United Nations Daily Highlights, 03-10-01

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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

Wednesday, October 1, 2003

UNITED NATIONS TAKES OVER PEACEKEEPING DUTIES IN LIBERIA

As authorized by Security Council resolution 1509 (2003) of 19 September, today the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) is taking over peacekeeping duties from the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) Mission established earlier in that country (ECOMIL). Some 3,500 West African troops who have been serving with ECOMIL vanguard force have been provisionally re-hatted as United Nations peacekeepers. They will be joined shortly by a battalion from Bangladesh, as UNMIL steadily increases its strength over the coming weeks.

In a statement issued today, the Secretary-General welcomes this very important development and salutes ECOWAS for its role in establishing the security climate that paved the way for the deployment of UNMIL.

He commends the Governments of Benin, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo who have contributed to UNMIL, as well as the United States for its support to the regional force. The new UN mission will observe and monitor the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and investigate violations of the ceasefire; implement the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme; ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid; and protect United Nations staff members as well as civilians under imminent threat of violence.

In the meantime, personnel for the UNMIL Force Headquarters will start their training in Freetown. Pending completion of this exercise, the Standby High Readiness Brigade (SHIRBRIG) will operate the Interim Force Headquarters, together with United Nations military personnel from other operations.

The Secretary-General is confident that UNMIL will be able to contribute in a major way towards the resolution of conflict in Liberia, provided all parties concerned cooperate fully with the force and the international community provides the necessary resources.

The Secretary-Generals Special Representative Jacques Klein and newly appointed Force Commander of the UN mission Lt. Gen. Daniel Opande, presided over the official hand-over ceremony in Monrovia.

Asked about information concerning report of gunfire, the Spokesman said that preliminary reports from the UN mission in Monrovia indicate that there were two incidents. One involved two vehicles belonging to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Health Organization, which were taken away by armed elements. No casualties among UN workers reported.

The second, the Spokesman said, involved an incident when the leader of the rebel group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) Sekou Conneh made his entry into the capital. Stones were thrown. Gunfire was reported. Conneh reportedly returned to Tubmanberg.

UNITED NATIONS CONTINUES ESSENTIAL HUMANITARIAN WORK IN IRAQ

In a press briefing this morning in Baghdad, Kevin Kennedy, the officer in charge of UN operations in Iraq, said that the United Nations remains extremely concerned about the security situation in Iraq.

As everybody today knows, he said, this is a war zone and the conflict affects everybody, principally the Iraqi people who have to live in these conditions.

Nevertheless, Kennedy told journalists that the United Nations remains in Iraq to provide essential humanitarian assistance in a collective effort by the organizations international and national staffs, Iraqi ministries and international and national non-governmental organizations.

Asked about the recent reduction in international staff, Kennedy said that the United Nations has sufficient international and national personnel in country to carry out everything that is an essential humanitarian task. The numbers of international staff country-wide, he added, changes literally on a daily basis depending on the circumstances and the operations that we are carrying out.

In detailing the UNs main activities in Iraq, Kennedy said that through the food distribution system, the World Food Programme (WFP) coordinates the distribution of 500,000 metric tonnes of food per month.

As a point of reference, in Afghanistan, at the peak of the food crisis, WFP was distributing 120-metric tonnes per month. Among, the other activities is the Food and Agricultural Organization involvement in the importation of 600,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer for the coming planting season.

Asked about the Secretary-Generals thoughts on the time line for transition to Iraqi sovereignty and the rehiring of former Baath party members, the Spokesman said negotiations were ongoing within members of the Security Council regarding these issues as part of a possible new draft resolution. What ideas the Secretary-Generals may have on these issues, the Spokesman went on to add, have been made to ministers and members of delegations at the United Nations. The Secretary-General, the Spokesman added, does not wish to bring these into the public arena.

Asked about the number of international staff currently in Iraq, the Spokesman said that as of today was around 30. Asked if the Secretary-General was waiting for a political agreement among Security Council members on Iraqi transition before increasing staff levels in the country, the Spokesman said the security situation was the main factor in judging whether or not international staff returns to Iraq.

U.N. NUCLEAR INSPECTORS TO ARRIVE IN IRAN THURSDAY

A team of senior International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors will arrive in Tehran Thursday to launch an active and intense period of talks and inspections concerning Irans nuclear program.

