United Nations Daily Highlights, 03-04-16

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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

Wednesday, April 16, 2003

ANNAN DISCUSSES POSTWAR IRAQ WITH EUROPEAN LEADERS

In Athens today, Secretary-General Kofi Annan had a busy schedule of bilateral meetings with leaders gathered for the European Conference, which he will address on Thursday.

In the morning, he met first with Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson, saying afterward that the two had discussed how the international community would deal with post-conflict Iraq and the need to press ahead with the Middle East road map.

In a press encounter afterward, the Secretary-General stressed that European leaders are strongly behind the United Nations, adding, The main thing is we should heal the divisions, and we are going to try to do our best to heal them in the UN, and I am sure it will be done here, too.

After visiting UN staff in Athens and thanking them for their fine team work, the Secretary-General then met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and again, they discussed post-conflict Iraq, with the Secretary-General emphasizing the need for the Security Council to assess the tasks that need to be done and the capacity of different organizations to perform them. The UN role could then be considered in concrete terms.

He also urged the coalition partners to share their strategic vision with other members of the Security Council, which he hoped would deal with Iraq in a unified way.

The Secretary-General told reporters afterward that he and Prime Minister Blair are confident they will be able to work with other leaders, including those in the region, and with Security Council members to find a way forward.

The meeting on Iraq with Blair was then followed by others with Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar, and then with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Belgium, Guy Verhofstadt and Louis Michel, who also discussed the peace process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Secretary-General discussed Iraq further with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller.

The Secretary-General is also scheduled to meet with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. That meeting is to be followed by one with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Asked how the divisions in the Security Council can be healed, the Spokeswoman said the idea was that the leaders meeting in Athens should concentrate first on what they can agree upon, including principles for post-conflict Iraq and humanitarian operations, before dealing with other issues. She said the Secretary-General shared the belief expressed by his Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, that in order to go fast, you have to go slow.

UNICEF WARNS OF FEVER OUTBREAK IN SOUTHERN IRAQ

The UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) said there has been an outbreak in southern Iraq of a waterborne disease known as Blackwater Fever.

A UNICEF spokesman, at a briefing in Amman, said the agency was told by the Iraqi Refugee Aid Council that there were more than 170 cases in Amarah, Nasariya and As Zubeir. The ages of the victims are not known, but Blackwater Fever can be fatal, and children under five are the most vulnerable to contracting it. The disease spread mainly by sand-flies -- causes malnutrition and anaemia. Some cases of the disease had been reported before the war in other areas. On Tuesday, UNICEF was able to send vials of medicines to Nasariya and it hopes to do the same in Amarah on Thursday.

From the north, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that a preliminary assessment of health facilities in Mosul shows that hospitals were partially looted and are now operating at 50 percent capacity. WHO national staff continue to visit the major hospitals in Baghdad in order to assess, prioritize and rapidly meet the most urgent needs.

The first oil-for-food shipment since the adoption of resolution 1472 arrived in Kuwait late last week. Some 50,000 tons were delivered and part of the delivery was immediately offloaded for milling into flour. The World Food Programme (WFP) will manage surface transportation to warehouses in Iraq. A second similar shipment of wheat is expected at the Jordanian port of Aqaba within days.

Meanwhile WFP continues to ramp up its delivery of food aid by road. Convoys left Amman in Jordan and Kermanshah in Iran are heading towards Baghdad and Sulaymaniah inside Iraq. Another large convoy was scheduled to leave Turkey for Dahuk today.

Farmers in Iraq are in urgent need of spare parts and fuel for combine harvesters and tractors for the upcoming spring harvest, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said today in Rome. FAO

said that the outlook for this year's spring crop, which is the main harvest, is uncertain, following the recent military conflict. A successful harvest would definitely improve access to food and could help stimulate the rural economy, the agency said.

Asked about plans for UN staff to return to Iraq, the Spokeswoman said that so far, because of security concerns, UN international staff could not go back to Iraq except for day trips to some areas. However, she said, a security assessment was being made for northern Iraq, with the hope that international staff could return to the three northern governorates by the end of this week.

ANNAN WELCOMES NEWS OF BEIJING TALKS ON NORTH KOREA

The Secretary-General welcomes reports on the forthcoming multilateral talks involving the United States, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) and China in Beijing. He is encouraged by what he hopes is the beginning of the process that would resolve diplomatically the current crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

The Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy, Maurice Strong, will continue to lend their full support to this process, while concentrating on humanitarian and longer-term development needs of the DPRK.

SECURITY COUNCIL TOLD OF NEED TO STICK TO MIDDLE EAST ROAD MAP

The

Security Council held an open meeting, followed by consultations, on the Middle East.

Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Danilo Turk told

the Security Council that the parties and the international community must be prepared to stay the course on the Road Map, however strewn with obstacles that course may be. The Road Map implementation process will not be easy, Turk said, but its goal -- a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the region -- is too important for the parties to be deterred by early difficulties.

Turk then outlined some of the obstacles, including the cycle of violence which, since the last briefing on the Middle East a month ago, has claimed the lives of 64 Palestinians and five Israelis. Turk also discussed the deteriorating socio-economic situation in the West Bank and Gaza strip.

On the political front, Turk told Council members that new Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen should receive the full active cooperation of the international community as he works to curb terrorism and continue the reform process.

SECURITY COUNCIL TO RECEIVE HUMANITARIAN BRIEFING ON IRAQ

This afternoon at 3:00, the Security Council will hold consultations Burundi, with Berhanu Dinka, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Burundi.

Following those consultations, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette is scheduled to brief the Council on the humanitarian situation in Iraq.

The Security Council President has announced that, next Tuesday, the Council will hold consultations in the morning with Hans Blix, Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) on Iraq weapons inspections, and in the afternoon with Benon Sevan, Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, on the oil-for-food program.

SECURITY COUNCIL CONCERNED ABOUT COTE DIVOIRE VIOLATIONS

Following Tuesday afternoon's consultations on Cote dIvoire, Security Council President, Ambassador Adolfo Aguilar Zinser of Mexico, in a press statement, said Council members expressed their concern about recent violations of the cease-fire in that country.

They also expressed their deep concern at the use of mercenaries, other foreign-armed elements, and forced recruitment, including recruitment of children, and demanded that all parties refrain from these practices immediately.

ANNAN NOTES IMPORTANCE OF STATUS QUESTION TO GEORGIA DISPUTE

The Secretary-General, in his latest report on Abkhazia, Georgia, which is out on the racks today, notes the continued lack of progress on the core political issue of conflict settlement in that area.

The UN Mission in Georgia remains ready to support any initiative to bring the parties closer together, while it continues to encourage the sides to work in parallel on all identified issues, including those concerning political and security matters. The Secretary-General also reminds the parties, particularly the Abkhaz side, that without a satisfactory resolution of the status question, a sustainable settlement is likely to remain elusive.

The report says the UN Mission continued to perform its observation tasks largely unimpeded in recent months, while the situation in the Kodori Valley has remained calm. But the Secretary-General reminds all sides of their responsibilities for the safety and freedom of movement of UN personnel, and calls on them to bring to justice the perpetrators of criminal acts against UN personnel.

SARS CAUSED BY NEWLY-IDENTIFIED CORONAVIRUS

The World Health Organization today gave definitive confirmation that a new pathogen, a member of the coronavirus family never previously seen in humans, is the cause of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS.

Identification of the coronavirus means that scientists can now move towards developing treatments for SARS and for successfully controlling this disease. A test kit has been made available to members of the collaborative network that will allow detection of the distinctive genetic code of the virus.

The WHO team of experts visited military hospitals in Beijing yesterday for the first time. The team has concluded its investigations in Beijing and will present the preliminary report to Chinese health authorities.

Todays statistics indicate a total of 3,293 reported cases worldwide, with 159 deaths, reported in 24 countries.

NEEDED IN LIBERIA: PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS, HUMANITARIAN ACCESS

Carolyn McAskie, the UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, called for all parties in Liberia to ensure that attacks on civilians do not occur and that conditions should be created to allow humanitarian workers safe access to people in need.

McAskie said, Recent attacks on internally displaced persons in Liberia are clear violations of international humanitarian law. All parties to the conflict must ensure that attacks on civilians do not occur. We call on the Government of Liberia to do everything in their power to protect civilians."

Flagging that humanitarian workers have access to only four of Liberias 15 counties, she added, Violence means workers cant get to thousands of people, especially in the northwest and eastern parts of the country, in great need. Conditions should be created for humanitarian workers to safely access areas where people need help.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

DETERIORATION IN RULE OF LAW NOTED IN SWAZILAND: Dato Param Cumaraswamy, the special rapporteur dealing with the independence of judges and lawyers, reiterated his grave concern over the deterioration in the rule of law in Swaziland. Citing the resignation in protest by the countrys High Court Chief Justice and the demotion and impending deportation of other senior legal officials, he contended, The justice system cannot function in this environment of mistrust.

COLLEGE STUDENTS TO GATHER FOR MODEL UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations will host the National Model United Nations Conference this Saturday, which will bring a total of more than 3,500 college students from across the United States and many other countries to UN Headquarters.

UN BUDGET: Afghanistan became the 74th Member State to pay its 2003 regular budget contribution in full, with a payment of more than $13,000.

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