United Nations Daily Highlights, 07-02-16

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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 MICHELE MONTAS

SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

U.N. HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Friday, February 16, 2007

SECRETARY-GENERAL TO MEET MEMBER STATES ON RESTRUCTURING

At 4:00 p.m. today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will meet informally with the Member States on restructuring. On Thursday, he had sent a letter to the General Assembly President about his restructuring plan.

Asked about the format of todays meeting, the Spokeswoman said it would be informal consultations, following the additional information conveyed in the letter to the General Assembly President. The Secretary-General would listen to the Member States views, and would make an opening statement, as well.

The Spokeswoman noted that some changes had already been made to the plan, as seen in the letter.

Asked about a timetable for further action, she said that no formal General Assembly meeting was scheduled yet, adding that one could possibly take place next Tuesday.

Asked about Security Council reform, Montas said that the Secretary-General is following that subject closely, and favours an enlargement of the Council. How that is to be done is up to the Member States, she added.

She said that Council reform is one of many reform issues, including system-wide coherence, that will need to be tackled.

BAN KI-MOON TO REVIEW U.N. COUNTER-TERRORISM WORK

This afternoon at 3:00 p.m., the Secretary-General will make a statement at an informal meeting of Member States on the follow up to the adoption of the Global

Counter-Terrorism Strategy, which was unanimously adopted by the General Assembly last September.

He will tell Member States that, whether we like it or not, our generation will go down in history as one that was challenged to protect the world from terrorism. We have embargoed copies of his speech upstairs.

The Secretary-General will also brief Member States on steps taken by the UN system in taking forward various provisions of the Strategy and will launch the Counter-Terrorism Online Handbook, which is a new resource tool on United Nations counter-terrorism activities.

U.N. AND A.U. ENVOYS HOLD TALKS IN SUDAN; WILL MEET PRESIDENT

The Secretary-Generals Special Envoy for

Darfur, Jan Eliasson, and African Union Special Envoy for Darfur, Salim Ahmed Salim, who are on a joint AU-UN mission to re-energize the peace process, held more talks in Khartoum today.

They are expected to meet with the Sudanese President before wrapping up their mission over the weekend.

In response to a question, the envoys said they had stressed the importance and urgency, in their meetings with officials of the Government of Sudan, to respond to the letter on the heavy package.

The Secretary-General himself on Thursday told reporters after the Security Council luncheon that he is still awaiting an official reply from President Bashir to the letter which outlines our detailed positions on force generation, command and control and funding. With an affirmative answer, we can pave the way immediately to the introduction of an AU/UN hybrid mission, he said.

Asked how long the Secretary-General would wait for a reply from Bashir, the Spokeswoman said that the Secretary-General has expressed his disappointment with the way that things have gone in Sudan, including the denial of visas to the Human Rights Council team.

Now, she said, the Secretary-General would receive a report from Eliasson, which should come later today or on Saturday.

She added that the Secretary-General believes very strongly that the political process has to be the solution to the problems in Darfur.

SECURITY COUNCIL CONDEMNS ATTACK IN IRAN

On Thursday afternoon, following Security Council consultations, the Council President, Ambassador Peter Burian of Slovakia, read out a statement to the press, saying that Security Council members condemned the Wednesday terrorist attack on a bus in the south-eastern city of Zahedan in Iran, which killed at least 18 people and wounded many more.

The Council also sent a letter to the Secretary-General, in reply to one that he had sent earlier conveying the Government of Lebanons request for technical assistance from the International Independent Investigation Commission in the effort to investigate the bombing that took place on Tuesday near the town of Bikfaya. The Council invited the Commission to extend appropriate technical assistance to the Lebanese authorities in the investigation.

The Spokeswoman, in response to a question, said that the United Nations was not investigating the attacks in Iran.

SECRETARY-GENERAL FAVORS PALESTINIAN UNITY GOVERNMENT

Asked about the Secretary-Generals views on a

Palestinian unity government, the Spokeswoman noted that the Secretary-General has spoken out in favour of a unity government and is following matters very closely.

Asked about the Secretary-Generals position on aid to the Palestinian Authority, the Spokeswoman said that discussions will take place on that matter between now and the 21 February meeting in Berlin of the principal members of the Middle East Quartet. She added that the Secretary-General had considered the agreement among the Palestinians to be a positive development.

STEADY FLOW OF DISPLACED PERSONS REPORTED FROM SOMALI CAPITAL

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that reports out of Somalia indicate there is now a steady flow of displaced persons leaving Mogadishu, in order to escape insecurity and violence in the capital.

