United Nations Daily Highlights, 01-11-07

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

THE NOON BRIEFING

BY FRED ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Wednesday, November 7, 2001

UN ENVOY MEETS FORMER AFGHAN KING IN ROME

The Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakdhar Brahimi, left Tehran this morning for Rome, where he had a meeting scheduled with the former Afghan King, Zahir Shah. Brahimi also had meetings with senior Italian Foreign Ministry officials, including the Foreign Minister, Renato Ruggiero.

Brahimis deputy, Francesc Vendrell, left Tehran for Dushanbe, Tajikistan, where he will pursue contacts with Afghan parties and individuals.

[According to the Security Council program, Brahimi is scheduled to brief the Security Council in consultations on Afghanistan scheduled at 5 p.m. Friday.] The Security Council has scheduled a public meeting on Afghanistan next Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. It will also meet on counter-terrorism, at the ministerial level, on Monday morning.

Asked about the call by French President Jacques Chirac for a UN conference on Afghanistan, the Spokesman said that Secretary-General Kofi Annan is trying to gain a clearer sense of what governments have in mind for such a conference. In addition to meeting Chirac on Tuesday, Annan talked this morning with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and on Tuesday with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Asked about Chiracs call for an additional high-level UN appointment on Afghanistan, the Spokesman said the idea was floating around. He noted that Brahimi currently has two deputies dealing with aspects of the Afghanistan situation: Vendrell, on the political side, and Mike Sackett, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan.

In response to questions about Chiracs suggestions for other UN tasks, Eckhard said that the security situation in the country so far has kept the United Nations from achieving some goals, posing a challenge for local food distribution, for example. Brahimi, he said, is thinking about how the United Nations can support the Afghan people, with some thought given to UN radio and to a security mechanism.

WFP TO AIRLIFT FOOD FOR AFGHANS TO TURKMENISTAN

The World Food Programme (WFP) said that today it deployed two Ilyushin cargo aircraft to airlift more than 2,000 metric tons of food from northern Pakistan to the city of Turkmenabad in Turkmenistan, from where it will be transported into remote areas of northern Afghanistan.

These aircraft will enable WFP to get food immediately into its warehouses in Turkmenabad, which can then be sent by truck into the less accessible regions of Afghanistan. North Afghanistan is considered the hunger belt of the country, where WFP is seeking to help about three million people to stay alive until the harvest next year.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it was encouraged by progress being made in establishing new refugee sites in Pakistans Baluchistan and North West Frontier Province. Meanwhile, the refugee agency said it now believes the total number of new arrivals from Afghanistan since September 11 to be in the region of 135,000.

Also at today's press briefing in Islamabad, Pakistan, the Office of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan said reports from Kabul suggest that an increasing number of people are leaving the city to find shelter elsewhere

The UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) reported that preliminary information from the field indicate that in Afghanistan, the immunization campaign against polio has started as scheduled, with no incidents reported thus far.

In an addendum to his earlier report on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Kamal Hossain, Special Rapportuer of the Commission on Human Rights, recommends that UN international staff to be redeployed inside Afghanistan immediately so that they may stand by the Afghan people in a time of danger. He also says the staff can intercede on the Afghans behalf to protect their rights and to bring emergency humanitarian assistance to them.

SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES LIBERIA SANCTIONS

The Security Council held closed consultations this morning on Liberia.

Council members discussed the report of the Secretary-General on progress made by Liberia towards complying with Security Council Resolution 1343, which placed sanctions on that country.

The report was introduced today by Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs Ibrahima Fall. Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani of Singapore, chairman of the Liberia Sanctions Committee, also spoke about the work of the Committee.

UN ENVOY PRAISES SUMMIT OF RWANDAN, UGANDAN LEADERS

In a statement issued today in Kinshasa, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Amos Namanga Ngongi, salutes the meeting between Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, which took place Tuesday in London at the initiative of the British Government.

This meeting, which has the support of the Security Council and the Secretary-General, comes at a crucial moment of rising tensions between these two countries, which are both implicated in the DRC conflict, the Special Representative said.

The meeting will contribute to eliminating all misunderstandings between the two countries, to the great benefit of the peace process and the upcoming additional deployment of additional UN peacekeepers in the country.

UNFPA: WORLD POPULATION COULD REACH 10.9 BILLION BY 2050

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in its annual State of World Population report, issued today, warns that the worlds population is growing by 75 million a year and could reach 10.9 billion by 2050.

UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid told reporters today that poverty and rapid population growth are a deadly combination, as poor people rely heavily on natural resources. She added that action on universal education and primary health care, including reproductive health services, would contribute to better management of the environment, smaller families and slower population growth.

UN AGENCIES SURVEY FLOOD-AFFECTED SOUTHERN SOMALIA

UN agencies responded today to flooding in southern Somalia, with the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Randolph Kent, conducting an aerial survey of the affected areas, accompanied by officials from the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Heavy seasonal rainfall in some parts of the Juba and Shabelle Rivers has led to rising water levels and limited flooding in southern Somalia, just months after more than 750,000 Somalis faced a serious humanitarian crisis following months of drought in other areas of the country.

ANNAN SAYS CLIMATE CHANGE IS A DEVELOPMENT ISSUE

The UN Climate Change Conference currently under way in Marrakech, Morocco, entered into its high-level segment this morning.

In a message delivered by Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the Secretary-General reminded the delegates that fight against climate change is not just an environmental issue; it is a fundamental development issue.

"Joining forces," he said, "against global threats to human society and the planet has never been more important."

The Secretary-General added that he hoped a successful conference in Marrakech would lead to the ratification by industrial countries of Kyoto Protocol, and its entry into force, in time for next years Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development.

UNDP APPOINTS ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR RECOVERY

The Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Mark Malloch Brown, Tuesday announced the appointment of Julia Taft as Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery

That newly-created bureau will deal with long-term recovery efforts, including prevention, post-conflict recovery, institution building and natural disaster mitigation.

Taft has mostly recently served as Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, and had also previously worked as President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Council for Voluntary International Action. She started work this Monday.

ANNAN NOTES IMPORTANCE OF DIALOGUE AMONG CIVILIZATIONS

In the report of the Secretary-General on the UN Year of Dialogue among Civilizations, which is this year, and the work of his Personal Representative for the Dialogue, Giandomenico Picco, the Secretary-General notes the importance of dialogue to create understanding and mutual respect.

He adds, Dialogue does not mean appeasement of the arrogance of violence or the arrogance of might. Instead, he says, it can help lessen the fear of diversity and serve as a tool in the struggle against terrorism. It may be a soft tool of diplomacy, he writes, but, in the long term, it can prevail.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Asked about what the United Nations is doing to deal with the situation in Colombia, the Spokesman noted that the Council has been notified, and that the Secretary-Generals Special Adviser on International Assistance to Colombia, Jan Egeland, had expressed that he was extremely concerned about recent developments.

The UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) reports that the auction of the art collection of René and Jane Gaffé, held at Christies in New York last night, has raised some $59 million for UNICEF, almost twice what was expected. The collection of 25 sculptures and paintings by modern masters was left to UNICEF on the death of Jane Gaffé last year. Among the paintings, one by Fernand Léger sold for $16.7 million, two by Joan Miro sold for $12.6 million and $11 million and a Picasso for $5 million.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Bank today launched a study on the future of agriculture in the developing world. The study, entitled Farming Systems and Poverty: Improving livelihoods in a changing world, identifies options open to poor farmers in more than 70 different farming systems around the world.

Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General United Nations, S-378 New York, NY 10017 Tel. 212-963-7162 Fax. 212-963-7055

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