United Nations Daily Highlights, 03-04-29

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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 29, 2003

ANNAN HOPES FOR PROGRESS ON UN ROLE IN IRAQ

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, on entering the building this morning, was asked about the meeting yesterday in Baghdad bringing together Iraqi political factions, and said that he had not received a full report on the meeting, and had not sent an observer to the meeting because Security Council discussions about a UN role in Iraq were still going on.

He said the process of determining an Iraqi government was at an early phase, adding, As we move down the line, I hope there will be an understanding which would allow the UN to play an effective role in the process.

The Secretary-General said he would be meeting with the Security Council this week, and that he hoped there would be progress in the not-too-distant future on clarifying the UN role in Iraq, as well as other issues such as sanctions and the oil-for-food program.

Asked about European efforts in Iraq, he noted offers by European leaders to make hospital beds in Europe available for Iraqi children, and he added that the European Union has wanted to cooperate more effectively on the ground with the United Nations and has been consistent in its support of a UN role in Iraq.

UN INCREASES FOOD DELIVERIES TO IRAQ

The World Food Programme (WFP) announced today, during the regular UN humanitarian briefing in Amman, the opening of a fifth humanitarian corridor for food supplies. A 22-truck convoy entered into southern Iraq from Kuwait this morning. The convoy carried 880 metric tons of wheat flour - enough to provide 100,000 people with their flour rations for a whole month. This load will be delivered to Nassariya. There are about 2,000 food and flour agents in that city.

An assessment of the situation over the weekend had shown that household stocks were unlikely to last beyond the first week of May.

WFP has been running almost daily convoys from Jordan, Turkey and Syria over the past few days. Northern Iraq is now back to the pre-war food security levels, while daily convoys are rolling into Mosul as of last week.

In communities where water service has been lost completely as a result of the war, the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) has trucked in millions of gallons of clean water and set up community water stations at hospitals and health centres. An average of 20 water tankers organized by UNICEF cross into Iraq from Kuwait every day. Positive results have been seen in a decline of diarrhoea cases in some health centers.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is sending three large trucks, loaded with tonnes of supplies, from Amman to Baghdad today. These include 40 emergency health kits. Each kit serves 10 000 people for three months, so this delivery will help serve the urgent health needs of 400 000 Iraqi people until the end of July.

MORE $500 MILLION OF GOODS "SHIPPABLE"TO IRAQ FROM OIL PROCEEDS

The value of priority goods and supplies that can be shipped to Iraq from the Oil-for-Food pipeline within the new 3 June timeline offered by Security Council resolution 1476 (2003), reached $548.6 million this week.

The increased value of shippable items from last weeks total of $455 million was directly related to the extension of time granted to suppliers under the new resolution.

UNESCO TO SEND EXPERT TEAM TO BAGHDAD TO ASSESS CULTURAL DAMAGE

The Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Koïchiro Matsuura, said today he would send a mission of eight high-level experts to Iraq as soon as possible.

The announcement came in a message delivered on his behalf at the meeting of international experts to save Iraqi museums and cultural property taking place in London. The mission will make a preliminary assessment of the state of Iraqi heritage and identify immediate actions that can be taken.

Matsuura also called for the creation of a database, as soon as possible, combining all of the archives, lists and inventories relating to Iraqi heritage. The database would enable customs and police authorities and art dealers to identify the status of objects and facilitate the return of stolen items to Iraq.

ECOSOC FILLS 24 VACANCIES ON HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is voting today to fill 24 vacancies that open up next year on the 53-member UN Human Rights Commission, and, so far, 23 countries have been voted in to new three-year terms on the Commission.

Fifteen countries won new terms by acclamation, including, from Africa Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mauritania and South Africa; from Eastern Europe Hungary and Russia; and from Latin America and the Caribbean Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras and Peru.

Secret ballots were held to determine the winners in Asia and Western Europe, and, so far, eight countries won seats: in Western Europe Britain, Italy and the Netherlands; and in Asia Bhutan, India, Nepal, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. One more Asian seat still needs to be decided.

