United Nations Daily Highlights, 05-11-29

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

DARFUR: ANNAN URGES PARTIES TO NEGOTIATE COMPREHENSIVE PEACE ACCORD

Secretary-General Kofi Annan

welcomes the commencement today in Abuja, Nigeria, of the seventh round of the African Union (AU)-led inter-Sudanese peace talks on Darfur,

Sudan.

The Secretary-General strongly appeals to the parties to the Abuja peace process the government and the leadership of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement - to immediately stop all violence and atrocities on the ground. He calls on the parties to negotiate a just and comprehensive peace agreement. Individual leaders will be judged on their immediate action to stop the bloodshed in Darfur.

The Secretary-General urges the parties to the conflict and all other armed groups in Darfur to cooperate fully with the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) and with the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

The Secretary-General also appeals to donors to continue supporting both the crucial work of AMIS in this long suffering region and critical humanitarian assistance for millions of war-affected civilians in Darfur.

The Secretary-Generals Special Representative in Sudan,

Jan Pronk, is attending those African Union-led talks as an observer.

Meanwhile, the mission reports a new rebel attack on an AU patrol in West Darfur. No details were immediately available.

U.N. PEACEKEEPERS FURTHER RESTRICTED ON ERITREA-ETHIOPIA BORDER

The UN

Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia reports that its peacekeepers have now vacated 17 of the 18 outlying posts in the remote areas they were monitoring in the Temporary Security Zone as a result of the ban on UN helicopters by the Eritrean government.

UN peacekeepers are still patrolling on the ground am estimated 40 percent of what it used to monitor before the ban was imposed on October 5.

The mission, meanwhile, says restrictions of freedom of movement on the peacekeepers have increased throughout the area they are still patrolling, making it difficult to monitor the tense 1,000-kilometer border or be in a position to warn the international community of any outbreak of hostility,

Meanwhile, the UN mission reports that a mine accident on the Ethiopian side of the border that occurred last week was caused by a newly laid anti-tank mine. All organizations using the area are urged to exercise due care.

Asked whether Ethiopia had laid more mines, the Spokesman said the UN Mission did not know who had laid the mines but was looking into it.

Asked about the restrictions on the UN Mission, the Spokesman noted the recent Security Council resolution on Eritrea to lift the helicopter ban. During the Secretary-Generals recent travels, he added, the matter was raised with the governments of Egypt and Djibouti, as the Secretary-General tries to talk to countries that can use their influence to get the ban lifted.

HUMANITARIAN APPEAL FOR 2006 TO BE LAUNCHED TOMORROW

The Secretary-General will officially launch the Humanitarian Appeal 2006 in the Economic and Social Council Chamber tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs

Jan Egeland will host the event.

This year the United Nations is asking for a total of $4.7 billion to assist more than 31 million people in 26 nations.

In his remarks tomorrow, the Secretary-General is expected to point out that the appeals are not merely documents prepared at UN Headquarters. And, in fact, for the first time, they will this year includes projects by non-governmental organizations as well as UN agencies.

ONSET OF WINTER HAMPERS U.N. WORK IN PAKISTAN QUAKE

The onset of winter conditions in quake-hit areas of

Pakistan has severely hampered UN relief operations, with the grounding of some helicopters and the cancellation of some road deliveries.

The UNs Operation Winter Race is, nevertheless, continuing to get thousands of people into urgently needed shelters. So far, 19,000 shelter units have been built by the Pakistani military, with an additional 40,000 provided by the humanitarian community and civil society.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency, or UNHCR, is

preparing for the many families that are moving down daily to lower elevations. UNHCR says that people are arriving at the camps in bad shape, many of them already weakened by pneumonia. The agency has been working to winterize the camps by providing two plastic sheets per tent and three blankets per person.

The dire situation has led the

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to remind the international community to focus on relief in order to save lives now, and to rebuild later.

Asked whether there is a need to consolidate the different mechanisms by which funds have been raised for earthquake relief, the Spokesman said that, although different mechanisms collected the money, the outcome of the recent donors conference was quite successful in terms of receiving pledges.

