United Nations Daily Highlights, 03-04-10

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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

Thursday, April 10, 2003

ANNAN: IT APPEARS THERE IS NO FUNCTIONING GOVERNMENT IN IRAQ

On entering the building this morning, Secretary-General Kofi Annan was asked by reporters about the recent developments in Iraq and said, It appears there is no functioning government in Iraq at the moment.

He noted the scenes of jubilation, but also drew attention to the casualty toll, both civilian and military, saying that the Iraqis have paid a terrible price for this. The Security Council, he said, has reaffirmed that the Hague Regulations and the Geneva Conventions apply to the present conflict and that the coalition has a responsibility for the welfare of the people in the area it controls.

Asked about the future of UN weapons inspections in Iraq, he said that the mandate given to chief UN inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei was still valid, although it had become inoperable because of the war. He said that, when the situation permits, they should go back to resume their work.

As for the lifting of sanctions on Iraq, the Secretary-General said that the Security Council has not really discussed the matter. The question of how the United Nations deals with an entity in Iraq, he added, is one of the things that we need to sort out in the next few days.

Asked about the Secretary-Generals meeting today with Iraqi Ambassador Mohammed al-Douri, the Spokesman said the meeting was at the Ambassadors request, and declined further comment. He noted the Secretary-General had addressed questions about al-Douri earlier this morning.

Asked about contacts between the United Nations and the Government of Iraq, the Spokesman said contacts with Baghdad have been limited since the start of the conflict. There are no international UN staff in Iraq, although he added there has been some limited contact with local UN staff in the country. Eckhard noted that Iraqi diplomats in New York had also reported problems in contacting their Government, although he added that the UN's contacts went through Ambassador al-Douri.

WFP PLANS TO SEND INTERNATIONAL STAFF TO IRAQ IF SECURITY PERMITS

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima today expressed his sorrow at the recent death in Baghdad of International Committee for the Red Cross delegate Vatche Arslanian. Oshima is also concerned about the fate of two humanitarian workers from Medecins sans Frontieres, who have been missing in Iraq since April 2.

At the humanitarian briefing in Amman, the World Food Programme said the agency is planning, security permitting, to send international staff back into Iraq both the north and the south - within the next few days. They will assist in the assessment of the needs of internally displaced persons, check on property (including offices, equipment and warehouses), milling and silo capacity, and general preparations for receiving and distributing large-scale food shipments.

The UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) reported that the situation in hospitals in Baghdad continues to be critical, with hospital workers being severely curtailed in their ability to do their work due to the lack of civil order in the city. More generally, UNICEF is seeing an unfolding picture of too much desperation, too many guns, and families living in fear and uncertainty.

UNICEF teams reaching Umm Qasr are also painting a seriously worrying picture. In the past few days, UNICEF has had water and health specialists there. The most alarming information they reported is the dramatic increase in diarrhoeal diseases during the past five days. Doctors at the local hospital reported the staggering increase of childhood diarrhoea that is directly related to the water situation in southern Iraq. UNICEF is setting up a water bladder of 10-thousand liters for the hospital in Umm Qasr today.

The widespread looting and chaos spread to UNICEF's offices in Baghdad yesterday, with phones and chairs essentially everything being taken away.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) added that the current security vacuum and uncertainty is prompting some people to flee. It is vital that anyone who feels unsafe be able to reach neighboring countries, UNHCR said. UNHCR today dispatched a team to look into reports by Iranian authorities that some 1,500 Iraqis who fled Baghdad on Wednesday had reached an area close to Iran.

UNESCO TO MEET NEXT WEEK TO DRAW UP INVENTORY FOR IRAQ

The Director General of the UN Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Koishiro Maatsura, announced in Paris that there will be a meeting at UNESCO Headquarters on April 17 of top international specialists in Iraqi cultural heritage to draw up a preliminary inventory of Iraqi heritage to prepare a plan for its rehabilitation.

Asked about UNESCOs efforts, the Spokesman said that he was not aware of any damage to Iraqs heritage sites, but that UNESCO would be in a better position to assess any damage once the situation stabilizes.

