United Nations Daily Highlights, 03-11-11

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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, November 11, 2003

SECURITY COUNCIL: AFGHAN PEACE PROCESS IN CRITICAL PHASE

The Security Council began its work this morning with a briefing by German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger on the 15-member mission to Afghanistan he led last week.

Afghanistan has now entered the most critical phase in the peace process the Constitutional Loya Jirga and the election process, Pleuger said. He noted that the mission underscored the need to hold parliamentary elections as soon as possible after the presidential elections.

He said that throughout the visit, which took the Council delegation to Kabul, Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif, security was the center of the missions discussion with the interlocutors.

The mission, he said, clearly saw how the lack of security or the rule of the gun affected the entire Afghan peace process. He identified the three main sources of insecurity as terrorism, factional fighting and drug production and trafficking.

Five recommendations were made as a concrete outcome of the mission, including a demand that all factional forces are withdrawn from Kabul in accordance with the Bonn Agreement.

Pleuger said the Council supports the wish of President Hamid Karzai to convene a follow-up conference to the Bonn process early next year and invites the Secretary-General to study the possibilities for such a conference in order to ensure the necessary financial support and political momentum for peace and stability in Afghanistan.

BOMB EXPLODES NEAR UN OFFICES IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN

UN MISSION IN KABUL, SECURITY COUNCIL CONDEMN ATTACK

There was an explosion today just outside a UN compound in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, at about 3:50 in the afternoon, local time, caused by a vehicle packed with explosives that was parked near the UN Missions Kandahar offices.

A local security guard working the UN Mission was injured, while an Afghan civilian nearby also suffered minor burns.

The windows and doors of the main UN Mission building were smashed by the blast, while the nearby building belonging to the UN Office for Projects Services also sustained some damage.

Coalition troops, local police and the UN Mine Action Centre are all participating in an investigation. Meanwhile, all UN international staff in Kandahar have been told to stay indoors, and all local staff have been sent home, until further instructions.

The UN Mission condemns this attack, as it does all violence against civilians, and it regrets that, by compelling UN staff to stay at home temporarily, the Afghan people will suffer the consequences of todays bombing.

[The Security Council was briefed on the attack by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hedi Annabi, and Council President, Ambassador Ismael Abraão Gaspar Martins of Angola, strongly condemned the development in remarks to reporters following consultations.]

Asked whether this was the first such attack on UN offices in Afghanistan, the Spokesman said that last July, there had been an attack when a grenade was thrown into a Food and Agriculture Organization compound in Kandahar, causing no injuries.

Asked whether this attack was linked to any others, the Spokesman said that there was at present no indication who was responsible for the bombing, and a link to other attacks could therefore not be determined.

ANNAN WELCOMES RELEASE OF MOROCCAN PRISONERS

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a statement, welcomed the release by the Frente POLISARIO of an additional 300 prisoners of war, who were repatriated on November 8 to Morocco by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The Secretary-General hopes that the Frente POLISARIO will expeditiously release all remaining prisoners, in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions and in compliance with international humanitarian law. He also urges the parties to continue to cooperate with the ICRC to resolve the fate of all those unaccounted for since the beginning of the conflict.

At the same time, the Secretary-General urged the parties to cooperate with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), who is planning to send a follow-up mission to the region in early December to discuss the implementation of confidence-building measures.

SECURITY COUNCIL WELCOMES MISSION TO SOMALIA, REGION

Following todays briefing on Afghanistan, the Security Council held a meeting to adopt a Presidential Statement on Somalia, in which the members reiterated their firm support for the Somali National Reconciliation Process launched under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

The Council also welcomed the mission of the Sanctions Committee concerning Somalia to that country and states in the region from November 11 to 21 as a step towards giving full effect to the arms embargo.

That mission, led by the Committee's Chairman, Ambassador Stefan Tafrov of Bulgaria, and composed of experts from 14 Member States of the Security Council, will be leaving later today.

The mission's first stop will be Cairo, where it will meet with the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Amr Moussa. It will then proceed to Ethiopia, Djibouti, Yemen, Eritrea, Kenya and Italy, where it will hold meetings with high-ranking Government officials and other interlocutors. During its mission, the Committee will also meet with the Chairperson of the African Union in Addis Ababa and representatives of the Somali leaders in Nairobi.

Tafrov intends to brief the Security Council on the mission in early December, during the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council.

SECURITY COUNCIL HOLDS CONSULTATIONS ON COTE D'IVOIRE

Also today, the Security Council went into consultations on Cote d'Ivoire and other matters.

Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi introduced the latest report, which was issued Monday.

UN BEGINS DISCUSSIONS ON SECURITY, FUTURE PRESENCE IN IRAQ

The UN international staff that had been in Baghdad is now in Cyprus, where, starting today, they are in consultations with a team from headquarters to thoroughly review future UN operations in Iraq and the security arrangements that will be required.

The team from headquarters includes officials from the Political Affairs, Humanitarian and Peacekeeping Departments, as well as from the UN Security Coordinators staff. This is a working-level meeting.

Discussions are scheduled to go through the weekend.

In response to a question about the team to determine accountability regarding the attack on 19 August 2003 in Baghdad, the Spokesman said former Deputy UN High Commissioner for Refugees Gerald Walzer arrived in New York yesterday and the other three members of the team arrive today. They will be holding their first organized meeting (closed) tomorrow.

SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS WITH PRESIDENT OF PERU

The Secretary-General arrived in Lima, Peru late Monday night, and was greeted on arrival by the Foreign Minister, Alan Wagner.

His first activity today was a meeting with the heads of the UN agencies and the 600 international and national UN staff in Peru. Answering questions from the staff, the Secretary-General noted that this was his first extensive trip since the tragedy in Baghdad, and he said: I want to take this opportunity to reaffirm to you how seriously I take my responsibility to ensure the safety and security of all UN staff throughout the world.

