of mainly maize
  crops already damaged by the pests.
   

• The U.N. Office for the
  Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says there is an urgent need for
  the provision of pesticides in order to control the outbreak.

BAN KI-MOON WOULD SUPPORT DIPLOMATIC EFFORT TO RESOLVE
DARFUR CRISIS

• Asked if the Secretary-General would support a "massive diplomatic effort"
  to resolve the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan, as suggested by French
  Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, the Spokesperson said that Ban Ki-moon
  would certainly support such an initiative.
   
• Asked if the Secretary-General would travel to Sudan as a result of a
  recent invitation by the Sudanese President, Montas said that Ban Ki-moon has
  accepted the invitation in principle but that there were no firm dates yet for
  such a visit.

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