United Nations Daily Highlights, 00-08-09

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From: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MANOEL DE ALMEIDA E SILVA
DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

LEBANESE FORCES JOIN UN PEACEKEEPERS IN SOUTHERN LEBANON

• Early this morning in Lebanon, 1,000 personnel of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces left from Beirut to deploy in southern Lebanon, where they will now be based in two cities: Marjayoun in the southeast and Bint Jubayl in the southwest.

• The deployment is the first step towards the gradual restoration of Lebanese authority over southern Lebanon, and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is supporting the effort, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 425 (1978).

• The Secretary-General's Special Envoy, Terje Roed Larsen, said today's move represented a "significant deployment." In addition to the Lebanese security forces, the UN peacekeeping force has deployed some 400 troops to 17 new points in southern Lebanon in recent days, including nine along the withdrawal line, and it intends to deploy to about 11 other positions in the coming days.

• Rolf Knutsson, whom the Secretary-General appointed yesterday as his Personal Representative to Southern Lebanon, is expected to travel to Lebanon this weekend, where he will immediately take up his duties, which include setting up an office in Beirut.

WFP PULLS OUT STAFF AFTER RENEWED BOMBING OF SUDANESE TOWN

• One day after the Secretary-General expressed his concern about the bombing of the town of Mapel in southern Sudan, Mapel was once again attacked today.

• This morning, an aircraft dropped nine bombs on the opposite side of a runway from installations of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and World Food Programme (WFP). No casualties were reported.

• After the new attack, Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the World Food Programme, said that WFP will evacuate its aid workers from the area.

• She said, "These violent attacks are totally unacceptable, and we strongly condemn them. They show no respect for aid workers trying to help innocent Sudanese." She added, "After today, we have no other choice but to evacuate our staff from Mapel."

• Following the incident, a UN flight evacuated 11 aid workers -- seven WFP staff, two UNICEF staff, and two members of non-governmental organizations -- from Mapel, flying them to Lokichokio, Kenya.

• In a statement Tuesday, the Secretary-General had announced a temporary suspension of UN relief flights to southern Sudan, pending a security assessment.

• Asked about any further response to the attacks, the Spokesman said the United Nations would pursue "further and firmer contacts with the Government."

IN REPORT, ANNAN SAYS HAITI'S ELECTORAL PROCESS MARRED

• The Secretary-General's first report to the General Assembly on the work of the UN International Civilian Support Mission in Haiti (MICAH) is available today. The report covers the period from mid-March to mid-July and includes a description of the country's political situation, including the elections that took place during the reporting period.

• In it, the Secretary-General notes that the legislative election on May 21 went "unexpectedly well," with the highest turnout for a Haitian election since 1990, little violence and a visible and disciplined police presence.

• However, he adds that signs of electoral mismanagement abounded, and "the electoral process overall unfortunately was marred by a climate of violence and intimidation, poor organization and disregard for the Electoral Law in the calculation of the Senate results." As a result, he says, the political crisis has deepened.

• The report also notes that the rule of law in Haiti has "suffered as a result of the passivity or even complicity of some police and judicial authorities in the face of violent demonstrations by members of so-called popular organizations which targeted opposition parties, journalists and the general population." The Secretary-General also stresses the importance of an independent police force that respects rights, and warns against any politicization of the Haitian National Police.

• The three main pillars of the UN Mission are justice, human rights and police. The selection and recruitment of police advisors has proved time-consuming, but by mid-June, 26 of the projected 34 advisors had been selected.

• The human rights pillar of the Mission is planning seminars and other activities to strengthen civil society's capacity to protect and promote human rights.

• In other news on Haiti, Garfield Lyle, the Guyanese MICAH staff member who was shot in the head in Port-au-Prince on Monday, died in Miami. Asked about liability in the case of his death, the Spokesman noted that details concerning his shooting remain unclear.

AUSTRALIAN SOLDIER DIES IN ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE IN EAST TIMOR

• The UN Transitional Administration in East Timor reported that, at about 5 p.m. local time today, a soldier from the Australian battalion of the UN peacekeeping force died as a result of accidental discharge, near the south-eastern town of Maliana. The United Nations is awaiting further details on the incident.

MEMBER STATES ASK FOR REVISION OF PEACEKEEPING ASSESSMENTS

• Several letters from Member States were made available today on the subject of the peacekeeping scale of assessments. These letters request that the item entitled "Scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of United Nations peacekeeping operations" be included as an agenda item in the upcoming 55^th session of the General Assembly, to be allocated to the Fifth Committee.

• "This consideration should also include a discussion of operational reforms needed to strengthen peacekeeping and thereby make the best use of the peacekeeping resources," one letter states.

• Asked which countries wanted to re-open the question of peacekeeping assessments, the Spokesman said that there were about 30 countries asking for its inclusion on the agenda, ranging from countries as large as the United States to those as small as Vanuatu.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Asked about when the Secretary-General's next reports on Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) would be expected, the Spokesman said that the DRC report was expected by August 24. He added that the Sierra Leone report should come to the Security Council before it has to renew the mandate of the UN Mission there, which currently is set to expire on September 8.

• There is no meeting of the Council scheduled for today. Planned consultations on the Democratic Republic of the Congo were postponed. On Thursday, the Council expects to hold consultations on Sierra Leone, on which members are considering a draft resolution on the trial of Sierra Leoneans suspected of violations of international humanitarian law and other egregious crimes.

• The press briefing notes from the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo note that the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Bernard Kouchner, will begin a series of meetings Thursday with the representatives of Kosovo's minority communities. On Thursday and Friday, he will meet directly with representatives of the Bosniak, Roma, Egyptian, Ashkalia and Turkish communities. On August 12, he will start a series of local town hall meetings in Kosovo.

• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs noted that some 60 people have died and 143,000 have left their homes following mudslides caused by torrential rains in Brazil. The Office also reported that an earthquake, estimated at 6.4 on the Richter scale, struck Mexico, about 30 miles west of Lazaro Cardenas in the state of Michaocan.

• The Department of Public Information, in partnership with the American Model UN, Inc. is co-sponsoring the first "United Nations International Model UN Conference" at UN Headquarters from Thursday through Saturday. The conference will bring together 350 students from 33 nations, who represent over 175 universities, to consider a variety of international issues. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fr&eacute;chette will address the conference at 12:30 p.m. on Friday at the General Assembly Hall. This conference is a United Nations' millennium project.

• The Secretary-General appointed Hatsuhisa Takashima as the Director of the UN Information Centre in Tokyo. Takashima, a Japanese national and former Executive Controller-General of the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), Takashima will take up his duties on September 1.

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