United Nations Daily Highlights, 07-02-13

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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 MARIE OKABE

DEPUTY

SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

U.N. HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

BAN KI-MOON STRONGLY WELCOMES ACCORD

ON DENUCLEARIZATION OF KOREAN PENINSULA

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly welcomes the accord reached at the six-party talks in Beijing on initial actions to implement the 2005 Joint Statement on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The Secretary-General is encouraged that this constructive effort by the international community can eventually result in strengthening the global non-proliferation regime, as well as in contributing to durable peace, security and prosperity in the region. This agreement represents the first practical stage towards a non-nuclear Peninsula.

The Secretary-General also welcomes the commitment by all participants to move expeditiously towards the next stage of this process. In this regard, the establishment in the immediate future of five working groups should allow the participants to address the wide ranges of issues relating to the region in a comprehensive way.

The Secretary-General urges the participants to make every effort to sustain the current positive momentum and ensure that this accord is implemented as agreed.

BAN KI-MOON AFFIRMS READINESS TO SUPPORT GUINEA TO END CRISIS

The Secretary-General reiterates his grave concern over the worsening political and security situation in Guinea and deplores the continued loss of lives and the wanton destruction of property.

The Secretary-General regrets the failure to implement the agreement reached on 27 January, which has triggered the resumption of the crisis and threatens to plunge the country into generalized instability. He calls on the Government and the labor leaders to resume dialogue and implement, in good faith, the agreement reached last month.

The Secretary-General, once again, strongly urges the Government and the security forces to exercise maximum restraint and to scrupulously uphold the rule of law and respect for human rights. The Secretary-General also urges the labor leaders to refrain from inciting violence and the destruction of property.

The Secretary-General reaffirms the readiness of the United Nations to work closely with all segments of the society, and with Guineas other partners, to help end the current crisis and restore sustainable stability and development.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has condemned the looting of three food warehouses in Guinea over the weekend. Nearly 450 tons of food, which had been set aside for school children and the poorest communities, were stolen. Other items, such as cooking pots, plates and spoons, were also looted. In addition, WFPs office in the town of Kankan was attacked by a stone-throwing mob, forcing the evacuation of international staff into Mali.

Asked what the United Nations is doing in Guinea, the Spokeswoman said that the Secretary-General had reaffirmed the United Nations readiness to work closely with all Guineas partners to end the crisis. Meanwhile, she said, WFP and others continue their humanitarian work in the country.

Asked about the Secretary-Generals concern that the situation in Guinea could destabilize other countries, the Spokeswoman said that the United Nations was ready to work with not just the parties in Guinea but the partners in the region to resolve the problem.

Asked about the status of the United Nations in Guinea, Okabe said that WFP, among others, was continuing with its work. She described the situation in the country as grave.

She noted that, in matters concerning UN staff security, no comment would be made until any needed evacuations had been carried out.

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS TERRORIST ATTACK IN LEBANON

The Secretary-General condemns the callous terrorist attack on innocent civilians that took place this morning in Lebanon. He extends his sincere condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government and people of Lebanon.

This crime comes the day before the second anniversary of the attack that took the life of former Premier Rafik Hariri and twenty-two others, which itself preceded a string of assassinations and terrorist actions in Lebanon.

The United Nations strongly rejects attempts to secure political objectives through violence and the killing of innocent civilians. The Secretary-General stresses that there must be an end to impunity and appeals to all Lebanese to maintain national unity in the face of such attempts to undermine the country's stability.

Geir Pedersen, the Secretary-Generals Special Coordinator for Lebanon, today also condemned the attacks in that country, reiterating the Secretary-Generals position that these actions do not have any place in a tolerant and democratic culture such as Lebanon's.

Lebanon has suffered far too many criminal attempts to undermine its stability and security, Pedersen said. At times such as these it is of paramount importance that the Lebanese maintain the national unity that has served them so well at times in the past, he added.

SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES IRAQIS

TO RESIST ATTEMPTS TO FOMENT SECTARIAN VIOLENCE

The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest terms the continuing violence in Iraq, which was accentuated yesterday by the death of more than 100 people throughout the country, including in the coordinated bombing of a crowded market in Baghdad. These brutal crimes came on the anniversary of the heinous bombing of the Holy Shrine in Samarra, which was also aimed at escalating sectarian violence.

The Secretary-General calls on the Iraqi authorities and the Iraqi people to resist attempts to foment sectarian violence.

Asked about the Secretary-Generals response to the U.S. troop presence on Iraq, the Spokeswoman said that the Secretary-General had not commented on it, but noted that he stands ready to do whatever can be done to help the people of Iraq.

DARFUR ENVOYS FOR AFRICAN UNION AND UNITED NATIONS MEET

WITH SUDANESE FOREIGN MINISTER

Jan Eliasson and Salim Ahmed Salim, the Special Envoys for Darfur for the United Nations and African Union respectively, have been holding a series of meetings in Khartoum with Sudanese Government officials and signatories of the Declaration of Commitment to the Darfur Peace Agreement.

The two envoys met yesterday with Foreign Minister Lam Akol and Nafie Ali Nafie, Assistant to the President.

They met today other Government officials including Minni Minawi, Senior Assistant to the President and Chairman of the SLM/A faction signatory to the DPA, and Majzoub al Khalifa, Presidential Advisor.

