HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MICHELE
MONTAS
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
U.N.
HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Friday, May
25,
2007
[There will be
no noon briefing on Monday, May 28, is an official holiday at UN headquarters.
The briefing will resume on Tuesday, May 29, 2007]
BAN KI-MOON REGRETS MYANMAR’S DECISION
TO EXTEND DETENTION OF POLITICAL ACTIVIST
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deeply regrets
the decision of the Government of Myanmar to extend once again the detention
under house arrest of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the General Secretary of the
National League for Democracy (NLD), despite his direct appeal to Myanmar’s
senior leadership and the many public calls worldwide for her release.
He strongly believes that
the sooner restrictions on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political figures
are lifted, the sooner Myanmar will be able to move towards inclusive national
reconciliation, the restoration of democracy and full respect for human
rights.
The Secretary-General is
determined to continue working towards tangible progress in Myanmar through
the use of his good offices mandate, as entrusted by the General Assembly. He
has instructed his Special Adviser, Ibrahim Gambari, to energetically continue
his dialogue with the Government and people of Myanmar.
U.N.
AGENCY HELPS PALESTINIAN REFUGEES HIT
BY LATEST LEBANON VIOLENCE
As of today, the UN Relief
and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
has registered and helped relocate some 25,000 Palestinian refugees who have
fled the fighting in the Nahr el-Bared camp in northern Lebanon.
Most of the displaced
people have found refuge in the Tripoli region, in the UNRWA-operated Beddawi
camp. About 2,500 people are in schools or women centres made available by
UNRWA.
While a casualty and
damage assessment still being compiled, UNRWA staff members who lived in the
camp say about a third of all houses have been damaged or utterly destroyed.
Eyewitnesses interviewed by UNRWA spoke of several dozen dead, with two mass
graves reportedly dug inside the camp to dispose of the bodies.
With the help of regional
governments, the ICRC and Lebanese agencies, UNRWA’s efforts continue to
provide emergency food aid to the displaced and those still inside the camp.
UNRWA is providing water and sanitation supplies, along with hygiene kits and
sleeping bags. An emergency appeal to cover estimated needs over the next 30
days is being prepared.
LEBANON
BORDER ASSESSMENT TEAM BEGINS WORK NEXT WEEK
As was confirmed at the
media stakeout yesterday by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B.
Lynn Pascoe, the Lebanon Independent Border Assessment Team will be on the
ground in Lebanon next week to begin its work in follow-up to the terms of
Security Council
resolution 1701, and pursuant to the Security Council’s
Presidential Statement of 17 April 2007.
The team assembles on
Monday in Beirut and is expected to be in the country for two to three weeks
before returning and reporting on its findings to the Secretary-General. The
team is composed of five persons, with expertise in areas such as border
security, police and customs, and military issues. It will carry out
consultations with Lebanese officials as well as bilateral partners already
assisting Lebanon in this area.
The team will visit the
border region and review existing border security arrangements in order to
arrive at an assessment and to formulate recommendations for additional
assistance, training and equipment to enhance the security of the
Lebanese-Syrian border.
BAN
KI-MOON PRESENTS ADVANCE COPY OF REPORT ON HYBRID DARFUR OPERATION TO SUDANESE
AMBASSADOR
The Secretary-General met
today with the Sudanese Ambassador and presented him with a letter and an
advance copy of the joint African Union-United Nations report on the hybrid
peacekeeping operation in Darfur.
Meanwhile, the UN Experts
Group on Darfur, which was established by the Human Rights Council last March,
met yesterday with high-level representatives of the Government of Sudan
to identify practical steps to improve the human rights situation in Darfur.
The Group will report on
this meeting to the fifth session of the Human Rights Council on 13 June 2007.
SECURITY
COUNCIL MEETS ON SUDAN, MIDDLE EAST
The Security Council held
consultations this morning on Sudan, the Middle East and other matters.
Under Sudan, a
Presidential Statement on the proposed African Union-United Nations
peacekeeping operation in Darfur was discussed.
Under the Middle East, a
draft resolution concerning a tribunal to try the suspected killers of former
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was circulated.
U.N.
