United Nations Daily Highlights, 06-12-27

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

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

[Please note: There will be no noon briefings this week. News developments within the UN system will be posted on this website throughout this time period, and the noon briefings will resume on Tuesday, January 2, 2007.]

SECURITY COUNCIL TO DISCUSS SUDAN, SOMALIA; ANNAN TO ATTEND

The Security Council has scheduled consultations, starting at 3:30 p.m. today, to discuss recent developments in

Sudan, in a meeting that will be attended by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Afterward, the Council will continue consultations on Somalia, which it had discussed on Tuesday.

The consultations on Sudan will include briefings by Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the Secretary-Generals senior adviser who traveled as an envoy to Khartoum last week and delivered a message on the Secretary-Generals behalf, and by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi.

On Tuesday, the Secretary-General shared with Council members a letter he had received from Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, which responded to his message.

SECURITY COUNCIL TOLD OF DANGEROUS ESCALATION IN SOMALIA

In an open meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the Security Council was told by the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall, that the crisis in Somalia has escalated dangerously. He said that attacks between the Transitional Federal Government and the Union of Islamic Courts had expanded, and he also noted reports of military support by foreign forces, including from Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Fall told the Council that the Secretary-General on Tuesday had called the Prime Minister of Ethiopia and the President of Kenya to urge a cessation of hostilities in Somalia and to reaffirm that there is no military solution to the conflict. The Secretary-General reiterated to the two leaders the need to encourage the Somali parties to resume peace talks without preconditions.

Fall urged Security Council members to call on the two sides to halt the fighting immediately and not to take any further provocative actions.

Council members also discussed on Tuesday the text of a draft Presidential Statement on Somalia that was submitted by Qatar. The discussions on that draft text will resume this afternoon.

FOOD AGENCY SUSPENDS AIRDROPS, HELICOPTER OPERATIONS IN SOMALIA

The World Food Programme (WFP) has suspended its helicopter operation delivering humanitarian aid from the Somali port of Kismayo, as well as its air drop operation and passenger flights from Kenya into Somalia, because of conflict and instability.

The air operation to assist up to half a million flood survivors in south and central Somalia had also become difficult because of a ban on using Somali airspace declared by the Transitional Federal Government on Monday.

WFP hopes to resume all its air operations using airdrops and helicopters and its humanitarian passenger and cargo service in Somalia as soon as possible and is in contact with authorities on the ground in an attempt to achieve this.

WFP still has more than 100 national staff in Somalia operating from 15 offices across the country, and they are continuing their food distribution work.

Meanwhile, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour today

expressed deep concern for civilian victims of the hostilities between forces of the Transitional Federal Government and militia of the Union of Islamic Courts in Somalia.

SUDAN: DEPLOYMENT OF U.N. PERSONNEL IN DARFUR RESOLVED

The UN Mission in Sudan said that the third meeting of the tripartite mechanism took place yesterday in Khartoum. The mechanism, which consists of representatives of the UN, the African Union (AU) and the Government of Sudan, resolved the one outstanding issue of the deployment of UN personnel in support of AU forces in Darfur.

It was agreed that UN military and police officers will wear their national uniforms with a blue UN beret. In addition, they will wear an AU armband.

The UN and AU team also provided the Government of Sudan representatives with a list of the names of the UN military staff officers and police advisers who will form the first UN group to be deployed to Darfur. Under the light support package, twenty four police advisers and forty-three staff officers will start to be deployed in the next few days. The balance of military and police officers will be deployed in the coming weeks.

ANNAN PRESENTS OPTIONS FOR U.N. MISSION IN ETHIOPIA & ERITREA

Available today is a special report of the Secretary-General which outlines possible changes to the mandate of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).

In the report, the Secretary-General states that the prevailing unstable, tense and volatile situation in the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) is due to an accumulation of unresolved issues, in particular the stalemated process of demarcating the border between the two countries.

The security situation in and around the TSZ has further deteriorated since his last report in September. This deterioration is primarily due to the incursion of armed Eritrean personnel into the TSZ in October. The situation is compounded by the long list of restrictions by Eritrea on the operations of the Mission.

The Secretary-General presents four options in the report regarding UNMEEs mandate, including a reduction in the Missions military strength and the transformation of the Missions status with a new observer mandate.

UNICEF SENDS RELIEF AID TO INDONESIAN FLOOD SURVIVORS

Emergency UNICEF supplies are on their way to help tens of thousands of flood survivors in Aceh, Indonesia. Six trucks are currently travelling on roads, opened today after days of closure, from the North Sumatran city of Medan, to one of the worst-hit districts.

The UNICEF supplies include: 19,303 hygiene kits; 5,000 oral rehydration sachets; 2,500 water purification bottles; 2,500 tarpaulin sheets; 1,218 sets of cooking utensils; and 1300 jerry cans. More supplies will be dispatched from Medan tomorrow.

In addition, a UNICEF child protection team arrived today in the hardest-hit area, to assess the condition and needs of children and women.

U.N. HELPS KYRGYZSTAN COPE WITH EARTHQUAKE

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has

allocated a cash grant of $10,000 to cover immediate needs, following an earthquake that hit Kyrgyzstan yesterday.

Kyrgyzstans Ministry of Emergency Situations mobilized its resources, and appealed for international assistancein order to provide food, heating equipment, clothing, medicaments and construction materials to quake survivors.

Preliminary information received by the Government indicates damage mainly to housing, electric lines and communications and the need to provide heating for both the homeless and local medical aid centres.

ANNAN SADDENED BY PIPELINE EXPLOSION DEATHS IN NIGERIA

The following statement was issued yesterday: The Secretary-General is deeply saddened at the deaths of hundreds of people as a result of the explosion of a fuel pipeline in the Abule Egba district of Lagos, Nigeria. He extends his deepest condolences to the Government, the bereaved families and to all others affected by this disaster.

The theft of fuel from Nigerian pipelines has become a frequent occurrence, often with tragic consequences. The Secretary-General calls for a review of the countrys fuel supply management, as well as a thorough regional review of risks that could lead to other environmental or technological disasters in West Africa. The United Nations stands ready to assist in this endeavour, and to help in assessing current gaps in risk mapping and disaster response in the region.

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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