United Nations Daily Highlights, 04-06-30

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

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC

ASSOCIATE SPOKESMAN FOR THE

SECRETARY-GENERAL

OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

ANNAN ARRIVES IN SUDAN, MEETS U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE

Secretary-General Kofi Annan is in

Sudan today, having arrived in Khartoum from Doha this morning.

The Secretary-General an hour ago met at the Khartoum Airport with US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who has also been visiting Sudan, including a camp for internally displaced persons in Darfur.

Powell briefed the Secretary-General on the measures that the United States would be asking the government of Sudan to take to relieve the crisis.

The Secretary-General told Powell about a meeting he had held earlier in the day with a group of Sudanese Cabinet ministers. He had asked for their cooperation to disarm the militia that are wreaking havoc in Darfur and to remove all obstacles to international relief efforts, including the importation of trucks, radios and other essential equipment and the granting of visas to international relief workers.

Earlier in the day, the Secretary-General had been briefed on the current situation in Darfur by his senior advisors.

He then met with UN agency heads based in Khartoum, as well as with representatives of a dozen non-governmental organizations (NGO) that work as UN partners in the relief effort. They discussed obstacles that relief workers face in dealing with more than a million people affected by the crisis in Darfur.

This evening, the Secretary-General will attend a working dinner hosted by Sudans First Vice President, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha.

The Secretary-General expects to see the Darfur region firsthand on Thursday.

HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERT: SUDAN GOVERNMENT AIDED GRAVE VIOLATIONS

There is ample evidence that

Sudans Government has helped to perpetrate grave violations of human rights in Darfur,

UN special rapporteur Asma Jahangir told reporters Tuesday afternoon. Jahangir said she had seen indications of crimes against humanity, including signs that some militia groups in Darfur had been armed, sponsored and even trained by the Government.

Jahangir, the special rapporteur dealing with extrajudicial, arbitrary or summary executions,

visited Sudan earlier this month, and said she would release a report on her findings by the end of July.

She said that, while it was difficult to assess how many people had been killed in Darfur, nearly every third or fourth family she had interviewed had told her that they had lost someone in the recent killing.

On the humanitarian front, the

World Food Programme (WFP) today

started an airlift of enriched food from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to Sudan's North Darfur and South Darfur states to help feed the most vulnerable among some one million people uprooted from their homes by conflict. WFP is accelerating its food deliveries to Darfur and hopes to feed some 700,000 people in June. WFP estimates that 1.2 million people will need food aid each month until October, when a total of two million people will be targeted until December.

RECOVERY OPERATIONS UNDERWAY AT U.N. HELICOPTER CRASH SITE

The

UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) is continuing recovery and identification operations at the site of the

helicopter crash near Yengema in the eastern part of the country.

The extremely difficult terrain, characterized by thick jungle inaccessible by vehicles, has complicated the operations, but UN troops have managed to secure the site.

The 24 people on board the helicopter that crashed yesterday on a flight from

Hastings to Yengema and presumed dead included 14 members of the Pakistani contingent of UNAMSIL, one member of the Bangladeshi contingent, six civilians, as well as three members of the crew.

A preliminary investigation is underway. In addition, the investigation teams of the United Nations and the Russian Federation State of Aircraft Registry are on their way to Freetown to launch an official investigation.

SECURITY COUNCIL TO HOLD SESSION ON WEST AFRICA

At 3:00 p.m., the

Security Council is scheduled to be briefed by Ambassador Emyr Jones-Parry of the United Kingdom who headed the Security Council Mission to West Africa.

ANNAN WELCOMES COALITION AGREEMENT IN CAMBODIA

The

Secretary-General

welcomes the signing of a coalition agreement in Phnom Penh on 30 June 2004 between the Cambodian Peoples Party and the FUNCINPEC party to form a new government in Cambodia.

It is his sincere hope that the agreement will be quickly formalized by the appropriate organs, so that a new government will be established as soon as possible.

ISRAELI AIR VIOLATIONS OF BLUE LINE PROMPTS U.N. REMINDER

The senior UN official in southern

Lebanon, Staffan de Mistura, today reiterated his deep concern over Israeli air violations of the Blue Line. De Mistura noted that yesterday, eleven Israeli air violations of the Line were recorded, which were followed by anti-aircraft fire from Lebanese territory across the Line.

He once more stressed, in a statement we have upstairs, that the cycle of overflights and anti-aircraft fire carries a high potential for escalation.

The United Nations reminds all parties of their obligation to refrain from any violation of the Blue Line.

NORTHERN NIGERIAN PROVINCE TO RESUME POLIO IMMUNIZATIONS

The Governor of Kano province, in northern Nigeria, has informed the World Health Organization (WHO) that itll resume polio immunization campaigns in early July.

The Governor has asked for WHOs help, and WHO as well as other partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, have offered their full support.

WHO says the campaigns resumption is now critical to quickly increase immunity and to help contain the spread of the disease.

There is growing concern around the world about the rate at which the virus continues to spread internationally from northern Nigeria since immunization activities were suspended late last year.

Ten previously polio-free countries across Africa have now been re-infected, most recently the Sudan, where a case in Darfur was recently confirmed.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

SERGIO VIEIRA DE MELLO LIBRARY LAUNCHED IN NAIROBI: Representatives of the Brazilian government and other dignitaries joined the UN family today at its regional headquarters in Nairobi, to take part in the launch of the Sergio Vieira de Mello Library. The Library, now recognized as an official UN Library the others are in Geneva and New York is being named in honour of Sergio Vieira de Mello and in recognition of staff members who have died in the service of the UN. Vieira de Mello was the Secretary-General's Special Representative in Iraq when he and 21 other people were killed in a bomb blast in Baghdad on August 19 last year.

ANNAN SENDS DEEPEST CONDOLENCES FOR AUGUST 19th VICTIMS: In a

message delivered on his behalf today, the

Secretary-General sent his deepest condolences to all those who lost their loved ones in the attack in Baghdad on 19 August last year. The message was delivered to the service of thanksgiving and hope to remember those who died serving the United Nations in Iraq and to pray for the future of the Iraqi people, at St. Margarets Church, Westminster Abbey, London.

GLOBAL FUND APPROVED GRANTS WORTH $2.9 BILLION: The Board of the

Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria today

approved new grants worth $2.9 billions over five years. The grants will put more than 932,000 people on anti-retroviral treatment for

AIDS, and will also finance 123 million

anti-malarial treatments, as well as treatment for 640 thousand new

tuberculosis patients. This is the fourth round of grant approvals since the Fund was set up in 2002.

TREES COULD HELP ALLEVIATE POVERTY: The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says trees grown on farms could help alleviate poverty by providing income and food for poor farmers whose livelihoods are increasingly threatened by harsh environmental conditions and land degradation. That was the FAOs message today to the First World Congress of Agroforestry in Orlando, Florida.

TOURISTS AT U.N. HEADQUARTERS NOT ALLOWED TO TAKE PHOTOS OF DELEGATES: Asked about the U.N.s regulation on photos taken by tourists on U.N. Headquarters, the Spokesman said that tourists could take photos along the tour route but not of delegates.

Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

United Nations, S-378

New York, NY 10017

Tel. 212-963-7162 -

press/media only

Fax. 212-963-7055

All other inquiries to be addressed to (212)

963-4475 or by e-mail to: inquiries@un.org

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