United Nations Daily Highlights, 02-05-07

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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, May 7, 2002

ARAFAT ASSURES UN ENVOY OF PALESTINIAN WORK ON REFORM

The Secretary-General's Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Terje Roed-Larsen, met today in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

After the half-hour meeting, Larsen told reporters that Arafat had agreed to accelerate reform of the Palestinian Authority along the lines recommended by the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations in a report, which came out in August 1999.

Larsen said that Arafat had invited the special envoys of the Quartet which consists of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and the Russian Federation to meet with him this Thursday to discuss reform, and specifically implementation of the report on ways to strengthen Palestinian institutions.

Asked about the Council on Foreign Relations report, the Spokesman said it had contained a number of specific recommendations on reform of Palestinian institutions. The Palestinians had worked with the United Nations, the World Bank and other parties to implement those recommendations, before the current violence took place and halted that process.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY BEGINS DEBATE ON PALESTINIAN QUESTION

At 10:30 this morning, the General Assembly resumed its 10th Emergency Special Session on the Middle East, including the question of Palestine. A draft resolution is expected to be considered later today as part of the Special Session.

Asked whether the Secretary-General might reconstitute his fact-finding team to Jenin, which was disbanded last week, the Spokesman said he didnt want to speculate on what might bring that about. He noted that the team could be called back at any time.

UNDP, OTHERS ASSESS DAMAGE TO PALESTINIAN TOWNS

The UN Development Programme (UNDP), along with the World Bank and several donor governments, has been carrying out a damage assessment for the West Bank and Gaza following the recent Israeli incursions, which it expects to finalize by next Wednesday, May 15.

Today, Tim Rothermel, the Special Representative of the UNDP Administrator for the Programme for Assistance to the Palestinian People, said that a rough estimate of total damage in the West Bank could range between $300 million and $400 million. The UNDP has already come up with estimates for the total damage to Nablus which is estimated at $110 million and Qalqilya, which suffered some $3.5 million worth of damage.

UNDP officials estimate that the Palestinian Authoritys central institutions in Ramallah suffered damages to buildings and equipment worth approximately $16 million. UNDP has earmarked $1.5 million dollars for a recovery programme for the Palestinian Authority institutions. Rothermel said, Without an efficient and transparent Palestinian public administration, there will be no foundation for peace in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The World Food Programme, meanwhile, today gave the preliminary results of its own assessment mission for the food situation in Jenin, and it estimates that, including refugees, some 35,000 people in the Governorate of Jenin are in urgent need of food assistance. Around 90 percent of all commerce with Israel has been lost due to recent closures, while WFP adds that a total of 4,320 people in the Jenin area are now homeless.

UN SUSPENDS ALL ACTIVITIES IN SOMALI CAPITAL AFTER ABDUCTION

Effective today, the United Nations has suspended all activities in Mogadishu, Somalia.

In a statement, the UN Resident Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Maxwell Gaylard, said this action has been taken following refusal by kidnappers to date to release a staff member of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) who was abducted on April 28 and held at an undisclosed location since that time.

The statement says, It is with regret that activities designed to assist all the people of Mogadishu are being suspended due to these unlawful actions by a few individuals.

It went on to say that this position would be maintained until the abducted person, Mohamed Ali Abokor, who has a serious medical condition, is released unharmed and without preconditions. Abokor is the coordinator for the UNDP Capacity Building Project in the Somali capital.

ANNAN ADDRESSES CHILDREN AS SPECIAL SESSION SET TO START

One day before the General Assembly Special Session on Children begins, Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Nane Annan met at noon with two dozen children at the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium, in an event being filmed for Nickelodeon and MTV.

The Annans took questions from a dozen children as part of a Nickelodeon program, before they then turned to face a dozen youths participating in an MTV program, who talked to the Secretary-General about the Asian Youth Charter, called Speak Your Mind, that was prepared in advance of the Special Session.

The Secretary-General, in appearing before these two groups, emphasized that their voices will be heard at the upcoming Special Session, and that children need to keep speaking up to ensure that adults keep their promises.

At 3:00 p.m. in Conference Room 2, the Secretary-General will appear at an event, called Reclaiming Our Children, that his Special Representative dealing with children and armed conflict, Olara Otunnu, is holding to draw attention to the plight of child soldiers. He will stress that, for too long, the use of child soldiers has been seen as merely regrettable; now, he is to say, it must be recognized as intolerable.

Upon entering the building this morning, the Secretary-General spoke briefly to reporters and said, We must insist on education for every child; not only education, but also health. And I hope that, over the next three days, we will be able to reach agreement on these essential criteria.

The United Nations Children's Fund says that 60 heads of state or government will be among the estimated 6,000 participants in the Special Session. Leading figures from business, culture, the arts, education and religion will participate in the many events scheduled for the next three days.

