United Nations Daily Highlights, 04-07-16

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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 MARIE OKABE

ASSOCIATE SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE

SECRETARY-GENERAL

OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Friday, July 16, 2004

ANNAN MEETS WITH PANEL ON GLOBAL SECURITY THREATS

Secretary-General Kofi Annan met with his High-Level Panel on Threats Challenges and Change in Baden, Austria,

in the late afternoon.

That Panel is going about its task of analyzing future threats and ways to respond collectively to them, and is to report later this year on its findings.

Austria is the last stop on the Secretary-Generals three-week trip to Africa, Asia and Europe, and he will be back at work in New York next week.

SECURITY COUNCIL BRIEFED ON

MISSION

TO

WEST AFRICA

The Security Council held a public meeting this morning on its mission last month to West Africa. The meeting began with a briefing from the leader of that mission, British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry.

The report on the mission which traveled to Ghana, Cote dIvoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea were released earlier this week.

Thursday afternoon, the Security Council issued a Presidential Statement on Afghanistan, in which it welcomed and supported the holding of the Presidential election in that country on 9 October. It also took note of the decision to hold Parliamentary elections next April.

U.N. ENVOYS PARTICIPATE IN TALKS TO END DARFUR CRISIS

The first meeting of the Joint Implementation Mechanism between the Government of Sudan and the United Nations in Khartoum ended today.

The next meeting is

expected to be held

on August 2.

[The mechanism was set up by an agreement committing the Government of the

Sudan and the United Nations to taking certain concrete steps to alleviate the suffering of the Sudanese internally displaced persons and refugees. The joint communique was signed by the Secretary-General at the end of his visit to Sudan and the Sudanese Foreign Minister.]

The Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, who represented the United Nations, will be in New York next week.

Meanwhile, the political negotiations on Darfur mediated by the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, opened yesterday and are now underway. The Secretary-Generals Special Advisor for Africa, Mohamed Sahnoun, is participating from the UN side.

Asked when Pronk would be in New York to brief the Security Council, the Spokeswoman said that Pronk is currently in the Sudan and on his way to New York and that there had been a request for him to brief the Security Council but no date has yet been set.

ACCESS IN WEST DARFUR

REMAINS A MAJOR CHALLENGE FOR U.N. AGENCIES

Access in West Darfur, Sudan, continues to be a major challenge because of insecurity and flooded roads.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is therefore planning a first airdrop of 1,400 tons there next week.

Meanwhile, in Chad, torrential rains, sandstorms and strong winds are worsening the situation for Sudanese refugees there and hampering the relief effort. Heavy rains in the northeast have driven refugees out of their makeshift shelters in seasonal riverbeds. The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, is now racing to transfer them to a new camp.

In all, more than 127,000 refugees have moved from the border to UNHCR's nine camps in eastern Chad. Another 7,000 have made their own way from the border to the site of Am Nabak, a spontaneous refugee settlement that sprang up in early June. They are receiving assistance there.

In South Darfur, the number of internally displaced persons at a camp has more than doubled in three weeks. At the end of last month, there were about 30,000 in the camp. Today, WFP reported the number has risen to 70,000, with more coming each day.

REPORT: PROCEEDS FROM OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAM ACCOUNTED FOR

The International Advisory and Monitoring Board

(IAMB)

for Iraq released the audit of the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI).

The audit, conducted by the firm of KPMGand released in Washington, D.C. Thursday, found that all known oil proceeds, reported frozen assets, and transfers from the Oil for Food Program have been properly and transparently accounted for in the Fund.

At the same time, based on a review of the KPMG reports, the Board believes that controls were insufficient to provide reasonable assurance for the completeness of export sales of petroleum and petroleum products, and whether all disbursements from the fund were made for the purposes intended.

This audit covers the period from May 22, 2003 to December 31, 2003. Another audit, to be released later this year will cover the first six months of the year.

In answer to a question, the Spokeswoman said that the UN representative on the IAMB would brief the Security Council in a private meeting on Monday July 26th.

THE 15TH INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE CLOSES IN BANGKOK

Peter Piot, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, told the closing ceremony of the Fifteenth International AIDS Conference in Bangkok today that it is now our collective responsibility to make the money spent on fighting AIDS works for people.

He warned that one of the main lessons of the past 20 years is that, with AIDS, we never gain time when we wait for action, when we are indecisive, when we are divided, when we neglect rights, when we replace science by feel good projects.

