United Nations Daily Highlights, 03-11-04

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

OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY

STEPHANE DUJARRIC

ASSOCIATE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Tuesday, November 4, 2003

SECRETARY-GENERAL NAMES PANEL ON CHANGES TO UN SYSTEM

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has informed the President of the General Assembly, Julian Hunte, that he has appointed a group of eminent persons to serve on his High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, which is to examine the major threats and challenges the world faces in peace and security and make recommendations for the elements of a collective response.

In September, the Secretary-General expressed his feeling that the international system was not working the way that it should. He said, We need to take a hard look at our institutions themselves, including especially the principal organs of the United Nations the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and maybe even the Trusteeship Council. If they are to regain their authority, they may need radical reform.

This panel will advise him on what course that reform should take. The panel is being asked to provide a new assessment of the challenges ahead, and it can extend its analysis into other areas, such as economic and social issues, only insofar as they have a direct bearing on future threats to peace and security.

The panel is being asked to provide a new assessment of the challenges ahead, and it can extend its analysis into other areas, such as economic and social issues, only insofar as they have a direct bearing on future threats to peace and security.

The panel has 16 members in all, and will be chaired by Anand Panyarachun, the former Prime Minister of Thailand.

Asked about the panels work, the Spokesman said he didnt want to preclude what the panel members will decide. They will report to the Secretary-General, and are expected to meet within the next few weeks in New York and to report within the year.

Asked why the Secretary-General announced the appointments in a letter to the General Assembly, the Spokesman noted the Assemblys status as the representative of all Member States.

ANNAN NAMES PANEL FOR ACCOUNTABILITY ON SECURITY

The Secretary-General is giving close attention to the Report of the Independent Panel on the Safety and Security of United Nations Personnel in Iraq, headed by Maarti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland.

In response to one of its main recommendations, the Secretary-General has established a team to determine accountability at all managerial levels at Headquarters and in the field to review responsibilities for relevant decisions prior to the attack on August 19 in Baghdad.

The team will be headed by Gerald Walzer, former Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees. The other members of the team will be Srinath Basnayake, former Director of the General Legal Division of the Office for Legal Affairs; Kevin Carty, Assistant Commissioner of the Irish National Police; and Stuart Groves, Senior Security Manager for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.

The team will hold its first organizational meeting very shortly, and Walzer has been asked to present its findings to the Secretary-General with the least possible delay. The team will determine its methodology and will interview those individuals, both UN officials and others, who it considers will be able to provide it the information it requires.

Ramiro Lopes da Silva, Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Iraq and Tun Myat, UN Security Coordinator, have asked to be relieved of their present responsibilities while the team conducts its work. Accordingly, the Secretary-General has decided that they will take special leave until mid-January, while remaining available to the team to provide relevant information. During this period, the Office of the United Nations Security Coordinator will be overseen by the Under-Secretary-General for Management, Catherine Bertini.

Asked about whether the Secretary-General believed that the Deputy Secretary-General and her steering group had handled the security situation well, the Spokesman said the Secretary-General reiterates his full confidence in the Deputy Secretary-General, and she will continue with the responsibilities she has been assigned.

Asked about whether Ramiro Lopes da Silva and Tun Myat had the decision to be relieved of their responsibilities imposed on them, the Spokesman said his information was that they had taken the decision voluntarily.

He noted that Lopes da Silva was the Designated Official on the ground with responsibilities for security of UN personnel in Iraq, while Tun Myat is the UN Security Coordinator. Tun Myat did report to the Steering Group on Iraq, and the chain of reporting will be taken into consideration during the investigation.

Asked about Tun Myats prior lack of experience in security issues, the Spokesman said that security coordination also involves knowledge of UN operations on the ground. He added that the panel will take a hard look at security management, including what kind of people are named to security posts.

ANNAN HOPES SRI LANKA MOVES WONT HURT PEACE PROCESS

The Secretary-General, in a statement on political developments in Sri Lanka, hopes that President Chandrika Kumaratungas decisions, which were announced today, including a temporary suspension of parliament, will not have a negative impact on the peace process.

The Secretary-General wishes to reiterate that he continues to support this process.

SECRETARY-GENERAL SADDENED BY INDONESIA FLASH FLOODS

According to a statement, the Secretary-General is deeply saddened by the loss of 74 lives and the extensive damage that resulted from the large scale flash flooding hit northern Sumatra in the Republic of Indonesia. He conveyed his condolences and deepest sympathy to the Government of the Republic of Indonesia and to the victims of the disaster.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has been in contact with the Indonesian authorities through its field office in Jakarta, and has deployed a team of two professional staff to the site to help local authorities with the coordination of emergency response.

SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES SOMALIA, PROGRAM OF WORK

The Security Council today held its first consultations for the month of November, during which it discussed its program of work for the month, and also discussed Somalia, on which Council members received a briefing from the Secretary-Generals Representative, Winston Tubman.|

The Secretary-Generals latest report on Somalia, which came out on Monday, urged the parties to continue their dialogue in Kenya, to ensure an inclusive solution that they can all support and implement in good faith.

