United Nations Daily Highlights, 03-07-29

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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

Tuesday, July 29, 2003

On Wednesday, at 1:00 p.m., the Secretary-General will give his mid-year press conference. There will be no noon briefing, although the Highlights will be posted as usual. UN LAUNCHES APPEALS FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA, ZIMBABWE

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today launched a one-year Regional Consolidated Appeal of $530 million for Southern Africa (Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi) to provide life-saving assistance for 6.5 million people severely weakened by consecutive failed harvests, extreme poverty and HIV/AIDS.

In addition to food aid, the 12-month appeal also seeks to fund water and sanitation, agriculture, education and health projects in order to strengthen long-term development.

ANNAN OPENS UN MEETING WITH REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Secretary-General Kofi Annan this morning opened the fifth high-level meeting between the United Nations and the worlds main regional organizations, telling them that the worlds increasing interdependence also brings great vulnerability, as borders cannot easily stop the movements of terrorists, warlords, small arms, refugees, narcotics, diseases or other hazards.

Meanwhile, he added, the question of when, and on whose authority, military forces should be used arouses great passions, not only in those States where force is deployed, but everywhere.

He told the organizations gathered today and Wednesday for the high-level meeting, We must remember that we are all in this together. Let us not add to our burdens by descending into unproductive polarizing over our differences.

The Secretary-General emphasized that the worlds institutions need to keep pace with changes; that we must be pro-active not only in dealing against common threats but also against the factors that allow them to thrive; and that we must all promote the principles enshrined in the UN Charter.

If we build on these fundamentals, I believe we can develop a new vision of global security, which would respect human rights while confronting the threat of terrorism, he said.

UN: MORE LIBERIANS DISPLACED AFTER FALL OF BUCHANAN TO REBELS

With the capture of Liberias second-largest city, Buchanan, by rebel forces, thousands more Liberians have been displaced, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance says. The United Nations has received reports that more than 50 thousand people are moving towards Harbel, around the Roberts International Airport, which is some 50 kilometers east of the capital, Monrovia.

The fighting in Monrovia is overwhelming health facilities, with nearly all energy devoted to treating the wounded.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says that rebel fighting has spread to another camp on the outskirts of Monrovia, in the Samukai area, which housed more than 3,500 Sierra Leonean refugees, many of whom have now fled. Some local UNHCR staff living in the area also fled their homes.

UNHCR TO BRING IRAQI REFUGEES HOME FROM SAUDI ARABIA

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says that it expects the first convoy of refugees returning to Iraq since the fall of the previous Government to leave Saudi Arabia's Rafha camp this evening. More than 240 Iraqis will be leaving in the convoy, which is expected to cross into southern Iraq early Wednesday morning. The convoy will make its way to Basra, in southern Iraq, through Kuwait.

UNHCR expects more than 3,600 refugees to leave the camp and return to Iraq before the end of the year in convoys set to depart from Rafha at 10-day intervals.

As the situation in Iraq improves, more refugees will be seeking to go back with UNHCR assistance. Of the approximately 1 million Iraqi refugees and other people of concern to UNHCR worldwide, as many as 500,000 could seek help to return to Iraq, with significant numbers expected in 2004.

Weekly meetings of UN and Iraqi experts and the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq have so far produced a list of prioritized contracts under the oil for food program, valued at almost $2.5 billion, that are for early delivery to Iraq.

The Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, held discussions today with Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and a member of the Iraqi Governing Council.

Among other issues, they discussed the work of the Council, its negotiations on appointing its leadership, the processes being contemplated to move forward in drafting the Constitution, and the technical assistance the UN can provide to the Council on a number of fronts, including the preparation for and holding of elections.

SECURITY COUNCIL BRIEFED ON WORK OF AL-QAEDA COMMITTEE

The Security Council today held an open meeting on the work of the Committee dealing with the sanctions imposed under Resolution 1267 on al-Qaeda, the Taliban and associated individuals and entities, during which it heard a briefing by the Committees Chairman, Ambassador Heraldo Muņoz of Chile.

He said that the Committee has improved its consolidated list of individuals associated with al-Qaeda and the Taliban in recent months, and he strongly encouraged States to provide any additional information for inclusion in that list.

ANNAN GIVES SECURITY COUNCIL LETTER ON TRIBUNAL PROSECUTOR

Asked about whether the Secretary-General has decided to split the post of prosecutor for the two international tribunals, the Spokesman said he could not comment on the contents of the letter the Secretary-General sent the Security Council today on that subject.

He noted, however, that the Secretary-General Monday told reporters, There is a sense that as we approach the end, and both tribunals are being asked to come up with a completion strategy to be able to finish their work, and close down the courts, it may be necessary to have two Prosecutors to tackle that essential part of their work.

The trial of Sylvestre Gacumbitsi, the former Mayor of Rusomo Commune, began today at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, with prosecutors charging that the accused is guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity, for extermination, murder and rape. The court heard from a former BBC journalist who was in Rwanda in 1994 and described the many dead bodies he saw at the time.

UNHCR ASSISTS RETURN OF AFGHANS FROM PAKISTAN, IRAN

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has assisted more than 300,000 Afghan refugees to return home this year from Pakistan and Iran. More than 50,000 other refugees have been spontaneously repatriated from Iran over the same period. UNHCR believes there were 1.1 million Afghan refugees in Iran and 1.2 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan at the start of this year.

UNHCR said that despite ongoing security problems in parts of Afghanistan and tremendous economic needs, Afghan refugees are still going back in significant numbers. Each returning family receives a UNHCR aid package and food from the World Food Programme.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE PREPARES DIGEST ON RIGHTS AND TERRORISM: The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has just finalized a digest that compiles the findings of judicial and quasi-judicial bodies of the United Nations and regional organizations on the issue of the protection of human rights in the context of measures against terrorism. The digest is intended to assist policy makers and other concerned parties in developing a vision of counter-terrorism strategies that uphold legal and human rights obligations and help to bring the perpetrators of terrorist acts to justice.

UNICEF AND MANCHESTER UNITED TO TEAM UP: This afternoon at 3:00, Nane Annan will deliver a message on behalf of the Secretary-General at an event bringing together the United Nations Childrens Fund and the Manchester United football club: a soccer clinic to celebrate Manchester Uniteds commitment to UNICEF through the United4UNICEF partnership, which raised over $1.5 million for ending child exploitation. The Secretary-General is expected to drop by.

WHO TO STEP UP EFFORTS AGAINST POLIO: Director-General Jong-Wook Lee of the World Health Organization today announced his plans to rapidly step up WHOs effort to eradicate polio worldwide. From the end of August to December, the key polio-endemic countries would conduct mass immunization campaigns aimed at reaching a total of 175 million children in India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Egypt, which together accounted for 99 percent of new cases of polio.

WFP LAUNCHES APPEAL FOR UGANDA: The World Food Programme today has launched an appeal for $54 million in food aid to help 1.6 million Ugandans, who have been displaced by the 17-year civil war in the northeast.

MEDIA FORUM TO TAKE PLACE IN DECEMBER: Media leaders and international policy makers will take part in a landmark meeting to be broadcast worldwide this December from Geneva, the World Electronic Media Forum, to discuss the role the media plays in issues ranging from violence to development. The forum is being organized by the Department of Public Information, together with Switzerland and the European Broadcasting Union, from December 9 to 11.

UN CAFETERIA: Asked why Aramark replaced Restaurant Associates as the caterer of the UN Cafeteria, the Spokesman said it was because it had won out in the competitive bidding for the contract.