Thursday,
August 28, 2008

SECURITY
COUNCIL TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETING ON GEORGIA 

• The Security Council is scheduled to hold a public
  meeting on Georgia at 3 p.m. today.

• Council members began consultations on the
  situation in Georgia at 11 this morning. 
   

• On the humanitarian front in Georgia, the U.N. High
  Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
  
  reports that the town of Gori has been a gathering place for people
  fleeing a buffer zone between Georgia and South Ossetia, as well as for
  those trying to return to villages in the volatile area.
   

• By late yesterday afternoon, more than 1,200 people
  had registered as internally displaced with local authorities in Gori,
  UNHCR says.  The agency’s new office there has been providing
  assistance.  It has already erected 100 family tents in a football field
  on the town’s outskirts.
   

• The new arrivals tell similar tales of
  intimidation, beatings, and looting by militias in buffer zone villages,
  according to UNHCR. A UNHCR team tried to reach those villages on
  Tuesday, but was turned back at a checkpoint and told that the security
  situation did not allow for movement in that zone. 
   

• The U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA)  has been
  
  providing basic personnel hygiene kits for families.  It has also
  mobilized members of the Georgian Medical Students Association to stuff
  plastic bags with soap, shampoo, towels, toothbrushes and paste,
  sanitary napkins, shaving kits, and other supplies.

 SECRETARY-GENERAL NOTES WORRYING
INCREASE OF VIOLENCE IN DARFUR 

• In his
  
  latest report on the deployment of the African Union-United Nations
  Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), covering the month of July,
  Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the month has seen an extremely
  worrying increase in violence in Darfur.
   

• The Secretary-General reports and notes that
  continuing air strikes in all three States of Darfur, even during the
  days surrounding President Al-Bashir’s visit to the region, cast a
  shadow over the conciliatory message the President delivered during his
  visit.
   

• In the report, the Secretary-General urges all
  parties to recognize the urgent need to end the suffering of innocent
  civilians and immediately commit themselves to an unconditional
  ceasefire.
   

• He also reiterates his appeal to Council members to
  urge troop- and police contributing countries that are in a position to
  provide these desperately needed supplies to do so without further
  delay. In spite of our efforts, deployment will take many more months
  during which UNAMID will continue to experience serious shortfalls in
  communications, logistics, medical evacuation and treatment, and air
  support.
   

• The Secretary-General says the decision of the
  Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to
  
  seek an arrest warrant for President Al-Bashir has altered the
  political landscape, although it is too early to assess the impact it
  will have on the peace process.
   

• Without prejudice to the decision of the ICC on the
  Prosecutor’s application, the international community should continue
  its engagement and support of the parties’ efforts to achieve progress
  towards resolving the crisis in the Sudan.
   

• The international community also has the
  responsibility to seek agreement on the equal importance of peace and
  justice in trying to meet the needs of the people of Darfur, he says,
  and urges Member States to spare no efforts to reach a consensus on how
  to move forward on both goals in order to achieve a comprehensive
  political solution in Darfur.

 NEW CHIEF MEDIATOR FOR DARFUR TAKES
UP HIS POST 

• 
  UNAMID today reports the arrival of the AU-UN Joint Chief Mediator
  for Darfur, Djibril Bassole, who has arrived in El Fashir to re-energize
  the Darfur peace process.
   

• In an interview with UN radio earlier today, the
  chief mediator said, “We are trying to find a good approach … We need to
  improve this dialogue and to do so we have to discuss with everybody on
  the ground.”
   

• And UNAMID Force Commander, Gen Martin Luther
  Agwai, visited the Zam Zam camp for displaced and welcomed the recently
  arrived Egyptian Engineering and Signal Company.
   

• A UNAMID joint patrol team, consisting of military
  and police, was deployed to
  Kalma camp to monitor and assess the situation following this week’s
  attack by the Government of Sudan.

