United Nations Daily Highlights, 02-12-20

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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

Friday, December 20, 2002

SECRETARY-GENERAL TRAVELS TO QUARTET MEETING IN WASHINGTON

Secretary-General Kofi Annan left New York early this morning for Washington, where he is participating in a meeting of the Middle East diplomatic quartet. That group is comprised of the United States, the Russian Federation, the European Union and the United Nations.

The United States is represented by Secretary of State Colin Powell. Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov represents the Russian Federation. The European Union is represented by three officials: Per Stig Moeller, the Foreign Minister of Denmark which currently holds the EU Presidency; Javier Solana, the EUs High Representative for a Common Foreign and Security Policy; and Chris Patten, the European Commissioner for Foreign Affairs.

After a 10-minute one-on-one meeting with Colin Powell this morning, the Secretary-General met with the other members of the Quartet, in a meeting that lasted about two hours. That meeting was followed by a working lunch.

Afterwards, the participants will go to the White House for a meeting with President George W. Bush. The Quartet is expected to issue a statement later today.

The Secretary-General is scheduled to return to New York this evening.

UNMOVIC TEAM INSPECTS CHEMICAL RESEARCH CENTER IN IRAQ

In Baghdad today a UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) chemical team inspected the Tuwaitha Industrial Chemical Research Center. Even though it was a Muslim day of rest and there was only a guard at the Center, the site was made available to full inspection. All managers of the departments of the Center, who arrived shortly after the inspection began, briefed the UNMOVIC team about the current activities of their departments.

Two International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) teams requested access to a facility during non-standard hours at the former Tuwaitha nuclear complex. The complex now conducts civilian research in the non-nuclear field. They observed work-shift levels during this non-work day period.

They also inspected the Shakyli stores during a non-work day. Shakyli stores dual-use equipment from the past Iraqi nuclear program. They also carried out environmental gamma radiation surveys in the area.

Two UNMOVIC inspectors arrived in Baghdad on Thursday, bringing the total number of inspectors to 115. The breakdown of inspectors is 96 from UNMOVIC and 19 from the IAEA.

On Thursday afternoon, in a statement to the press, the Security Council President, Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso of Colombia, said that members of the Security Council took note of the contents of the briefing by UNMOVIC Executive Chairman Hans Blix and IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei. Council members expressed their intention of having a further discussion early in January 2003, after all Members of the Council finish their own analytical work of the Iraqi declaration, and of holding more regular briefings from UNMOVIC and the IAEA.

Blix and ElBaradei spoke to reporters after consultations ended, and both asked Iraq to provide more information on its weapons programs. Blix said that so far, there has been "relatively little given in the evidence" concerning weapons of mass destruction, and that lack indicated that "one cannot have confidence that there do not remain weapons of mass destruction."

SECURITY COUNCIL PREPARES TO WRAP UP WORK FOR DECEMBER

The Security Council has a busy program today, with four formal meetings and consultations.

This morning, the Council has scheduled two open meetings.

The first is a wrap-up discussion on the work of the Security Council for the month of December. The meeting, which began at 10:30 a.m., is expected to run about two hours.

Then, the Council has scheduled another formal meeting to adopt a draft resolution on humanitarian exemptions to measures imposed by resolution 1390, which refer to the Al-Qaeda linked sanctions.

Then this afternoon at 3:15 p.m., informal consultations on Cote dIvoire have been scheduled. A briefing by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Tuliameni Kalomoh, is scheduled.

Two other formal meetings are planned. The first is to consider a presidential statement on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. The second is on a resolution on the Middle East.

As of now, there are no meetings or consultations scheduled for the rest of the month.

SECURITY COUNCIL INFORMED ON MISSION TO KOSOVO AND BELGRADE

On Thursday afternoon, the Security Council, after brief consultations, held an open meeting in which it heard a briefing from Ambassador Ole Peter Kolby, in his capacity as the head of the Councils mission to Kosovo and Belgrade, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Kolby presented the report of his mission, which travelled to Kosovo and Belgrade from December 13 through 17 to find ways to enhance support for the work of the UN Mission in Kosovo, among other goals.

