United Nations Daily Highlights, 02-11-27

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

OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY STEPHANE

DUJARRIC

ASSOCIATE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN

HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Wednesday, November 27, 2002

Please note that Thursday, November 28, is Thanksgiving Holiday, and the United Nations will be closed. The Highlights will resume on Friday, November 29. UNMOVIC, IAEA BEGIN INSPECTIONS IN IRAQ

The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection teams conducted their first weapons inspections today.

They left the Canal Hotel, the operations base for the weapons inspectors in Baghdad, at 8:30 a.m., accompanied by their Iraqi counterparts. The IAEA team returned to the operations base at about 12:30 p.m. The UNMOVIC team returned shortly after 5:00 p.m.

At the subsequent press briefing, Jacques Baute, the IAEA Iraq Action Team Leader, said that his team had visited a facility in northern Baghdad called Al Tahidi (Science Research Centre). His team was able to complete the inspection work it had planned to carry out.

Dimitri Perricos, the UNMOVIC inspection team leader and Director of the Division of Planning and Operations, UNMOVIC, said that his team had visited two sites at Al Rafah, approximately 130 km south southwest of Baghdad. One was a graphite plant and the other a missile engine testing facility.

In response to a question, Baute said that the site his team had visited today was a site previously visited.

Also in response to questions, Perricos said that the monitoring equipment at the site his team visited had been all taken away. Some were destroyed, but the rest was available at the National Monitoring Directorate. We would be collecting them. Before we reinstall new equipment, we will need to re-baseline the site, he added.

Asked about the reason for his interest in graphite, Perricos said that graphite could be used for pencils as well as for missile batteries, and that it could be used in the cone of a missile during re-entry.

The UNMOVIC team currently has 11 inspectors and the IAEA 6 inspectors.

Asked about what the inspectors had found, the Spokesman said that the United Nations would not qualify each inspection on a daily basis, but would await the report that UNMOVIC and the IAEA would give to the Security Council.

SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS AUTHORIZATION OF AFGHANISTAN FORCE

After consultations on Afghanistan, the Security Council voted unanimously this morning to adopt a resolution to extend the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan by one year, until December 20, 2003. The Council also welcomed the offer from Germany and the Netherlands to assume jointly from Turkey the leadership of that Force.

On Tuesday afternoon, following consultations on Liberia, Council President Wang Yingfan of China told the press that Security Council members expressed their concerns that Liberian President Charles Taylors Government continued to violate sanctions, including by importing arms. They expressed their intention to renew the mandate of the expert panel on Liberia for a further period.

Members of the Council also called on the international community to assist Liberia to alleviate the worsening humanitarian crisis in that country.

ANNAN TO ATTEND PAHO CENTENNIAL IN WASHINGTON

On Monday, Secretary-General Kofi Annan will be in Washington to speak to a group of scholars from the Woodrow Wilson International Center.

That evening the Secretary-General will be the keynote speaker at dinner marking the 100th anniversary of the Pan-American Health Organization.

He is expected to travel back to New York early Tuesday morning.

SECRETARY-GENERAL SEEKS COMMENTS FROM CYPRIOT PARTIES

A statement noted that the Secretary-General on Tuesday sent letters to Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.

He asked each leader to make known to his Special Adviser, Alvaro de Soto, by Saturday, November 30, their comments, suggestions or requests on his suggested basis for agreement on a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem, so as to enable the process to move forward.

Meanwhile, the Secretary-General has today received a reply from Denktash to his earlier letter of November 11. This letter is being studied, but it does confirm that Denktash is prepared to negotiate on the basis of the proposal attached to the Secretary-Generals November 11 letter.

Asked about reported criticisms by Denktash of the proposal, the Spokesman said that what was important was that it appeared from his letter that Denktash was prepared to negotiate on the basis of the Secretary-General's proposal. Now, both sides have written to confirm their willingness to negotiate.

The Secretary-General, in his Tuesday letter, was seeking more substantive comments, and the United Nations is now awaiting responses to that request.

Asked about the time factor, the Spokesman said time is important and the opportunity is at hand to be seized.

Asked about de Sotos travels, he noted that the Special Adviser had met with the Turkish Foreign Minister in Germany on Tuesday and was in Ankara today.