Eliasson and Salim are scheduled to leave tomorrow to Darfur where they will hold meetings mainly with non-signatories of the DPA on 14 and 15 February. They are scheduled to a joint press conference on Thursday.

Meanwhile, acting Special Representative for Sudan Tayé-Brook Zerihoun, who represented the United Nations in the AU Peace and Security Council meeting on the relations between Chad and Sudan, held yesterday in Addis Ababa, presented an update on recent political, security and humanitarian developments in Chad and the Central African Republic, particularly in the borders areas between Sudan, Chad, and the Central African Republic, according to the UN Mission in Sudan.

Zerihoun also briefed on activities by the United Nations to both contribute to the search for a negotiated settlement of the conflicts in the region, and to respond to the grave humanitarian situation in the border areas between the three countries.

Zerihoun said that the United Nations concluded a second assessment mission to Chad and the Central African Republic. The Secretary-General has initiated the necessary steps to deploy an advance mission to Chad and the Central African Republic. The advance mission would prepare for the possible multi-dimensional presence foreshadowed in the 16 January 2007 Presidential Statement by the United Nations Security Council. The final report of the assessment mission, including detailed proposals on the size, scope and mandate of a possible multi-dimensional presence will be submitted to the Security Council in the coming days.

Asked about a peace deal in the Central African Republic and its effects on the deployment of a force in the border region, the Spokeswoman noted that Zerihoun had provided an update to the African Union Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the situations in the Central African Republic as well as Chad in the latest bulletin put out by the UN Mission in Sudan.

She added that the report to the Security Council of a recent UN assessment mission to those two countries would soon come out, and was to be discussed in the coming days.

SECURITY COUNCIL HOLDS OPEN DEBATE ON THE MIDDLE EAST

The Security Council this morning began an open debate on the Middle East, which Alvaro de Soto, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, began by noting the important step taken last week with the agreement by the Palestinians to form a national unity government.

De Soto said that a newly active Quartet, a more closely involved Arab world, a Palestinian national unity government and the beginning of potential dialogue between the parties have the potential to help restore calm and re-energize efforts to achieve a two-state solution.

He noted next weeks trilateral meeting, bringing together the Palestinian Authority President, the Israeli Prime Minister and the U.S. Secretary of State. Excessive expectations should not be placed on one such meeting, he said, but we hope that it will be the beginning of a genuine dialogue.

WATER PURIFICATION KITS ARE DELIVERED TO FLOOD VICTIMS IN SOMALIA

UNICEF says that efforts continue to respond to the needs of people affected by an outbreak of acute watery diarrhea in central Somalia as a consequence of recent flooding in that area.

Just last week, UNICEF airlifted into central and southern Somalia over 5,000 bars of soap, 50 thousand sachets of oral rehydration salts and 200 intravenous rehydration kits in addition to water purification tablets for some 47,000 households.

So far, 444 people have been admitted to a hospital in Jowhar for the treatment of acute watery diarrhea, and 235 of these are reported to be children under age five.

HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF SETS OFF TO CENTRAL AMERICA

High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour today

begins a three-day visit to Bolivia. She is expected to sign an agreement to establish a UN human rights office in that country. Yesterday, in Panama, she signed an agreement to establish a similar office for Central America.

In addition to meeting with representatives of the Bolivian Government and civil society, she plans to visit an Aymara indigenous community outside of La Paz.

POLICE RAID IN HAITI SLUMS NETS SCORES OF WEAPONS AND SUSPECTED CRIMINALS

The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti

reports that a police operation launched Friday in two neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince was completed yesterday with the seizure of a number of weapons, including assault rifles, bipods for automatic weaponry, more than five thousands rounds of ammunition, sabers, daggers, knives, telescopes and portable radio communications equipment.

The Mission says that 31 presumed gang members were arrested over the weekend in the Martissant part of the Haitian capital while seven others were rounded up in the Boston neighborhood of Cite-Soleil.

UN Police continue to patrol Cite-Soleil and Martissant.

U.N. REFUGEE AGENCY SEEKS $62 MILLION FOR DR CONGO

The UN refugee agency, or UNHCR, announced today that it is seeking $62 million to help hundreds of thousands of people displaced within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as Congolese refugees in neighboring countries.

The agency also reports that, the number of Iraqis wanting to register with UNHCR in Syria and Jordan has dramatically increased over the past few days.

Meanwhile, UNHCR notes that the organized return of internally displaced people in southeastern Sudan back to their home villages is gathering momentum.

In addition, UNHCR expressed its concerns over the dramatic increase in people-smuggling from Somalia.

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPEALS TO DONORS FOR LIBERIAS RECOVERY

In a message to the Liberia Partners Forum, which is meeting in Washington today, the Secretary-General said that the Liberian Governments interim Poverty Reduction Strategy outlines priority areas needing urgent assistance.

He described these projects as ranging from the reintegration of the countrys war-affected population and reform of the security sector, to the rehabilitation of Liberias legal, judicial and correctional systems. The Secretary-General also appealed to all of Liberias partners to contribute generously towards these programmes.

That message was delivered to the gathering by Alan Doss, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Liberia.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

A NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT ONLY SOLUTION TO IRAN DISPUTE: Asked what the United Nations can do to help deal with Iran, the Spokeswoman noted that there has been no change in the Secretary-Generals position in favour of a negotiated settlement. She added, in response to a further question, that the Security Council continues to be seized of the matter.

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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