United Nation Daily Highlight, 04-08-20

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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 20th, 2004

U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY VISITS DARFUR

The Secretary-Generals Special Representative for

Sudan,

Jan Pronk. traveled to South Darfur early this morning.

He met with the state Governor in Nyala and then went to Kalma camp for

internally displaced persons (IDPs) where he is meeting with humanitarian workers.

Nyala and the surrounding area, including Kalma camp, are among the areas the Government of Sudan is to make safe and secure by the end of August in accordance with the Darfur Plan of Action.

Yesterday evening, Pronk and the Sudanese Foreign Minister, Mustafa Ismail, co-chaired the fourth meeting of the Joint Implementation Mechanism.

At the meeting, the Government of Sudan presented the measures it is taking to implement the Plan of Action, including the deployment of 2,000 police between 10 and 20 August, the redeployment of armed forces to avoid direct contact with civilians and IDPs and the identification of militias in the areas identified under the Action Plan over whom the Government has influence.

The Foreign Minister indicated that the names and numbers of the militia would be provided shortly. They also discussed the Governments human rights commitments and the upcoming mission of a joint delegation to all three states of Darfur from 26 to 28 August.

On the humanitarian side, the

UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),

reports that the continuing insecurity in Darfur could drive some 30,000 people into Chad, a new influx that could strain the agencys ability to care for the refugees in its swelling camps.

According to a UNHCR spokesman, representatives of some 30,000 displaced persons in Masteri, a large village in West Darfur told a UNHCR team that if they do not get international security guarantees, they will all cross to Chad as soon as the rain-swollen river that marks the border with Sudan dries up.

FIRST REPORT OF ACCRA III MONITORING GROUP TO SECUEITY COUNCIL

The

Secretary-General sent to the

Security Council yesterday the first report of the Monitoring Group on the Accra III Agreement on Cote dIvoire.

The tripartite body, made up of representatives of the Economic Community of West African States, the African Union and the

UN Mission in Cote dIvoire, reported on three significant steps taken by the Government to implement Accra III.

They cited two official decrees related to the reinstatement of the three dismissed ministers to their previous posts and a third decree delegating specific powers to the Prime Minister.

HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERT TO MAKE FIRST VISIT TO DR CONGO

The new Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo,

Titinga Frédéric Pacéré, will

undertake his first official mission to the country from this Sunday to until 2 September.

With this visit, he aims at carry out a first assessment of the current situation of human rights there, and establish positive working relations with the Government and with national civil society.

Pacéré is due to present his findings and recommendations in an interim report to the

UN General Assembly in October

U.N. PEACEKEEPING CHIEF WARNED SECURITY COUNCIL OF RENEWED VIOLENCE IN CENTRAL AFRICA

The

Security Council held consultations yesterday afternoon on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi, during which members were briefed on developments in the region by the Under-Secretary-General for

Peacekeeping Operations,

Jean Marie Guehenno.

Speaking to the press after the consultations, Guehenno said, that in the aftermath of the

massacre of refugees at Gatumba camp in Burundi, and following inflammatory statements by political and military leaders, there was a real threat of a spiral of violence in the region. He called for all actors to step away from the brink of war, to exercise restraint and to seek justice rather than revenge.

Asked about the

Secretary-Generals request for the

Security Council to authorize an increase of 13,100 troops for the

UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he said he hoped there would be a number of countries prepared to provide troops, especially specialized units in the area of intelligence, which could provide better information about troop movements in the vast territory of the DR Congo.

The report on the UN Mission in DR Congo was released today, and the Council is due to take up the matter next Wednesday.

EXTRA LOAD IS HAMPERING WFPS FOOD SUPPLIES TO BURUNDI

Regarding the food situation in Burundi the

World Food Programme

said today it is providing food to the wounded and other survivors of the

Gatumba camp massacre, and that its ready to help refugees from the

Democratic Republic of the Congo when they are transferred to safer sites.

It adds that its been feeding tens of thousands of refugees who fled into Burundi from the DRC with 1,000 tonnes of food aid delivered to the Congolese refugees since June but the extra load is hampering its capacity to cover food needs for Burundi from September to January.

U.N. REFUGEE AGENCY CONCERNED ABOUT DETERIORATING SECURITY IN AFGHANISTAN

The

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),

Ruud Lubbers, says he

remains very concerned at the deterioration of the security situation in some parts of

Afghanistan.

Earlier this week, fighting in Heart prompted UNHCR to suspend its daily repatriation convoys from Iran. This forced the agency to provide emergency help to some 13,000 stranded returnees in Iran and Afghanistan.

Lubbers notes with concern that this week's temporary suspension of UNHCR-assisted convoys and other recent security problems in Afghanistan have coincided with an upsurge in the numbers of refugees wanting to go home.

He stresses that those who have made the brave choice to return home deserve peace and security.

U.N. MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN REPORTS EXPLOSIONS IN FARAHPROVINCE

The UN Mission in

Afghanistan reports that yesterday evening there was a series of explosions at the offices the electoral authority in Farah province.