Olara Otunnu, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, calls on the soon-to-be created International Criminal Court to pursue vigorously those who recruit children and use child soldiers. Otunnu said more than 300,000 children are being used as fighters around the world and added, We must put and end to this abomination.

SECURITY COUNCIL TO DISCUSS CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT

[The Security Council held an open meeting on Children and Armed Conflict from 1:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.

Statements were delivered by this months Council President, Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani of Singapore, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, former independent expert of the Secretary-General on the impact of armed conflict on children Graca Machel, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy and three child delegates to the UN Special Session on Children.

At the end of the session, a presidential statement was read out by Ambassador Mahbubani.]

SECURITY COUNCIL MISSION CONCLUDES TRIP TO GREAT LAKES

The Security Council mission to the Great Lakes region of Africa is back in New York.

The mission concluded its work on Monday in Kigali, Rwanda. During a two-hour meeting with President Paul Kagame at the Presidential Palace, Ambassador Jean David Levitte of France underlined in Kigali the Security Council's attachment to the respect by all the parties of the provisions of the Lusaka Cease-fire Agreement.

He recalled in particular that the Security Council had demanded the immediate pursuit of an inter-Congolese dialogue in order to conclude the agreement, which was initiated in Sun City, South Africa, last month.

Levitte had also requested that the different parties "demonstrate flexibility and openness and not to leave anybody on the road". He called, on the Security Council's behalf, for the "conclusion of an inclusive agreement" which would include the RCD (Rally for Congolese Democracy) -Goma. This was the only possible way to achieve the establishment of a transitional government that was capable of guaranteeing unity for the country and assuring its sovereignty over the entire territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

On behalf of the Council, Levitte presented to Kagame the idea of a "curtain of troops" which would permit a military presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo along its borders with Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi to ensure - in a limited portion of the territory of the DRC and for a limited period - better monitoring of its borders and to facilitate, with the support of the UN Mission there (MONUC), the withdrawal of foreign troops from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

UN FORENSIC TEAM IN AFGHANISTAN COMPLETES WORK

The UN Mission in Afghanistan reports today that a forensic investigation mission fielded by the United Nations to the areas of Bamiyan and Mazar-i-Sharif has completed their field investigations and returned to Kabul.

The team undertook a preliminary assessment of domestic forensic capacity before leaving Afghanistan today. The teams findings and recommendations will now be finalized before being submitted to the United Nations for further consideration.

The team also prepared a list of other alleged mass gravesites in the country.

The Mission also reported on a UN-brokered agreement between Generals Abdul Rashid Dostum and Atta Mohammad on the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

The Mission in addition provided an update on the record numbers of refugees returning home despite the difficult conditions, and an update on food aid to Afghanistan.

IRAQ REPORTS ARRIVAL OF VESSELS CARRYING OIL

The Office of the Iraq Programme has been informed by Iraqs State Oil Marketing Organization (or SOMO) that two vessels are expected to arrive at Mina al-Bakr loading terminal. No dates were mentioned for the arrival of the vessels, which would be the first to carry Iraqi oil since Iraq began its month-long suspension of oil exports.

Also, there are no vessels scheduled to arrive at the second authorized loading terminal, which is at Ceyhan, so far.

The Iraq Programmes weekly update notes that about $1.2 billion in estimated revenue have been lost as a result of the month-long suspension of Iraqi oil exports. Owing to a funding shortfall, about $3.1 billion worth of contracts for the purchase of humanitarian supplies, although approved, could not be funded.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL DISCUSSES AIDS, PRIVATE SECTOR

Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette will address the Pacific Council on International Policy this afternoon in San Francisco. She will highlight the global AIDS crisis and focus on a number of fallacies about the disease.

This will be her second speech on the subject in the same number of days. On Monday in Denver, at the Better World Campaign Breakfast on HIV/AIDS and Business, the Deputy Secretary-General talked about the role that the private sector could play in the fight against the disease.

Also in Denver on Monday, she addressed the 34th Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce on how the United Nations and the business community could work more closely together.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

In East Timor today, the Council of Ministers approved a Ministry of Finance proposal, paving the way for East Timor to become a member of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank.

The new Director-General of the UN Office at Vienna and Executive Director of the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, Antonio Maria Costa, assumed his functions today in Vienna. Costa told staff today, I want you all to know that your concerns are my concerns. He went on to say, Good management is based on several pillars: fairness, transparency and accountability. He pledged to work closely with the staff to make these values a fundamental part of our culture.

Today is the Buddhist holiday of Vesak, which marks the life of Gautama Buddha, and the Secretary-General, in a message, says, In this time of global uncertainty, the Buddhas vision of peace and of humanitys highest potentials may be more relevant than ever before. He urges all people to work together toward the common good and the peaceful and harmonious coexistence of all the worlds people.

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

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article