The mission found notable progress in several areas, including the formation of provisional institutions of self-government and the new municipal assemblies, as well as improvements in the rule of law. In a written report of its visit, the mission said that the formulation of benchmarks for the realization of standards is a constructive approach to the further development of Kosovo as a democratic, multi-ethnic society.

ANNAN APPOINTS NEW DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR UNMEE

The Secretary-General today appointed Angela Kane of Germany as his Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). The appointment is at the Assistant Secretary-General level. Kane will be based in Asmara, Eritrea, while another Deputy Special Representative, Cheikh Tidiane Gaye, is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Kane is currently Director of Americas and Europe Division in the Department of Political Affairs. She has been working for the United Nations for 25 years in a variety of political and managerial functions.

Before joining the United Nations, Kane worked for the World Bank in Washington and in private industry in Europe. Her appointment will become effective on January 15, 2003.

UN HUMAN RIGHTS FIELD OFFICE IN CROATIA TO CLOSE

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, said today that, by the end of this month, the human rights field office in Croatia will close, after nine years of work, becoming the first human rights field office to shut down.

As it ends it work, the office in Zagreb will leave behind a Human Rights Center, which will be an independent and autonomous institution to promote human rights in Croatia. Vieira de Mello said that his office will remain committed to assisting Croatia in further improving its human rights situation.

TRIBUNAL PROSECUTOR COMPLAINS AGAINST YUGOSLAV STANCE

The Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Carla Del Ponte, today in a statement called attention once more to what she called unsatisfactory cooperation by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with her office. She noted that Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic had refused to speak to her Thursday on the issue of cooperation, and voiced her disappointment at what she called an inappropriate political statement by that official.

Del Ponte also said that Thursday, she had written to the Yugoslav authorities regarding the transfer of Milan Milutinovic once his term as Serb President expires.

UN CHAIRS ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING OF PARTIES IN CYPRUS

In Cyprus today, the two parties, the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots, have held an organizational meeting, chaired by the United Nations, for the two technical committees, which the leaders had agreed to create on October 4 in the presence of the Secretary General.

The meeting charted the future work of the committees, which will undertake their technical discussions in parallel with the political negotiations and without prejudice to their outcome. The members of the committees plan to meet again on January 7, 2003.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

A humanitarian update on southern Africa says the crop season in much of that region looks bleak. The worst-affected countries are southern Malawi, Swaziland, southern Mozambique, Lesotho, eastern South Africa, eastern Botswana and part of north-western Zambia, with western and north-western Zimbabwe in critical condition.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, at least 48,000 people have now fled the western region of Côte d'Ivoire for neighboring Liberia. Most of them about 32,000 people are Liberians who had once sought asylum in Côte d'Ivoire, but who now decided to go back because of the fighting there. The group also includes 16,000 Ivoirian nationals. Most of those fleeing have sought refuge in the eastern counties of Liberia.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that 27 emergency health kits arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, today, to strengthen the response the severe drought affecting the country. Each kit contains one ton of drugs, supplies and instruments, enough to support the basic health needs of 10,000 people for three months. WHO expects to send an additional 164 emergency health kits to Ethiopia in the coming weeks, thanks to funding from the Government of the Netherlands.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said it had received just $9 million of the $105 million needed for its operations in Eritrea. WFP said it had enough stocks to last until March of next year, but there would be a break in supply of food aid if donations were not received by then. More than two million people are affected by the droughts, which have caused crop failures over the last four years.

This morning, Tuvalu became the 169th country to ratify the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Next Wednesday, the United Nations will be closed for Christmas. The Spokesmans Office will have a noon briefing next Monday. In the days after Christmas, the Spokesman expects not to hold any noon briefings until the New Year, but the highlights of events in the UN system will continue to be posted on the web shortly after noon each day.

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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