UN ADVISER SAYS LOSE-LOSE OUTCOME PREVAILED IN CYPRUS

The Secretary-Generals Special Advisor on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, this morning briefed the Security Council in an open meeting. In his presentation, de Soto said the Cyprus problem is the oldest item continually on the Secretary-Generals peace-making agenda and that "it is difficult to see a set of circumstances for achieving a settlement as propitious as that which prevailed in the last three and a half years."

He added, "The fact that a solution has not been achieved in these circumstances is therefore deeply disappointing. It seems attributable to failings of political will rather than to the absence of favorable circumstances."

The immediate losers, he told Council members, are not only the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey, but also the Greek Cypriots and Greece. "This is truly a lose-lose outcome," he said.

Council members then moved into closed consultations on the Cyprus peace process.

At 3:00 p.m., the Security Council Committee on Al-Qaeda sanctions is meeting in Conference Room 7.

On Wednesday afternoon, Pakistani Ambassador Munir Akram organized a so-called Arria formula meeting of Security Council members on the humanitarian situation in Iraq. Private relief groups were invited to the informal, off-the-record meeting of the Council. The format is named after former Venezuelan ambassador Diego Arria, a Council member from 1992-1993 who initiated the practice.

UN AFGHAN ENVOY MOURNS VICTIMS OF AIR ATTACK IN PAKTIKA

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, conveyed his condolences to the families of the Afghans killed by an air attack by Coalition forces on April 9 in the province of Paktika. He also expressed his sympathy to those injured and those who lost their properties.

The UN Mission in Afghanistan said that the United States and other members of the Coalition realize the negative effect these incidents have on them, on the international community as a whole and, most importantly, on the peace process in Afghanistan.

Brahimi discussed this incident with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday night. He will raise the matter with Coalition authorities, as well.

INDICTMENTS FILED IN TIMOR-LESTE AGAINST INDONESIAN SOLDIERS

In Timor-Leste today, an indictment for crimes against humanity was filed against five Indonesian soldiers, charging them with rape and torture.

This was the second indictment this week. Earlier in the week, 16 others, including 8 Indonesia Military District Commanders, were indicted for crimes against humanity, committed in the year 1999.

The United Nations attaches the highest importance to the successful completion of the investigation and prosecution of serious crime cases, as mandated by the Security Council. The indictments are prepared by international staff who report functionally to the Prosecutor-General of Timor-Leste, and are issued under the legal authority of the Timorese Government.

LIBERIA CONFLICT PROMPTS FLIGHTS INTO COTE DIVOIRE

Caught between a rock and a hard place, some of the tens of thousands of people who fled fighting in western Côte d'Ivoire into Liberia are now beginning to return to Côte d'Ivoire as another conflict rages in their areas of refuge, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported after its staff visited the frontier area between Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire, which had been out of reach in recent weeks.

Those on the move were a mixture of Ivoirian civilians, Liberian refugees who had fled the Ivoirian crisis in recent months, and guest workers from Mali and Burkina Faso.

The recent arrivals in Côte d'Ivoire say they decided to return because of a breakdown of law and order and widespread food shortages in Liberia.

But the situation is hardly better in Côte d'Ivoire, where the UN refugee agency reports that some of the Liberian refugees including children have been exposed to recruitment as fighters by both the rebels and Government forces.

SINGAPORE INCREASING MEASURES TO DEAL WITH SARS

The World Health Organization (WHO) expert team in Beijing said that the Singapore health authorities have increased measures to prevent the transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, in hospitals. This follows an outbreak at the Singapore General Hospital that was caused by a so-called super-spreader.

A super-spreader is a person who has, for reasons still unknown, infected a large number of people. Although transmission patterns of SARS are still not fully understood, evidence suggests that such super-spreaders may have contributed to the evolution of outbreaks around the world.

Regarding the outbreak in China, WHO has said that their expert team will start working Friday with Beijing municipal health authorities to investigate the SARS outbreak there.

NIGERIA, UNITED STATES MAKE UN BUDGET CONTRIBUTIONS

Nigeria today became the 72nd Member State to pay its regular budget contribution for this year in full, with a payment of more than $900,000.

The United States made a payment of more than $146 million to the peacekeeping budget.

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