Noon briefing of 17 February 2010

MARIE OKABE
DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Wednesday, February 17, 2009

BAN KI-MOON CONDEMNS ATTACK ON PEACEKEEPERS IN DARFUR

• Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a statement, condemns the attack by unidentified armed assailants against a UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) police convoy returning to Nyala, South Darfur, from a confidence-building patrol to the El Sharif camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in South Darfur on 16 February.
  

• Seven of the eight Formed Police Unit members escorting the patrol were injured in the exchange of fire.
  

• The Secretary-General calls on the Government of Sudan to launch an immediate investigation into this incident and to ensure that the perpetrators are swiftly identified and brought to justice.
  

• The Joint Special Representative for Darfur, Ibrahim Gambari, has visited the wounded peacekeepers at the Nyala Hospital, and expressed his outrage over the violent attack. Gambari praised the courage of the peacekeepers, and said any attack on peacekeepers was tantamount to a war crime, so those responsible must be brought to justice.
  

CLUSTER MUNITIONS CONVENTION TO ENTER INTO FORCE IN AUGUST

• According to a statement issued Tuesday evening, the United Nations received yesterday the 30th instrument of ratification for the Convention on Cluster Munitions. With this step, the Convention will enter into force on 1 August 2010, in keeping with the Convention’s provisions.
  

• The Secretary-General welcomes this major advance on the global disarmament agenda, and notes that the Convention’s entry into force just two years after its adoption demonstrates the world’s collective revulsion at the impact of these terrible weapons.
  

• Cluster munitions are unreliable and inaccurate.
  

• During conflict and long after it has ended, they maim and kill scores of civilians, including many children. They impair post-conflict recovery by making roads and land inaccessible to farmers and aid workers.
  

• The United Nations is firmly committed to ending the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of cluster munitions and mitigating the suffering they cause. The Secretary-General calls on all States to become a party to the Convention without delay.

D.R. CONGO: RECENT KILLING OF WOMEN IN SOUTH KIVU SHOWS NEED TO END THREAT OF RWANDAN REBELS

• In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Alan Doss, said that the recent massacre of 7 women in South Kivu shows once again why the Congolese and the international community need to sustain their efforts to end the threat posed by the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda).
  

• The UN Mission in the country, MONUC, says that the women were killed during an attack by the FDLR on the village of Bisembe, on the night of 11 February.
  

• Since then, the peacekeepers have reinforced their presence in this sector and are coordinating their actions with the Congolese Armed Forces to help protect civilians in this remote area.

HAITI: NEEDS REMAIN FOR SHELTER, SANITATION AND RUBBLE REMOVAL

• On Haiti, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that the humanitarian situation is gradually improving as some of the essential infrastructure --such as the port, airport, government institutions, electricity and telecommunications facilities—are becoming more operational.
  

• But OCHA says that there remains major unmet humanitarian needs, particularly concerning shelter and sanitation.
  

• OCHA also says that rubble removal is another urgent issue.
  

• Over 66,000 people have been employed under the UN Development Programme’s cash-for-work initiative, mainly in support of drain clearing and debris removal. However, in light of the massive task, OCHA says that heavy equipment needs to be brought in to clear the rubble.
  

• Meanwhile, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has set up the foundations for an International Coordination Committee for Haitian culture yesterday, in Paris. UNESCO will support the Haitian Ministry of Culture in its efforts to establish an inventory of sites and collections to be safeguarded.
  

• The revised Flash Appeal for Haiti will be launched tomorrow at 3 p.m. in Conference Room 4. The Secretary-General, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, the Special Envoy for Haiti, Bill Clinton, and the Permanent Representative of Haiti, will speak to the press after the launch, at the stakeout on the second floor of the Temporary North Lawn Building.

SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES KEY CHALLENGES OF PEACEKEEPING AND PEACEBUILDING

• The Security Council began its consultations today with an interactive dialogue with our two senior officials dealing with peace operations: Under-Secretaries-General Alain Le Roy and Susana Malcorra.
  

• Among the topics being discussed are relations with troop contributing countries, the respective challenges for peacekeeping and peace-building, robust mandates, resources, the capacity to respond quickly and the costs involved.
  

• After that discussion, Council members expect to hold consultations on the peacekeeping mission in Chad and the Central African Republic, known as MINURCAT.

BAN KI-MOON URGES MEMBER STATES TO DO MORE TO INCREASE IMPACT OF PEACEBUILDING COMMISSION

• In his remarks today to the informal consultation on the 2010 Review of the U.N. Peacebuilding Architecture, the Secretary-General stressed that Member States must look ahead and consider how to make the Commission’s impact even more tangible.
  

