United Nations Daily Highlights, 06-04-06

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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

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Thursday, April 6, 2006

SECRETARY-GENERAL BEGINS VISIT TO SPAIN

Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Madrid this morning, and he met with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero.

Then, in the evening, the Secretary-General and Nane Annan will be hosted for dinner by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia.

Earlier today, the Secretary-General held meetings with UN officials in preparation for the start of tomorrow's meeting of the

Chief Executives Board, which brings together the UN agencies, funds and programmes.

He also met with Enrique Iglesias, the Secretary-General of the Secretariat for the Ibero-American Summits.

Asked about the Secretary-Generals agenda in the Netherlands and whether it would relate to former Liberian President Charles Taylor, the Spokesman said the Secretary-General was going to the Netherlands for the [60th] anniversary of the International Court of Justice. He was also planning to visit the International Criminal Court and hold wide-ranging discussions with Dutch authorities on a number of bilateral matters.

On the issue of Charles Taylor, it was currently being worked out, and it was the Spokesmans understanding that a draft resolution on the matter would be circulated in the Security Council shortly.

U.N. COHERENCE PANEL CONCLUDING MEETINGS

Today is the last day of the meeting of the Secretary-Generals High-level

Panel on UN System-wide Coherence in the Areas of Development, Humanitarian Assistance, and the Environment.

At 2:30 this afternoon, the Panels co-chairs will brief the press on their work so far. The co-chairs are Prime Ministers Luisa Dias Diogo of Mozambique, Jens Stoltenberg of Norway, and Shaukat Aziz of Pakistan. Deputy Secretary-General

Mark Malloch Brown will moderate the press conference.

ANNAN HOPES U.S. WILL SUPPORT WORK OF NEW RIGHTS COUNCIL

Asked for a response to reports that the United States had decided not to run for a seat on the Human Rights Council, the Spokesman said he had seen the press reports on that topic. He said that the Secretary-General was disappointed that the United States had decided not to participate in those elections. However, the Secretary-General very much hoped that the United States would continue to be an active player in the defense of universal human rights, support the work of the new Council, and participate in the Councils elections next year.

[According to a statement issued by the General Assembly Spokesperson following the briefing, General Assembly President Jan Eliasson welcomes the fact that the United States will work cooperatively to make the Council as strong and as effective as possible, and that it will support and fund the Council. He hopes that the United States will be a candidate for membership in the Council as soon as possible, and welcomes the indication that the U.S. is considering running for membership next year. ]

A number of additional Member States have submitted to the Secretariat their candidacy for the Human Rights Council, bringing the number to 35. The website is:

www.un.org/ga/60/elect/hrc/. It being updated on a daily basis. The elections are scheduled to take place on 9 May.

UNITED NATIONS IS PREPARING FOR ASSESSMENT TEAM VISIT TO SUDAN

Asked if the Secretary-General had managed to speak with the President of Sudan, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General had not. However, a message had been left, and the Sudanese authorities were aware that the Secretary-General wished to talk to the President.

Fielding a question about the UNs efforts to send an assessment team to Sudan, the Spokesman said he expected a planning team to go to Addis Ababa to work with the African Union, to see when it would be best to send an assessment team on to Darfur.

He added that, as of now, visas had not been requested from the Sudanese Government. However, it was now important to create the right environment so that the United Nations could go ahead with the full cooperation of the Government of Sudan, which was necessary. In addition, visas were just pieces of paper, in the sense that some people had recently managed to obtain them, and yet had been denied access to their planned destinations.

Asked if Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs

Jan Egeland had decided to accept a belated invitation from the Sudanese Government to visit Darfur, the Spokesman replied that Egeland had seen the media reports that Sudan was now willing to allow him to visit. However, neither he nor anyone else at the United Nations had received any official communication from the Government of Sudan on that. Once Egeland officially received such an invitation, he would review it and make a decision.

