United Nations Daily Highlights, 07-04-09

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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 FARHAN HAQ

ASSOCIATE

SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

U.N.

HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Monday, April 9, 2007

BAN KI-MOON CONGRATULATES TIMOR-LESTE ON PEACEFUL ELECTIONS

The Secretary-General congratulates the many Timorese who showed their commitment to democracy and peace by participating in todays vote -- the countrys first Presidential elections since independence in 2002.

The Secretary-General commends the national authorities, particularly the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration and the National Electoral Commission, for organizing the polling -- the first time the people of Timor-Leste have had the opportunity to administer their own elections at the national level. He also expresses his appreciation for the work done by the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) in support of the Timorese efforts.

The Secretary-General is heartened that the election was conducted in a general atmosphere of order and calm, and that the initial indications show high voter turn-out. He hopes that calm will prevail while the counting proceeds and when results are announced.

The Secretary-General considers the 2007 electoral process to be an important step on the path to peace and stability in Timor-Leste, and hopes that the subsequent steps in the process -- including the legislative elections -- take place in an equally peaceful atmosphere.

The Secretary-General calls on the international community to continue providing assistance as Timor-Leste works to complete this years electoral process and to address challenges related to the security sector, the rule of law, governance and development.

The Secretary-General delivered a video message to the Timorese people prior to these first national elections since independence, telling them that they had reached a new milestone in their work to consolidate democracy. He said, I hope the elections will be free, fair, transparent and credible. I hope they will be unmarred by violence and intimidation. And I hope they will lead to results accepted by all.

BAN KI-MOON RECALLS DEEP PERSONAL IMPACT OF RWANDAN GENOCIDE

Thirteen years ago, more than 800,000 innocent Rwandans were killed in an orchestrated criminal campaign now widely considered genocide under international law. And the Secretary-General recalled in a message released today that the experience has had a profound and personal impact on him when he visited Rwanda last year and he carries it with him every day that he has been serving as Secretary-General. Two messages, he said, should be paramount as we remember the Rwandan genocide: First, never forget -- and Second, never stop working to prevent another genocide.

The Secretary-General said the UN has learnt profound lessons from that tragedy and has appointed a Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide and established an Advisory Committee on Genocide Prevention. But more remains to be done, and the Secretary-General has declared his intention to strengthen the existing UN mechanisms. He also appealed for the creation of a global partnership against genocide.

Asked why the exhibition on Rwanda was postponed, the Spokesman said that the normal process that the United Nations has to review exhibitions was not followed in this instance. The United Nations will now follow the regular process to take into account all positions, as it does with any exhibition.

The exhibition has been postponed until the regular review process is completed.

Asked whether a dispute over Armenia was responsible for the delay, the Spokesman said that was not the sole issue. As for Armenia, the United Nations has not expressed a position on incidents that took place long before the United Nations was established.

Asked if the UN had determined that the Darfur crisis amounted to genocide, the Spokesman said that a UN commission, had collected information on the crisis and passed it on to the International Criminal Court, which is now criminally investigating the matter

Asked about cooperation by Member States with the ICC, he noted that the ICC took up Darfur following a referral from the Security Council, which requires of all Member States that they submit all relevant documents and information in their possession to the ICC.

AFGHANISTAN: U.N. MISSION CONDEMNS KILLING OF JOURNALIST

Tom Koenigs, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Afghanistan, yesterday

condemned the murder of Afghan journalist Ajmal Naqshbandi, who had been abducted by Taliban extremists on March 5. He called on the authorities to bring those responsible to justice.

Koenigs said, The perpetrators of this crime have shown absolute indifference to the value of human life, and added that the rights of journalists to go about their work, free from interference or harm, should be recognized and respected by all.

On Saturday, a serious attack took place on a convoy of civilian demining and security personnel, in which seven Afghan deminers were killed and another two wounded. The UN Mission in Afghanistan strongly condemned this attack on individuals who are actively working to improve the lives and safety of the Afghan community.

