United Nations Daily Highlights, 03-07-24

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From: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY FRED ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Thursday, July 24, 2003

On Friday, July 25, the regularly-scheduled noon briefing will take place at 11:45 a.m., so that, at noon, the Secretary-General can launch the Commission on the Private Sector and Development.

UN STAFF IN LIBERIA REPORT WORSENING HUMANITARIAN CONDITIONS

UN national staff working in Liberia report that, with fighting continuing in Monrovia, the situation in the capital is getting worse.

A water supply station at White Plains was destroyed, leaving virtually the entire city of one million people without clean water.

Humanitarian agencies are calling on rebel and Government forces to stop fighting long enough to allow for the water supply station at White Plains to be repaired. If the clean water supply is not quickly restored, lethal diseases such as cholera will spread quickly.

SECURITY COUNCIL TO DISCUSS LIBERIA, DR CONGO

At 3:00 this afternoon, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Liberia, Jacques Klein, will brief the Security Council on the situation in that country, in closed consultations.

Following the consultations on Liberia, Mahmoud Kassem, Chairman of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is scheduled to give an interim briefing on his panels work.

In its consultations, the Council also plans to discuss the follow-up to the recent missions that the Security Council sent to Central and West Africa.

UN CONGO MISSION CONDEMNS KILLING OF CIVILIANS NEAR BUNIA

The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo condemned the killing of civilians in Nizi, 40 kilometers north of Bunia, where 22 people, including women and children, were brutally murdered. The Mission has sent out a reconnaissance team to assess the situation.

The Mission also said that preparations are continuing for the deployment of Task Force 2 in Ituri, with the arrival, in Bunia, of Bangladeshi Blue Helmets. Helicopters of the Indian army, due to back the Missions armed units, are being assembled at this moment in Kisangani. Troops from Nepal, Pakistan and Indonesia, as well as a Ghanaian medical unit, are also expected in Bunia.

PRIORITY OIL-FOR-FOOD DELIVERIES WORTH $2.1 BILLION

According to the Office of the Iraq Programme, the total value of goods and supplies prioritized for delivery to Iraq following consultations with the Coalition Provisional Authority, Iraqi representatives and UN agencies reached $2.1 billion this week with the addition of 64 food and three oil sector contracts.

Also, some $57 million worth of goods and supplies stranded at Iraqs borders by the onset of war on March 17 have been safely delivered into the country. The contracted items range from table salt and medicines to irrigation systems, lumber and electrical transformers.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Ramiro Lopes da Silva, returned from a three-day visit to Erbil, in northern Iraq, where met with local officials, representatives of the Coalition Provisional Authority and UN agencies to discuss the phase out of the oil-for-food program, which has to be completed by November 21.

Meanwhile, during the weekly humanitarian briefing in Baghdad, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said it was responding to an urgent request from Iraqs Agriculture Ministry for supplies of fungicide for the winter crops. It is estimated that 80 percent of the countrys winter grain crop is at risk.

The UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) notes that since the war, Iraq has seen a dramatic increase in the number of children living on the streets of the capital. Street children are a new and growing phenomenon in Iraq. Working with non-governmental organizations and Iraqs Labour and Social Affairs ministry, UNICEF has opened a drop in center for street children where they have access to food and sanitary facilities and are also given the opportunity to speak to a social worker. The agency is working on collecting reliable data on these children.

Asked about the photographs being displayed today, purportedly of Uday and Qusai Hussein, the Spokesman said that he had seen them on television, but was unaware of whether any UN personnel was studying them. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had no reaction to them, he added.

ANNAN NOTES CALM ALONG LEBANESE-ISRAELI BLUE LINE

The Secretary-Generals latest report to the Security Council on the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) says that, with the last violent exchange across the Blue Line occurring almost six months ago, this has been the longest period of relative calm since Israel withdrew three years ago after twenty-two years of occupation.

However, the most significant source of tensions along the Line remains the persistent Israeli air violations of Lebanese airspace and the Hezbollah anti-aircraft fire directed towards Israeli villages.

Concerning the presence of Lebanese security forces in the South, the Secretary-General notes that, while their overall numbers have not augmented, their activities and profile has increased.

UN demining work in southern Lebanon is also on the increase, in collaboration with the Lebanese Government and various outside donors. One initiative of note is the trees instead of mines campaign, which has led to the planting of 30,000 trees in areas that used to be minefields.

The Secretary-General recommends to the Security Council that the Forces mandate be renewed for a further six months, until January 31, 2004.

UN ENVOY FOR AFGHANISTAN STRESSES SECURITY OUTSIDE KABUL

Lakhdar Brahimi, the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Afghanistan, met with the North Atlantic Council Ambassadors Wednesday in Brussels. Brahimi told Council members that security was fundamental for Afghanistan and that it would be addressed in the long run by the reform and strengthening of Afghan security structures. However, in the interim, he said, the support of the international community was necessary for security outside Kabul.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today that Afghanistan is about to harvest it biggest wheat crop in two decades, due in part to help from FAO.

This years harvest is expected to amount to more than 4 million tons. The country, where 85 per cent of the population depends on agriculture and chronic under-nutrition remains a major problem, will still need to import an estimated one million tons of wheat.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

NEW HEDGES INSTALLED OUTSIDE HEADQUARTERS: Asked about construction activity outside UN Headquarters today, the Spokesman said that new hedges are going in at the fountain surrounding Barbara Hepworths sculpture near the entrance.

HUMAN RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR TO VISIT ROMANIA: The Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on freedom of religion or belief, Abdelfattah Amor, will visit Romania from September 7 to 13 at the invitation of the Government of Romania.

TREATY SIGNING: The Prime Minister of Côte dIvoire, Seydou Diarra, will sign the World Health Organizations Framework Convention on Tobacco Control today.