United Nations Daily Highlights, 03-11-10

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

OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY

FRED ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Monday, November 10, 2003

ANNAN CONDEMNS TERRORIST ATTACK IN RIYADH

According to statement attributable to the Spokesman issued following the weekend attack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Secretary-General Kofi Annan was horrified by this attack. He condemned this terrorist act in the strongest possible terms.

The Secretary-General conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the families of the victims. He is confident that the authorities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will bring to justice the perpetrators of this cowardly attack.

IAEA RECEIVES NUCLEAR ASSURANCES FROM IRAN

On Monday, Mohamed ElBaradei, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) received from Iran's Ambassador in Vienna a letter conveying Iran's acceptance of the Additional Protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and adding that Iran has decided, as of today, to suspend all uranium enrichment-related and reprocessing activities.

On Saturday, ElBaradei had what he described as a very fruitful meeting with Hassan Rohani, Secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council.

The two reviewed progress so far in the implementation of safeguards in Iran. ElBaradei added that Dr. Rohani told him that, over the next week, the IAEA will get the letter by Iran for the conclusion of the Additional Protocol, which, ElBaradei said, is a positive step, and would also receive a letter indicating Irans agreement to suspend all enrichment related activities and reprocessing activities.

ElBaradei added, I think we are moving together to try resolve all remaining issues through cooperation, through verification, and that he hoped when the IAEAs Board of Governors meets this month, the implementation of safeguards in Iran can move forward.

ANNAN TO MEET WITH PRESIDENT OF ECUADOR, ADDRESS NATIONAL CONGRESS

FOLLOWING WEEKEND VISIT TO GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

The Secretary-General arrived in Guayaquil, the largest city and main port of Ecuador, on Friday evening. He was greeted by Vice President Alfredo Palacio and then went on to the City Hall of Guayaquil where he delivered a speech noting that the city was respected all over the world for its visionary planning and its vibrant economy.

Early on Saturday morning, the Secretary-General and Mrs. Annan left for the Galapagos Islands, a World Natural Heritage Site since 1978.

On Sunday morning they visited the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galapagos National Park. While visiting a turtle breeding project; the Secretary-General and Mrs. Annan were asked to become the god parents of baby turtle number 42. Depending on the gender of the baby turtle, it will be named Kofi or Nane (the sex of a turtle can only be identified after 25 to 30 years). After that, they were introduced to Lonesome George, the last of its species of giant turtles.

While in the Galapagos, the Secretary-General recorded a video message on environment protection and sustainable development. He said that the United Nations is trying to help the world move from an era of exploitation to an ethic of stewardship. He concluded his message stating that the one lesson he hoped we learn from the Galapagos is that it is high time we gave the survival and security of future generations the priority they deserve.

On Sunday evening, the Secretary-General and Mrs. Annan flew to Quito, the Ecuadorian capital, where they were met by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Patricio Zuquilanda. That same evening the Annans visited old Quito,which was declared a Cultural Patrimony of Mankind by UNESCO in 1978.

Today is the Secretary-Generals last day in Ecuador. He is meeting with President Lucio Gutiérrez Borbúa at the Presidential Palace after which he will hold a press conference.Later in the afternoon, the Secretary-General is expected to address the National Congress, to inaugurate the UN House and to meet with representatives of Ecuadorian civil society.

Separately, Mrs. Annan met Ecuadorian women leaders from diverse ethnic backgrounds. The meeting, organized by UNIFEM, covered critical issues affecting women such as sexual and domestic violence, poverty, political participation, exclusion and discrimination. In the afternoon, Mrs. Annan will visit a water and sanitation project in a poor neighborhood of Quito.

This evening, the Secretary-General will fly to Lima, Peru.

GERMAN AMBASSADOR TO BRIEF SECURITY COUNCIL ON AFGHAN MISSION

There are no Security Council meetings or consultations scheduled for today.

Ambassador Gunter Pleuger of Germany is scheduled to brief the Council Tuesday in an open meeting on the Afghan mission he led last week.

Also scheduled tomorrow are consultations on Cote dIvoire.

COTE DIVOIRE PEACE PROCESS FACING SERIOUS DIFFICULTIES.

The report of the Secretary-General on the UN Mission in Cote dIvoire is out as a document today.

In that report, the Secretary-General says the Ivorian peace process has encountered serious difficulties.

He goes on to say that In order to keep the Ivorian peace process on track, the fundamental issues behind the current stalemate must be identified and urgently addressed. The differences among the Ivorian political actors over the interpretation of the power-sharing concept envisaged in the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement are one of the key issues.

Another key issue, he says, is the failure of the Government of National Reconciliation to begin restructuring the defense and security forces immediately upon taking office.

The Secretary-General urges the Ivorian leaders to cooperate with the ongoing efforts of President John Kufuor of Ghana and other leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to convene a meeting between President Laurent Gbagbo and the signatories of the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement to address outstanding fundamental issues.

The Security Council, he concludes, could contribute to the effort to resolve the political stalemate by supporting the proposals outlined in the report and by taking further measures to strengthen the mission. Consultations are underway on the possible reinforcement of the mission. In the meantime, he recommends a six-month mandate extension.

UN MISSION IN LIBERIA URGES FACTIONS TO CEASE HOSTILITIES

The UN Mission in Liberia will address the recent cease-fire violations reported in Nimba County bordering Guinea and Cote DIvoire in the next Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) meeting scheduled tomorrow.

The Force Commander of UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), Lt. Gen. Daniel Opande, has urged fighters of the former Government of Liberia militia and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) to immediately cease all hostilities during an extensive tour last week of three towns in Nimba County.

Gen. Opande said the leaders would be reminded that they have to have control over their own fighters and that they should halt all hostilities.