Seven police officers were reported wounded, two of them seriously. Inside the compound, the three international staff and the local radio operator escaped without injury.

Widespread damage is reported in the building and to a number of vehicles that were in the car park. An investigation into the bombing is currently underway.

SWEARING IN OF TRANSITIONAL SOMALI ASSEMBLY TO TAKE PLACE THIS SUNDAY

A swearing-in ceremony for the transitional federal assembly of the Somali Republic will take place this Sunday at the

UN Office in Nairobi.

The Somali National Reconciliation Conference has been going on in Kenya for the past 22 months and it is now in the last stages of selection of Members of the new National Assembly.

UNAIDS WELCOMES BOLLYWOOD ANTI-AIDS EFFORT

UNAIDS has

hailed a new Indian film as a major contribution in the fight against the pandemic and the ignorance, fear, stigma and discrimination in the work place that surround it.

The film Phir Milenge is about a successful career woman who suddenly learns she is

HIV-positive.

UNAIDS says it is extremely significant that Bollywood is joining the struggle against the epidemic and helping to break the silence that surrounds the disease.

The Bollywood industry is huge: it produces some 800 films a year and on any given day 15 million Indians watch such movies. An estimated 5.1 million Indians are living with AIDS, the highest number in a single country outside South Africa.

LOCUST SWARMS REACH NIGERIA, CAPE VERDE

Locust swarms have been reported for the first time in northern Nigeria and Cape Verde; and crop damage has also been reported in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.

The

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns that unless young locusts in southern

Mauritania are sprayed quickly with insecticide, a new generation of mature locusts will take to the skies in the coming weeks and wreak even greater damage on crops throughout the region.

FAO now says the cost of controlling the locust invasion has now been put at $100 million up from the initial $9 million FAO first appealed for in February.

U.N. COMMITTEE ON DISABILITY CONVENTION TO MEET NEXT WEEK

The UN committee that is drafting the first-ever international convention on the rights of

people with disabilities its

two-week meeting here at UN Headquarters on Monday, in Conference Room 4.

The

General Assembly Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities the committees full name will tackle issues such as the conventions title, structure and definitions.

The 25-article convention will create a legally binding framework for promoting the rights of the worlds 600 million people with disabilities.

OTHER NEWS

UNESCO CONDEMNS MURDER OF TAMIL JOURNALIST:

UNESCO has

condemned the murder of Iyer Balanadarajah, better known as Sinna Baia, a reporter of the Tamil weekly Thinamurasu. UNESCOs Director-General, Koïchiro Matsuura, has called for a full investigation of the killing the second assassination of a journalist in Sri Lanka this year.

TOTAL U.N. SECURITY RESOURCES FOR BIENNIUM IS $160 MILLION: In answer to a question that was raised yesterday about the amount of money spent by the UN on security. Total security resources approved for the biennium 2004-2005 under the

UN regular budget and for UNSECOORD initially amounted to about $160 million at the start of 2004. Recent increases approved in June 2004 amount to $85 million including over $60 million of one-time capital costs. SITUATION IN FLOOD-STRICKEN BANGALDESH REMAINS DIRE: The

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

reports that the situation in Bangladesh remains dire in flood-stricken areas, with many areas still under water. Acute shortages of seeds seriously threaten the rice harvest, and the number of new cases of diarrhoea and other communicable diseases is increasing. Nevertheless, agencies are continuing their relief work: for example, the

World Food Programme has already distributed almost 13,000 metric tons of food; and

UNICEF, the UN Childrens Fund, has contributed 11 million water purification tablets. CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: The UN Office in the Central African Republic has just completed a voter awareness campaign, in conjuction with the National Electoral Commission as well as the Government, in an effort to reach-out to voters away from the capital, Bangui. GUINEA-BISSAU: The UN Office in Guinea-Bissau expressed its concern at the current verbal escalation among the political actors in the country. The UN office calls on all political actors to show restraint and to settle all disputes in a peaceful manner as provided for by the law. NEW HUMAN RIGHTS RAPPORTEURON MERCENARIES APPOINTED: The

UN Commission on Human Rights has

appointed Ms Shaista Shameem, of Fiji, as the new Special Rapporteur on the use of mercenaries as a means of impeding the exercise of the right of people to self-determination. Shameem currently serves as the Director of the Fiji Human Rights Commission, and has been a fervent activist in the South Pacific region on human rights.

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS

Monday, August 23

The Committee drafting the international convention on the rights of persons with disabilities will begin a 2-week meeting.

The International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, August 23, will be celebrated at UNESCO Headquarters with a series of cultural events.

Tuesday, August 24

The Security Council has scheduled a public meeting on the UN Mission of Support in East Timor.

Wednesday, August 25

The Security Council has scheduled a public meeting on Afghanistan and closed consultations on the UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Thursday, August 26

The Security Council has scheduled consultations on the Haiti in the morning, and on the UN Operation in Burundi.

Friday, August 27

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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