United Nations Daily Highlights, 03-04-02

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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

Wednesday, April 2, 2003

IRAQ: UN SECURITY TEAM MAKES ASSESSMENT MISSION TO UMM QASR

The first UN security assessment team to Iraq made it to the southern city of Umm Qasr on Tuesday. They will submit a report on their findings to the Secretary-General shortly.

Asked about that visit, the Spokesman said that the United Nations was awaiting the report on Umm Qasr. If it is favorable, he added, it was possible that some international personnel could be brought back to the area.

He noted that the World Food Programme (WFP) has storage facilities for grain at Umm Qasr, which would allow the United Nations to bring in shipments of aid and store them there in preparation for bringing them further inland.

Additional UN assessment missions would then be conducted in areas that could be safe for the entry of humanitarian personnel, and, if they were deemed to be safe, personnel and aid would move further inland.

UNICEF NOTES MOVEMENT OF AID CONVOY IN SOUTHERN IRAQ

In what the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) hopes is an improving pattern of access in southern Iraq, a convoy of five trucks is travelling to the town of Safwan, south of Basra, with clean water and emergency health kits. The trucks are carrying 35,000 liters of water each, and each one will also deliver kits to meet the health needs of 1,000 people for three months.

UNICEF also noted reports that humanitarian daily rations being handed out by U.S. and U.K. forces in southern Iraq are wrapped in bright yellow plastic wrap, a color that is identical to the color of a bomblet that has been used in air-drops in the fighting. UNICEF is urging coalition forces to use rations that are wrapped in other colors besides yellow, to avoid confusion.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that it has not seen any significant refugee arrivals, but continues to see small numbers of people crossing Iraqs frontiers, mostly third-country nationals seeking to return home.

The World Food Programme (WFP) reported that it has concluded contracts to purchase 400,000 tons of food consisting of wheat flour, rice, cooking oil, sugar, pulses, cheese and milk to help support Iraqs food distribution. WFP hopes the supplies can reach the region by the end of April and in May.

Asked about humanitarian assistance to northern Iraq, the Spokesman said that local UN personnel were continuing to work in the north, using private truckers to distribute aid.

IRAQ: ANNAN MEETS WITH SECURITY COUNCIL MEMBERS, REGIONAL GROUPS

At UN Headquarters, Secretary-General Kofi Annan is continuing his consultations on Iraq with the Member States regional groups.

On Tuesday afternoon, he met the Western European and Others Group, and told reporters afterward that he hoped the United Nations would be able to get aid into Iraq within the 45 days provided for in Security Council Resolution 1472.

Today, at 4:00 in the Trusteeship Council Chamber, he will meet with the Asian Group.

He is also meeting today at lunch with the members of the Security Council. Asked about that meeting, to be held in the Secretary-Generals private office, the Spokesman said it was part of his continuing consultations with the Member States on Iraq.

SECURITY COUNCIL AGREE ON PROGRAM OF WORK FOR APRIL

The Security Council held consultations this morning on its program of work for April, which is posted on the Council website. At 3 p.m., Ambassador Adolfo Aguilar Zinser of Mexico, the Council's President for the month, is scheduled to brief reporters on the program.

In the afternoon at 3:30, after their luncheon with the Secretary-General, Council members have scheduled a meeting with troop contributors to the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM).

The Security Council has scheduled consultations on Iraq on Thursday. The first part of the consultations will be on the latest Secretary-Generals report on the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission (UNIKOM).

The second part of the consultations will be a humanitarian briefing by Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette.

SARS: TRAVELERS ADVISED TO AVOID HONG KONG, GUANGDONG PROVINCE

The continuous outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, in China has resulted in a deeper collaboration between that country and the World Health Organization (WHO) to contain SARS.

On the basis of new data from China and Hong Kong, WHO has today revised its advice to international travelers and began recommending that persons travelling to Hong Kong and Guangdong Province, China, consider postponing all but essential travel. This updated travel advice comes as a result of new developments in the multi-country outbreak of SARS.

This is the first time in the history of the WHO that such travel advice has been issued for specific geographical areas because of an outbreak of an infectious disease, as previously no global recommendations were necessary.

The Chinese Ministry of Health has further announced that a five-person WHO expert team currently in Beijing will be travelling immediately to Guangdong Province to investigate the SARS outbreak there.

ANNAN WELCOMES DR-CONGO AGREEMENTS, NOTES TASKS AHEAD

The final session of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue concluded today in Sun City, South Africa. Delegates from the Congolese parties signed a Final Act which endorses the resolutions adopted last year in Sun City, the Allinclusive Accord and the Transitional Constitution.