He noted that Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs

Jan Egeland had said that, although pledges have been made for reconstruction, one should not forget immediate humanitarian needs.

ANNAN CALLS FOR ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN JOINT EFFORTS

The Secretary-General today called on Israeli and Palestinian leadership to work together to fully implement the agreement that opened the Rafah crossing.

In his annual

message for International Day for Solidarity with the Palestinian People, delivered this morning in the Trusteeship Council, the Secretary-General said the Rafah agreement was a new opportunity to cooperate effectively and bring about tangible benefits in the lives of ordinary people who have suffered serious economic decline in recent years.

He urged both sides to move forward towards the shared goal of a sovereign, contiguous and democratic Palestine, living side by side in peace and security with Israel.

JAPANESE AMBASSADOR CHOSEN TO HEAD SECURITY COUNCIL

SANCTIONS GROUP RELATING TO HARIRI INVESTIGATION

There are no meetings or consultations of the

Security Council scheduled for today.

Available on the racks is a letter from the Council President, concerning the Committee set up in

Resolution 1636, which deals with possible sanctions against individuals designated to have been involved in the 14 February terrorist bombing in Lebanon.

The Council has agreed that the Committee will be chaired by Ambassador Kenzo Oshima of Japan, with Denmark and Romania as vice chairs.

BILL CLINTON BACK IN SRI LANKA TO REVIEW TSUNAMI RELIEF

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the UN Special Envoy for

Tsunami Recovery, returned to Sri Lanka today to review progress made since the tsunami hit almost one year ago.

He

noted that, since the initial devastation, 90 percent of children are back in school, epidemics have been prevented and transitional shelter has been provided to almost all internally displaced people. On the other hand, more is needed to be done to protect shelters during the monsoon season, provide jobs to the hundreds of thousands of people who lost their livelihoods, and build permanent homes.

He also stressed that any recovery progress made this year would be quickly reversed if Sri Lanka returned to civil conflict.

Tomorrow, Clinton will head to Aceh, Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme has extended its operations in Indonesia and Sri Lanka through 2007 for 1.5 million tsunami survivors but will phase out of the Maldives and Somalia by the end of the year.

GLOBAL COMPACT SUMMIT STARTS IN SHANGHAI TOMORROW

Nearly 800 international business leaders and representatives of government and civil society will be attending a UN

Global Compact Summit in Shanghai, China, starting tomorrow.

At the two-day

meeting, which will be the largest corporate social responsibility event ever held in China, business leaders will demonstrate how they are following the Global Compacts

principles on the environment, labour standards, human rights and anti-corruption.

UNITED NATIONS IS CONCERNED WITH HUMAN RIGHTS IN IRAQ

Asked about the deteriorating situation in Iraq, the Spokesman noted the UNs concerns about law and order and said that the underlying issues about security can only be addressed through a reconciliation conference.

He said that

Ashraf Qazi, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Iraq, had brought up the UNs concerns on human rights issues with Iraqi officials, including the Defense Minister and the Ministry of the Interior.

SPOKESMAN REFERS HARIRI PROBE QUESTIONS TO BEIRUT

The Spokesman declined to answer questions about the details of Detlev Mehliss

inquiry, saying that Mehliss office would be the one to answer them. Mehliss interviews would take place in Vienna, Dujarric reiterated, and it would be up to Mehlis whether he would conduct the interviews himself.

Asked about allegations attacking the integrity of that investigation, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General has full confidence in Mehlis and the integrity of the investigation.

Asked to comment on the reported agreement today between the Lebanese and Syrian Prime Ministers that Shebaa Farms is Lebanese, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-Generals views on the matter, expressed in June 2000, have not changed.

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL NEGOTIATIONS TO BEGIN

The General Assembly, according to its spokesman, concluded its discussion in plenary this morning on oceans and law of the sea, adopting two draft resolutions. It has begun discussion of the situation in Afghanistan, and will also take action on a draft resolution on public health.

In the afternoon, the plenary will take up the question of Palestine for which there are four draft resolutions tabled -- and the situation in the Middle East for which there are two draft resolutions tabled. There are over 50 speakers scheduled for these two items, so the debate is expected to extend through tomorrow afternoon.