The Secretary-General said that it was clear that the UN needs to rethink many of its security arrangements and working methods. He added: While the UN cannot be a fortress, neither can we be reckless.

After meeting the UN staff, the Secretary-General travelled to meet the President of Peru, Alejandro Toledo, in Villa El Salvador, a poor district south of Lima, which grew out of the massive rural exodus of the 1970s. They were greeted by thousands of people. While there, they reviewed a series of job-creation projects established with the assistance of the international community to alleviate poverty.

In a series of impromptu remarks, the Secretary-General said: The fight against poverty doesnt only mean putting food on the table; it means education and health, and inclusion and participation by the poor in deciding that which affects their future.

The Secretary-General and the President then held a one-on-one meeting at the Presidential Palace, following which the UN delegation will meet the Council of Ministers. At this point, a Memorandum of Understanding will be signed regarding Perus wish to contribute to peacekeeping stand-by arrangements. The Secretary-General will then receive the highest order of Peru, the Order of the Sun, and will attend a press conference with Toledo.

This afternoon, the Secretary-General will meet with representatives of Peruvian human rights organizations. In the evening, he will address parliamentarians at the National Congress.

In a separate program, Nane Annan visited a school in a poor neighborhood of Lima where child drop-out rates have been almost eliminated through a mentoring program by adolescent students at the same school. This is a UNICEF-supported project that benefits some 17,000 children every year. In the evening, she will meet with an organization of women with living with AIDS, called Solas pero Unidas (Alone but United).

UN HUMAN RIGHTS ENVOY ENDS VISIT TO MYANMAR

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN special rapporteur dealing with human rights in Myanmar, completed his six-day visit to Myanmar over the weekend, during which time he had access to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and to three members of the National League for Democracys Central Executive Committee who were under house arrest.

He also visited Insein Prison in Yangon, where he interviewed 19 political prisoners.

Pinheiro registered his deep concern for those political prisoners detained since this past May 30, and pressed for the immediate and unconditional release of those being detained since that date, as well as an amnesty for all political prisoners. He also reiterated that any credible process towards political transition would require the lifting of all restrictions on the freedoms of expression, movement, information, assembly and association.

UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES VISITS SUDAN

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers arrived in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, early morning today at the start of the third leg of his four-nation African visit, which has already taken him to Burundi and Tanzania.

The High Commissioner is likely to discuss the Sudan peace talks and the much-awaited peace agreement between the Khartoum Government and the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM), in addition to the final stage of the voluntary reform operation started by UNHCR in May 2001 to repatriate more than 300,000 Eritrean refugees, some of whom had been in exile for more than 30 years, mainly in camps in eastern Sudan.

On Wednesday, the High Commissioner is scheduled to travel South of Sudan, where he is expected to meet with SPLM leader, John Garang.

UNHCR also said today that it was deeply troubled by an Australian Government decision to prevent a group of 14 persons thought to be asylum seekers from having their protection needs examined.

ANNAN TO LAUNCH HUMANITARIAN APPEAL NEXT WEEK

Exactly a week from today, the Secretary-General will launch the 2004 Consolidated Appeal on behalf of the UNs humanitarian agencies. This years appeal covers 21 crises, 17 of them in Africa, and will touch some 45 million people.

The theme of the Appeal, "Hear Our Voices," emphasizes the importance of listening to people from communities ravaged by war, conflict, and natural disasters, and those struggling to rebuild. The appeal is put together by the UNs Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

SIX COUNTRIES IN MEKONG REGION TO COMBAT SUBSTANDARD MEDICINES

The World Health Organization (WHO) is stepping up action against substandard and counterfeit medicines with six countries from the Greater Mekong sub-region this week. Counterfeit and substandard medicines are frequently detected in Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam, and the problem seems to be increasing. Products most commonly counterfeited in this region include antibiotics and those used in the treatment of tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS. The use of poor quality or counterfeit medicines has little or no therapeutic effect and in poor settings often leads to death.

At a meeting from November 11-13 in Hanoi, Viet Nam, WHO and the six countries will kick-start joint activities to combat counterfeiting of medicines in the region, to promote advocacy activities directed at key decision-makers, health professionals and the general public and to strengthen inspection and post-marketing surveillance.

A WHO survey of counterfeit medicine reports from 20 countries, between January 1999 to October 2000, found that 60 percent of counterfeit medicine cases occurred in poor countries.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

DISPLACEMENT ADDS TO LIBERIAS HUMANITARIAN CRISIS: Humanitarian agencies in Liberia have found that the displacement of 10,000 people by recent fighting in Nimba County bordering Guinea and Cote dIvoire was placing additional strains on coping mechanisms of families hosting internally displaced persons. The mission feared that rice stocks could soon be depleted and warned that food assistance is urgently needed to protect seed rice for the next planting season.

MEETING BEGINS TO REVIEW CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) says that more than 500 representatives of parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity will meet in Montreal, Canada, for the next five days to review the Conventions extensive work programs. The three objectives of the Convention, which was adopted at the 1992 Rio Summit, are the conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of components of biodiversity, and equitable sharing of their benefits.

TRADE CONTROLS ON MAHOGANY TO TAKE EFFECT: According to UNEP, international trade controls for big-leaf mahogany will enter into force on November 15. This tropical timber generates over $100 million a year in export sales, making it one of the worlds most valuable forest products. From now on, shipments of this timber will have to be accompanied by a special permit to prevent illegal logging and unsustainable export levels.

Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

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All other inquiries to be addressed to (212) 963-4475 or by e-mail to: inquiries@un.org

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