United Nations Daily Highlights, 05-11-03

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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 STEPHANE DUJARRIC

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Thursday, November 3, 2005

[There will be no noon briefing on Friday, November 4, 2005,

which is an official holiday at UN headquarters to mark the observance of Eid Al-Fitr]

ANNAN URGES ERITREA AND ETHIOPIA NOT TO ENDANGER CEASEFIRE

The Security Council has scheduled consultations at 3:00 p.m. on Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan will be attending those consultations and is preparing to brief Council members first and the press afterwards.

Meanwhile, the following

statement was issued yesterday afternoon.

The Secretary-General is extremely concerned about reports received from the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) concerning movements of military personnel on both sides of the Temporary Security Zone as well as irregular activities inside the Zone. Reported troop movements involve small and large military and paramilitary formations, and movement of armour as well as aerial defence assets. The Secretary-General strongly urges the parties to exercise maximum restraint and to put an immediate halt to any actions that may be misinterpreted by the other side or jeopardize the security arrangements which they agreed to in the Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities of 18 June 2000.

The Secretary-General further urges the Security Council and individual Member States to take decisive steps to defuse the escalating tension between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and stands ready to assist in this regard.

SECURITY COUNCIL ENVOY TO VISIT U.N. MISSION IN ETHIOPIA & ERITREA

Japanese Ambassador Kenzo Oshima will visit Ethiopia and Eritrea next week.

According to the terms of reference, the Security Council has authorized Ambassador Oshima, Chairman of the Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations of the Security Council, to visit the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The dates of the visit are Sunday, 6 November through Wednesday, 9 November.

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: U.N. MAY HAVE TO MAKE HARD DECISIONS

The Secretary-Generals Special Representative to Eritrea and Ethiopia, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, and Force Commander Major-General Rajender Singh spoke to reporters at a press conference in Asmara earlier today.

Singh said that on the Ethiopian side, there has been a larger concentration of troops, which have moved about 20-30 kilometers closer to the border than they were before. Tanks, which had been located deeper inside Ethiopian territory, have advanced another 10 kilometers closer than they were previously. Tanks have also been seen in areas where they were not previously located.

On the Eritrean side, he said, there is a daily increase of restrictions on freedom of movement, as well as incursions into the Temporary Security Zone by armed personnel identifying themselves as militia but not wanting to show ID cards as required.

Legwaila noted that the Secretary-General has called for the Security Council to take action. He stressed if the peacekeepers are not allowed to do their job, then the United Nations will have to make some hard decisions, which would have to determine whether consent for the Mission to operate in the Mission area is being withdrawn by one of the Parties. "The Council must decide: is it useful to keep pouring $200 million into maintaining a mission which is not allowed to do its work?" he said.

WORLD MUST ACT NOW TO DEAL WITH BIRD FLU, ANNAN SAYS

The Secretary-General this morning

addressed the Time Global Health Summit, a three-day event in New York, to discuss key health issues, and he warned that the international community must act now to deal with the potential threat of avian influenza. If bird flu can result in human-to-human transmission, he said, we would have only a matter of weeks to lock down the spread before it spins out of control.

He pointed to seven priorities to handle bird flu, saying that merely stockpiling antiviral medicines does not constitute a strategy.

Those priorities are: to invest more to monitor and halt the spread of bird flu; to help people understand the challenge of living in close proximity with animals; to prepare for the impact of a human pandemic and identify what is needed to keep countries running; to ensure access to antiviral medicines for all who will need them; to foster transparency and cooperation on science and research; to communicate vital facts about the virus; and to mobilize political leadership at the highest level.

When the flu does come, he said, it will be a test we must be sure to pass.

Meanwhile, the UN Senior System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza, David Nabarro, is outlining a worldwide strategy to confront bird flu.

In a special meeting on bird flu that took place today in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) chamber, Nabarro detailed separate strategies to control the disease in birds, prevent or delay its spread to humans, and prepare for any possible pandemic in humans.

U.N. TO HELP DISBAND LEBANESE MILITIAS, DEMARCATE SYRIA-LEBANON BORDER

Terje Roed-Larsen, the Secretary-Generals Special Envoy for the implementation of Security Council

resolution 1559, briefed the Council in consultations Wednesday afternoon about progress in meeting that resolutions key goals.

