United Nations Daily Highlights, 06-09-26

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

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

U.N. HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

U.N.-HOSTED TALKS DISCUSS ISRAELI PULLOUT FROM SOUTH LEBANON

Maj.-Gen. Alain Pellegrini, the Force Commander of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), met today with senior officers from the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), and they discussed continued Israeli withdrawal from

South Lebanon and Lebanese Army deployment. The intention of the discussions is to complete this process as soon as possible.

We had a constructive meeting today, Pellegrini said afterward. It is my belief that with the necessary cooperation by both parties, we should see the IDF leave South Lebanon by the end of this month.

UNIFIL currently is fielding more than 5,000 troops on the ground, and the next batch of new personnel is expected in the next couple of weeks. Next week, the first German ship of what is to become UNIFILs naval contingent is expected to arrive; the German contingent is to include two frigates, as well as some smaller boats.

Asked about todays meeting, the Spokesman said that it was part of a series of joint meetings that Pellegrini has chaired with Lebanese and Israeli officials, which have taken place at the Ras al Naqoura.

Asked about U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rices comments about the robust UNIFIL mandate and whether that view was shared by the commanders on the ground, the Spokesman agreed that the mandate was a robust one, to support the Lebanese Government in creating a weapons-free zone.

While noting that commanders on the ground would make their operational decisions, the Spokesman said that, if the Lebanese Army is unable to act, UNIFIL has the manpower and the equipment to act and would do so.

He noted that a team from the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) was visiting Lebanon and would meet with UNIFIL commanders to discuss the mandate and developments on the ground.

Asked whether the Lebanese Government would agree politically to a weapons-free zone in Lebanon, the Spokesman said that the disarming of militia would be based on a political accord in Lebanon. The United Nations, he said, would support the political process as much as it could while seeing that

resolution 1701 is implemented.

SECURITY COUNCIL RECEIVES REPORT ON HARIRI MURDER INVESTIGATION

The Security Council yesterday afternoon received the latest report from the International Independent Investigation Commission that details the progress of its work in investigating the 2005

assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 other people.

In transmitting the report to the Council, the Secretary-General, in an accompanying cover letter, said that it highlights the Commissions steady advancement in its investigations, despite experiencing difficulties in accessing witnesses and information as a result of the conflict in Lebanon.

The Commissions Chairman, Serge Brammertz, will discuss the report with the Council in an open briefing, followed by consultations, this Friday.

INITIAL PLEDGES MADE BY POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTORS

FOR U.N. FORCE IN DARFUR

Following earlier informal discussions, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) yesterday afternoon chaired the first formal meeting of potential troop and police contributors for

Darfur. Invitees were current contributors to peacekeeping and countries that have expressed interest in Darfur.

DPKO briefed them on current planning and activities with regard to a potential future (UN) deployment, pending consent from the Government of Sudan, and began a dialogue on contributions. Initial pledges were made and the United Nations hopes to receive many more pledges and commitments. A follow up meeting is anticipated but not yet scheduled.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Chairman of the African Union Commission, Alpha Oumar Konare, have written jointly to the Sudanese President to inform him of a support package to the African Union force in Darfur (AMIS) that was agreed during UN-African Union (AU) consultations earlier this month. The package envisages the deployment of equipment and UN personnel dedicated exclusively to providing technical support to AMIS.

Asked whether the United Nations had received firm pledges at the Monday meeting, the Spokesman described it as a number of initial pledges, adding that the United Nations would follow up on those offers.

Asked whether advisors from DPKO would be sent to facilitate the African Unions deployment, the Spokesman said that, as part of the AU-UN package agreed to last week, about 100 UN staff officers and technical experts would be dispatched to help AMIS in its work, including on communications and equipment issues. That would have the immediate effect of freeing up AU officers to go from desk duties to the field.

SECURITY COUNCIL IS BRIEFED ON ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA

The Security Council today discussed the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) in its closed consultations.

Azouz Ennifar, the acting Special Representative dealing with UNMEE, briefed the Council on the Secretary-Generals latest report.

The Council earlier had met with the troop contributing countries for that Mission.

U.N. MISSION APPEALS FOR ACCESS TO DETAINED STAFF MEMBER IN ERITREA

In a

statement yesterday, the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) appealed to the Eritrean authorities to grant it access to an international Mission staff member detained since late August for allegedly attempting to smuggle Eritrean nationals out of the country. UNMEE adds that it has yet to be formally notified of the case by Eritrean law enforcement agencies.

UNMEE also says that it has begun its own investigation into the matter and calls on the Eritrean authorities to cooperate with it.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL TO ATTEND AFRICA PANEL DISCUSSION

Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown leaves tonight for the United Kingdom where he will tomorrow participate in a panel discussion on Africa and Development with political and civil society leaders in Manchester at the Labour Party Conference.

He will remain in the United Kingdom for annual leave before travelling to Brussels on 1 October for two days of meetings with officials from the Government of Belgium and the European Commission.

