United Nations Daily Highlights, 05-03-15

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

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING

BY FRED ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

ANNAN: UNITED NATIONS HAS SACRED RESPONSIBILITY TO COMBAT

HATRED AND INTOLERANCE

Secretary-General Kofi Annan today addressed the inauguration of the Holocaust History Museum at Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem, saying that the Holocaust occupies a unique place in the history of the United Nations. Our global mission of peace, freedom and human dignity was literally forged in fire, he said, in fact the most awful fires humankind has ever seen.

The Secretary-General said that the United Nations has a sacred responsibility to combat hatred and intolerance, and it must be at the forefront of the fight against anti-Semitism.

The Secretary-General also toured Yad Vashem for two hours.

The Secretary-General this morning met with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, with whom he discussed the

Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the situation in Lebanon.

At a

press encounter afterward, he said that, in his discussions yesterday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Abbas said he hoped the talks with Palestinian groups in Cairo today would result in an understanding on a cease-fire and non-use of violence. Such an outcome, the Secretary-General said, should be seen as a first step towards a peace leading to two states, living side by side in peace and security.

The Secretary-General later had a bilateral meeting with French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. He also had a

working lunch with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, to continue discussions on the peace process.

Yesterday evening, the Secretary-General met with Israeli President Moshe Katsav, and was asked at a

press encounter afterward about when a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon would take place. He said that Terje Roed-Larsen would have to report to him on that matter, but added about the withdrawal, I would hope that it would take place before the elections in Lebanon.

Asked when Roed-Larsen would report to the Secretary-General, the Spokesman said that Roed-Larsen is on his way back to New York, and is expected to report to the Secretary-General by the end of this week. The Secretary-General, he added, would leave Israel on Wednesday to return to New York.

In a separate program this morning, Nane Annan visited the Mevasseret Zion Absorption Centre, which provides new immigrants from Ethiopia with housing, health care, Hebrew classes and pre-school day care. She was accompanied by Judith Nir-Moses Shalom, the wife of the Israeli Foreign Minister. Yesterday, Nane Annan visited the Ramallah Women's Training Center for Palestinian refugee women, widely considered one of the Arab world's foremost teacher education and vocational training institutes for women.

U.N. ENVOY CONDEMNS ATTACK ON KOSOVO PRESIDENT

The Secretary-Generals Special Representative in

Kosovo,

Søren Jessen-Petersen, has strongly

condemned the attack against President Ibrahim Rugova's convoy in Pristina this morning.

Jessen-Petersen stressed that such actions are an assault on the democratic institutions of Kosovo, but he added that, since such acts were not supported by the majority of Kosovars, they would not succeed in derailing steady progress towards the implementation of standards and final status talks later this year.

SOMALIA: SECURITY COUNCIL RE-ESTABLISHES ARMS EMBARGO MONITORING GROUP

The

Security Council held consultations this morning on Somalia, specifically on the

report of the monitoring group on arms embargo violations, which came out as a document yesterday.

Philippines Ambassador Lauro Baja briefed the Council on that report in his capacity as Chairman of the

Sanctions Committee on Somalia.

The Security Council then

adopted a resolution on Somalia to re-establish the Monitoring Group for a period of six months.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS MORE RESOURCES NEEDED

TO FIGHT AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS AND MALARIA

Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette addressed the First

Replenishment Conference of the

Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Stockholm today.

This meeting is a crucial building block in the work to launch the Global Funds Replenishment Mechanism.

The Deputy Secretary-General, in her remarks, underscored the importance of this mechanism to enable the Global Fund to have long term sustainable sources of finance. She stressed that significantly more resources are needed, year by year, and over the long term, for an adequate response to the three diseases.

During her short visit to Sweden, the Deputy Secretary-General also met with Bo Ringholm, Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden, and with Carin Jämtin, Minister for Development Cooperation.These meetings provided an occasion to discuss the preparations for the General Assembly High-Level Event to review the implementation of the Millennium Declaration.

Asked about the UN reforms that the Deputy Secretary-General had been working on, the Spokesman said he expected that, before the end of this week, the United Nations would inform its staff, probably in a letter from the Secretary-General to all staff, about a number of steps that the Secretary-General, acting under his own authority, can take to make UN procedures more transparent and UN management more accountable.