U.N. ENVOY IN COTE D'IVOIRE MEETS AFRICAN UNION CHAIRMAN

The Secretary-Generals Special Representative in Côte dIvoire,

Pierre Schori, this evening will meet with the Chairman of the African Union (AU), President Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo, who is in Abidjan for talks aimed at moving along the peace process in Côte dIvoire

Schori and the AU chairman will discuss ways to carry out the roadmap for peace.

SOME SUCCESSES REPORTED IN BATTLING BIRD FLU

The

UN Food and Agriculture Organization said today that, despite the fact that bird flu has been confirmed in at least 45 countries, efforts to combat it are proving successful on many fronts.

The agency said that early detection, vaccination, and compensation programmes in Asia, particularly in Thailand, Viet Nam and China, appear to have reduced the transmission of the disease from poultry to humans.

FOOD AID OPERATION TO START IN MINDANAO

The World Food Programme today

announced that it will provide food aid to the Philippines autonomous region of Mindanao, to support the governments effort to end the long-standing conflict there.

Plans are underway to start a $27 million food aid operation to help more than two million people from poor and conflict-torn communities, especially families displaced by violence, former combatants, poor women, and children.

BELGIUM AND CUBA CONTRIBUTE TO THE BUDGET

Yesterdays arrival of cheques from Belgium and Cuba brought to 73 the number of Member States that have paid in full their portions of the regular UN budget. Belgium sent in $18,243,534, and Cuba $815,971.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY WILL BEGIN TO REVIEW MANDATES

According to an update by the General Assembly Spokesperson, tomorrow morning, the General Assembly will hold informal consultations of the plenary to begin its consideration of the review of mandates. Assistant Secretary-General Bob Orr is expected to introduce the report of the Secretary-General in the consultations, which will be co-chaired by Ambassador Allan Rock of Canada and Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan.

Earlier this week, the President sent a letter to all Member States announcing that he would convene a meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group on Security Council reform on 20 April. The President has invited Member States to comment on developments since the debate on this subject in the General Assembly last November, and wrote that he hoped for a constructive and creative exchange of views towards reaching general agreement on this essential element of the reform agenda. He will also seek endorsement of the Vice-Chairpersons he has proposed for this Working Group: Ambassador Paulette Bethel of the Bahamas and Ambassador Frank Majoor of the Netherlands.

On Monday afternoon, President Eliasson will be travelling to The Hague, to participate in the ceremonies on 12 April observing the 60th anniversary of the International Court of Justice. He will return to New York on the afternoon of 13 April.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

U.N. STUDYING LETTER FROM PALESTINIAN OBSERVER MISSION: Asked for a response to the letter recently received by the Secretary-General from the Palestinian Observer Mission, the Spokesman said that the letter was still being studied. Asked to comment on press reports about different versions of the letter, the Spokesman said that only the official letter, as received from the Palestinian Observer Mission, was being looked at.

SPOKESMAN SAYS CASE OF ARRESTED HAMAS MINISTER NOW CLOSED: Asked for a reaction to todays arrest by the Israeli authorities of a Palestinian minister, the Spokesman said that, as he understood it, the case was now closed as the minister been released. Pressed for a legal opinion from the United Nations as to whether or not the Palestinian minister had a right to be at the location where he was detained, the Spokesman declined to answer.

U.N. OFFICIALS DONT PARTICIPATE IN POLITICAL RALLIES: Asked if any UN officials would be participating in an upcoming march in Washington concerning Darfur, the Spokesman replied that, as a rule, UN officials do not take part in political rallies.

U.N. UPGRADES PRESS RELEASE SYSTEM: The Department of Public Information (DPI) today announced the launch of a new website for United Nations press releases and meetings coverage summaries, in English and French, at:

http://www.un.org/apps/pressreleases/. DPI said the new site provides quick access to coverage of intergovernmental meetings -- some as they are still in progress-- plus the latest statements by the Secretary-General, transcripts of the Spokesmans noon briefing, summaries of press conferences, departmental and UN system releases. . It also provides search functions for these various resources, dating back to October 1995, as well as links to various news and media-related sites at United Nations Headquarters and overseas offices. Managed by DPIs Meetings Coverage Section, the web site can be accessed directly from the Organizations main website,

http://www.un.org .