The Deputy Secretary-General will also address the European Parliaments Development and Foreign Affairs Committees and the Belgian Royal Institute of International Relations.

He will return to the United Kingdom on 4 October to participate in a panel on The Global Poverty Debate at the Conservative Party conference in Bournemouth and to address the Oxford Union, a debating society at Oxford University, on 5 October before returning to New York.

ANNAN ENCOURAGES STRENGTHENED INTERNATIONAL HELP

FOLLOWING D.R. CONGOS ELECTORAL PERIOD

The Secretary-Generals latest report on the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) was issued today.

In it, the Secretary-General encourages the presidential candidates, Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba, to reaffirm their commitment to the electoral calendar, which sets out 29 October as the second round for the presidential vote.

He also recommends that MONUCs mandate be extended for four-and-a-half months to allow for consultations with the government on MONUCs future role. And he says that in the post-electoral period, international assistance for the

Congolese governments efforts to consolidate peace should be strengthened and sustained.

U.N. MISSION IN KOSOVO IS WORKING WITH LOCAL LEADERS TO END VIOLENCE

Asked about security concerns in Kosovo as the status process continues, the Spokesman said that the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is concerned about the need to protect minorities. Dujarric added that UNMIK is doing what it can, and is working with local leaders, to lower the number of violent incidents, and will take whatever other measures it deems appropriate.

Asked whether the United Nations was preparing any scenarios about possible violence in Kosovo, the Spokesman said that the United Nations does undertake strategic planning on a number of scenarios.

NUMBER OF SOMALIA REFUGEES FLEEING TO KENYA RISES

The World Food Programme (WFP) reports that Somali refugees fleeing the conflict between the Union of Islamic Courts and the Transitional Federal Government have pushed the number of refugees in Kenya to the highest level in a decade. That development is threatening to exhaust food aid stocks unless urgent donations are made.

Meanwhile, in the eastern

Democratic Republic of the Congo, WFP has started airlifting urgent food aid to nearly 9,000 needy people, even though it has not yet received any funding pledges for next years operations.

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL BEGINS CONSIDERING COUNTRY REPORTS

The Human Rights Council in Geneva today concluded its discussion on the right to adequate housing, the right to education, human rights and transnational corporations, and human rights and counter-terrorism measures.

It then began considering country and regional-specific reports. Council members heard presentations by experts and held interactive discussions on the human rights situations in Somalia, Cuba, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Cambodia and Haiti.

On the Councils agenda for tomorrow are reports on the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Sudan and Belarus.

SECURITY COUNCIL TO DISCUSS NEXT SECRETARY-GENERAL

Asked about comments from U.S. Ambassador John Bolton that the Secretary-General should be a chief administrative officer, the Spokesman noted that the Security Council is discussing who would be the next Secretary-General, and declined to comment while those discussions continue.

He added that the current Secretary-General would continue with his duties through 31 December, noting that they include administrative duties and pressing ahead with UN reform, as well as carrying out the wide range of other political mandates given to him by the Security Council and General Assembly.

Asked whether all officials above the rank of Assistant Secretary-General should turn in resignations for the incoming Secretary-General, he said it should be up to the next Secretary-General, once selected, to decide how the transition should proceed. He noted, in response to a further question, that Under-Secretaries-General had handed in their resignations during some previous transitions.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO HEAR LAST SPEAKERS IN DEBATE TOMORROW

The Spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly (GA) said that the General Debate entered its penultimate day of proceedings with some 25 speakers expected to address the Assembly today. The General Assembly will hear the last 20 speakers of the debate tomorrow.

President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa continues her bilateral meetings today.

She met this morning with the Holy Sees Secretary for Relations with States, and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Ireland and Azerbijan. This afternoon she will hold consultations with the Foreign Affairs Ministers of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tunisia, Belarus, Armenia, Barbados and Guinea.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

WORLD LEADERS UNDERTOOK 86 TREATY ACTIONS IN PAST WEEK: The Heads of State or Government and other senior officials who came here last week undertook a total of 86 treaty actions through last Friday, including the signing by 20 countries of an optional protocol to boost protection for UN personnel in the field. Human rights treaties garnered a total of 27 treaty actions, including six for the optional protocol to the Torture Convention, which provides for the establishment of an international expert body and other preventive mechanisms to deal with torture.

GENERAL DEBATE SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS COMING TO AN END: Asked about security arrangements at UN Headquarters, the Spokesman said that the arrangements put in place for the General Assemblys debate were in the process of being taken down, and he thanked reporters for their patience.

AL GORE TO APPEAR AT UNITED NATIONS AS PART OF SECRETARY-GENERALs LECTURE SERIES: Asked about former U.S. Vice-President Al Gores appearance at the United Nations on Thursday, the Spokesman said he would speak as part of the Secretary-Generals ongoing lecture series.

Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

United Nations, S-378

New York, NY 10017

Tel. 212-963-7162

Fax. 212-963-7055

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