SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS CAIRO MEETING HAS HELPED TO FIND
UNIFIED APPROACH FOR LASTING SOLUTION IN LIBYA

• The Secretary-General co-chaired a
  conference of international and regional organizations in Cairo today, to
  discuss coordination on Libya. He
  
  told officials from the League of Arab States, the African Union, the
  European Union and the Organization of the Islamic Conference that swift
  and decisive international action in Libya has saved thousands of lives. But
  we have an immediate concern, he added: the deteriorating humanitarian
  situation.
   

• He said that,
  in Misrata, Brega and Zintan, where the fighting has been particularly
  intense, access to basic services and commodities has been largely cut off,
  including food, water and health care. The United Nations has completed an
  inter-agency humanitarian needs assessment in the east of Libya, he added,
  with similar work planned for the west.
   

• The Secretary-General, in a
  
  press conference before he departed Cairo for Prague, said that today’s
  meeting was a concrete demonstration of the international community working
  together in common cause and with a common voice for the people of Libya.
  
   

• Today’s meeting, he said, has been
  very important in outlining the next steps, including an agreement to adopt
  a unified approach to finding a lasting solution to the crisis in Libya.
   

• The organizations offered their full
  support to the efforts of the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy, Abdul Ilah
  al-Khatib. Mr. Khatib will be returning to Libya soon to continue his
  engagement with both parties.

COTE D’IVOIRE: CALM RETURNING TO ABIDJAN, HUMANITARIAN
AGENCIES APPEAL FOR MORE FUNDS

• The UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI)
  reports that calm is returning to Abidjan. Water, electricity, and basic
  services have been restored in some areas of the city; businesses are
  re-opening and traffic is returning to the streets. The Mission is actively
  patrolling Abidjan to establish a confidence building presence.
   

• UNOCI adds that the ports at Abidjan
  and San Pedro are expected to open early next week, as well as banks.
   

• And the Office for the Coordination
  of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
  says that humanitarian agencies have appealed for $160 million to scale up
  aid over the next nine months in Côte d’Ivoire. The appeal aims to provide
  assistance in food security, nutrition, education, protection, water, health
  care and sanitation to as many as two million people throughout the country.
   

• In neighboring Liberia, home to the
  largest Ivorian refugee population with over 130,000 people, humanitarian
  agencies also appealed for $146.5 million to address humanitarian needs.
   

• Asked about concerns voiced by
  lawyers about the detention of Laurent Gbagbo, the Spokesperson said that
  Mr. Gbagbo is in the custody of the Government of President Alassane
  Ouattara.
   

• The role of the UN Mission, he said,
  is to provide close protection for Mr. Gbagbo, as requested by him and in
  line with the Mission’s Security Council mandate, which asks UNOCI to
  protect all political stakeholders. While he remains in the custody of the
  Ouattara Government, Haq said, the UN Mission will continue to provide close
  protection.

HIGH-LEVEL MEETING ON SOMALIA AGREES ON NEED TO END POLITICAL
TRANSITION BY AUGUST 2011

• The Secretary-General’s Special
  Representative for
  
  Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, said that participants at Wednesday’s
  High-Level Meeting on Somalia agreed on the need to end the country’s
  political transition period in August 2011, as planned. This would require
  the holding before then of a presidential election, followed by, or in
  conjunction with, elections for the Speaker and Deputy Speakers of
  Parliament.
   

• The meeting also proposed that the
  Parliament’s current mandate be extended for up to two years in order for it
  to steer preparations for national elections, among other tasks.
   

• Other key decisions from the Nairobi
  meeting include a renewed commitment to fighting political extremism and
  piracy, and to accelerate the constitutional review process.

SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN CONFLICT BRIEFS
SECURITY COUNCIL

• Margot Wallström, the
  Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict,
  briefed the
  
  Security Council this morning to discuss sexual violence in several
  recent conflicts, including in Libya, Côte d’Ivoire and the Democratic
  Republic of the Congo.
   

• She said that in Côte d’Ivoire,
  preliminary information suggests that sexual assaults may have been
  politically targeted, as had been witnessed before in Kenya and
  Guinea-Conakry. And she noted the almost daily reports of sexual violence
  against vulnerable communities in the DRC.
   

• Ms. Wallström also provided details
  of her recent visits to the DRC and Angola, and her efforts to strengthen
  the prevention of sexual violence in those countries.
   

• The Security Council continued its
  discussion of sexual violence in closed consultations.
   

• Asked about sexual violence in
  Libya, the Spokesperson said that Ms. Wallström said that sexual violence
  has emerged despite the robust action of the international community to
  protect civilians in Libya. She said that, although reports of rape there
  remain unconfirmed, and have even been brutally silenced, they have arrested
  the attention of the world.

SECRETARY-GENERAL RAISES CONCERNS
ABOUT SITUATION IN BAHRAIN IN TALK WITH FOREIGN MINISTER

• In response to questions about the
  treatment of protestors and others in Bahrain, the Spokesperson noted that
  the Secretary-General
  
  met on Wednesday with H.E. Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa, the
  Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain, in Doha, Qatar.
   

• The Secretary-General said he hoped
  the situation in Bahrain would calm down and that serious, inclusive
  dialogue with all stakeholders could start as soon as possible. In this
  context, he urged all the parties to respond constructively to the call for
  a dialogue. He said it was important to accommodate the aspirations of the
  people.
   

• The Spokesperson added that the
  Secretary-General said he was very concerned about the violence in which
  demonstrators have been killed or injured. He called for maximum restraint
  and caution.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS EXPANDED DEFINITION OF HUMAN
SECURITY IS NEEDED

• Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose
  Migiro
  
  addressed the General Assembly Informal Thematic Debate on Human
  Security earlier today. She said that while the debate continues on what
  human security is – or is not— the United Nations, through its Trust Fund
  for Human Security, has supported about 200 projects in 70 countries around
  the world.
   

• She stressed that, while the
  Organization has been responding to human security crises, it still needs an
  expanded definition of security that would take into account a range of
  other threats to the survival, livelihoods and dignity of individuals.
   

• She also paid tribute to the late
  Mahbub ul Haq, who broke new ground conceiving the UN’s
  
  Human Development Report. She recalled Dr. Haq’s statement that “human
  security is a child who did not die, a disease that did not spread, an
  ethnic tension that did not explode, a dissident who was not silenced, a
  human spirit that was not crushed.”

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

WESTERN SAHARA REPORT TO BE COMPLETED
SOON: Asked about the Secretary-General’s report
on the UN Mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO),
the Spokesperson said it was expected to be finalised today.

JAPAN INCIDENT POINTS TO URGENCY OF
NUCLEAR SAFETY: Asked about the
Secretary-General’s visit to Ukraine, the Spokesperson said that it had been
scheduled before the nuclear plant problems in Japan, because of the 25^th
anniversary of the Chernobyl accident. He added that the Secretary-General has
said that events in Japan have underscored the importance of nuclear safety.