This morning, at the observance for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Assembly President Jan Eliasson noted progress made this year and said that Palestinians and Israelis must now build on these achievements. He stated, Let us hope and be determined that with the full backing of the United Nations and the world community, the peace process will be re-activated so that we finally can see an end to decades of Palestinian-Israeli confrontation and conflict Let us all intensify our efforts to make this happen.|

Tomorrow morning, intensive negotiations will begin on the Human Rights Council, based on a new compilation paper that was circulated to Member States yesterday, setting out comments received from Governments on the options paper.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

F.A.O. WARNS AGAINST KILLING WILD BIRDS IN AVIAN FLU EFFORTS: The

UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today

warned against culls of wild birds in cities in countries affected by bird flu, saying this could distract attention from the campaign to contain the disease among poultry. The warning followed reports that wild birds were being killed in Ho Chi Minh City as a precautionary measure. The FAO recommended instead, improving veterinary services, emergency preparedness plans and control campaigns including culling of infected animals, vaccination and compensation for farmers.

U.N. ENVOY REPORTS ON CAMEROON-NIGERIA MEETING: The Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations for West Africa and Chairman of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission, Mr. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, notes with great satisfaction the meeting between President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Prime Minister Inoni Ephraim of Cameroon to discuss outstanding issues and the way forward on the Bakassi Peninsula issue, a

press release says. The two leaders renewed their countries confidence in the UN Secretary Generals continued role in supporting the full implementation of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling of 10 October 2002.

TRILLIONS WILL BE INVESTED IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: Over the next decade several trillion dollars will be invested in evolving markets linked to climate change, clean technology and sustainable use of natural resources, according to

preliminary reports from a study to be published next year by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The agency said that financial institutions working with UNEP predicted that greenhouse gas emissions trading markets could reach $2 trillion a year by 2012 and that the market providing finance for clean energy technologies could reach $1.9 trillion by 2020. The agency released the preliminary results in time to be discussed at the UN climate change conference underway in Montreal.

WEBSITE IS SET UP FOR FARMERS TO ASK FOOD AND AGRICULTURE QUESTIONS: The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today announced that it has set up a website for farmers around the world to ask questions of FAO experts. The new

site includes answers to frequently asked questions, and an area where anyone can ask for advice on individual problems. The agency also set up a separate,

Best Practices site which will contain continually updated information on techniques that have been proven effective in several parts of the world.

SPOKESMAN REFERS MERCEDES QUESTIONS TO KOJO ANNANS LAWYERS: Asked about the question of a Mercedes referred to in the September report of the Independent Inquiry Committee, the Spokesman said that was a matter to be referred to the lawyers of Kojo Annan.

TOP U.N. POLITICAL OFFICER TO BRIEF ON MIDDLE EAST, IRAQ: Asked whether Carina Perelli, Director of the Electoral Affairs Division, would brief the press, the Spokesman said that Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari would be the guest at the Wednesday noon briefing, to discuss the Middle East and Iraq, including elections there. Gambari, he said, is the focal point for elections and the senior UN political official, and was recently in Iraq.

WORK CONTINUES ON NAIR REVIEW: Asked about a review of former Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Dileep Nair, the Spokesman said that at this point, the investigator is not able to provide an end date for his work. The United Nations wants this investigation to be completed, he added in response to a question about the original 45-day deadline for that task, but the investigator will have the time he needs to go about his work.

2005 A VERY BAD YEAR FOR CHILDREN: Issuing a preliminary one-year update on its recovery efforts in the tsunami zone, UNICEF said today that 2005 has been an unprecedented year of emergencies for children, with an extraordinary series of natural disasters, food crises, and conflicts. From the dozen countries struck by the tsunami to the conflict zone of Darfur; from nutrition emergencies in Niger and Malawi to crop failures in Ethiopia and Eritrea; and from the devastating Atlantic hurricane season to the epic Pakistan earthquake, UNICEF said it had not responded to such an array of humanitarian emergencies in a single year in recent memory. UNICEFs preliminary one-year update is available at

www.unicef.org.

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

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article