AGENCIES DISTRIBUTE AID TO NEEDY SOMALIS
The World Food Programme
(WFP) says that, although it is encountering problems finding ships to move
food to Somalia, food distribution inside the country continues without
incident despite the overall volatile security environment.
Yesterday, the agency
began a second round of food distribution for some 32,000 internally displaced
persons in Afgoye, 9,000 people in Qoryoley and another 13,000 in Baidoa. Also
in Baidoa, UNICEF reports that some 650 families recently received Family
Relief Kits, with another 6,000 kits allocated to those in need in Mogadishu
and Merka. Meanwhile, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says
that some 90,000 people displaced by the latest violence have returned to the
capital.
A $2.9 million grant from
the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to WFP is covering the emergency
rehabilitation of Wajid airstrip, air transport of relief items and
cost-reduced passenger flights. These allocations are part of the $10 million
recently set aside by the Emergency Relief Coordinator for rapid response
projects funded through the CERF.
HUMANITARIAN
SITUATION DETERIORATING IN
EASTERN D.R. CONGO
The Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the humanitarian
situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu
province is deteriorating.
In the last six months,
continuing clashes have displaced 260,000 people. OCHA says it is very
worried about the protection situation for the displaced, who have had to deal
with murders, torture, arbitrary detention and looting.
UN agencies and their
partners are preparing contingency plans to cover the needs of the displaced.
But the UN’s humanitarian appeal for this crisis remains only 19 per cent
funded.
HUMAN
RIGHTS CHIEF CONCERNED BY RWANDA COURTS’ PLANS
TO TRY 750,000 DEFENDANTS
High Commissioner for
Human Rights Louise Arbour has wrapped up her visit to Rwanda, concluding a
nearly two-week trip to Africa’s Great Lakes Region.
In a
statement, Arbour hailed Rwanda’s determination to lift itself up despite
the genocide that decimated its people little more than a decade ago.
She expressed concern,
however, about the Gacaca courts, whose judges possess little legal training
and are planning, within the next year, to try 750,000 defendants who
allegedly took part in the genocide.
Such haste could
jeopardize the integrity of the process, she said, adding that the country
could not possibly sustain such a large number of prisoners.
BAN
KI-MOON FRUSTRATED BY WIDESPREAD SUFFERING IN AFRICA
Today is Africa Day. In a
message to mark
the occasion, the Secretary-General said he shared Africa’s pain and
frustration at the persistent, widespread suffering caused by extreme poverty
and HIV/AIDS, among other problems.
He welcomed important
steps toward consolidating peace, including in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo and Cote d’Ivoire, but he noted the continuing tragic consequences of
conflicts in other trouble spots, such as Darfur and Somalia.
He called for renewed
global efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals, including through
more and better aid, debt cancellation and fairer trade, as well as the
promotion of peace and human rights.
LIST
OF SECRETARY-GENERAL’S SENIOR STAFF
TO BE RELEASED NEXT WEEK
In response to questions
about the composition of the Secretary-General’s senior staff, the
Spokesperson said that list would be ready to be released early next week.
Regarding questions about
the number of people the Secretary-General brought with him from his home
country, the Republic of Korea, the Spokesperson said there are six nationals
from the Republic of Korea that came with the Secretary-General and are now
working in the Secretariat. He also brought one secretary with him.
She added that it is
perfectly normal for an incoming Secretary-General to bring a small number of
close advisers with him. Those people are now UN staffers and therefore
international civil servants, with rights and responsibilities defined by the
UN charter, she added.
Montas later added that
the five staff members from the Republic of Korea, who were appointed by the
Secretary-General, were appointed to the Executive Office of the
Secretary-General (EOSG). Two of them, Choi Soung-ah and Kweon Ki-hwan, have
been assigned to other departments – the Department of Public Information and
the Department of Management respectively. But they remain staff members of
EOSG, and perform tasks that are closely related to EOSG work.
Asked to clarify the
staff recruitment policy of the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, the
Spokeswoman said that although the General Assembly gives the
Secretary-General complete latitude in staffing his Office, Ban Ki-moon
decided to open a dozen posts to competitive recruitment, leading to the more
than 1,000 expressions of interest.
OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
NO BIOTERRORISM UNIT
EXISTS AT THE UNITED NATIONS: Asked
to confirm news reports that the Secretary-General intends to appoint the head
of the pharmaceutical company Novartis to head a UN bioterrorism unit, Montas
dismissed the reports, saying that there is no such thing as a bioterrorism unit
within the UN system.
THE
WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS
Monday, May 28
Today is an official UN
holiday. Headquarters in New York will be closed.
All this week, the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is scheduled to hear closing
arguments in the Bagosora et al. case.
Through Wednesday in Geneva,
the 59th Executive Council of the World Meteorological Organization
(WMO) is scheduled to hold its annual review of WMO operations.
Tuesday, May 29
This afternoon, the Security Council is
scheduled to hold consultations on Lebanon and resolution 1559.
Today is the International Day of United Nations
Peacekeepers. At 11:15 a.m. in the Visitors’ Lobby, the Secretary-General is
scheduled to lay a wreath, as part of a commemorative ceremony. At 5:30 p.m. in
the Visitors’ Lobby, a reception and ceremony are planned for the opening of a
photographic exhibition entitled “Courage for Peace”.
The guest at the noon briefing will be Mr.
Jean-Marie Guéhenno,
Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping
Operations, who will brief on the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.
From 10 a.m. to noon in the ECOSOC Chamber,
there will be a briefing by the President of the International Narcotics Control
Board, Mr. Philip Onagwele Emafo.
From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Conference Room 6, the
Burundi configuration of the Peacebuilding Commission will hold an informal
(open) discussion on the rule of law and security sector reform in Burundi.
All this week in Conference Room 7, the Expert
Group Meeting on Contemporary Practices in Census Mapping and Use of
Geographical Information Systems will take place.
All this week in Conference Room 1, the
fifteenth session of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation is
taking place.
Wednesday, May 30
In Berlin, the Secretary-General is scheduled to
attend a meeting of the Middle East Quartet.
This morning, the Security Council is scheduled
to hold consultations on Timor-Leste. In the afternoon, consultations are
scheduled on Haiti.
At 11 a.m. in Room 226, there will be a press
conference by Mr. José Antonio Ocampo,
Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, on the launch of the
mid-year update of the World Economic Situation and Prospects.
At 3 p.m. in Room 226, there will be press
conference by Mr. Michael Oppenheimer, lead author of the 4th
Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, on the
upcoming 60th DPI/NGO Conference entitled Climate Change: How it
impacts us all.
From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Trusteeship
Council Chamber, High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour is scheduled
to give a presentation to the Peacebuilding Commission.
Today and tomorrow in Conference Room B, an
expert group is meeting to discuss the progress of youth in the global economy
and the World Programme of Action for Youth.
From 1:15 to 2:30 p.m. in Conference Room 6,
Friends of the International Criminal Court will brief on crime of aggression.
From 1:15 to 2:30 p.m. in Conference Room 8, a
briefing is scheduled on “South-South cooperation on disaster risk management”.
At 3 p.m. in the General Assembly Hall, Deputy
Secretary-General Asha Rose-Migiro will deliver the commencement address for the
UN International School’s Class of 2007.
Thursday, May 31
This morning, High
Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour is scheduled to brief the Security
Council on her recent trip to Africa’s Great Lakes Region. In the afternoon,
the Council is expected to hold consultations on Chad. Today is the last day of
the U.S. Council Presidency.
From 1:15 to 2:45 p.m. in
Conference Room 6, an informal briefing on “AIDS in the Pacific” is scheduled to
take place.
Today and tomorrow at UNESCO
Headquarters in Paris, a ministerial conference is scheduled on the theme
"Energy in the Changing World".
Today is World No Tobacco
Day.
Friday, June 01
Today is the first day of
Belgium’s Presidency of the Security Council.
The guest at the noon
briefing will be Mr. Atul Khare, Special Representative of the Secretary-General
for Timor-Leste and Head of the United Nations Integrated Mission in
Timor-Leste.
Office of the Spokesman for the
Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. 212-963-7162
Fax. 212-963-7055