NEW WESTERN
SAHARA ENVOY TO BE NAMED SOON 

• In response to questions regarding press reports by
  Peter van Walsum, the Spokeswoman said the Secretary-General appreciates
  the work done by his Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Peter van
  Walsum. Over the past three years, Mr. van Walsum has worked with the
  parties, neighboring countries and other stakeholders, to convene four
  rounds of negotiations.
   

• The Secretary-General remains committed to offering
  the Parties his good offices, as they prepare for the fifth round of the
  negotiations this fall.  He firmly believes that there is a need to
  revitalize the negotiation process in order to attain a peaceful
  solution in Western Sahara. An announcement of the new Personal Envoy
  will be made soon.
   

• The Spokeswoman also said that van Walsum's 
  mandate came to an end on 21 August and was not renewed.
   

• Okabe stressed that the
  next round of talk are expected to proceed as planned this fall. The
  Secretary-General, she added, plans to announce a new Personal Envoy
  shortly.

NEW DEPUTY
SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR DR CONGO IS NAMED 

• The Secretary-General today announced the
  appointment of Ms. Leila Zerrougui of Algeria as Deputy Special
  
  Representative of the Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic
  of Congo.
   

• Ms. Zerrougui has had a distinguished career in
  strengthening the rule of law, in particular through the administration
  of justice, and in human rights. Before her appointment to Algeria’s
  Supreme Court in 2000, Ms. Zerrougui served as a judge on the first
  instance Tribunal from 1980 to 1986, and on the Court of Appeals from
  1986 to 1997.  From 1998 to 2000 she was legal advisor at the Cabinet of
  the Ministry of Justice.  Since 2000, she has also held the position of
  “Chargé de mission” in the Presidency of the Republic of Algeria.
   

• Ms. Zerrougui has been a member of the Working
  Group on Arbitrary Detention under the United Nations Human Rights
  Council since 2001 and served as the Working Group’s
  Chairperson-Rapporteur from 2003 until May 2008.
   

• She has previously served as expert member of a
  number of Working Groups and Committees to include under the Commission
  on Human Rights.
   

• Ms. Zerrougui graduated from the Ecole Nationale
  d’Administration (Algiers) in 1980. Since 1993 she has held various
  academic positions at law schools in Algeria, and is now Associate
  Professor of the Ecole Supérieure de la Magistrature (Algiers).  She has
  published extensively on the administration of justice and human rights. 
  She was born in 1956 in Souk-Ahras, Algeria.

U.N.
MISSION IN DR CONGO DISPATCHES PATROL IN WAKE OF FIGHTING 

• Meanwhile, she added, the Special Representative of
  the Secretary-General, Alan Doss, has met today at length with the
  Congolese Defense Minister and with the Interior Minister. The UN Force
  Commander has been in contact with the Congolese army Commander. The UN
  Mission is also in contact the representative of the CNPD to the Mixed
  Technical Commission on Peace and Security.

 KOSOVO: "INTER-ETHNIC" INCIDENT IS
REPORTED IN MITROVICA

• Asked to confirm reports of ethnic fighting in the
  Kosovo town of Mitrovica, the Spokeswoman said that during the last 24
  hours an incident considered having inter-ethnic nature that started
  with verbal insulting and stoning was recorded. The case was recorded to
  have occurred around 11 p.m. local time, in North Mitrovica.
   

• Several persons were injured during the incident
  and two vehicles from the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)
  were damaged, as well as firearms discharges were heard during the
  incident.
   

• Okabe added that UNMIK Police and Kosovo Police
  intervened in putting the situation under control and dispersing both
  ethnic groups involved in stoning each other.

SOCIAL
INJUSTICE PREVENTS MAJORITY OF PEOPLE FROM ENJOYING GOOD HEALTH 

• Social injustice is killing people on a grand
  scale, a research commission from the World Health Organization
  
  said in conclusion to a new study released earlier today. The study
  found that bad policies, economics, and politics are in large measure
  responsible for the fact that a majority of people in the world do not
  enjoy good health.
   

