United Nations Daily Highlights, 07-08-02

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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

Thursday, August 2, 2007

SECRETARY-GENERAL ASSERTS U.N. COMMITMENT TO HAITI

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is in Port-au-Prince to meet the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, on the second day of his official visit to Haiti.

The Secretary-General this morning visited the slum area of Cité Soleil, where UN peacekeepers have helped to restore order. There he met some schoolchildren at the site of a school secured by the UN Mission (MINUSTAH) during the recent gang violence in the slum.

The Secretary-General last night met with President René Préval, and the two later held a joint press conference in which the Secretary-General stressed the importance of consolidating achievements on the security front in Haiti, and of making progress in establishing the rule of law and fighting corruption.

He said that the international community must not step aside and allow spoilers to succeed in jeopardizing Haitis progress. This time, he added, the United Nations, which has been in Haiti five times in the past, will not leave until the future is secure.

The Secretary-General is traveling this afternoon to Barbados for an official visit.

SECURITY COUNCIL ADOPTS MONTHLY PROGRAMME OF WORK

The Security Council this morning held its first consultations under the Congolese Presidency of the Council for the month of August.

Council members agreed on the programme of work for the coming month.

GAZAS ECONOMY CONTINUES TO DETERIORATE

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the economy in Gaza continues to deteriorate as a result of the limited opening of the crossings there. The vast majority of import-dependent industries notably the wood, construction and garment sectors have temporarily closed down, and only 10 percent of Gazas industries, those depending on previously-stored raw materials, remain partially functional.

The total accumulated and direct losses since the closure of the Gaza crossings in mid-June is now reaching about $23 million, with an average daily loss of about half a million dollars, OCHA says.

The Office also reports that, on Sunday and Monday, 414 Palestinians who were stranded in Egypt for 51 days returned to Gaza through the Nitzana and Erez Crossings. Additional returns to Gaza are planned in the coming days.

In response to a question on the Middle East conference convened by the United States on the margins of the upcoming General Debate of the General Assembly in New York, the Spokesman recalled that as a member of the Middle East Quartet, the United Nations has supported the US initiative in the Quartet's latest

statement. At this stage, Haq added, the US was in the lead in planning that event.

DR CONGO: U.N. MISSION CONDEMNS ATTACKS ON THE PRESS

The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) and the Swiss-funded Fondation Hirondelle, have denounced the continued attacks on the press, particularly on journalists working for the UN-backed Radio Okapi.

In the latest attack on the press, on 29 July, four armed men invaded the home of a Radio Okapi reporter in the town of Bunia, in the restive northeastern Ituri province. They ransacked the house and beat the journalist for reasons that are still unclear.

The Mission and Fondation Hirondelle, which jointly manage Radio Okapi, have appealed to the Congolese authorities to ensure that journalists can discharge their vital duty of informing the population without fear of reprisals.

U.N. COMMITTED TO ASSISTING IRAQI PEOPLE

Asked for a reaction to reports that the United Kingdom and the United States are working on a draft resolution purporting to expand the UN presence in

Iraq, the Spokesman said that the UN Secretariat was being consulted in the drafting process. He declined to comment further on the substance of a document still being discussed among Security Council members.

Haq stressed that the Secretary-General has repeatedly stated the UN's commitment to assist the people of Iraq, while remaining mindful of the security situation and the constraints that are presented by it.

In response to a related question, Haq said that the United Nations is constantly monitoring the situation to determine when certain basic security standards can be met that will allow it to consider a further deployment of UN staff.

Asked for an update on the search for a replacement for Ashraf Qazi, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Iraq, the Spokesman said that the search continued, noting that Qazi's contract was due to expire in the course of this month.

Asked whether the United Nations was involved in delineating the boundaries of Kirkuk, the Spokesman said it was not.

SECRETARY-GENERAL HAILS APPROVAL OF INTERNATIONAL IMPUNITY COMMISSION FOR GUATEMALA

The Secretary-General has applauded the decision by Guatemalas legislature to approve, as a matter of national urgency, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). He believes Guatemala has sent a clear message, both to its people and to the international community, that it is committed to fight crime and impunity, and to provide security for its citizens.