SECURITY COUNCIL HOLDS OPEN DEBATE ON COTE DIVOIRE

This afternoon, the Security Council will hold a public meeting, followed by a closed meeting, on Cote d'Ivoire, at which the Secretary-General is scheduled to speak.

The Secretary-General, as he did in his most recent report on Cote DIvoire, is expected appeal for the urgent, necessary financial and logistical support for the troops from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in that country.

In addition, the foreign ministers from Cote DIvoire, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria and Senegal, along with ECOWAS Executive Secretary Mohammed ibn Chambas, are on the speakers list.

The back-to-back meetings on Cote dIvoire will be held in the Security Council Chamber.

Those meetings will follow a vote at 3:30 p.m. on a draft resolution forwarding the names of 35 nominees for "ad litem" judges for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to the General Assembly.

UN APPEALS FOR $85 MILLION IN URGENT AID FOR COTE DIVOIRE

In Abidjan today, Carolyn McAskie, the Secretary-General's Humanitarian Envoy for the Crisis in Côte d'Ivoire, launched the UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal to meet basic humanitarian needs in Côte d'Ivoire and five neighbouring countries.

UN agencies are appealing for some $85 million to respond urgently to the immediate needs of an estimated three million vulnerable war-affected people in Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali and Ghana, for the remainder of 2003.

According to McAskie, "The donor community...must shake off its image of Côte d'Ivoire as a relatively stable country which happens to be undergoing a political crisis. There are major humanitarian needs, which must be addressed immediately. Even if all parties agree without further delay to implement a comprehensive political settlement, it could take up to a year to repair the immediate impact, and several years to make up for the economic losses suffered. Some losses will never be regained."

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says it is gradually re-establishing presence in the remote areas of Liberia, close to the border with Côte d'Ivoire, where tens of thousands of people had been cut off from humanitarian aid for two months.

DEPUTY SG SAYS UN WORK WITH CIVIL SOCIETY IS NECESSITY

This morning, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette attended a symposium entitled The United Nations Security Council and Civil Society: The Evolving Agenda and Partnership.

In her remarks to the Symposium, which was jointly organized by International Peace Academy and the Government of Mexico, Deputy Secretary-General emphasized the important role that civil society organizations can play in preventing as well as resolving conflicts, as well as in post-conflict peace-building. Partnership between the UN and civil society is not a luxury - it is a necessity," she said.

UNITED NATION, EUROPEAN UNION SIGN AGREEMENT ON CLOSER COOPERATION

The Deputy Secretary-General signed a framework agreement on financial and administrative matters with Poul Neilsen, the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid.

Todays agreement is significant in that it simplifies the procedures and rules, including the reporting requirements, in the relationship between the United Nations and the European Union, and provides for closer cooperation between the two bodies.

The Secretary-General, speaking to reporters this morning, said that todays agreement will improve considerably our operational relationship with the European Union.

WHO REMOVES VIETNAM FROM SARS LIST

The World Health Organization has officially removed Viet Nam from the list of affected areas, making it the first country to successfully contain its outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS. The change in Viet Nams status is due to the fact that there have been no new cases detected in two consecutive 10-day incubation periods. WHO still believes Viet Nam should maintain a high level of alert since even a single new case of SARS could spark another outbreak.

WHO stresses the importance of sustained international cooperation in the battle against SARS and welcomes the unprecedented efforts of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to coordinate and standardize their campaigns against SARS. Today the heads of government of ASEAN met in Bangkok to endorse a set of procedures to jointly combat SARS.

The latest statistics available indicate a total of 5,050 probable SARS cases with 321 deaths reported from 26 countries.

ENFORCEMENT IS NOT ENOUGH TO COMBAT HUMAN TRAFFICKING

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers today warned that stricter border controls and a crackdown on criminal networks alone would not be enough to combat people smuggling and trafficking.

He said finding lasting solutions for refugees must also be part of any global effort to fight crime

His remarks were made at a Conference on People Smuggling, Trafficking and Related Transitional Crime held on the Indonesian Island of Bali.

Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

United Nations, S-378

New York, NY 10017

Tel. 212-963-7162 - press/media only

Fax. 212-963-7055

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

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article