Meanwhile, also on Afghanistan, UNICEF, the World Food Programme (WFP), and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have responded to recent flooding in the country by providing food, shelter, and other vital assistance for hard-hit families.

For its part, WFP has pre-positioned 350,000 tons of food in five locations around Afghanistan for rapid deployment to the most vulnerable families.

LIMITED DISARMAMENT PROGRESS DISAPPOINTING & UNACCEPTABLE

The Secretary-General this morning addressed the UN Disarmament Commission at UN Headquarters.

He said the limited progress in addressing the dangers posed by weapons of mass destruction, as well as the excessive accumulation of conventional weapons, was disappointing and unacceptable.

He added that revitalizing the international disarmament agenda was a personal priority of his. That is why he had proposed a new Office for Disarmament Affairs, led by a High Representative, which would better mobilize the political will necessary to overcome the current stalemate and re-energize action on both disarmament and non-proliferation.

BAN KI-MOON CONCERNED BY IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

The Secretary-General, in a statement on Friday, welcomed the release that day of the findings of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and he expressed his concern that the impacts of climate change are increasingly noticeable, and likely to become more so in the future as extreme weather events intensify.

The Secretary-General hopes that the Parties to the Convention on Climate Change will avail themselves of the opportunity to make progress towards a comprehensive framework to replace the existing regime at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali in December this year.

U.N. TEAMS RESPOND TO NATURAL DISASTERS IN SOLOMON ISLANDS & MADAGASCAR

Regarding the Solomon Islands, a UN disaster assessment and coordination team is now

working in both the capital, Honiara, and in Gizo.

Some 5,500 people remain displaced in the worst affected areas, according to the countrys Government. Sanitation is a problem in the spontaneous camps that have been erected near the centre of Gizo, while water supply remains a concern in some remote villages, since the earthquake damaged pipes and valves.

The loss of the entire communication system in some remote areas is also hindering completion of a comprehensive damage assessment.

Turning to Madagascar, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has dispatched a five-member disaster assessment and coordination team there.

The team will help coordinate international assistance and urgent needs assessments in the wake of the recent series of cyclones that have struck the island nation.

POLIO IMMUNIZATION ROUND WRAPS UP IN SOUTHERN SUDAN

Organized returns of internally displaced persons continue from South Darfur to parts of southern Sudan, reports the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

OCHA also reports that UN agencies and NGOs, working in support of the Government of Southern Sudan, have completed a first round of National Immunization Days against polio. An estimated 500,000 children under five were targeted by the campaign across Southern Sudan.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday

released two reports, documenting incidents of widespread sexual violence during attacks by Sudanese Government forces and allied militia in Darfur last December and the disappearance last September of at least 19 men allegedly at the hands of the former insurgent forces headed by Minni Minnawi. High Commissioner Louise Arbour called for prompt and impartial investigations into the reported human rights violations.

The report on the December incidents says that at least 15 cases of sexual assault, including rape, had occurred, and that, based on testimony gathered, it appears that rape during the December 2006 attacks was used as a weapon of war to cause humiliation and instill fear into the local population.

Asked for an update on negotiations for the deployment of a hybrid UN/African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, Haq said that, following an agreement to proceed with the UN heavy support package to the AU mission that was reached at a recent Saudi-sponsored mini-summit on Darfur, there would be a technical-level tripartite meeting between the UN, the AU and the Government of Sudan this week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. That meeting is expected to clear up all outstanding technical issues related to the heavy support package, he said.

Then, on 16-17 April, Haq said, the AU Chairman, Alpha Oumar Konaré, will be in New York for high-level consultations with the Secretary-General on moving forward the deployment of the hybrid force.

The Spokesman added that the agreement reached in Riyadh covered, among others, the number of troops expected to deploy in the third and final phase of deployment.