About 650 families have reportedly set up temporary shelters at one stop on a road outside of the capital, while another 175 people have reportedly moved from Mogadishu to Baidoa.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), meanwhile, said that late yesterday, it had received confirmation that the death toll had risen in a human smuggling incident that had occurred in the Gulf of Aden on Monday. Some 107 bodies have so far been found along the Yemen coastline, mostly of people who had been fleeing Somalia.

UNITED NATIONS MAKES EMERGENCY FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR GUINEA

The United Nations has made $2.35 million available from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for urgent humanitarian activities in

Guinea.

The humanitarian situation in Guinea has increasingly become a source of concern since the nationwide strike was launched last month; according to a Government source, 110 deaths have been recorded since 10 January.

The CERF funds are to be used for the purchase of medicines and other medical supplies for the injured, as well as to support essential telecommunications and a common humanitarian air service to ensure access to more remote parts of the country. These emergency projects will be carried out by the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF, in collaboration with their non-governmental partners.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL LAUDS FUND

TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

The Deputy Secretary-General will make remarks at a ceremony commemorating the tenth anniversary of the Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, which is taking place at 1:15 today.

She will discuss the ways in which UNIFEM has successfully managed that Trust Fund over the past decade and will say that this is an opportunity to renew and redouble our efforts.

IRAQ COMPENSATION COMMISSION TO MEET NEXT WEEK

The Governing Council of the UN Compensation Commission will hold its sixty-second session, from next Tuesday until Thursday.

At the opening plenary meeting, the Governing Council will elect a new president and one of the two vice-presidents of the Council to replace Greece and Japan respectively, whose terms concluded in December 2006. The Republic of the Congo currently holds the other vice-presidency.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

SENIOR OFFICIALS CONTINUE TO WORK AFTER RESIGNATIONS ACCEPTED: Asked about the current status of senior UN officials whose resignations had been accepted, the Spokeswoman said that they continue to do their work for now, and face no restrictions in doing so.

BAN KI-MOON DISCUSSED CLIMATE CHANGE WITH OFFICIALS: Asked about the Secretary-Generals meeting on Thursday with U.S. State Department official Paula Dobriansky, and on Friday with economist Nicholas Stern, the Spokeswoman said that the meetings had been to discuss climate change.

APPLICATIONS BEING REVIEWED FOR SECRETARY-GENERALS OFFICE: Asked about the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, the Spokeswoman said it was in the process of changing, with applications being reviewed to fill 13 posts in that office.

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS

[This document is for planning purposes only and is subject to change.]

Monday, February 19

UN Headquarters will be closed for Presidents Day.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination begins a three-week session in Geneva today.

A new international panel for the Prevention of Torture will meet for the first time in Geneva starting today until 23 February, to lay the groundwork for its future work.

Tuesday, February 20

At 9:00 a.m. the Secretary-General will meet with Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands in his capacity as Chairman of the Secretary-Generals Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation.

The Security Council is scheduled to hold consultations this morning on the sanctions committee that deals with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It also plans to hold an open debate on security sector reform.

At 11:15 a.m., Pakistans Ambassador, Munir Akram, in his capacity as Chairman of the Group of 77 (G-77), will brief on the G-77s agenda and UN reform.

The Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission will hold its sixty-second session starting today until 22 February. At the opening plenary meeting, the Governing Council will elect a new president and one of the two vice-presidents of the Council to replace Greece and Japan respectively, whose terms concluded in December 2006.

Wednesday, February 21

Today is International Mother Language Day.

The Secretary-General will be in Berlin, Germany, for a meeting of the Middle East Quartet.

Following the noon briefing today, Jan Kubis, Slovakias Foreign Minister, will brief on security sector reform and his countrys Presidency of the Security Council.

The Secretary-Generals Special Envoy for the Kosovo future status process, Martti Ahtisaari, will host a series of meetings, starting today in Vienna, on his Kosovo status proposal. Delegations from Pristina and Belgrade have been invited.

Thursday, February 22

The Secretary-General will meet with Austrian officials in Vienna, Austria.

The Security Council is scheduled to vote on a resolution this morning on the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste.

Friday, February 23

The Secretary-General will meet with UN staff in Vienna, Austria.

The Security Council is scheduled to hold an open debate this morning on non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, on the same day that the International Atomic Energy Agency is due to turn in a report on Iran.

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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