United Nations Daily Highlights, 02-11-12

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

OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY HUA JIANG

DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN

HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Tuesday, November 12, 2002

ANNAN NAMES EX-WFP HEAD BERTINI AS TOP MANAGEMENT OFFICIAL

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, at a news conference beginning at 11:30 a.m., announced the appointment of Catherine Bertini of the United States as Under-Secretary-General for Management, effective 1 January 2003, succeeding Joseph Connor.

Bertini was the Executive Director of the World Food Programme for 10 years from 1992. Her most recent UN appointment began in August this year when she was named the Secretary-Generals Personal Humanitarian Envoy.

The Secretary-General said, in her new duties, that Bertini will focus on implementing his reform program, communication and information technology, human resources and gender balance, the budget processes and the Capital Master Plan.

Asked about the Capital Master Plan, the Secretary-General acknowledged that an idea had been floated to move the United Nations Headquarters to ground zero of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center. However, he said, the current Headquarters building would not be destroyed but refurbished and brought up to modern standards. He added, It looks fine, but its a pretty inefficient building.

ANNAN AWAITS FORMAL IRAQI RESPONSE TO RESOLUTION

During the same press conference at which he announced Bertinis appointment, the Secretary-General was asked about his reaction to the reported rejection by the Iraqi Parliament of Resolution 1441. He said he was still waiting for a formal response from the Iraqi Government, and added, I dont think the Iraqi Parliament was talking to me.

Asked when the seven-day deadline for Iraq to accept Resolution 1441 expired, the Secretary-General said that a precise time had not been fixed. However, he added, everyone would be satisfied if we got the letter by the end of the day on the 15th, seven days after the resolution was adopted.

In response to another question on how the Security Councils actions affected the relevance of the United Nations, the Secretary-General said that the United Nations did what it had to do. Although it took time, he added, This is the way that democracy works. But he added that he did not accept that the issue was a do or die matter for the United Nations, noting that disagreements over how to deal with Kosovo did not destroy the United Nations.

Asked about the timetable for action following the resolution, he asserted that the resolution went into force once it was adopted last Friday. He noted the timetable for action detailed in the resolution, adding that chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix will go to Iraq by November 18, at first to perform re-baselining for the inspectors tasks.

The Secretary-General was also asked about recent threats to expel Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, and he responded, I hope it does not happen. He noted that many Governments have indicated that it would be unwise to expel Arafat.

ANNAN TO MEET CAMEROON AND NIGERIA LEADERS ON BORDER DISPUTE

In a statement issued in Geneva and New York, the Secretary-General said that Presidents Paul Biya of Cameroon and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria had agreed to meet with him at the UN headquarters in Geneva on Friday November 15, to review the International Court of Justice on October 10 on the border dispute between the two countries.

The Secretary-General had written to the two leaders on November 6th to propose such a meeting.

Earlier, in a statement issued on November 1st, the Secretary-General had reiterated his readiness and that of the United Nations to assist those two countries in the follow-up to the International Court of Justice's decision and in establishing confidence between them, as agreed during their September meeting in Paris.

Because of this meeting, the Secretary-General will now begin a trip to Europe a few days earlier than we previously announced, since he will leave Thursday for the meeting in Geneva.

After that, the Secretary-General will travel on Sunday, November 17, to Sarajevo, to start his visit to the Balkans. The rest of his travel schedule announced earlier, including stops in the Netherlands and France, is unchanged.

SECURITY COUNCIL MEETS FOR MIDDLE EAST BRIEFING

The Security Council heard one of its periodic briefings on the situation in the Middle East by Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast.

In his remarks, Prendergast reviewed the political, security and humanitarian situation. Against the backdrop of a new Palestinian cabinet taking office, and the collapse of Israels governing coalition, Israeli-Palestinian violence continues to claim lives on both sides nearly every day, Prendergast said.

In closing, he urged the international community to give its full attention and support to the work of the so-called Middle East Quartet diplomatic group of the United Nations, the United States, the Russian Federation and the European Union.

It is critical, Prendergast said, that the Quartet finalize its road map as soon as possible and then obtain the explicit agreement of both sides and the international community to follow that map to a just, lasting and comprehensive settlement in this conflict.

The Security Council then moved into closed consultations to continue its discussion on the issue.

This afternoon the Security Councils Counter Terrorism Committee was scheduled to meet.

New guidelines for the conduct of the work of the Security Council Committee monitoring sanctions against Al Qaeda and associates have been issued.

UN TO LAUNCH HUMANITARIAN APPEALS FOR 50 MILLION PEOPLE

The United Nations will launch appeals for humanitarian assistance in 2003 on November 19 and 20 in eight cities around the world.

The countries and regions for which the humanitarian community will appeal for support in 2003 are: Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, Chechnya and Neighboring Republics (Russian Federation), Cote dIvoire (and West Africa sub-region), Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Great Lakes Region, Guinea, Indonesia, Liberia, occupied Palestinian territory, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Southern Africa Region, Sudan, Tajikistan, and Uganda.

The theme of the 2003 Consolidated Appeals is "Hope for the Future." With the aim to bring food to the hungry, medical assistance to the sick, shelter to displaced populations, and to provide for other basic needs, aiding some 50 million people in failed states, countries facing civil war or communities devastated by conflict, the so-called Consolidated Appeals Process is a tool created a decade ago by the General Assembly to plan a common humanitarian strategy and maximize resources.

UN UNVEILS HUMANITARIAN AID PLAN FOR PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

A UN conference in Jerusalem today set the stage for an emergency $300 million appeal for the humanitarian catastrophe in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which will be part of the launch of next week's humanitarian appeals.

