United Nations Daily Highlights, 02-04-23

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

OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY

FRED

ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Tuesday, April 23, 2002

UN FACT-FINDING TEAM TO MIDDLE EAST TO MEET IN GENEVA WEDNESDAY

Martti Ahtisaari, the head of the fact finding team which will head to the Middle East, met with Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the second time in as many days. Also present at the meeting was retired U.S. Gen. Bill Nash, who will serve as the teams military advisor.

They reviewed a number of operational aspects of the mission. Ahtissari will leave for Geneva tonight and meet there on Wednesday with the rest of his team. The team is to arrive in the region later this week.

When asked to clarify Nashs role in the team, Ahtisaari said he considered himself a very inclusive manager and did not want to consider any dividing lines within the team. In fact, Ahtisaari said, it would be more accurate to say his was a 20-man team if all the assistants and experts were also counted.

Asked about additional members to the team, the Spokesman said it was expected that a legal adviser and medical adviser would be added. Asked about reports that some in Israel had criticized the team for lacking military experience, he underlined the importance of Gen. Nashs role.

Asked about the Israeli Governments response to the team, Eckhard noted that Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer had both recently called the Secretary-General and promised Israel would cooperate fully with the team. The Secretary-General, he said, was confident of Israels cooperation.

UNRWA CHIEF VISITS NABLUS; CONVOY BLOCKED FROM QALQILYA

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has protested to the Israeli military authorities after they prevented a UN convoy carrying humanitarian aid, including flour, sugar, rice and lentils, from leaving Nablus today for the West Bank city of Qalqilya.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen visited Nablus today following the lifting of the Israeli military curfew on the town, and witnessed the extensive destruction done to the Old City there. Hansen said that the situation in Nablus must not be forgotten, saying, More than 80 bodies have been recovered from the recent fighting and the Israeli incursion has caused serious damage to both people and their property.

Asked whether Israel had provided a reason for the blocking of the aid, the Spokesman said that to his knowledge, it had not.

UN MIDDLE EAST ENVOY VISITS LEBANON, SYRIA

The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East, Terje Roed Larsen, held meetings this morning in Beirut with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud, and discussed with them the deteriorating situation in the region. He welcomed the lull during the last week and strongly urged the Lebanese authorities to make all efforts to maintain it.

This afternoon, Larsen traveled to Damascus, Syria, and met there with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was accompanied by his Foreign Minister, Farouk al-Sharaa. Larsen discussed with the President ways in which to halt the cycle of violence in the Middle East. He also briefed the President on the alarming humanitarian situation in the West Bank and answered questions about his recent experiences in the Jenin refugee camp.

ANNAN TO HOLD TALKS WITH IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER IN MAY

Secretary-General Kofi Annans next round of talks with representatives of Iraq will take place at UN Headquarters from Wednesday, May 1, through Friday, May 3. The reason for the three-day span is that the Secretary-General may be called out of town on Thursday, May 2.

On the Secretary-General's side, the delegation will include Hans Blix, the head of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and Mohammed El-Baradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The Iraqi delegation will be headed by Foreig n Minister Naji Sabri.

The Spokesman, in response to a question, said that El-Baradei was not present at the previous round of UN-Iraq talks. He noted that the Security Council had provided separate roles for UN weapons inspectors and the IAEA in dealing with Iraqi disarmament. El-Baradeis inclusion, he said, allowed the Secretary-General to focus more fully on disarmament provisions.

Asked about the objective of the talks, he said that it would be for Iraq to comply fully with UN resolutions, and drew attention to the need to allow UN inspectors into Iraq to verify compliance with disarmament provisions.

The Spokesman declined to comment on where the Secretary-General might travel on May 2, and said he did not know whether the Secretary-General would be present for the talks in their entirety.

Asked whether the Security Council had responded to a list of Iraqi questions, which the Secretary-General had brought to its attention, the Spokesman said that he was unaware of any specific responses. Blix, who reports to the Council, would attempt to answer as many questions as he could.

SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES ANGOLA WITH UN SPECIAL ADVISOR

Ibrahim Gambari, Under-Secretary-General and Special Advisor on Africa, briefed an open meeting of the Security Council this morning following his just-concluded mission to Angola, and told them that the chances of returning to war in Angola is now very negligible. However, he added, the irreversibility of the peace process would depend on a number of factors.

First, the quartering of soldiers of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) has to be done correctly, promptly and on schedule. Second, the humanitarian needs of their families must be met adequately. Third, conditions must be created for the promotion of national reconciliation and national reconstruction. Fourth, UNITA should emerge as a united political party and a credible interlocutor in the Angola peace process.

Gambari, in noting the critical humanitarian situation, says the number of displaced persons has increased from 4.1 to 4.5 million.

