United Nations Daily Highlights, 03-04-14

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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 SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN

HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Monday, April 14, 2003

ANNAN ADVISER IN WASHINGTON, D.C. FOR MEETINGS ON IRAQ

At the invitation of the U.S. State Department, the Secretary-Generals Special Adviser, Rafeeuddin Ahmed, is in Washington, D.C. for a series of briefings on Iraq, involving State Department, Defense Department and National Security Council personnel. These meetings are going on today at the State Department.

Ahmed hopes to get a clearer picture of the coalitions thinking on post-conflict Iraq, as part of his on-going work for Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Asked for information on these meetings, the Spokeswoman said when Ahmed had been appointed last week, the Secretary-General said Ahmed would be available to listen to suggestions from member states.

Asked if this meeting was a violation of rules governing contacts between UN officials and the military occupying power, the Spokeswoman said she knew of no such regulations and that listening to members of the United Nations on a possible role for the United Nations in post-war Iraq was part of Ahmeds mandate.

Any UN role beyond humanitarian activities, the Spokeswoman added, would have to be mandated by the Security Council.

Asked if any weapons of mass destruction were to be found in Iraq, would the UN weapons inspectors go back in, the Spokeswoman said that Security Council resolutions regarding Iraqi disarmament were still valid and that, as the Secretary-General said, when the situation permits the inspectors should go back to resume their work.

ANNAN TO LEAVE FOR EUROPE

Later tonight, the Secretary-General is scheduled to leave New York for Athens, where he has been invited to attend the European Conference on April 17.

He is scheduled to arrive in Athens tomorrow, and then, on Wednesday, he is scheduled to hold several meetings in which he will discuss developments in Iraq. Among his meetings on Wednesday afternoon, he will see British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom. He will also see Prime Ministers Jose Maria Aznar of Spain, Guy Verhofstadt of Belgium and Bertie Ahern of Ireland.

Then on Thursday, in addition to attending the European Conference meeting, he is expected to meet with French President Jacques Chirac in the morning and with Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Foreign Minister George Papandreou in the evening.

UN INT'L STAFF AWAITING FLIGHT CLEARANCE FOR NORTHERN IRAQ

At the humanitarian briefing on Iraq in Amman today, a spokesman for the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said a UN flight carrying international UN staff back to the three northern governorates has been delayed and that clearance from the military authorities to use an air corridor was still pending.

Another UN humanitarian team has received clearance from the Iranian authorities and crossed today from Mehran in Iran to Badrah in Iraq, which is 16 kilometers inside Iraq from the Iranian border. That team will assess the needs of up to 30,000 internally displaced people in and around Badrah.

A spokesman for the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) added that all schools in the three northern governorates of Dohuk, Erbil and Suleimaniyah have reopened, and classes have resumed. UNICEF is resuming its health programme in these schools. Also in the north, UNICEF estimates that roughly 3,000 Internally Displaced Persons remain in the north, down from 300,000 at the height of the conflict. The World Food Programme (WFP) has also been able to dramatically increase its food shipments into the north using land routes from Turkey.

In Umm Qasr in the south, UNICEF and volunteers have begun screening children for malnutrition at community child care units. UNICEF has been able to locate many of the old volunteers who staffed these centres prior to the outbreak of hostilities. New volunteers are also being trained.

In Basrah, the WFP says its national staff have completed assessment of the infrastructure of the public distribution system in the city. The nine mills used by the system are in good condition. Three warehouses are also in good condition except for the doors that were broken. Assessments of the public distribution system will also be made in neighboring provinces.

IRAQ: OCCUPYING POWERS URGED TO ASSUME HUMANITARIAN RESPONSIBILITIES

High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello today said, in an interview with BBCs Hard Talk, that there is a temporary vacuum of law and order in Iraq, particularly in Baghdad, and he appealed to the occupying powers to assume fully their humanitarian responsibilities.

He was asked about possibilities of trials for Iraqi war crimes suspects, and he made a distinction between trials of prisoners of war, which could be handled by the United States and United Kingdom provided that they abide by the Third Geneva Convention, and trials concerning crimes against humanity, genocide or other such charges.

Speaking of the accused in the latter category of trials, Vieira de Mello said, Obviously they cannot be tried by a foreign court. It would have to be either a national or a combination of national and international judges and prosecutors.

UNESCO CALLS FOR PROTECTION OF IRAQS CULTURAL TREASURES

Following the acts of looting committed in the National Archaeological Museum of Baghdad, the Director-General of the UN Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Koïchiro Matsuura, has contacted the American and British authorities and asked them to take immediate measures of protection and surveillance of Iraqi archaeological sites and cultural institutions.

In order to prevent the illicit export of Iraqi cultural goods, Matsuura also undertook contacts with the authorities of the countries bordering Iraq and international police and customs officials to ensure respect of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.

SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES SOMALIA ARMS EMBARGO

The

Security Council is holding consultations on Somalia, with a briefing by Ambassador Stefan Tafrov of Bulgaria, who chairs the Council's sanctions committee on Somalia.

He introduced the report by the Panel of Experts dated March 25 on arms embargo violations in Somalia in which it reported a clear pattern of violations with weapons being given by neighboring states and purchased by Somali factions on the international arms market.

In a press statement read out on Somalia by Security Council President Ambassador Adolfo Aguilar Zinser of Mexico, members of the Council expressed their deep concern about the continued flow of weapons and military equipment from sources outside Somalia and called on all Member States to support and cooperate with the re-established Panel of Experts, which is to be set up in accordance with Resolution 1474 (2003), in the implementation of its mandate. Members also reaffirmed the importance of the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and unity of Somalia.

SECURITY COUNCIL ADOPTS RESOLUTION ON CYPRUS

Following the consultations, members of the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1475 (2003) which gives its full support to the Secretary-Generals plan for achieving a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem.

The Council says the carefully balanced plan provides a unique basis for further negotiations.

Asked how the resolution affected the Secretary-Generals Good Offices, the Spokeswoman said by adopting a resolution the Security Council showed its support for his efforts and his recent report.

ARAB ECONOMIC SITUATION TO BE HARD HIT BY WAR IN IRAQ

Today in Beirut, the Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA) began a four-day session to deal with the regions economic progress, at a time when the Commissions Executive Secretary, Mervat Tallawy, said, a dark cloud is covering the whole world, and the Arab region in particular.

Tallawy said that the previous 1990-91 Gulf War in Iraq had been directly responsible for losses amounting to some $600 billion, while it is expected that, as a result of the current war against Iraq, those losses could increase to a trillion dollars. She added that between four and five million job opportunities had been lost following the previous Gulf War, a figure expected to rise to six to seven million jobs lost as a result of the current war.

She added, In the past ten years, average per capita income in the Arab region has been the lowest in the world, largely because of the fall in the price of oil.

She also delivered a message on behalf of the Secretary-General, who warned that over the years, war and civil strife have helped to divert the resources and energies of many ESCWA members from their development objectives.

AFTER UN-BROKERED DEAL, RIVAL AFGHAN FACTIONS BEGIN WITHDRAWAL

The UN Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that rival factions in northern Afghanistan, Jamiat and Jumbesh, have withdrawn 50 percent of their troops in Maimana, the provincial capital of Faryab to the outskirts of the city. This follows an agreement with a 24-hour implementation deadline that was brokered by UNAMA and signed by the two factions. The two factions began fighting last week.

UNAMA is monitoring the withdrawal of troops from the city and will also be involved in registering all collected weapons later. As city life gradually returns to normal since the ceasefire on Wednesday, civilians are back on the streets and in particular children - on their way back to school.

Also in Afghanistan, a three-day immunization campaign against polio, the leading cause of disability in country, is poised to start across the country tomorrow. This nationwide operation is led by the Afghan Ministry of Health, with the support of the UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). In this first round of the campaign for 2003, the goal is to reach more than 6 million children, from newborns to five-year-olds.

ECOSOC, BRETTON WOODS INSTITUTIONS DISCUSS FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT

This morning, the Economic and Social Council met with leaders of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Trade Organization (WTO) to take stock of how the consensus developed at last years Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development is being implemented.

Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette addressed the meeting on the Secretary-Generals behalf, noting that the recent annual discussions between ECOSOC and the Bretton Woods institutions had contributed to a large degree of convergence in their thinking.

Now, amid serious concerns about the economic impact of the conflict in Iraq and the weak recovery of the world economy from the slowdown of 2001, she added, We must all do our part to rebuild global confidence.

IMF, WORLD BANK REAFFIRM COMMITMENT TO MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

The World Bank and IMF held their spring meetings in Washington over the weekend, and the Development Committee at those talks reaffirmed after the meetings conclusion its commitment to reduce poverty and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

In a closing communiqué, the Development Committee said that slower economic growth, the war in Iraq, and failure to make more substantive progress on the Doha Development Agenda add to the challenge of implementing the global development agenda.

According to a new World Bank report, global poverty can still be cut in half by the year 2015, as called for in the Millennium Goals, if rich countries lower trade barriers and boost foreign aid and poor countries invest more in the health and education of their citizens.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: The Ituri Pacification Commission, under the presidency of the Deputy Special Representative for the Secretary General for the DRC, Behrooz Sadry, has adopted an interim mechanism project for the pacification and the provisional administration of the Ituri region. While awaiting the installation of the transitional government for the political and administrative management of Ituri, a special interim Assembly of 32 members was created.

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT: Africa must take urgent steps to harness the power of modern technologies if it is to effectively deal with the many tough and frustrating developmental challenges that it faces. This is the key message of a recent lecture delivered by K.Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa.

SIGNINGS: This morning Panama became the 26th country to sign the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Criminal Court.

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