These agreements offer the Congolese people the best chance of restoring peace, the Secretary-General said in a message delivered by Moustapha Niasse, Special Envoy for the Inter-Congolese Dialogue. He then warned, No one should imagine that the All-inclusive Agreement will implement itself. The most complex and difficult tasks still lie ahead.

The Secretary-General called the parties to address urgently the continuing conflict in the east, where the population are in a situation that is arguably even worse than it was before the agreements were signed.

He pledged the UNs continued support to the peace efforts, but he underscored that our support will be of little value unless you yourselves are fully determined to implement your agreements.

Todays signing ceremony was witnessed by the heads of state of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

ANNAN URGES COTE D'IVOIRE REBELS TO TAKE UP GOVERNMENT POSTS

The Secretary-Generals report to the Security Council on Cote d'Ivoire, out as a document today, notes that the ministers nominated by the Ivoirian rebel movements have yet to take up their posts.

He urges the parties to overcome their differences, in order to allow the new Government to start functioning without further delay and to address the bigger challenge of implementing the work program set up in the Linas-Marcoussis agreement.

He also mentions his serious concern about the logistical constraints facing the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) force in Cote dIvoire and urges donor countries to provide urgently the necessary material and financial support. It would be unfortunate, if the troop contributors who came forward with offers to provide troops, on the basis of promises made by donor countries, were to find themselves facing the same circumstances that compelled other ECOWAS troops to put an end to their operation in Sierra Leone early in 2000, he says.

The Secretary-General also outlines how the United Nations can support the peace process in Cote dIvoire and proposes that a UN Mission be established for this purpose.

UNITED NATIONS CHAIRS CAMEROON-NIGERIA MEETING ON BOUNDARY RULING

The third meeting of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission, is to take place in Yaounde, Cameroon, on April 2-3, 2003.

The Mixed Commission was established by the Secretary-General 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, 2002 ruling of the International Court of Justice in the case concerning the land and maritime boundary between the two countries.

As provided for in the Joint Communiqué of 15 November 2002, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and Chairman of the Mixed Commission, will preside over the meeting. Amadou Ali, Minister of Justice of Cameroon and Prince Bola Ajibola, former Minister of Justice of Nigeria, will head their respective delegations to the meeting of the Commission.

UNHCR: MORE THAN 7,000 LIBERIAN REFUGEES ARRIVE IN GUINEA

More than 7,000 refugees, mostly Liberians, have arrived in Guinea after fleeing fresh fighting in northern Liberia over the weekend. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has started moving them away from the border region into existing camps and transit centers.

Refugees told the UNHCR team that they had been shot at as they escaped to Guinea. Injured refugees, some with gunshot wounds, have been treated at the Baala transit center. Gunfire could still be heard from across the border in Liberia, said the team.

The latest influx into Guinea comes in the wake of other population displacements in the region. Since the conflict in Côte dIvoire started last September, some 90,000 people have fled into neighboring countries, mainly Liberia. By the end of 2002, fighting in Liberia itself had sent over 90,000 Liberians fleeing into neighboring countries, including Guinea, which already hosts more than 100,000 Liberian refugees.

UNDP TO STRENGTHEN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY IN VIET NAM

The UN Development Programme (UNDP), along with the Governments of Canada, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, recently launched two projects in Viet Nam that are intended to strengthen that countrys National Assembly and provincial Peoples Councils and allow the Assemblys budgetary committee to play a more effective financial and oversight role.

One project is to train 350 newly elected deputies to the Assembly in preparing legislation and managing parliamentary affairs, while the other is to assist the Assembly and the Peoples Council in playing a full role in the countrys fiscal decentralization.

UNDPs Resident Representative in Viet Nam, Jordan Ryan, said the effort provides the agency with a unique opportunity to empower the countrys highest legislative body, as well as local elected bodies, which in turn can foster transparent and accountable institutions.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

UNESCO LANGUAGE LESSON: Next Wednesday, April 9, children and adults from more than 100 countries will attempt to break the world record for the largest simultaneous lesson. The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) says that the lesson will be part of this years Education for All Week with the theme All for Girls Education. The current record, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, was set in March last year, when more than 28,000 children took part in a language lesson in the United Kingdom.

CIVIL AVIATION PRINCIPLES: The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) held its Worldwide Air Transport Conference in Montreal last week and adopted a Declaration of Global Principles. The declaration specifies the individual and collective roles of States in working towards giving international air transport as much economic freedom as possible without compromising safety and security.

Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

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

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