In response to a further question, he said whistle-blowing would be one of the issues included.

RECORD AMOUNT OF FOOD AID DELIVERED TO DARFUR, SUDAN

The World Food Programme (WFP) announced that the agency had delivered 1.6 million tons of food to Darfur last month, an increase of 34 percent over the aid provided in January and the highest monthly total since the start of WFP's Emergency Operation in April 2004.

However, WFP also notes that security problems dogged operations to reach 2 million people in the province, as did theft and sabotage of supplies.

BURUNDI FACES CHRONIC FOOD INSECURITY

WFP said that food insecurity was worsening in Burundi.

All 7.6 million inhabitants of that county suffer from chronic food insecurity and 68 percent are under threat of having no food at all.

The Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Burundi, Carolyn McAskie, will be the guest at the noon briefing on Friday.

U.N. OFFICIAL OPENS FOOD AND NUTRITION MEETING IN BRAZIL

Catherine Bertini, Under-Secretary-General for Management, is currently in Brasilia, Brazil, where the UNs

Standing Committee on Nutrition is holding its 32nd session this week.

The objective of the

session which started yesterday and will end on Friday is to review progress made in meeting the Millennium Development Goals, through the inclusion of food and nutrition components in national development plans.

Bertini, who chairs the Committee, opened the session yesterday, along with Brazilian President Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva.

U.N. WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL HANDS DOWN FINAL INDICTMENTS

The

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia today indicted Ljube Boskoski, former Interior Minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), and police officer Johan Tarculovski, for war crimes including murder and the wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages.

Todays indictments are the last ones to be made by Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions that asked the Tribunal to complete its investigations by last December.

Other important investigations that have not led to indictments by the Tribunal will now be transferred to local authorities.

Meanwhile, the Tribunal continues to urge States to assist in transferring 17 indicted fugitives, including Gen. Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

REFUGEE AGENCY AND EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENT BANK TO HELP DISPLACED BOSNIANS: Yesterday, in Paris, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

signed a landmark memorandum of understanding with the Council of Europe Development Bank. Among other things, the agreement will help end the protracted effort to provide individual accommodation for around 850 displaced people who are still living in official collective centres in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

AGRICULTURAL AGENCY FOCUSES ON TSUNAMI-HIT FORESTS: The Food and Agriculture Organizations third Ministerial Meeting on Forests was held yesterday. The participants

called for an assessment of forest damage from the recent tsunami, and also discussed how to meet the immediate needs for wood for the reconstruction of infrastructure. Throughout this week, the agencys Committee on Forestry will discuss ways to implement the commitments to which ministers agreed during their meeting.

COMPLAINTS AGAINST INTERNAL OVERSIGHT SERVICES CHIEF BEING STUDIED: Asked how the United Nations was handling complaints by the Staff Council concerning Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services

Dileep Nair, the Spokesman said that Chef de Cabinet Mark Malloch Brown will inform Nair of the decision he has taken when Nair returns from Malaysia. The Spokesman said later that Nair is due back in New York by the end of this week.

EX-HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES MAKES COMPLAINTS AGAINST OIOS: Asked about complaints made against the

Office for Internal Oversight Services by former High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers, the Spokesman confirmed that Lubbers had sent letters to the Secretary-General and to the President of the General Assembly. The United Nations, Eckhard added, was not inclined to go public with the letter to the Secretary-General. He said that Lubbers wanted a review of OIOS, but he noted that one was already going to happen. The Spokesman said that the United Nations had felt that OIOS was due for a review, at the end of its first ten years of existence.

UNITED NATIONS WELCOMES NEW TOUR GUIDES: A new group of 25 multilingual tour guides

joined the UN Headquarters last Friday. The new guides add to the existing team, which conducts tours for the nearly half a million people who visit the United Nations each year. Since 1952, 38 million visitors have taken a tour of UN Headquarters, and the Guided Tours Unit, part of the Department of Public Information, now offers tours in 20 languages, more than any other tour operation in New York.

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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