The President of the Security Council for this month, Ambassador Ismail Abraćo Gaspar Martins of Angola, will brief the press on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. on the Councils work over the coming month.

MISSION TO AFGHANISTAN PREPARES FOR VISIT TO MAZAR-I-SHARIF

On the third day of its visit to Afghanistan, the 15-member Security Council delegation led by German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger spent nearly nine hours in back-to-back meetings in Kabul on the eve of its visit to the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

The Council members heard briefings and discussed ways to improve the security situation and expand the authority of the central Government throughout the country. They assessed ongoing economic and financial reforms, efforts to fight the narcotics economy, and Afghanistans relations with neighboring Iran and Pakistan.

The delegation met with the Pakistani and Iranian ambassadors to Afghanistan, the Afghan ministers of Finance and Interior, as well as the Deputy Minister of Defense, and the senior-most US military official in the country. Representatives of France, Italy, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the UN Mission in Afghanistan also briefed on their respective roles in contributing to the reform of the security sector including the training of the Afghan police and army.

Early Wednesday, the Council mission is scheduled to travel to Mazar-i-Sharif to see firsthand how the northern city is grappling with the myriad of challenges discussed in todays sessions.

UN MISSION INVESTIGATES KILLING IN ETHIOPIA-ERITREA ZONE

The force commander of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Maj. Gen. Robert Gordon, said that the Mission is investigating a reported incident that took place Saturday morning in the Temporary Security Zone, when one Eritrean militia member on patrol duty was reportedly killed after he and a colleague came under small arms fire from a group of armed men.

The Mission is trying to establish the details, and an investigation team has visited the location, confirming that the firing incident did take place. Ethiopias Defence Ministry has denied any Ethiopian military involvement in the incident.

General Gordon said that the Mission deeply deplores any activity in the security zone that has the potential of destabilizing the peace process.

The Food and Agriculture Organization is distributing late-planting crop seeds to some 70,000 drought-affected families in northern Ethiopia, the FAO reports today. Prolonged drought and delayed rains have meant loss of crops in the area.

ANNAN WELCOMES POWER-SHARING ACCORD ON BURUNDI

On Monday afternoon, in a statement on Burundi, the Secretary-General welcomed the Pretoria Protocol on Outstanding Political, Defence and Security Power-Sharing Issues, which was signed on Sunday between Burundis transitional Government and the CNDD/FDD.

He called on those parties to ensure full implementation of the Protocol in accordance with the agreed timetable and reiterated his call on the FNL to join the peace process without delay.

WFP REPORTS RAPES, TORTURE IN DR CONGO PROVINCES

The World Food Programme reports that because of the peace agreement and a decrease in fighting, WFP has had access to some areas in North and South Kivu provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo that had previously been inaccessible.

WFP reports that they had never seen violations on this scale before. There were thousand of women who had been atrociously violated, and WFP believes that these were just the tip of the iceberg. Females as young as five and as old as 80 had been systematically violated, tortured and wounded by bullets.

Also in the DRC, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that fighting has broken out in parts of South Kivu province, displacing thousands of civilians. OCHA says that between 2,000 and 4,000 persons have sought refuge.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

UNICEF REPORTS ON CHILDREN FLEEING INTO GUINEA: The United Nations Children's Fund is out with a report today on West African children fleeing into Guinea. UNICEF says the children, coming from Liberia, Cote dIvoire and Sierra Leone, are joining thousands of Guinean children who have been separated from their families and are fending for themselves in urban centers. The problem is complicated by the return of Guinean children from Liberia, where they had been recruited to fight in that countrys civil war.

PROTOCOL AGAINST SMUGGLING OF MIGRANTS TO TAKE EFFECT: The Government of Azerbaijan yesterday became the 40th state to ratify the UN Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, thus allowing the treaty to enter into force in January of next year. The Protocol is the international communitys response to sophisticated smuggling networks set up by trans-national organized crime groups which exploit human misery and make sizeable profits.

UNFPA SAYS MATERNAL MORTALITY IN IRAQ HAS TRIPLED: The UN Population Fund today said that the number of women who die of pregnancy and childbirth in Iraq has nearly tripled since 1990, with an estimated 310 deaths per 100,000 live births recorded last year. Between 50 and 70 percent of all pregnant women in Iraq suffer from iron-deficiency anemia, as well as malaria and other problems.

ANNAN TO RECEIVE GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AWARD: This evening, the Aspen Institute plans to give its Global Leadership Award to the Secretary-General, and Olara Otunnu, the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, will deliver a message on the Secretary-Generals behalf at the Institutes dinner, saying that he feels deeply honored by the award.

ANNAN BEGINS LATIN AMERICA TRIP: The Secretary-General departs today on a four-nation trip that will take him to Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.

BUDGET: Ethiopia paid more than $54,000, and Haiti paid more than $22,000, to become the 119th and 120th Member States to pay their UN regular budget dues in full for this year.