United Nations Daily Highlights, 03-04-15

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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

Tuesday, April 15, 2003

ANNAN CONCERNED THAT STATEMENTS ON SYRIA NOT FURTHER DESTABILIZE REGION

In a statement issued through his Spokesman, Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed his concern that recent statements directed at Syria should not contribute to a wider destabilization in a region already affected heavily by the war in Iraq.

The Secretary-General welcomed recent clarifications in this regard, and reiterates his strongly held view that any claim of threats to international peace and security should be addressed in conformity with the provisions of the Charter.

ANNAN DEPLORES "CATASTROPHIC" LOSSES TO IRAQ'S CULTURAL HERITAGE

In statement issued through his Spokesman today, Secretary-General deplored the catastrophic losses to Iraq's cultural heritage that have occurred in recent days and weeks.

He urged the Iraqi people to do what they can to restore that invaluable heritage by returning any looted items, and calls on the coalition authorities to act immediately to prevent further losses by protecting Iraq's archaeological and religious sites, museums and other cultural institutions.

He also joined the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in calling on the authorities of countries bordering Iraq, international police, customs organizations and leading actors in the art market to join forces with UNESCO in the work to prevent trade in stolen Iraqi objects. He noted that Iraq's cultural treasures bear witness to an invaluable legacy for all humanity, and their loss is a wound inflicted on all humankind.

In other news on Iraqi culture, UNESCO announced today that 30 experts from Iraq and other countries will meet in Paris on Thursday 17 April to attempt a preliminary evaluation of the state of Iraqs heritage. As soon as conditions permit, UNESCO will send a preliminary mission to Iraq to assess the state of conservation of the museums, monuments and main heritage sites.

SEVERE AND DISTURBING HEALTH PROBLEMS EXIST IN PARTS OF IRAQ

Information gathered by assessment teams from the World Health Organization shows that severe and disturbing problems exist in many parts of Iraq. The most urgent health issues are the lack of security for health staff, patients and supplies; shortage of clean water and electricity; shortage of money to meet the costs of running hospitals, as well as the expenses of doctors, nurses and other hospital staff; and shortages or impending shortages of particular medicines and other medical supplies.

The World Food Programme says it is scaling up the loading of trucks and lining up convoys in Iran, Jordan and Turkey. The agency is hoping to bring enough food into Iraq to continue the ongoing food distributions in the north and restart distribution in the South and Center before the end of the month.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the United Nations should be re-establishing a permanent international presence in Iraq today. A UN flight from Larnaca, Cyprus, carrying around 30 international staff, would be flying into Erbil for an assessment mission in the three northern governorates, and the United Nations was waiting for an air corridor. The objective of the mission is to assess the humanitarian situation and prepare for full operations concerning food distribution, essential services like health, water and electricity, support to internally displaced persons and de-mining. UN humanitarian missions had commenced in Safwan, Umm Kayaal and Al Zubair in the south yesterday. Overall, priorities included water and electricity and medical supplies.

OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAMME IDENTIFIES $395 MILLION IN GOODS TO REACH IRAQ

An ongoing review of priority items in the Oil-for-Food pipeline for Iraq has so far identified $395 million worth of supplies that are shippable within the 45-day timeline adopted last month by the UN Security Council.

Most of the goods confirmed with 137 suppliers are in the food ($181.7 million), agriculture ($103.8 million) and health ($46.1 million) sectors. Most were already in transit at the onset of the war and will be routed to strategic locations in Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait and Iran for transhipment to Iraq.

Starting with a primary list of 526 contracts, the United Nations found that the most common reason for suppliers dropping off the list was their inability to meet the Councils shipping timeline.

SANCTIONS AGAINST AL QAEDA, COTE D'IVOIRE ON SECURITY COUNCIL AGENDA

On the agenda of Security Council consultations this morning was a briefing by Ambassador Juan Gabriel Valdes of Chile, Chairman of the Committee on sanctions against Taliban and Al Qaeda. Michael Chandler, Chairman of the Monitoring Group, also attended the consultations and was available to answer Council members questions.

The briefing was held in accordance with Resolution 1455, which calls on the Committee chairman to report orally at least every 90 days on the work of the Committee and the Monitoring Group on those sanctions.

mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: In a press statement read out by Security Council President,mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: Ambassador Adolfo Aguilar Zinser of Mexico said mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: the Council remains convinced that the implementation of the arms embargo, assets freeze and travel ban against individuals and entities associated with the Taliban and al-Qaida by all Member States is an important component in the fight against terrorism

In the afternoon, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Cote dIvoire, Albert Tevoedjre, is scheduled to brief the Council in consultations.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL ADDRESSES AFRICAN CAPITAL MARKETS FORUM

Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette went this morning to the financial district in downtown New York, to attend the second day of a two-day forum on Africas stock exchanges. In her speech to the forum, she passed on a short a message from the Secretary-General highlighting the need for Africa to show the real progress that is being made on the continent each day.

The Secretary-General, in his message, said it has never been easy to draw the worlds attention to investment opportunities in Africa, a challenge that has been made even more difficult by the situation in Iraq, which has monopolized media attention, diplomatic energies and much else for many months now, and looks likely to do so for some time to come.

The Deputy Secretary-General added that the African Capital Markets Forum underway in downtown New York, which brings together key people involved in African, American and European capital markets, is a source of great encouragement.

She said that, as we move forward, there is a template for action, in the form of the Millennium Development Goals, and she added that the United Nations is eager to do its part to support investment in Africa. We have copies of that speech upstairs.

The Forum that is underway today was organized jointly by the UN Development Programme and the African Stock Exchanges Association, in collaboration with the New York Stock Exchange, to draw attention to the steps taken to make African stock exchanges more efficient, accessible, trustworthy and attractive to foreign investors. A new UNDP handbook on African stock markets will be distributed at the Forum.

MALLOCH BROWN CONFIRMED FOR ANOTHER FOUR YEARS AS HEAD OF UNDP

Mark Malloch Brown was confirmed by the General Assembly today for a second consecutive four-year term as Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Since taking office in 1999, Malloch Brown has overseen a comprehensive reform that has been widely recognized as making UNDP more focused, efficient and effective across the 166 countries where it works. His efforts have included a major push to expand UN support to developing countries in areas such as democratic governance and using information and communications technology to support development.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

ITALIAN WOMAN WINS NANSEN REFUGEE AWARD FOR WORK IN SOMALIA: For her 33year solo campaign to help Somalis many of them returned refugees and displaced persons UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers today announced that Annalena Tonelli, a 60yearold Italian woman, has been selected as this year's recipient of the Nansen Refugee Award. The award, named after Fridtjof Nansen the worldfamous Norwegian polar explorer and the world's first international refugee official was created in 1954 to honour individuals or organizations that have distinguished themselves in work on behalf of refugees.

UN EXPRESSES SUPPORT FOR ITURI PACIFICATION COMMISSION: In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the DRC, Amos Namanga Ngongi, together with a delegation of the permanent and three non-permanent members of the Security Council, as well as Belgium, on behalf of the international community, expressed their support for the for the Ituri Pacification Commission yesterday. Ngongi recalled the continuous interest in the situation of Ituri of the Secretary General, and his close engagement to support the pacification process to the end. I can assure you that the pacification efforts of MONUC [UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo] will go hand in hand with your engagement.

UN BUDGET: Spain became the 73rd Member State to pay its 2003 regular budget contribution in full with a payment of more than $34 million.