Among other events related to the Bangkok conference was the pledge of

$50 million announced yesterday by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

HUMAN RIGHTSCOMMISSION ARRIVES IN COTE

DIVOIRE

The International Commission of Inquiry on human rights violations in Cote dIvoire arrived in that country today.

The Commission, led by Gerard Balanda of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is set to listen to testimony to look into the serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law that have taken place in Cote dIvoire since September 19, 2002. It was set up in accordance with the January 2003 Linas-Marcoussis Agreement and following the requests of President Laurent Gbagbo of Côte d'Ivoire.

Once its work is done, it will report to High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, who will in turn transmit that report to the Secretary-General.

U.N. POPULATION FUND REGRETS WITHHOLDING OF AIDS FUNDS

The United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, today said it regretted the U.S.

administrations decision not to release $34 million appropriated by Congress for UNFPA.

The money is urgently needed to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS, prevent maternal deaths, provide family planning and reduce recourse to abortion, UNFPA said.

The United States contribution could have saved thousands of lives, said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UNFPAs Executive Director.

DELEGATION FROM

SIERRA LEONE SPECIAL COURT

RETURNS FROM

LIBERIA

A delegation from the Special Court for Sierra Leone has returned from a trip to the Liberian capital,

Monrovia

, where it tried to inform as many people as possible about the

Special Court

s work and how it relates to

Liberia

.

The head of the delegation, Special Court registrar Robin Vincent, met with the Chairman of the National Transitional Government, Gyude Bryant, who offered his full support in bringing former Liberian President Charles Taylor to Freetown to answer the charges against him.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

UNHCR CONCERNED ABOUT DISPLACED PEOPLE IN INGUSHETIA:The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says its concerned about the effects on internally displaced people from Chechnya residing in Ingushetia following the horrific attack which took place there in mid-June when 90 people were reported killed.

U.N.

MISSION IN

HAITI

CONDEMNS VIOLENCE WHICH KILLED POLICE OFFICERS: The UN Mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH, issued a statement condemning yesterdays violent incidents in Port-au Prince, during which a number of Haitian police officers were killed. The mission recalls that is everyones duty to work towards the creation of a climate of stability.

BIRD FLU STRAIN COULD LEAD TO DEADLY GLOBAL HUMAN PANDEMIC: he World Health Organization warns of the possible emergence of a strain of avian influenza, also known as bird flu, which could spark a potentially deadly global human pandemic. It also calls on local authorities to take all necessary precautions when culling infected poultry. Meanwhile, the Food and Agriculture Organization is urging countries in

Asia not to cull wild birds in response to recent outbreaks in China, Thailand and Viet Nam. Bird flu killed 22 people in Thailand and Viet Nam

earlier this year, and more than 100 million birds died or were culled across Southern and Eastern Asia.

WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME TO HELP COUNTRIES AFFECTED BY FREAK WEATHER: The World Food Programme is gearing up to help people affected by the effects of freak weather in Nicaragua, Peru and Cuba. The weather has led to severe flooding, snowstorms and drought, and the WFP will be providing food rations.

MARITIME LIFE THREATENED BY RISING ACIDITY IN OCEANS: The worlds oceans are absorbing an unprecedented amount of carbon dioxide, which is increasing their acidity and possibly threatening the long-term survival of many marine species, according to findings published in a UNESCO report today. It adds that this in turn could disrupt marine food chains, and alter ocean biogeochemistry in ways that are not yet understood or predictable.

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS

Monday, July 19

The Security Council has scheduled a public meeting on threats to peace and security caused by terrorist acts.

Tuesday, July 20

The Security Council has scheduled a public meeting on the work of regional organizations. The Secretary-General is expected to speak.

At 12:44 p.m., President Ricardo Lagos of Chile will hold a press conference.

At 4:30 p.m., Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase will hold a press conference.

The UN Environment Programme's 2004 Tunza International Children's Conference on the Environment will take place in New London,

Connecticut, from Tuesday through Friday (see www.icc04.org).

Wednesday, July 21

The Security Council has scheduled consultations on Cote dIvoire.

Thursday, July 22

Friday, July 23

The Security Council is expected to meet with countries that contribute troops to the UN peacekeeping missions in Lebanon and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is set to finish its 31st session, during which it examined the reports of Angola, Argentina, Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Latvia, Malta and Spain.

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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