SOMALIA: U.N. WELCOMES RELEASE OF PIRATED FOOD AID SHIP

The World Food Programme is welcoming the release of a vessel it had contracted for food deliveries to Somalia, along with its 12-person crew, some 40 days after it was seized by pirates.

The MV Rozen was hijacked near Puntland, in northeastern Somalia, on February 25th, and released in the same area last Thursday.

WFP thanked elders in Puntland for mediating the release, but urged regional authorities, as well as Somalias Transitional Federal Government, to curb piracy in Somali waters. It says the hijacking has caused delays in food aid shipments to Somalia and made shippers reluctant to carry cargoes there.

WORLD COURTS BALKANS DECISION SPEAKS FOR ITSELF

Asked why the International Court of Justice had not subpoenaed Serbian military archives, which may have been germane to a case brought before the Court by Bosnia and Herzegovina against Serbia in relation to the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre, the Spokesman noted that the Court President has commented on that decision, saying that the Courts decision speaks for itself.

Asked if the UN would seek to reverse the Court's ruling that Serbia did not commit genocide in Bosnia but did nothing to prevent it, the Spokesman said that the UN respects the principle of judicial independence and would not second-guess the appropriateness of the Court's procedures.

Haq also noted that another UN body, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, had ruled that the Srebrenica massacre amounted to genocide and is vigorously prosecuting persons suspected of involvement in that crime.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

U.N. AGENCIES RESPOND TO SICKNESS IN ETHIOPIA: The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is

concerned about an outbreak of acute watery diarrhoea in Ethiopia. OCHA says the swift spread of the disease is due to inadequate availability of safe drinking water and sanitation facilities, as well as poor hygiene awareness. The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF have deployed health consultants to provide technical assistance, conduct rapid assessments and make improvements to water supply systems.

BAN KI-MOON TO ADDRESS DEMOCRACY FUND BOARD: The Secretary-Generals Advisory Board for the UN Democracy Fund will hold its fourth meeting tomorrow, to review progress on the work of the Fund after the inaugural year of activities and decide on priorities and policies for the future. The Secretary-General will address the Board, which meets in a closed session at UN Headquarters tomorrow.

UP TO SECURITY COUNCIL TO DECIDE ON WHETHER ITS RESOLUTIONS HAVE BEEN VIOLATED: Asked about reports that the United States allowed a North Korean arms sale to Ethiopia, the Spokesman said it was up to the Security Council and its sanctions committees to decide whether there had been any violation of Security Council resolutions.

BAN KI-MOON CALLS FOR INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION OF SYRIA-LEBANON ALLEGATIONS: Asked about recent comments by the Secretary-General on allegations of Syrian weapons smuggling into Lebanon, the Spokesman noted that the Secretary-General had called for independent verification of the allegations.

U.N. MONITORING SAUDI EFFORTS ON LEBANON: Asked if the UN still intended to dispatch its Legal Counsel to negotiations in Saudi Arabia on the proposed establishment of a tribunal of an international character for Lebanon, the Spokesman said that the UN was monitoring the Saudi mediation efforts and would wait to see how the process develops in the days to come.

IRAN SHOULD ENGAGE IN DIALOGUE & COMPLY WITH RESOLUTIONS: Asked if the Secretary-General had any comment on Iran's declaration that it was now capable of producing nuclear fuel at an industrial scale, the Spokesman said that Ban Ki-moon told reporters earlier today, "I sincerely hope that even at this time when the Iranian Government is undergoing Security Council sanctions that they should engage in dialogue with the intention of communicating. It is very important for any member country to fully comply with Security Council resolutions. I urge the Iranian Government to do so."

STATEMENTS ON JOURNALIST ABDUCTIONS DONE ON CASE BY CASE BASIS: Asked if the UN had any policy on putting out statements in the cases of abduction of news professionals, the Spokesman said that this was done on a case by case basis and security was among the considerations.

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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