The Monitoring Committee is chaired by the UNMIL Force Commander and includes representatives of the Government of Liberia, MODEL and the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD).

U.N. PEACEKEEPERS INVOLVED IN ARMED CONFRONTATIONS IN BUNIA, D.R. CONGO

Over the weekend, UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were involved in several armed confrontations with members of a number of militias in the town of Bunia.

On Saturday morning, a UN patrol discovered eleven armed men in a house near the home of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) leader, Thomas Lubanga. Since these men were in violation of the weapons ban in Bunia they were detained overnight by the UN. Before being released, their weapons were seized and destroyed. Later that day, after shots were fired at a UN base, peacekeepers detained another group of UPC militia members including the groups intelligence chief Saba Rafiki. He remains in detention with the UN in Bunia.

Also Saturday afternoon, militia members from the Party for the Unity and Safeguarding of the Integrity of the Congo (PUSIC) opened fire on a UN patrol in the village of Shari, just southwest of Bunia. The peacekeepers returned fire, wounding two of the assailants and arresting nine. One of the wounded, Col. Claude Aboli later died of his wounds.

Asked about the nature of incidents in which UN peacekeepers returned fire, the Spokesman said that returning fire when attacked was a basic right of any peacekeeper.

LACK OF FUNDS FORCE CUTBACKS FOR PALESTINIAN REFUGEES

Earlier today in Geneva, Peter Hansen, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), briefed the Humanitarian Liaison Working Group on the desperate conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Hansen has also reminded the international community that even as conditions worsen every day, UNRWAs latest Emergency Appeal for funds has barely raised 45 percent of the refugees needs forcing the Agency cut back its emergency programmes.

The agency estimates that it will cost over $46 million to re-house all the Palestinian refugees who have lost their homes to date - and every day more become homeless.

The agency is currently unable to meet those housing needs.

With the Palestinian economy decimated, more than 60 percent of the population is living on $2 a day or less and acute and chronic malnutrition among children reaches 25 per cent in some areas. UNRWA is now feeding more than 1 million people in the West Bank and Gaza.

Sadly, the financial donations required to respond to the crisis during 2003 have not kept pace with the mounting need, resulting in a reduction in UNRWAs emergency activities. Food distributions have been halved in the Gaza Strip, with only four of the eight food rounds required being provided.

AFGHANISTAN: ONE STEP CLOSER TO A NEW CONSTITUTION

The UN Mission in Afghanistan, at a press briefing Sunday, Sunday that the publication of the draft constitution takes Afghanistan one step closer to achieving a new constitution that will strengthen national unity and the rule of law.

The Mission said the document reflects a serious attempt to reflect the views of Afghans on many important and complex issues, including individual freedoms, the powers of the central and local governments, equality among all Afghans and the role of Islam. It is a valuable effort, which will be put to the test at the Constitutional Loya Jirga, to be held five weeks from now in Kabul.

UGANDA: UN HUMANITARIAN CHIEF FLAGS PLIGHT OF DISPLACED CHILDREN

Over the weekend, the Under-Secretary General for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland, visited Kitgum and Gulu districts in northern Uganda.

In Kitgum, Egeland went to camps for internally displaced persons and also visited some of the thousands of so-called night commuters, children who leave their homes at night to seek safety in the town. In and around the general district hospital in Kitgum, 4,000 to 5,000 children camp each night. In the past year, an estimated 10,000 children in Northern Uganda have been abducted. Those who have not been abducted face serious disruption to their lives, including their education, due to the need to commute every night.

Northern Uganda is home to almost 1.2 million people displaced by fighting between the Government and the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). Numbers of displaced have risen in the last year from 800,000 to the current 1.2 million. Almost all aid workers gain access to the displaced only by using military escorts. The lack of sustained presence has made it impossible to establish sustainable assistance for health, education or other basic services.

In his visit to Uganda, the Under Secretary General focused on improving humanitarian access, increasing the supply and the coordination of aid, and clarifying security arrangements with the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces.The United Nations is planning to scale up aid activities in Northern Uganda.

Now in Nairobi to meet with UN officials there, Egeland will travel on the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Wednesday.

ANNAN URGES MYANMAR TO INVOLVE ALL SECTORS IN ROAD MAP TO DEMOCRACY

The Secretary-General, in an addendum to his report to the General Assembly on human rights in Myanmar, notes that the Myanmar Government has announced a new seven-step road map to democracy, but has not yet taken into account the views expressed by a large number of parties in the country. He says that, for the road map process to be productive and credible, it must involve all Myanmars political parties, national leaders and ethnic groups from the beginning.

The Secretary-General adds that, after more than five months, his calls for the restoration of freedom of movement and political activity for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of the National League for Democracy have yet to be answered positively. He once again appeals to the Government to lift all the remaining restrictions against Aung San Suu Kyi and the other League leaders immediately.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

UN ENVOY FOR KOSOVO IN NEW YORK: In response to a question, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Kosovo is in New York this week to attend meetings of former presidents of the General Assembly.

VACCINATION CAMPAIGN UNDERWAY IN GUINEA: The UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) in Guinea, working in close cooperation with the World Health Organization and Guineas Ministry of Health, is launching a nationwide measles vaccination campaign targeting all children in the countryside between the ages of 6 months and 15 years old. The aim of the campaign is to eliminate measles deaths in the country, currently estimated at 5,900 a year. Every year, measles kills around 745,000 children in the world, more than half of these in Africa.

Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

United Nations, S-378

New York, NY 10017

Tel. 212-963-7162 - press/media only

Fax. 212-963-7055

All other inquiries to be addressed to (212) 963-4475 or by e-mail to: inquiries@un.org

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