Todays meeting, hosted by Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, introduced a UN report that recommends strategies for immediately addressing the expanding crisis among Palestinians, who are suffering unprecedented poverty and unemployment rates.

The conference was attended by 15 UN agencies, key donor countries, and major international Non-Governmental Organizations as well as envoys from the Middle East Quartet diplomatic group.

Roed-Larsen warned that the current international attempts to help the Palestinian population have had little impact on the spiraling crisis. There have been inputs, but no impact. In short, the patient is dying, he said.

ANNAN PRESENTS INITIATIVE FOR COMPREHENSIVE CYPRUS SETTLEMENT

Monday afternoon, the Secretary-General briefed the Security Council on Cyprus regarding his proposal which was given to Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash and Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides. The Secretary-General believes the proposal can form the basis for the comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem.

In a statement, issued Monday afternoon by his Spokesman, the Secretary-General said he hopes that this initiative will help the parties focus on the decisions that they should take in the next few weeks in order to seize the opportunity at hand and bring about a settlement. The Secretary-General has asked the leaders not to take a formal public position on what he has submitted to them but instead to take some time to consider them. He hopes that they will exercise the necessary discretion in this regard.

After the Security Council meeting, the Secretary-General was asked what his role is in this process, he said, It is that of a helper, expediter, to get them to accept or come to a comprehensive agreement.

IRAQ OIL EXPORTS DROP BY MORE THAN 50 PERCENT

Figures released by the Office of the Iraq Programme in its weekly update show that Iraqi oil exports, dropped to less than half of the previous weeks high of 19.3 million barrels to 7.3 million barrels in the week ending 8 November. This averages out to slightly over 1 million barrels per day.

The weeks exports netted an estimated $154 million in revenue.

The persisting funding shortfall faced by the programme has resulted in 1,608 humanitarian supply contracts, worth over $3.1 billion, lacking in available funds.

Almost all the sectors of the programme are affected by this shortfall in funds to some degree.

ANNAN DISCUSSES DEMOCRACY WITH EX-LATIN AMERICAN LEADERS

The Secretary-General met this afternoon with a group of six former Latin American Presidents.

The meeting is organized by the UN Development Programmes Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Bureau. The Secretary-General and the six former Presidents from Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico and Uruguay will discuss the future of democracy in the region and a UNDP study that addresses the needs and vulnerabilities of Latin American democracies.

The Secretary-General was to make some remarks at a luncheon following the meeting. He said that that all of the 17 countries in continental Latin America have elected governments, but, at the same time, many Latin American countries are home to the most unequal income distribution in the world.

He also pointed to the challenge of making the practice of democracy universal, now that the principle of democracy is recognized by all.

LACK OF FOOD AID THREATENS MILLIONS OF ETHIOPIANS

The World Food Programme today warned that it is increasingly concerned about the lack of food aid pledges needed to help feed millions of Ethiopians threatened by starvation early next year. Severe food shortages are already expected in January unless donor pledges quickly materialize.

WFP alone needs $80 million worth of food for the first quarter of 2003, and a similar amount is needed in bilateral contributions to the Government and non-governmental organizations.

With a serious drought worsening in many regions of Ethiopia, the number of people needing food aid is expected to rise sharply from the current six million to between 10 to 14 million people in 2003.

Meanwhile, the UN Childrens Fund says that as a result of drought, close to 2.3 million Eritreans and 7 million Ethiopians were suffering from malnutrition and related problems, and their vulnerability was increased by AIDS, malaria and diarrhea.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

In Ankara, Turkey, Thoraya Obaid, the Executive Director of the UN Population Fund, delivered a message today on behalf of the Secretary-General, welcoming the inauguration in Ankara of the new UN House. The Secretary-General called the house a symbol of the UN agencies commitment to work better together, and to create a house of all nations, held together by common values, bonds and aspirations.

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, today issued an amended indictment against Gen. Ratko Mladic, which includes one count of genocide, seven counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes. The indictment consolidates two previous indictments against Mladic and reduces the total number of charges, leaving only the most serious counts.

UN Development Programme Administrator Mark Malloch Brown today spoke at Makerere University, in Kampala, Uganda, on the first stop of a six-day African visit that will also take him to Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He told the students and other attendees that the Millennium Development Goals form the center of a new global deal between developing and developed countries, and added that the Great Lakes countries have come to appreciate the value of those goals, particularly those concerning democratic governance. Malloch Brown will head for Kigali tonight and then travel to Kinshasa on Thursday.

The Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meeting in Santiago, Chile, has conditionally accepted proposals to allow a one-off sale of 20 metric tonnes of ivory from Botswana and 10 Metric tonnes from Namibia.

The World Health Organization said the campaign in 16 African to vaccinate millions of children against polio is underway this week. Part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the sixteen countries are uniting to vaccinate all children under the age of five within their borders. Aventis-Pasteur, the worlds largest vaccine manufacturer, has donated 30 million doses to the campaign.

Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced the Mexican Academy for Human Rights as the winner of the 2002 UNESCO Human Rights Education Prize

"English-To-Go," a New Zealand e-learning website is attempting today, over a 24 hour period, to break the Guinness World Record for the largest simultaneous lesson. Students and teachers from around the globe will participate in a lesson about the dangers of landmines. The lesson highlights the key issues of mine action and the crucial role of the United Nations in helping reduce the devastating impact of landmines on communities and children. The United Nations estimates that up to 40% of all mine victims are children under 15.

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