Under the terms of its agreement with the Government of Guatemala, the United Nations will now work in close cooperation with the national government and judicial authorities to make the Commission a reality.

The Department of Political Affairs (DPA) will be in the lead in that effort.

SIERRA LEONE: TWO FORMER LEADERS CONVICTED OF WAR CRIMES

The Special Court for Sierra Leone has convicted two former leaders of the pro-government Civil Defence Forces militia of war crimes committed during Sierra Leones decade-long civil war.

The Court found Moinina Fofana and Allieu Kondewa guilty of murder, cruel treatment, pillage and collective punishments. Kondewa was additionally convicted of recruiting child combatants under the age of 15. The three-judge panel was not unanimous in its decision, with Justice Bankole Thompson electing in his dissenting opinion to acquit both men of all charges, while Justice Pierre Boutet found the two not guilty on two counts of crimes against humanity and on one count of war crimes.

The case against a third accused, Sam Hinga Norman, was halted after his death in February. The Court has not yet specified a date for the sentences against the two convicted former militia leaders.

U.N. ASSISTING THOUSANDS AFFECTED BY FLOODS AND COLD IN SOUTH AMERICA

Severe weather in Peru and Colombia has left thousands of people in need of emergency food assistance, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).

In Colombia, the worst floods in decades have claimed at least 57 lives, with 100 people still missing and more than 400,000 left homeless. WFP is boosting the governments relief efforts and plans to distribute food rations for an initial period of three months to some 60,000 beneficiaries.

In Peru, the coldest weather in 30 years has caused an epidemic of pneumonia and other respiratory diseases, and at least 70 children have died. The agency will distribute food assistance to 34,000 people affected by the freezing cold.

DR CONGO: U.N. CONCERNED OVER SLAUGHTER OF GORILLAS IN NATIONAL PARK

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is voicing concern over the rising number of mountain gorillas slaughtered in Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mountain gorillas have been declared a threatened species by the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

Since the beginning of the year, seven gorillas have been shot and killed four of them in July alone. That is more than the numbers lost during the conflict in the Great Lake region in the 1990s, reports UNESCO.

The U.N. agency is calling on national authorities to adopt urgent measures to stop these killings. And in mid-August, a joint UNESCO-World Conservation Union mission will also investigate the reasons for the targeting of mountain gorillas.

POLLUTION REDUCTIONS COULD HALT MELTING OF HIMALAYAN GLACIERS

According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), a new

analysis of pollution-filled brown clouds over South Asia offers some hope that the region may be able to halt the retreat of Himalayan glaciers by reducing air pollution.

These glaciers are the third largest ice mass on the planet and supply water to several major Asian rivers that are the chief water source for billions of people.

Researchers found that soot particles are increasing the atmospheric warming caused by greenhouse gases by as much as 50 percent in southern and eastern Asia. They add that the warming trend is more pronounced at higher altitudes than at sea level.

Achim Steiner, the head of UNEP, which helped support the research, said that the impact of brown clouds on atmospheric warming should be part of the discussions on climate change in Bali, Indonesia, in December.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

TEN MILLION TREES PLANTED IN SINGLE DAY: The Forest Department of the State of Uttar Pradesh in India and the United Nations Billion Tree Campaign may be soon gracing the pages of the Guinness Book of Records after the

planting of 10 million seedlings in one day, according to the UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner. Some 600,000 people, ranging from farmers, members of the private sector, children and government officials, took part in the record-breaking planting on 31 July.

U.N. DECLINES COMMENT ON RUSSIAN ACTIONS IN ARCTIC: The Spokesman declined to comment on news reports of the Russian Federation's claim to parts of the Arctic. He referred further questions to the Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

SECRETARY-GENERALS STATEMENT ON AFGHAN HOSTAGES REITERATED: In response to a question on the abduction of Korean nationals by the Taliban in Afghanistan, Haq said that the Secretary-General had made his feelings known in a 31 July statement. He said the UN would refrain from further public comments as the negotiations to secure the hostages' release are in a delicate and sensitive phase.

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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