United Nations Daily Highlights, 05-04-14

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

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON

BRIEFING

BY

FRED ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Thursday, April 14, 2005

HAITI: SECURITY COUNCIL MISSION MEETS WITH INTERIM PRIME MINISTER

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

All 15 members of the Security Council are in Haiti until Saturday on a mission led by Ambassador Ronaldo Sardenberg of Brazil.

This morning the delegation met with Haitis Interim Prime Minister, Gerard Latortue.

They will also attend a series of meetings throughout the day, primarily internal meetings with officials of the UN mission on such issues as security and disarmament, development and humanitarian affairs and electoral issues.

This afternoon, the Security Council delegation has a meeting scheduled with the Provisional Electoral Council.

U.N. MISSION IN GUATEMALA IS AN EXAMPLE FOR PEACE-BUILDING

The Secretary-General has delivered his final

report on the UN mission that verified the landmark 1996 peace accords in Guatemala (MINUGUA) saying that Current and future United Nations operations can take away valuable lessons from the MINUGUA experience, which stands as a successful example of multidimensional peace-building.

MINUGUA closed its doors at the end of December after ten years spent verifying human rights and compliance with other aspects of the far-reaching peace accords. The accords, signed in 1996, ended 36-years of conflict that killed an estimated 200,000 people.

The report chronicles the work of MINUGUA spanning four administrations, and over a vast subject area contained in the accords. "

The accords attempted not only to end the conflict and disarm the combatants, but to address its root causes through public policies on everything from human rights, to police and justice reform, demilitarization, the fight against racial discrimination and the fight against poverty.

One of MINUGUAs innovations, the Secretary-General said, was the transition strategy undertaken during the Missions final two years under which MINUGUA helped prepare Guatemalan actors to push forward the agenda of the peace accords after the Mission departs.

LARGE AMOUNTS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY POTENTIAL

DISCOVERED IN DEVELOPING WORLD

Thousands of megawatts of new renewable energy potential throughout the developing world have been

discovered by a pioneering project to map solar and wind resources, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

The project, called the Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment (SWERA), is proving that the potential for deploying solar panels and wind turbines in 13 selected developing countries is far greater than previously supposed.

MORE THAN 20 AFRICAN COUNTRIES WILL NEED FOOD AID IN COMING MONTHS

Some 23 countries in sub-Saharan Africa will need food aid in the coming months, according to the Africa Report, which the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

released yesterday. The causes range from civil strife and war to adverse weather, economic disruption, and HIV/AIDS.

Mentioned in the report are countries in

western Africa's Sahel region, which are facing serious food insecurity because of high prices and food shortages in areas hit by desert locusts and poor rainfall in 2004.

WORLDS FIRST HUMANITARIAN VIDEO GAME LAUNCHED

The

World Food Programme today launched Food Force, the worlds first humanitarian video game about global hunger.

The object of the game, which has been designed for children between the ages of 8 and 13, is to quickly feed thousands of people on the fictitious island of Sheylan, while piloting reconnaissance helicopters, negotiating with armed rebels, and rebuilding villages.

Food Force is available as a free internet download from www.food-force.com. It is currently available in English, with translation into other languages planned.

LIVELY & ACTIVE DEBATE ON U.N. REFORM SHOWS

THAT WE ARE AT BEGINNING OF PROCESS

Asked who initiated todays meeting between the Secretary-General and the Permanent Representatives of Brazil, Germany, India and Japan, and whether the meeting had to do with difficulties related to Security Council reform, the Spokesman said that the meeting had been initiated by the four ambassadors, and that the Secretary-General regularly meets with ambassadors who have issues to discuss.

He added that the Secretary-General had put forth comprehensive reform proposals, and that the lively and active debate currently underway showed that we were merely at the beginning of the discussions.

As to the subject of the discussion, the Spokesman advised interested parties to contact the Permanent Missions of the countries involved, since they were the ones who called for the meeting.

OIL-FOR-FOOD INDICTMENTS REPRESENT PROGRESS

Asked about wire reports saying that U.S. federal prosecutors had indicted three people for allegedly paying secret kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime as part of the UNs oil-for-food programme, the Spokesman replied that the United Nations had appointed the Independent Inquiry Committee into the Oil-for-Food Programme (IIC), headed by Paul Volcker, to get to the bottom of any wrongdoing in the programme, and that the United Nations is of course continuing to cooperate fully with Mr. Volcker and the IIC.

He added that the U.S. judicial authorities were not in contact with the UNs legal office, and that none of the indicted were UN officials.

The Spokesman also said that the United Nations had always maintained that anyone who may have been found to have committed criminal wrongdoing in relation to oil-for-food should be prosecuted, and that what the public was seeing today, in terms of the indictments, was progress.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

INSECURITY REPORTED IN DARFUR: The UN Mission in Sudan continues to report on incidents reflecting insecurity in Darfur. The mission reported an incident involving a World Food Programme convoy this week in which one of the vehicles and the driver went missing. Regarding the April 7 militia attack on Khor Abeche in South Darfur, the Sudanese government has announced that it will launch an investigation into the incident in collaboration with the African Union.

DISARMAMENT MEETING HELD IN COTE D'IVOIRE: The Principal Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Cote d'Ivoire, Alan Doss and the UN Force Commander, General Abdoulaye Fall, traveled today to the central town of Bouaké to attend the disarmament, demobilization and reinsertion meeting between the armed forces of Côte dIvoire (FANCI) and the Forces Nouvelles (FN). Military experts from South Africa also attended the meeting, which was convened in line with the recent meeting of main parties to the Ivorian conflict in Pretoria, South Africa.

SPORTS GROUPS JOIN U.N. TSUNAMI RELIEF EFFORT: Leaders of more than a dozen international sports organizations announced plans to bolster the UNs tsunami recovery efforts, following a roundtable held in Geneva today. The event was organized by LEquipe, the French sports daily, and the Office of the Secretary-Generals Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY PREPARING FOR SEPTEMBER SUMMIT: The General Assembly is scheduled to hold a plenary meeting tomorrow at 10:00 a.m., to adopt a draft resolution on the preparations for, and organization of, its September High-level Plenary Meeting.

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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