HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MARIE OKABE
DEPUTY
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
Wednesday, November
7, 2007
BAN KI-MOON
BEGINS SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is paying an official visit
to Argentina today, and he will meet early this afternoon in Buenos Aires with
the country’s Foreign Minister, Jorge Taiana. After that, he will meet with
the presidents of Argentina’s Senate and Chamber of Deputies.
This evening, the Secretary-General and Madame Ban
Soon-taek will meet with the country’s President and President-elect, Nestor
Kirchner and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
The Secretary-General yesterday
spoke to
reporters about his visit over the coming days to Argentina, Brazil and Chile,
which he said were politically and economically important members of the
United Nations that also play a key role in our common efforts to address
climate change issues.
He added that, after his visit to the Latin American
countries, he will travel onward to Tunisia, where he will attend an
international conference on counter-terrorism that is organized by the United
Nations, the Tunisian Government and the Organization of the Islamic
Conference.
From there, he said, he will travel to Valencia, Spain,
to participate in launching the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change.
U.N. ENVOY ADVISES AGAINST MYANMAR'S
RETURN TO STATUS BEFORE CRISIS
The Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on Myanmar,
Ibrahim Gambari,
met today with Myanmar’s new Prime Minister General Thein Sein, to whom he
delivered a letter from the Secretary-General addressed to Senior General Than
Shwe.
He and the Prime Minister had open and detailed
discussions on ways to further improve Myanmar’s cooperation with the United
Nations to address the country’s political, human rights, humanitarian and
socioeconomic challenges in the wake of the recent crisis.
Gambari stressed that a return to the status quo before
the crisis would not be sustainable, and suggested specific steps for Myanmar
to meet international expectations in this regard. These include the need for
dialogue with the opposition without delay as part of an inclusive national
reconciliation process, as well as necessary confidence-building measures in
the humanitarian and socioeconomic areas, including the establishment of a
broad-based poverty alleviation commission.
Later in the day, Gambari met with the diplomatic corps
in Myanmar to provide an update on his visit so far.
Tomorrow, he is scheduled to meet with Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi for the fifth time since his first visit to Myanmar. He is also to meet
with members of the Central Executive Committee of her National League for
Democracy party, officials of the National Unity Party, and other relevant
interlocutors, as well as the United Nations Country Team in Yangon.
Gambari is scheduled to return to UN headquarters by
Monday, 12 November.
Asked whether Gambari would
meet with Senior General Than Shwe, the Spokeswoman said that would be known
by the end of Gambari’s trip.
Asked about the content of the
message being conveyed by Gambari, Okabe said that Gambari is on a difficult
mission and is pressing hard on all of the issues – human rights,
reconciliation and poverty alleviation. He is particularly focused on
promoting dialogue between the government and the opposition.
Tomorrow, she noted, he will be meeting with Aung
San Suu Kyi, in what she called an important meeting.
U.N. HUMANITARIAN OFFICIAL IS EXPELLED
FROM SOUTH DARFUR
Asked about
reports that the head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan has been
asked to leave, the Spokeswoman said that, according to preliminary reports
from OCHA, its Head of Office Wael Al-Haj-Ibrahim
has not been rendered persona non grata by Sudan, but rather has been forced
to leave South Darfur.
This is a
directive from the State Governor, and is being taken up by the Resident and
Humanitarian Coordinator with central authorities in Khartoum, she said.
Okabe said that
the United Nations is extremely concerned about the potential ramifications of
this decision. OCHA plays a pivotal role in South Darfur, working with the
Government of Sudan, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations and the donor
community to coordinate assistance to up to one million vulnerable internally
displaced persons.
This is
particularly of concern, she said, as it violates the letter and spirit of the
Joint Communiqué on the Facilitation of Humanitarian Assistance in Darfur and
the Joint Communiqué signed between the Secretary-General and the President of
Sudan on the occasion of the Secretary-General’s visit to Sudan
NEW DEPUTY CHIEF OF U.N.
ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME IS NAMED
The Secretary-General has appointed Angela Cropper of
Trinidad and Tobago as Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive
Director for the UN Environment Programme.