MIXED COMMISSION ON NIGERIA-CAMEROON DISPUTE TO MEET SUNDAY

A statement said that the Mixed Commission established by the Secretary-General on November 15 at the request of President Paul Biya of Cameroon and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, to consider ways of following up on the October 10 ruling of the International Court of Justice, will have its first meeting in Yaounde on Sunday, December 1, under the chairmanship of the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for West Africa, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah.

Amadou Ali, Minister of Justice of Cameroon, and Prince Bola Ajibola, former Minister of Justice and former High Commissioner of Nigeria to the United Kingdom, will head their respective delegations to the Commission.

SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES DONOR SUPPORT FOR BURUNDI

In Geneva today, the transitional Government of Burundi and its development partners are holding a round-table conference, at which the Government is seeking donor support for its Social Emergency Programme and the Secretary-General, in a message, calls on donors to provide the assistance that Burundi needs.

In his message, which was delivered by his Deputy Special Representative for Burundi, Nureldin Satti, he adds that the cease-fire negotiations between the Government and the armed movements have also generated momentum. He says, It is my hope that those talks, which resumed this week in Dar-Es-Salaam, will lead to concrete results and put an end to the long suffering of the Burundi population.

UN RELIEF HEAD VOICES CONCERN OVER CLOSING OF RUSSIAN CAMP

Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima today expressed his alarm at the prospect of the closing of a camp by Russian authorities for internally displaced persons at Aki Yurt, Ingushetia on December 1.

The camp in Aki Yurt is home to well over 1,000 persons displaced by prolonged conflict in the neighboring republic of Chechnya. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that while the displaced persons wish to return to Chechnya, they are reluctant to do so at this point because of insecurity in the republic and the lack of shelter, basic services, and economic opportunities there.

Oshima also noted the United Nations continued commitment to dialogue with the Russian authorities on this and other humanitarian issues related to Chechnya.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

The third lecture in Lecture Series of the Secretary-General will take place next Tuesday, December 3. Professor Nebojsa Nakicenovic, Project Leader at International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and Professor at the Technical University of Vienna and Rajendra K. Pachauri, Director-General of Tata Energy Research Institute and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will speak on "The Interface Between Energy and Climate Change."

UN Environment Programme Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said that the loss of the vessel Prestige off the coast of Spain reminds us that people living on coasts near major shipping routes, and who rely on the natural environment for their livelihoods, pay a high price when such accidents occur. Toepfer welcomed the efforts of the International Maritime Organization to bring double-hull tankers to replace single-hull vessels and said the timetable for phasing them in should be reviewed.

The Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights on Tuesday afternoon adopted a General Comment on water as a human right, noting that over one billion people lack basic access to a safe water supply while several billion lack access to adequate sanitation. It said that water is a limited natural resource and a public commodity fundamental to life and health and states have a duty to provide access to water, without discrimination.

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS Sunday, December 1 Colombia will replace China in the Presidency of the Security Council. In Yaoundé, Cameroon, the 13-member mixed commission chaired by the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for West Africa, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, will meet to discuss the Cameroon-Nigeria border. Today is the official date of World AIDS Day.

Monday, December 2 In Washington, D.C., the Secretary-General is to meet with the fellows of the Woodrow Wilson Center and to speak at the 100th anniversary ceremony of the Pan American Health Organization.

New Security Council President Alfonso Valdivieso of Colombia is expected to hold bilateral talks with other Council members on its program of work for December.

The Secretary-Generals report to the Security Council on the UN Mission in Angola is expected in the early part of the week.

This is the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery.

Tuesday, December 3 The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) will launch its State of the World Population 2002 report. The report will be launched at a 10:00 a.m. press conference by Stirling Scruggs, Director of the UNFPA Information and External Relations Division, and by Jeffrey Sachs, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General.

The third lecture in the Secretary-Generals lecture series will be held on The Interface between Energy and Climate Change, with Professor Nebojsa Nakicenovic of the Technical University of Vienna and Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to speak.

This is the International Day of Disabled Persons.

Wednesday, December 4 Thursday, December 5 Today is Eid Holiday, and UN Headquarters in New York will be closed.

This is the International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development.

Friday, December 6 The Secretary-General is expected to attend the presentation of the Candlelight Award to Maurice Strong and Jim McNeill. Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General United Nations, S-378 New York, NY 10017 Tel. 212-963-7162 - press/media only Fax. 212-963-7055

All other inquiries to be addressed to (212) 963-4475 or by e-mail to: inquiries@un.org

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