• To cite some examples, a child born in a Glasgow,
  Scotland, suburb can expect a life 28 years shorter than another living
  only 13 kilometres away. A girl in Lesotho is likely to live 42 years
  less than a girl in Japan. And while 1 out of 17,400 Swedish women die
  during pregnancy or childbirth, in Afghanistan, the odds are 1 in 8.
   

• In welcoming the report, WHO Director-General
  Margaret Chan said that health systems will not naturally gravitate
  towards equity. Unprecedented leadership is needed that compels all
  actors, including those beyond the health sector, to examine their
  impact on health.

U.N.
REFUGEE AGENCY CHIEF WRAPS UP VISIT TO PAKISTAN 

• U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio
  Guterres today
  
  completed a three-day visit to Pakistan, during which the government
  agreed to revise its Afghan repatriation strategy beyond 2009.
   

• After arriving in Islamabad earlier this week, Mr.
  Guterres met with Pakistan’s leaders.  They reached a strong consensus
  on projects to develop refugee-hosting areas in Pakistan.
   

• Highlighting that Pakistan, as UNHCR’s biggest
  partner and host of the world’s largest refugee population, has shown
  incomparable generosity towards its neighbors, Guterres called for more
  support from the international community for the country’s efforts.

U.N.
MISSION IN HAITI HELPING VICTIMS OF TROPICAL STORM GUSTAV 

• The UN mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
  is working with Haitian authorities across the south of the country to
  bring relief to those affected by the torrential rains and heavy winds
  from tropical storm Gustav.
   

• UN peacekeepers are helping to evacuate thousands
  of people by boat or truck. They are also working with Haitian police to
  evaluate access to roads and bridges in the most affected regions and to
  assess the damage. 
   

• The Mission also says that preparations are
  complete to provide immediate assistance to up to 3,000 families.

 PHILIPPINES: WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME
BOOSTS ASSISTANCE TO SOUTHERN MINDANAO 

• The World Food Programme (WFP) is
  
  scaling up food assistance to more than 220,000 people displaced by
  conflict in southern Mindanao, delivering nearly 1,000 metric tons of
  rice to civilians caught up in the fighting between the Philippine
  government and troops and forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
   

• WFP Philippines says it is responding to a request
  from the Government to provide food assistance to meet urgent needs
  among the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the sudden upsurge
  in violence in southern Mindanao.
   

• Despite the challenge of working in a conflict
  zone, WFP has so far dispatched some 650 metric tons of rice to 160,000
  displaced families. A further 250 tonnes of rice is being delivered to
  approximately 60,000 people who have been newly displaced by the
  conflict.

 LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN REGION SET
TO HAVE SIXTH STRAIGHT YEAR OF ECONOMIC GROWTH 

• In its latest survey, the Economic Commission for
  Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
  
  says the region is on track for a sixth consecutive year of economic
  growth, capping its best period in 40 years. 
   

• GDP (gross domestic product) is expected to rise
  nearly five percent in 2008, fuelled by India’s and China’s demand for
  exports.  Poverty is also down nearly ten per cent since 2002. 
   

• ECLAC expects slower growth next year, however,
  because of rising inflation and a deteriorating international economy. 
  But countries in the region will not suffer as deeply as in the past,
  given their greater economic strength, ECLAC says.

 SPORTS CLOTHING FOR REFUGEES
CAMPAIGN COLLECTS MORE THAN 80,000 ITEMS 

• With the Olympics over, the U.N. Refugee Agency
  (UNHCR)
  
  says its “Giving is Winning” campaign has been a resounding
  success.  During the Beijing Games, UNHCR and the International Olympic
  Committee collected 30,000 items of sports clothing from Olympic
  athletes to give to refugees.  That’s on top of 50,000 items collected
  over the past year.
   

• During the games, biodegradable plastic bags and
  information leaflets were placed in every athlete’s room in the Olympic
  Village so that they could make individual donations.
   

• UNHCR has noted that, for the many refugees who
  spend years languishing in bleak camps, the gift of sportswear
  associated with famous athletes can be an enormous morale-booster and a
  sign that the world cares about their plight.