Cropper currently serves as an independent member of the
Senate of the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament and as President of a charitable
organization committed to sustainable development.
She has held a number of senior positions with the
Caribbean Community and Common Market Secretariat (CARICOM) and the World
Conservation Union (IUCN) and has also
received a number of environmental awards in recognition of her achievements
in that field.
SECRETARY-GENERAL NOTES PROGRESS
IN IMPLEMENTATION OF RESOLUTION 1701
The Secretary-General, in his latest
report to
the Security Council on the implementation of Resolution 1701, says that
Israel and Lebanon continue to display an enduring commitment to carrying out
that resolution.
He says that he hopes that the humanitarian exchange
carried out between Israel and Hezbollah on 15 October will promote decisive
action to meet the humanitarian demands of
resolution 1701, in particular the release of the two abducted Israeli
soldiers.
The report includes the work that the senior UN
cartographer has done on the provisional definition of the Shab’a Farms, the
geographical content of which is spelled out in the report. The
Secretary-General expresses his hope that this effort will strengthen a
diplomatic process aimed at resolving this key issue.
And the Secretary-General once more calls on all Lebanese
leaders to hold a constructive political dialogue, enabling the election of a
President that would enjoy the broadest possible acceptance, in accordance
with the constitutional rules and time frame and without foreign interference.
MILITARY
BUILDUP CONTINUES ON ETHIOPIA/ERITREA BORDER
In the Secretary-General’s
latest report
on Ethiopia and Eritrea, he says that the situation in the Temporary Security
Zone and the border region between the two countries remains tense.
Eritrea, he says, has moved
more in than 2,500 troops and heavy military equipment into the Zone, while
both countries have conducted military exercises along the border. Eritrean
restrictions on UN peacekeepers and helicopter flights continue, and the UN
Mission has been unable to convey a meeting of the Military Coordination
Commission since July 2006.
The Secretary-General also
reports that even as Ethiopia says that it has accepted the 2002 border
delimitation decision of the
Eritrea-Ethiopia
Boundary Commission without preconditions, the country continues to assert
that the security conditions for demarcation of the border do not exist.
He calls on Eritrea to
withdraw its forces and military equipment from the Security Zone and to lift
restrictions on UN peacekeepers. He urges both countries to extend full
cooperation to the Commission so as to allow it to proceed with the
demarcation of the border. He also urges them to reactivate the Military
Coordination Commission, which provides a unique framework for dialogue.
TRIAL BEGINS OF MAN ACCUSED OF INCITING
SERB NATIONALIST FORCES
The trial of former Serb
political leader Vojislav Seselj began earlier today at the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
in The Hague.
In its opening remarks to the
bench, Tribunal prosecutors have accused Seselj of inciting Serb nationalist
forces to commit war crimes with “poisonous ideas.”
They said that the speeches he
made during the 1990s conflicts in Bosnia and Croatia have led to murder,
torture and persecution of non-Serbs.
Seselj surrendered to the ICTY
voluntarily in February 2003, vowing to clear his name of three charges of
crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes.
SECURITY COUNCIL RECOGNIZES IMPORTANCE
OF REGIONAL GROUPS
IN CONFLICT PREVENTION AND RESOLUTION
There are no meetings or consultations of the Security
Council scheduled today.
The Security Council
yesterday afternoon finished a formal meeting by issuing a
Presidential
Statement recognizing the important role of regional and subregional
organizations in prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.
In a statement read by Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan
Wirajuda, who chaired yesterday’s meeting, the Council reaffirmed that it had
the primary responsibility for the maintenance of peace and security, but also
recognized that regional organizations were well positioned to understand the
root causes of conflicts close to home and to influence their prevention and
resolution.
U.N. ENVOY REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO HELP
RESOLVE CRISIS
IN EASTERN DR CONGO
The Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC)
has an update on the special mission that the Secretary-General has assigned
to Haile Menkerios, the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs. The
special mission aims to help resolve the crisis in the eastern part of that
country, along with its underlying causes.
