United Nations Daily Highlights, 04-08-06

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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 FRED ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE

SECRETARY-GENERAL

OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Friday, August 6, 2004

ANNAN SAYS STAFF SECURITY MAIN CONSTRAINT TO UN IN IRAQ

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his third report to the Security Council on the work of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, says that staff security remains the over-riding constraint for all UN activity in Iraq. In recent months, the acting UN Security Coordinator assessed the risk to UN personnel in Iraq as being in the high to critical category, he says, and the UN Mission and UN agencies will therefore continue to limit their activities inside Iraq to the essential ones.

The Secretary-General says that the primary task of his new Special Representative for Iraq, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, will be to assist the Iraqis in implementing the proposed transitional timetable leading to the establishment of a constitutionally elected government by December 31, 2005. To this end, he will work closely with the Iraqi authorities, political entities and civil society.

The Security Council has scheduled consultations next Wednesday to discuss the UN Mission in Iraq.

UN-SUDAN AGREEMENT HAS BEEN FINALIZED

The agreement reached on Wednesday night between the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, and the Sudanese Foreign Minister, Mustafa Ismail, has now been finalized by the Sudanese Government.

The agreement details steps to be taken in the next 30 days to begin to disarm the Janjaweed militia and other outlaw groups, improve security in Darfur and address the humanitarian crisis.

A formal copy will be signed by Pronk and the Foreign Minister and officially issued on Monday.

In response to questions, the Spokesman said that once the agreement is signed, its text would be made available to the press.

HUMAN RIGHTS OBSERVERS TO BE DEPLOYED IN DARFUR, SUDAN

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says that it hopes to have deployed eight observers to the three regions of Darfur, as well as in Khartoum, in the next few days. Two will remain in Khartoum to carry out liaison work with the Government, while two observers will go to each of Darfurs regions.

Available on the High Commissioners web site is the final report by the special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Asma Jahangir, on her recent visit to Darfur. In it, she says that she finds that it is beyond doubt that the Government of the Sudan is responsible for extrajudicial and summary executions of large numbers of people over the last several months in the Darfur region.

Jahangir says the Government is also responsible for executions in the Shilook Kingdom in Upper Nile State, though on a lesser scale.

ROBERT ORR NAMED UN ASSISTANT SECRETARY-GENERAL

The Secretary-General today announced the appointment of Robert Orr, of the United States, as the new Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Strategic Planning in the Secretary-Generals Executive Office. That post was previously held by Michael Doyle, also from the United States.

Dr. Orr comes to the United Nations from Harvard University, where he served as Executive Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government. Before that, he served as Director of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. D.C.

He has also served a number of senior posts in the US Government, including a posting as Deputy to the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Holbrooke.

SECURITY COUNCIL URGES IVORIANS TO ABIDE BY AGREEMENT

There are no Security Council meetings or consultations scheduled for today.

On Thursday afternoon, the Council issued a Presidential Statement on Cote dIvoire, in which it urged all the parties that signed the Accra Agreement to implement, in good faith, without delays or preconditions, the obligations they have undertaken as part of the agreement.

In particular, the Council called upon them to uphold the commitments so that incontestable elections can be held, as agreed, before the end of 2005. It reaffirmed its complete readiness to take any appropriate measure against individuals who impede the full implementation of the Linas-Marcoussis Agreements.

UNHCR RELOCATES CONGOLESE REFUGEES IN BURUNDI

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has begun relocating some of the 20,000 refugees who fled fighting in the South Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in June of this year.

Earlier this week 139 refugees were taken to a camp in north-east Burundi which already hosts some 8,000 Congolese who fled the fighting in previous years.

Most of the recently arrived refugees, who are currently crammed in three transit centers along Burundi's volatile border with the DRC, will be taken to a better and safer location away from the border, once UNHCR and the Burundian Government agree on a suitable site.

The Refugee Agency is urging the Burundian Government to keep its border with the DRC open so that refugees can return if they want to, and also to allow any Congolese to seek refuge in Burundi if they feel the need to do so. Over the past few weeks, border crossings have been subject to intermittent closures for security reasons.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

UN MISSION KICKS OFF TRAINING PROJECT IN LIBERIA: In Liberia today, Special Representative Jacques Klein launched a vocational training project, to teach some 640 former combatants skills in housing construction and building trades. Klein told the former combatants, in the town of Cheesemanburg, Make the best use of this program, as it has the potential to transform your lives.

JUDGE APPOINTED TO RWANDA TRIBUNAL: Available today is an exchange of letters between the Secretary-General and the Security Council, concerning the appointment of Judge Asoka da Silva as a permanent judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Da Silva will serve out the remainder of the term of office of another Sri Lankan judge, Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana, which lasts until May 24, 2007.

ANNAN URGES ALL TO AVOID ANOTHER HIROSHIMA: The Secretary-General today marked the 59th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima by urging us all to renew the vow that the horrors experienced by the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will never be repeated. He voiced the hope that next years review conference for the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty will not only reconfirm the undertaking made by the nuclear weapons states to eliminate nuclear weapons totally, but will turn those words into deeds.

UNESCO CONDEMNS MURDER OF FILIPINO JOURNALIST: UNESCO has condemned the murder of a Filipino journalist the third in the Philippines this year. Roger Mariano, a broadcaster was shot dead on July 31 by unknown assailants. UNESCO says it is essential that those responsible be brought to justice.

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS

Monday, August 9

Today is the International Day of the Worlds Indigenous Peoples.

Tuesday, August 10

Wednesday, August 11

The Security Council has scheduled an open briefing, followed by consultations, on the Middle East. It has also scheduled consultations on the UN Mission in Iraq.

Thursday, August 12

The Security Council has scheduled a formal meeting to consider the extension of the mandate of the UN Mission in Iraq, which is set to expire on August 14.

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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