United Nations Daily Highlights, 05-04-04

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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

Monday, April 4, 2005

UNITED NATIONS PAYS TRIBUTE TO POPE JOHN PAUL II

In a statement issued Saturday,

Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: "I was deeply saddened by the death of Pope John Paul II. Quite apart from his role as a spiritual guide to more than a billion men, women and children, he was a tireless advocate of peace, a true pioneer in interfaith dialogue and a strong force for critical self-evaluation by the Church itself.

I had the privilege to meet him several times in recent years. I was always struck by his commitment to having the United Nations become, as he said during his address to the General Assembly in 1995, a moral centre where all the nations of the world feel at home and develop a shared awareness of being, as it were, a `family of nations'.

I offer my deepest condolences to Catholics and others around the world who were touched by his life of prayer and lifelong dedication to nonviolence and peace.

Asked whether the Secretary-General intended to attend the Popes funeral, the Spokesman said he did. He noted that the Secretary-General had been scheduled to attend the meeting in Switzerland of the Chief Executives Board that brings together the heads of the UN system of organizations, but that program is now being adjusted to allow him to go to Rome, for a funeral that is expected on Friday.

Also on Saturday,

Jean Ping, the President of the

General Assembly, said in a

statement that the Popes passing is a great loss for Poland, for the Catholic community and for humanity as a whole. He said that the Pope had made tremendous contributions towards upholding the values of the United Nations.

The UN flag is at half-mast today, in observance of the Popes passing, UN agency heads paid tribute to the Pope John Paul II and the Security Council today observed one minutes silence in memory of the Pope.

SYRIA TO WITHDRAW FROM LEBANON BY 30 APRIL

Terje Roed-Larsen, the Secretary-Generals Special Envoy for the Implementation of Resolution 1559, met yesterday in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Foreign Minister Farouq al-Sharaa.

Following those meetings, Roed-Larsen said that the Syrian Foreign Minister had told him that all Syrian troops, military assets and the intelligence apparatus will have been withdrawn fully from Lebanon by 30 April.

He said the Syrian Government has agreed with him that, subject to acceptance by the Lebanese authorities, a UN verification team will be dispatched in order to verify the full Syrian withdrawal.

Based on his meetings in Damascus, Syria, Roed-Larsen said, there is now a common understanding between the United Nations and Syria that the implementation of

resolution 1559 should proceed in a way that would best ensure the stability and unity of both Lebanon and Syria. We have his statement upstairs.

Roed-Larsen is now in Lebanon, where he met today with President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Omar Karami, Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud and Assembly Speaker Nabih Berri. His talks with the Lebanese authorities focused on the need to hold free and fair elections as initially scheduled.

He will meet tomorrow with the Lebanese Ministers of Interior and of Defence, as well as the Army Chief, to discuss with them the mechanisms of the withdrawal of Syrian troops and intelligence agents.

ANNAN WELCOMES AGREEMENT ON SYRIAN WITHDRAWAL FROM LEBANON

The

Secretary-General

welcomes the agreement reached in Damascus yesterday between his Special Envoy,

Terje Roed-Larsen, and the Government of Syria regarding the full and complete withdrawal by 30 April 2005 of Syrian troops, military assets and intelligence apparatus, consistent with the requirements of Security Council

resolution 1559 (2004).

FOUR ENVOYS APPOINTED FOR U.N. SUMMIT IN SEPTEMBER

The

Secretary-General is pleased to announce the appointment of Dermot Ahern, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ireland; Ali Alatas, former Foreign Minister of Indonesia; Joaquin Chissano, former President of Mozambique; and Ernesto Zedillo, former President of Mexico, as his Envoys for the Summit to take place in New York in September 2005.

In his report In larger freedom: towards development, security and human rights for all the Secretary-General has outlined a bold vision of steps to be taken by the international community to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

He has placed before world leaders an agenda for action in order to move our world decisively towards important goals: halving poverty in the next ten years; reducing the threat of war, terrorism and deadly weapons; and advancing human dignity in every land. He has also called for the most far-reaching reforms of the United Nations in its 60-year history.

To help him promote this comprehensive agenda, the Secretary-General has requested the good offices of these four prominent world leaders, whom he has asked to act as his Envoys in the run up to the Summit.

All four have vast political experience, profound knowledge of international relations, and are committed to the cause of the United Nations.

The Envoys will help the Secretary-General promote the bold but achievable agenda put forward in his report.

To that end, they will travel around the world and engage political leaders, civil society representatives, academics and the media. They will present the broad package of proposals and will seek support for decisions that need to be taken by Heads of State and Government at their September Summit, which will review implementation of the

Millennium Declaration adopted five years ago.

The Secretary-General wishes to express his deepest gratitude to their Excellencies for having agreed to take on this challenging assignment and invest their time, energy and political wisdom in assisting him in his efforts.

The Secretary-General is scheduled to meet tomorrow with three of the envoys who will be in New York.