Now, Roed-Larsen told reporters after the consultations ended, the United Nations will try to help resolve outstanding issues between Syria and

Lebanon, including the disbanding of militias and the demarcation of a border between the two countries.

The UN has encouraged the Government of Lebanon to enter into a dialogue with Hezbollah, which it has informally done, and we are encouraging this dialogue to continue, he said.

Further, Roed-Larsen added, we are encouraging the Government of Lebanon to set up a mechanism with the different Palestinian groups in order to resolve the issue of disbanding them and disarming them.

D.R. CONGO: U.N. PEACEKEEPERS HELP FREE KIDNAPPED ELECTION OFFICIALS

UN peacekeepers serving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have helped free four election officials who had been taken hostage in the countrys eastern province of North Kivu almost two weeks ago.

The peacekeepers were supporting national DRC soldiers in operations against the Mayi-Mayi militia in the Vurondo area, near the town of Butembo, which is 200 kilometres north of the capital of Goma.

In the course of clearing out two major militia camps, the soldiers engaged militias in firefights in which 32 Mayi-Mayi were killed. The remaining militia members fled, and the four electoral officials were found during mopping-up operations. The four were unharmed and the DRCs national army will maintain a presence in the cleared areas.

Also, the Security Council Sanctions Committee established pursuant to

resolution 1533 (2004) has released a list of individuals and entities subject to the measures imposed by paragraphs 13 and 15 of

resolution 1596 (2005).

WORLDS LARGEST HELICOPTER SENT TO PAKISTAN FOR QUAKE RELIEF WORK

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and NATO have agreed to

extend and expand their two-week-old airlift of emergency relief supplies to quake-stricken Pakistan, in a major effort to get life-saving tents, blankets and stoves to survivors before winter strikes.

In total, UNHCR is delivering more than half a million blankets to Pakistan, and over 20,000 tents. Meanwhile, five of the agencys emergency teams are on the ground working with partners to get all relief items transported and distributed to the neediest survivors. So far, more than 8,500 tents have been distributed.

For its part, the World Food Programme (WFP) has

deployed an MI-26, the worlds largest helicopter, to Pakistan for quake relief work. The MI-26 can carry 20 tons, or ten times as much as the MI-8, the standard UN helicopter used during emergency operations.

WFP currently has 17 transport helicopters deployed, and expects to have 22 helicopters fully operational by 10 November.

YOUNG TSUNAMI HEROINE MEETS U.N. ENVOY BILL CLINTON

Tilly Smith, a young English survivor of last years

tsunami, is in New York and met today with the UNs Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, former US President Bill Clinton; Eric Schwartz, the Deputy Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery; and Sálvano Briceño, the head of the UNs International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).

Tilly attracted attention during the disaster when, as an eleven-year-old schoolgirl on holiday in Thailand, she recognized the signs of the receding sea and warned her parents of the impending tsunami, which led to hotel guests being rapidly cleared from the beach.

President Clinton has said that Tillys story shows the importance of teaching young people about natural hazards.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

ALL SET FOR LIBERIAS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: The Secretary-Generals Special Representative in Liberia, Alan Doss, says security and access arrangements are in good shape for next Tuesdays run-off presidential elections. Doss made the remarks after a tour of eastern towns with local election officials. He also said the UN Mission in

Liberia (UNMIL) is taking measures to avoid any cross border recruitment of fighters for conflicts in neighboring

Cote dIvoire. The Liberia mission has already welcomed an NGO report on the problem of child soldiers.

PIRATES HAMPERING FOOD DELIVERIES TO SOMALIA: The World Food Programme (WFP)

warned today that a recent spate of ship hijackings off the coast of Somalia is restricting the delivery of urgently needed food aid to that country. Those restrictions are threatening more than half a million Somalis in the drought-stricken and war-torn south. WFP is also concerned about the lack of access for UN relief flights to several airstrips in the south.

NEW REPORT URGES GOVERNMENTS TO SHARE TECHNOLOGY: A new report from the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), presented earlier today, urges governments to expand quality education and share technology, in an effort to move towards what it calls a smarter form of sustainable development. The report gives very specific ideas on sharing knowledge.