Speaking to reporters in Vienna today, IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei said the coming weeks would be decisive, with the most important issue being the verification of the nature and extent of Irans nuclear enrichment program.

He also noted the question of the testing of centrifuges, saying, Our experts tell us that testing with nuclear material must have taken place for Iran to reach the stage it has.

UNITED STATES ASSUMES ROTATING PRESIDENCY OF SECURITY COUNCIL

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte assumed the Presidency of the Security Council for October today and is holding bilateral consultations with other Council members on the programme of work for this month.

There are no meetings or consultations of the Security Council as a whole scheduled for today.

The Security Councils monthly lunch with the Secretary-General is scheduled for Thursday, and the first consultations are expected Friday.

U.N. MYANMAR ENVOY MEETS WITH DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI

The Secretary-Generals Special Envoy Razali Ismail met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi today.

A statement is expected Thursday about Razalis trip, which is scheduled to end then.

NEW FIGURES SUGGEST SLUM POPULATION COULD REACH 2 BILLION BY 2030

Using a newly formulated operational definition of slums, the UN Habitat Programme suggests that the numbers of urban slum dwellers could double to 2 billion by 2030.

This Friday, the executive director of the UNHABITAT accompanied by the Secretary-Generals Special Advisor for the Millennium Development Goals, Jeffrey Sachs, will be here for the press launch of the Global Report on Human Settlements: The Slum Challenge.

This book is the first global assessment of slums and emphasizes their problems and prospects; it was written specifically to support the Millennium Development Goal of improving the lives of 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.

The book examines the factors leading to slum formation at all levels and evaluates the main policy responses to the slum challenge of the last few decades.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

COLOMBIA: The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Katarina Tomasevski will be visiting Colombia from 1 to 10 October. The Rapporteur will report on the status of the right to education in Colombia and the difficulties encountered in the implementation of this right. While Colombia has a 92% literacy rate and primary school enrollment is at 90%, the Colombian Government reports that there are still 1.5 million children without access to basic education. The Special Rapporteur, who is an independent expert of the Commission on Human Rights, will meet with a number of government authorities and non-governmental organizations and will conduct investigations in Bogota and Choco.

FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION: This afternoon in Vienna, in a meeting which should be wrapping up just now, the Ad Hoc Committee on the negotiation of the Convention against Corruption has adopted the text of that Convention, completing work on that document in less than two years. In a message to the Vienna talks, delivered by the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, the Secretary-General extends his best wishes and congratulations to the Ad Hoc Committee on its work. He says, This Convention can make a real difference to the quality of life of millions of people around the world. We have copies of his message upstairs.

INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION: In Geneva today, the Secretary-General, in a message at the Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly, said that the past years events have called into question some parts of the consensus underlying the Millennium Declaration. He says that threats ranging from terrorism and weapons of mass destruction to so-called soft threats like extreme poverty and environmental degradation are real and must be addressed, and the United Nations needs to consider how it can deal with them. He argues, The time has long since arrived to look hard at the institutions of the United Nations and, if necessary, to make radical reforms.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF OLDER PERSONS: Also, today is the International Day of Older Persons, and the Secretary-General, in a message, marks the occasion by drawing attention to the skills that order persons can bring to help economic development.

TROPICAL FISH: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in a report issued today said that over 20 million tropical fish, 9 to 10 million animals and up to 12 million stony corals are being harvested annually to supply the booming marine aquarium trade in Europe and the United States. UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer called the global trade in marine life an important and legitimate industry, which has great potential as a source of desperately needed income for local fishing communities, but at the same time poses a significant risk to valuable ecosystems like coral reefs.

EUROPEAN ASYLUM LEGISLATION: The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has raised serious concerns about refugee protection if agreement is reached on a crucial piece of European Union asylum legislation. The EU Justice and Home Affairs Council is set to meet on Thursday and Friday in Brussels to discuss a crucial piece of EU asylum legislation that may permit the establishment of lists of countries that are considered "safe".

U.N. REFORM PANEL: Asked about the Secretary-Generals panel on the reform of the UN system, the Spokesman said the Secretary-General was still looking at a number of names to head the panel.