Asked where the envoys would travel, the Spokesman said that he assumed that they would divide the regions of the world among them. The cost of their travels, he said, would be borne by the United Nations.

MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT URGED TO LISTEN TO CONSTITUENTS

The 112th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union started yesterday in Manila, the Philippines.

Delivering a

message from the

Secretary-General to the Assembly, Robert Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Strategic Planning, said that the worlds peoples believed strongly in effective multilateral institutions and expected their governments to agree to reforms that would improve those institutions. He urged the parliamentarians to listen to their constituents and not to let them down.

Also going to Manila was Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of

UNICEF, who today

launched a handbook for legislators offering practical information on how to enact laws to fight child trafficking.

ANNAN TO MEET WITH INT'L CRIMINAL COURT PROSECUTOR TOMORROW

The

Secretary-General is scheduled to meet tomorrow with Luis Moreno Ocampo, the Prosecutor of the

International Criminal Court, which last week received a referral from the Security Council of the situation in

Darfur, Sudan.

At that meeting, the Secretary-General is expected to transmit to the Prosecutor the sealed list of names given to him by the

International Commission of Inquiry that reported to him on Darfur this year.

Moreno Ocampo then plans to speak to the press, at the Security Council stakeout, at about 11:45 a.m.

Asked about the information in the envelope, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General never opened the envelope, and would give the unopened envelope to the prosecutor on Tuesday.

U.N. ENVOY IN DARFUR FOR MEETINGS TODAY AND TOMORROW

Meanwhile, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Sudan,

Jan Pronk, is in

Darfur today. He visited a camp for internally displaced in El Geneina in west Darfur and met with members of the African Union Ceasefire Team who were in the area.

Tomorrow, Pronk is expected to go to Nyala, in South Darfur, where he will continue with a round of meetings with the authorities, and the humanitarian community.

SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS MANDATE OF U.N. MISSION IN COTE DIVOIRE

At 10:30 a.m., the

Security Council began consultations on its programme of work for April, which was approved.

Also in consultations this morning, the Security Council had on its agenda the situation in the Middle East. Under that item, a draft resolution on an investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was introduced.

Following consultations, at a formal meeting on Cote d'Ivoire, the Council voted unanimously to extend the mandate of the

UN Operation there for another six months.

U.N. MISSION CARRIES OUT NEW OPERATION IN ITURI, D.R. CONGO

Last Saturday, peacekeepers from the

UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) carried out an early morning cordon and search operation in the villages of Bolonzabo and Khodeza, approximately 40 kilometers southwest of Bunia, the capital of the Ituri district in the north-eastern

Democratic Republic of the Congo.

MONUC says these two villages were shelters for militiamen of the Ituri Patriotic Resistance Front also known by the French acronym FRPI which is the only armed group that has systematically refused to take part in the Ituri disarmament programme which ended last Friday.

The operation was carried out by a reinforced battalion around 800 men coming from the Bangladeshi, South African, Pakistani and Moroccans troop contingents; and the ground forces were supported by one helicopter gunship from India.

The peacekeepers were fired upon by armed parties, and they returned fire. There were no peacekeeper casualties sustained during the operation.

According to initial reports, some militiamen fled ahead of the peacekeepers arrival.

The operation falls within MONUCs aim of acting vigourously against those armed groups in Ituri which refuse to disarm, and, consequently, pose a threat to the civilian population.

UNICEF CALLS FOR ITURI MILITIA TO RELEASE CHILDREN

UNICEF is

calling upon all armed groups in

Ituri to immediately release all

children so they can begin to resume their normal lives with their families and go to school.

UNICEF confirms that more than 3,000 children associated with armed militia groups have disarmed since September last year and while the number of children leaving militias has increased, UNICEF say its very concerned about the low number of girls whove been released.

Separately, the new Force Commander of the

UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lieutenant-General Babacar Gaye, of Senegal,

took office today.

ACTING COMMISSIONER-GENERAL NAMED FOR U.N.R.W.A.

The

Secretary-General has officially

named Karen Koning AbuZayd, of the United States, as the Acting Commissioner-General of the

UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

AbuZayd has been the Agencys Deputy Commissioner-General since August 2000, and will hold the post of Acting Commissioner-General until a successor to Peter Hansen is found. Letters have been sent to all Member States requesting nominations for a new Commissioner-General.

INDONESIAN QUAKE HAS NOT DIMINISHED TSUNAMI RELIEF EFFORTS

One hundred days after last Decembers

tsunami ripped through the Indian Ocean, the

World Food Programme (WFP) is back in emergency mode to get urgently needed relief to the more than 200,000 survivors of Indonesias latest earthquake.

But that quake has not diminished the agencys efforts to continue providing food to tsunami survivors in other countries. For example, WFP is currently feeding 915,000 Sri Lankans, 42,000 Maldivians, and 30,000 Somalis.