Last weekend, Menkerios was in Goma, in the North Kivu
province, to exchange views with Congolese civilian and military officials. He
also met with civil society leaders and representatives of ethnic communities
affected by the recurring violence there, which has displaced some 800,000
people to date.
Speaking to reporters upon arrival in Goma, Menkerios
described his mandate and reaffirmed the United Nations’ commitment to assist
the DRC government in finding lasting solutions to the security and
humanitarian crisis in the region. Menkerios on Monday left Goma for Kigali,
where he is now consulting with the Rwandan leadership.
MAJORITY OF WOMEN IN NORTHERN LIBERIA
WERE VICTIMS
OF WARTIME SEXUAL VIOLENCE
According to a
new survey released
today by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), more than half the women in Lofa County, northern
Liberia, were victims of sexual violence during the most recent conflict.
Ninety percent of them reported at least one incident of
physical violence and more than 98 per cent lost shelter.
The Lofa survey, which was conducted in October 2007, is
the first scientific survey on the experiences of women during the conflict.
U.N. AGENCIES
ASSIST ABDUCTED CHILDREN IN EASTERN CHAD
Asked about
reports that some UN agencies may have supported the non-governmental
organization Zoe's Ark in its work in Chad, the Spokeswoman said that UN
agencies have been at the forefront responding to the urgent needs of the 103
young children caught up in an abduction scandal in the eastern Chad town of
Abéché, and have been tried to bring the children back to their own
communities as soon as possible.
She
later told the reporter that UN refugee agency staff on the ground had acted
in good faith when they were asked soon after the NGO's arrival six or eight
weeks ago for a few tents and a generator to help needy children. "Everyone was
fooled by them," according to the UNHCR spokesman.
BAN KI-MOON
URGES MEMBER STATES TO BAN CLUSTER MUNITIONS
In his
statement to this
year’s meeting on Certain Conventional Weapons, the Secretary-General urged
members to address the horrendous humanitarian, human rights and
developmental effects of cluster munitions by concluding a legally binding
instrument of international humanitarian law.
Adding that the use, development, production, stockpiling
and transfer of these munitions must be completely banned, the
Secretary-General urged that, until such a legal instrument is adopted,
members must take domestic measures to immediately freeze the use and transfer
of all cluster munitions.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
BAN KI-MOON IS IN CONTACT WITH REGIONAL LEADERS OVER
PAKISTAN: Asked whether the
Secretary-General had spoken to the leadership in Pakistan over the past day,
the Spokeswoman said she had nothing new to report, adding that he had mentioned
to reporters on Tuesday that he was in touch with key leaders on the issue. She
reiterated that she had nothing to announce about appointing an envoy for
Pakistan.
ONLINE GAME SIMULATING REFUGEES’ ORDEAL MAKES DEBUT:
The UN Refugee Agency has released an online game, in which schoolchildren
experience what it is like to become persecuted refugees. In Against All Odds,
players face language barriers and prejudice, are interrogated, and race against
the clock to find safety and asylum. You can find the game, which is also
available in Swedish, German, Greek and Norwegian, at
WWW.PLAYAGAINSTALLODDS.COM.
HUMANITARIAN APPEAL IS LAUNCHED FOR FLOOD VICTIMS IN
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
has issued a
joint appeal, with the government of the Dominican Republic, for $14 million
to provide humanitarian assistance over the next six months to survivors of
Tropical Storm Noel. Priority needs include water and basic sanitation, food
aid, and restoring livelihoods.
U.N. EMERGENCY TEAM ARRIVES IN
MEXICO: U.N. Disaster Assistance and Recovery Team has arrived in Mexico,
following the recent floods in the states of Tabasco and Chiapas. The World
Food Programme and the Pan-American Health Organization have also mobilized
specialists to distribute medicines, food and supplies. OCHA notes that,
although the emergency response by Mexican authorities was immediate, the
situation in the region remains dire. Thousands are still awaiting rescue, and
it is expected to take at least two more weeks for waters to recede to their
normal levels.
Office of the Spokesperson for the
Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. 212-963-7162
Fax. 212-963-7055