• Highlighting that the 2010 review is an important undertaking, the Secretary-General stressed that it offers Member States an opportunity to deepen their engagement with the Peacebuilding Commission and to take greater ownership of both its agenda and its advice.
  

• The Secretary-General urged members to explore ways to better promote national ownership, monitor progress, link security and development actors, strengthen mutual accountability and promote greater coherence and synergies between the different parts of the UN system and relevant outside actors.

AFGHANISTAN NEEDS $870 MILLION FOR HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

• The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan today presented its Humanitarian Action Plan for 2010, which would require some $870 million.
  

• Robert Watkins, the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, presented the appeal and also discussed the NATO-Afghan offensive in Helmand province.
  

• In that province, he said, the United Nations has so far registered 1,402 families who have been displaced as a result of the conflict.
  

• The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is assisting the Afghan Government in registering displaced families and the World Food Programme (WFP) is providing food.
  

• WFP reports that it has adequate stocks to meet the current needs of the displaced population.
  

• Watkins once again called upon all parties who are involved in the conflict in Helmand to ensure humanitarian access to affected civilians. He reminded all parties to take robust measures to ensure that the number of civilian casualties is limited.

GAZA: ABILITY TO BRING ESSENTIAL GOODS IS FURTHER REDUCED IN JANUARY

• According to the latest humanitarian update on the occupied Palestinian territory put out this week by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in the Gaza Strip, the ability to bring essential commodities was further reduced in January, due the total closure of the fuel crossing at Nahal Oz. That closure turned Kerem Shalom into the single functional crossing for goods, except for a conveyor belt at the Karni Crossing.
  

• The gradual channeling of all humanitarian shipments to Kerem Shalom since the imposition of the blockade has significantly increased the cost of humanitarian deliveries. OCHA says that lifting the blockade over Gaza and facilitating the operation of humanitarian organizations are essential to the improvement of the humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territory and to the restoration of dignity to its population.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL CHAIRS U.N.’S REGIONAL COORDINATION MEETING IN MEXICO

• Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro is in Mexico today where she’s chairing the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Coordination Mechanism meeting. This annual gathering brings together leaders from across the UN system in the region to enhance their collaboration.
  

• The meeting will discuss the preparatory process for the September 2010 Millennium Development Goals Summit, the road to the meeting of CoP-16 on Climate Change in Mexico, recent developments in Haiti, and the strategic contributions that the UN system can make to the region.
  

• The Deputy Secretary-General will also meet with Mexican authorities and the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States.

COTE D'IVOIRE: NEED TO WORK HAND IN HAND IF WE DON'T WANT TO SEE A RETURN TO VIOLENCE

• Asked about concerns regarding the situation in Côte d’Ivoire, the Spokesperson said that the Secretary-General, in a statement on Monday, had expressed his concerns, and that he and his Special Representative, Choi Yong-jin, continued to follow developments in that country.
  

• She added that the Secretary-General had spoken by phone recently with President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso, whom he commended for his efforts to find a solution to the obstacles in the electoral process in Côte d’Ivoire.
  

• He regretted that after the recent progress and the elections so close, the process had met a major obstacle.
  

• The Secretary-General was encouraged by President Gbagbo's indication that he remained committed to the Ouagadougou agreements and to organize the elections quickly, Okabe said.
  

• The Secretary-General believed it important that any solution found should ensure that the gains made so far be preserved. In particular, the solution should not reopen the consensus on the provisional voters list of 5.3 million people. “We need to work hand in hand if we don’t want to see a return to violence,” he said.
  

NEPALESE GOVERNMENT URGED TO BRING TORTURE SUSPECTS TO JUSTICE

• The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal, on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the torture and killing of Maina Sunuwar by members of the armed forces, called upon the Government of Nepal to enforce the arrest warrants against the four suspects issued more than two years ago.
  

• OHCHR urged the Army to cooperate with ongoing judicial proceedings and police investigations, and to comply with requests to turn the remaining suspect in service over to the Nepal Police so that he can be produced before the Kavre District Court.
  

• On 17 February 2004, 15-year-old Maina Sunuwar was tortured and killed on the grounds of the Birendra Peace Operations Training Centre in Panchkal.
  

• OHCHR-Nepal Representative Richard Bennett said, for the past six years, OHCHR has been just one voice among many calling for justice in the case of Maina Sunuwar. Warning that the Army’s non-cooperation with a court order threatens to undermine the independence of the judiciary and sets a negative precedent for all human rights cases, including those involving other groups such as the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) where, in other much publicized cases, the orders of legal authorities are being defied.