In addition, the agencys food-for-work projects in Myanmar are well underway, with some 8,000 tsunami survivors rebuilding bridges, roads, ponds and dykes in exchange for rations of rice, cooking oil and beans.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL SPOKE ON NEED FOR U.N. REFORM

Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette delivered a keynote address at a conference convened by the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Canada. The conference focused on adapting the United Nations to the 21st century.

The Deputy Secretary-General spoke on why bold and far-reaching reforms of the kind put forward in the Secretary-Generals report are both urgent and necessary.

ANNAN OPENS LECTURE SERIES HONORING DAG HAMMARSKJOLD

The

Secretary-General opened today a

lecture series in honour of former Secretary-General

Dag Hammarskjöld. He said it is appropriate that the centenary of Hammarskjölds birth comes during a year in which we are thinking ahead on how to build a collective security system, defeat poverty and increase respect for human dignity.

He added that there can be no better rule of thumb for a Secretary-General than to ask, How would Hammarskjöld have handled this?

PROGRESS IN AFGHANISTAN SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED

Progress in Afghanistan should not be taken for granted, said

Jean Arnault, head of the

UN Mission in that country, at the Afghanistan Development Forum taking place in Kabul today.

Perhaps nowhere in the world, he said, is the consolidation of peace so tightly dependent on sustained institutional and economic reconstruction.

Arnault said that progress has been achieved on many fronts, and there is every reason to hope that the upcoming parliamentary elections will further entrench democratic practices in the political system. But he added that we must remain keenly aware of the fragility of these gains, with many key post-conflict tasks yet to be completed.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

UNITED NATIONS WELCOMES FUND FOR RWANDA: The United Nations

welcomes the initiative to establish the International Fund for Rwanda to support the people of Rwanda in their recovery from the 1994 genocide. This Fund was made possible thanks to the commitment of the producers of the film Hotel Rwanda, working in partnership with the UN Foundation, to mobilize people at the grass-roots level to get involved in rebuilding Rwanda.

UN-HABITAT TO DISCUSS SLUM DWELLERS: Almost 1000 delegates from governments and civil society organizations

met in Nairobi today for the 12th Governing Council of the

UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), which runs through Friday. Among other topics, the council will discuss the implementation of the

Millennium Development Goal of improving the lives of slum dwellers. At present, 32% of the worlds urban population - roughly 1 billion people - lives in slums.

ANNAN HAS BEEN FOLLOWING ELECTIONS IN ZIMBABWE: Asked about the Zimbabwean elections, the Spokesman said that the

Secretary-General had followed the elections closely and may issue a statement later today.

OPEN FLOOR FOR QUESTIONS AT ANNANS STAFF MEETING: Asked about the

Secretary-Generals meeting on Tuesday with UN staff, the Spokesman said this was not the first time that the Secretary-General has met with staff. He added, in response to a question on how questions will be asked at the meeting, that the floor will be opened for questions from staff. Also, in order to allow staff away from UN Headquarters to ask questions as well, a special e-mail address has been set up for them to submit questions.

RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS FROM FRIDAYS NOON BRIEFING

--On

Dileep Nair, there were no further complaints brought against him, beyond those submitted by the Staff Council. We have no comment on the documents he distributed to the press on Friday. As I announced, we are anticipating his defense in response to the Staff Councils allegations, and those will then be submitted to a third party. I cannot give you the name of the third party, at his request, except to say that it is a prominent attorney who is knowledgeable about UN staff issues.

--The interviewing process on the short list of candidates to replace Nair begins today. On Thursday we mentioned that a candidate from New Zealand had not yet been contacted. That candidate does not want to be considered for the position, and so the short list stays at four names.

--We were asked about Kofi Annans role in the earliest stages of the

Oil-for-Food programme. As stated in his official biography, in 1991 he led the first UN team to negotiate the sale of Iraqi oil to fund humanitarian goods, but those negotiations were then continued for five more years under others before being successfully completed in 1996.

--On allegations that Kojo Annan, the Secretary-Generals son, used the official residence to throw wild parties in the Secretary-Generals absence and that on one such occasion he caused $17,000 worth of damage, I can say categorically that these are vicious rumors. I checked with the three UN security staff responsible for the residence since 1997, and who keep a log of everyone entering the residence, and they told me, in writing, that Kojo Annan was never in the residence when his father wasnt there. Had any damage been done to the residence, the UNs Facilities Management Division would have carried it out, and the person in charge of that division says that there was never any such damage done to the residence.

--On the contractual status of the

Independent Inquiry Committee, only its chairman, Paul Volcker, is on a dollar a year UN contract. The Committee issued its own contracts to the other two Committee members and their staffs.

--Finally, on the identities of the others on dollar-a-year contracts with the United Nations, the Secretary-General will make that list public. We are finalizing the information you requested on tax, immigration and immunity benefits and expect to announce all of that tomorrow.

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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