He lists seven critical areas where the United Nations may play a supporting role. These include military observation of the quartering process, provision of technical and managerial support in quartering areas, demobilization and reintegration and humanitarian support, and electoral assistance. The United Nations is also expected to chair the Joint Commission of the second phase of the peace process.

The Council then held closed consultations to discuss Angola further.

Under other matters today, the United Kingdom introduced a resolution on Liberia in the wake of the briefing on Monday on the Panel of Experts Report on sanctions against Liberia.

In addition, Norway introduced a resolution on Somalia, which calls for the establishment a panel of experts to investigate violations of the arms embargo against that country.

The President of the Council, Ambassador Sergey Lavrov of Russia, after todays consultations told reporters in a press statement that Council members welcomed the significant progress in the Inter-Congolese Dialogue that just ended in Sun City, South Africa.

ANNAN ADDRESSES GLOBAL FUND ON AIDS, TB AND MALARIA

The Secretary-General today addressed the second meeting of the Board of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, which on Monday began its meeting at Columbia University.

He told them that the Global Fund is more than a new channel of funding. It is a signal that the world is willing to make a decisive move to reduce the burden of these major communicable diseases. In that work, he said, our vision must be ambitious. We will not make a difference by limiting ourselves to small-scale, one-off public health projects.

He also emphasized the need for rapid response, the challenge of ensuring that resources have the maximum impact and the importance of mobilizing additional resources.

SECRETARY-GENERAL DETAILS EAST TIMOR SUCCESSOR MISSION

In his report on the UN Transitional Administration In East Timor (UNTAET), which came out today, the Secretary-General outlines the establishment of a UN Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) to replace UNTAET as the territory becomes independent on May 20.

The mandate of UNMISET, subject to the concurrence of the Security Council, will comprise three elements: to provide assistance that is crucial for the stability of East Timor; to assist in the development of a law enforcement agency, and to contribute to the maintenance of external and internal security.

As UNTAET draws to an end, East Timor is at peace, fundamental government structures are in place, and the independence that it has struggled for over so many years is very close, the Secretary-General says. However, he adds, all of these gains are at risk if they are not reinforced through a continued international presence and commitment.

Asked about when East Timor may become a UN Member State, the Spokesman noted that there is a process of admission, by which both the Security Council and the General Assembly approve inclusion of new members.

ANNAN CONCERNED BY HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN WESTERN SAHARA

In the Secretary-Generals report on the situation concerning Western Sahara, he says the humanitarian situation is of great concern, with the detention of 1,362 prisoners of war continuing to be one of the most pressing humanitarian issues. He appeals for urgent financial support to enable the World Food Programme and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to feed the refugees in the camps in Tindouf.

Regarding the quest for a solution to the dispute, the Secretary-General says that his Personal Envoy, James Baker, stands ready to undertake the activities that will be required under the option the Security Council chooses of the four he presented in a previous report -- provided that the Council does not support any changes to his three options that would require the concurrence of the parties. Such changes, he says, would simply encourage a continuation of the conflict and the present stalemate.

The Council has scheduled informal consultations on this matter on Thursday afternoon. The current mandate of the UN Mission in Western Sahara expires on April 30.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Asked about reports that the U.S. flag was not flying outside the UN International School, the Spokesman said that the school flies the individual flags of all the 189 Member States inside the building, and has always flown the flags of all UN Member States while flying no flag outside the building. He said critics should go inside the building and see the flags; its very pretty.

The Office of the Iraq Programme, in its weekly update, notes that Iraq has maintained its suspension of oil exports under the United Nations oil-for-food program. The last loading took place on April 8. Owing to a funding shortfall, 1,062 approved contracts for the purchase of various humanitarian supplies and equipment, worth over $2.5 billion, could not be funded, including 205 contracts, valued at $485 million, in Phase XI of the program. Revenue loss, as a result of the suspension of oil exports, is estimated at $1.3 billion.

The Special Representative dealing with human rights in Equatorial Guinea, Gustavo Gallón, noted the decision last Friday by the Commission on Human Rights to end the mandate to monitor the human rights situation in that country. Gallón says that, in his view, the human rights situation in Equatorial Guinea is still serious and deserves close monitoring, and he recommends that proper follow-up be ensured, particularly following the massive detentions of political opponents that he says have been carried out since mid-March.

The Secretary-General on Monday received a check for $500,000 for assistance to Afghan refugees and internally displaced persons from William Vendley, the Secretary-General of the World Conference on Religion and Peace. The Secretary-General noted that, while constant reminders of pledges had to be made to governments, the faith communities came forward to make donations without us knocking on your door. In a letter to Dr. Vendley today, the Secretary-General said this act of generosity is an example to people everywhere that people of different faiths can join hands in the cause of peace.

A new collection of data published by the World Health Organization shows that there is still a wide gap between what is needed and what is available to tackle mental disorders. The new publication, Atlas: Country Profiles on Mental Health Resources, finds that rich countries are not always rich in the quantity and quality of mental health resources they provide.

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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