United Nations Daily Highlights, 03-07-14

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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, July 14, 2003

SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS PRESIDENT BUSH IN WASHINGTON

Secretary-General Kofi Annan this morning left New York for Washington, where he met with President George W. Bush in the early afternoon.

Shortly after arriving in Washington, he met at the State Department with Secretary of State Colin Powell. Following that meeting, he spoke briefly to reporters and said that he hoped that the discussions in Washington today would be helpful to the Liberian process and that, in the not too distant future, the President would take a decision which I hope will bring happiness to lots of people in the region.

He was also asked about a document that had claimed that Iraq was attempting to buy uranium from Niger, and he noted that the issue had been discussed in the Security Council and that International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei had told the Council that the document was fraudulent, after which the Council dropped the matter.

The Secretary-General in the morning also held a meeting with leaders of the US Senate, including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Following that meeting, he told reporters that an Iraq that was stable and at peace with its neighbors was in the interests of Iraqis and of neighboring countries.

He then met with President Bush and his senior advisors, after which both men spoke to the press and noted their discussions on Liberia and Iraq, among other issues. The Secretary-General said, on Iraq, that the United Nations was encouraged to see the formation of a Governing Council on Sunday. On Liberia, he said, "I'm satisfied with the discussions we've had and the approach the US Government is taking," adding that the United Nations and United States had largely agreed to a general approach on the Liberian issue.

In addition to his meeting with President Bush, the Secretary-General also had appointments today with US Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, and with several other members of the Senate and House of Representatives. He will return to New York this evening.

ANNAN URGES REBELS TO RELEASE FORMER COLOMBIAN OFFICIAL

On the second anniversary of the kidnapping of Alan Jara, former governor of the Department of Meta, from a UN vehicle in Colombia, the Secretary-General in a statement reiterated his call on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to release Jara immediately. The FARC is responsible for Jaras physical well-being and should provide proof that he is alive to his family, which has wrongly suffered his forced absence.

The Secretary-General urgently appealed to the FARC and others to release all those kidnapped and to stop this inhumane practice. It is a gross violation of human rights and international humanitarian law that has inflicted terrible suffering on the Colombian people.

UN ENVOY WELCOMES INAUGURATION OF IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL

The Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was invited to attend the inaugural meeting of the Iraqi Governing Council, which convened at its new Headquarters in central Baghdad on Sunday.

De Mello was invited by the Chair of the Governing Council, the Shia clergyman Mohammed Bahr ul-Uloom, to say a few words at the inauguration. He told the 25 members that the Secretary-General commended the members of the Governing Council for the courage they were demonstrating in assuming this heavy responsibility. He added that the UN was working closely with the Coalition Provisional Authority and would spare no effort to support Council to ensure its success.

In a statement read at the press conference, Vieira de Mello said the creation of the Council marked the first major development towards the restoration of Iraqs rightful status as a fully sovereign state and brings the country one step closer towards fulfilling the explicit wish of the Security Council which, in resolution 1483, resolved that the day when Iraqis govern themselves must come quickly.

On Saturday, Vieira de Mello had traveled to Taif in Saudi Arabia to meet with Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz. As part of his continuing consultations with Iraqs neighbors, he will travel to Damascus on Tuesday and then to Iran later in the week.

The World Food Programme says it is alarmed by the rise in security incidents affecting its food aid operation in Iraq over the past month. The agency has registered an increase in shootings, looting of storage facilities and attacks on trucks bringing food into southern Iraq. Since June 10, there have been at least 12 incidents of looting and shooting in or near these facilities.

Asked about Vieira de Mellos comments and the United Nations views about the status of the Governing Council, the Spokeswoman said that it would be up to the members of the Security Council to address the question of whether the Council was equivalent to the Iraqi Interim Administration as mentioned in Resolution 1483.

UN ENVOYS HEAD BACK TO LIBERIA OVER WEEKEND

Over the weekend, the Secretary-Generals Representative for Liberia, Abou Moussa, and Resident Coordinator Marc de Bernis returned to the capital, Monrovia. In a letter to the Security Council last week, the Secretary-General had said he was sending the two back to Monrovia, to assist in preparations for the return to Liberia of UN and associated personnel.

The World Food Programme last Friday warned of a growing food crisis in Liberia, saying that hundreds of thousands of displaced people in camps outside Monrovia will soon face starvation if a peaceful solution is not reached immediately. Arnold Vercken, WFPs Deputy Director for West Africa, said, Our trucks are loaded and ready to go, but we have no guarantees of security.

SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES DRAWDOWN OF SIERRA LEONE MISSION

The Security Council today held consultations on Sierra Leone, to discuss the latest report by the Secretary-General on the UN Mission in that country, in which he presented the Council with three options for drawing down the UN peacekeeping presence.

The Council received a briefing on the report from Dmitri Titov, Director of the Africa Division in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, who outlined the three drawdown options, under which the troops in the Sierra Leone Mission currently numbering just over 13,000 would be withdrawn completely either by June 2004; by June 2005; or by the end of 2004. The Secretary-General recommends that the Council adopt the third option, ending the UN presence in Sierra Leone by December 2004.

FRECHETTE MEETS INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION

Deputy Secretary-General Louis Fréchette today met with the International Civil Service Commission, representatives of the organizations of the common system and UN staff representatives during the 57th session of the Commission.

In her remarks, she welcomed the recommendations and proposals made by the Commission to modernize human resources management and to create new, results-oriented organizational cultures that promote high performance, continuous learning and managerial excellence for the international civil service of the United Nations.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

ACTING RIGHTS CHIEF WELCOMES PROGRESS ON WOMENS RIGHTS: Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan welcomed the decision taken at last weeks African Union summit to strengthen womens rights in Africa by adopting a protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.

TREATY SIGNING: Today Germany will sign the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Criminal Court.

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