HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING
BY FRED ECKHARD
SPOKESMAN FOR THE
SECRETARY-GENERAL
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Monday,
November 1, 2004
MIDDLE EAST: ANNAN CONDEMNS KILLING OF CHILDREN,
SUICIDE BOMBING
Kofi Annan
was
to learn of the deaths of two Palestinian children over the
last few days during the continuation of Israeli
Defence Forces (IDF)
operations in the occupied
.
He is even more disturbed as
they follow the killing of two Palestinian children earlier in October.
On Thursday, 9-year-old Rania
Iyad Aram was killed by gunfire on her way to school in Khan Younis in Gaza
Strip. On Saturday morning, 12-year-old Ibrahim Mohammed Kmileh was killed in
a refugee camp in the West Bank town of Jenin, while two other boys were
wounded.
The Secretary-General expects
that the Government of Israel will launch a rigorous investigation into these
incidents and that the results will be made public.
The
Secretary-General renews his calls on the Government of Israel to take
effective measures to avoid any harm to Palestinian civilians, and to have
special care for the protection of the children.
He calls on
both parties to exercise maximum restraint and responsibility during this
critical period.
The
Secretary-General
also
strongly
endorses the statement of
his special envoy,
the
Special Coordinator for the Middle East
̽ѡ Process
Terje Roed-Larsen, condemning today’s suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. He
reiterates his long-standing and adamant opposition to all terrorist attacks,
from whatever quarter. The Secretary-General sends his deepest condolences to
the families of the victims of today’s attack.
had
expressed his abhorrence at the
suicide attack that hit the Carmel Market in
. He condemned the attack in the strongest terms.
Larsen reiterated his firm
belief that nothing can justify terror.
He said he expected the
Palestinian Authority to act without delay against those organizing and
perpetrating terror and to bring them to justice.
IRAQI PRIME MINISTER, U.N. ENVOY
DISCUSS U.N.
ROLE IN IRAQ
The
Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq,
, today met in Baghdad with Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad
Allawi.
The two had
a general discussion of the situation in Iraq and the role of the United
Nations in helping
through the transitional process.
Qazi has
been meeting with a number of Iraqi officials and representatives of various
civil society organizations and political entities. The meetings
are intended to explore means through which the United
Nations can work with
these groups in advancing the political process through the broadening of an
inclusive political dialogue.
Asked
whether the meeting with the Prime Minister included a discussion of whether
Iraqi elections might be delayed, the Spokesman said he had received no report
that the matter was even discussed.
ABDUCTED
U.N. WORKERS
ARE COMMITTED TO SERVE AFGHAN PEOPLE
The
is concerned about the three abducted
UN staff members – Shqipe Hebibi, Annetta Flanigan and Angelito Nayan – and
called on those holding them not to harm them.
Manoel de
Almeida e Silva, the Mission’s
spokesman,
the three have come from different backgrounds, but had at least one
thing in common: their commitment to serve people who can benefit from their
knowledge and expertise. That is why, he said, they volunteered to work in
.
“We miss
them,” he said. “The best response to such a situation is their immediate
.”
Asked what
urgency the
is giving to the release of the staff members, the
Spokesman said that the Secretary-General over the weekend had spoken with
Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Following standard practice, he said, the
Afghan Government has taken the lead in this matter.
He added
that the Secretary-General is concerned about the welfare of the staff
members. He is keeping in close contact with the Afghan Government in its
efforts to resolve the matter.
Asked
whether there were any demands concerning the staff members, the Spokesman
said he was only aware of those televised.
INSECURITY IN DARFUR FORCES AID
AGENCIES TO SCALE BACK ACTIVITIES
The UN Mission in
reports security incidents in West, North and South Darfur today. In
some cases, agencies have been forced to scale back aid operations and
relocate staff due to insecurity.
Meanwhile, in
Southern Sudan, the mission reports that crops are being harvested in many
areas due to improved rains since August. This will lead to improved food
security over the next three months, the mission says.
The
Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sudan,
, is in New York to submit his 30-day report to the
Secretary-General.
Jan Pronk is expected to brief
the
on Thursday.
FRENCH CIVILIAN ACCUSED
OF PAEDOPHILIA IN DR CONGO;
HANDED OVER TO FRANCE
A French
civilian employed by the
in the town of Goma,
has been accused of paedophilia and is now in the hands of the French justice
system.
This
development was made public yesterday in a
issued jointly by the UN Mission in the DRC and the French
Embassy in Kinshasa.
UNITED STATES ASSUMES
PRESIDENCY OF SECURITY COUNCIL FOR NOVEMBER
Today is the
first day of the U.S.
of the
ncil for the month of November.
There are no
meetings or consultations scheduled for today.
Security
Council President, U.S. Ambassador John Danforth, is holding bilateral
meetings to discuss the programme of work for the month.
The program
of work is expected to be approved in consultations tomorrow morning.
RELATIVE
CALM RETURNS
TO violen
MONROVIA, LIBERIA
The
(UNMIL) today
relative calm has returned to Monrovia, where violence erupted last
Thursday.
The
Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Liberia,
, said close coordination and communication with the
government, the Liberian National Police, and religious leaders ensured that
wanton looting and arson was brought to a stop.
He also said
robust UN military and police patrols have responded to incidents throughout
the day and have enforced the curfew – effective each day from 4:00 p.m. to
7:00 a.m. until further notice.
The UN
Mission says the violence has claimed 16 lives and hospitals have reported 208
injuries.A total of 250 arrests have been made for offences ranging from
murder, arson and breaking of the curfew.
In a
issued Friday evening, the Secretary-General had appealed to all
traditional and political leaders in the country, as well as the leaders of
the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to urgently intervene
and support the UN effort to restore calm.
NUCLEAR WATCHDOG CHIEF
CALLS ON IRAN TO RESUME
VOLUNTARY
SUSPENSION OF ENRICHMENT-RELATED
ACTIVITIES
, the Director-General of the
(IAEA) today called on Iran to do its
utmost to build confidence by resuming its voluntary suspension of
enrichment-related and reprocessing activities.
In his annual
report to the
, Mohamed ElBaradei said that he has asked Iran to pursue
a policy of maximum transparency, so that the outstanding issues can be
resolved.
He told the
Assembly that the most disturbing lesson from the Agency’s recent work in Iran
and Libya may be the existence of an extensive illicit market for the supply
of nuclear items, which clearly thrived on demand.
The relative
ease with which an illicit network could operate, he said, demonstrates
clearly the inadequacy of the present export control system.
He also
discussed the IAEA’s work concerning North Korea, Libya and Iraq.
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC CAN TAKE
LEAD IN PRESENTING HIS CASE
The Appeals
Chamber of the
today
that former Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic can take the lead in presenting his case, when he is
physically capable of doing so.
However, the
Appeals Chamber added, it is left to the Trial Chamber’s discretion to steer a
clear course between allowing Milosevic to exercise his fundamental right of
self-representation and safeguarding the Tribunal’s basic interest in a
reasonably expeditious resolution of the case.
In practice,
the Appeals Chamber said, if all goes well, the trial should continue much as
it did when Milosevic was healthy, with the defendant playing the principal
courtroom role at the hearings.
ANNAN DID NOT INTERFERE
IN RECOMMENDATION ON U.N. OFFICIAL
Asked
whether the
interfered with an
(OIOS) recommendation on
, the Spokesman said that he had not.
The OIOS,
the Spokesman said, is independent, and reports its recommendations to the
Secretary-General.
He said
that, when the OIOS makes a recommendation to management, UN management may
choose to reject their advice. In that case, he said, the OIOS could
to
the General Assembly that management did not take up their recommendation.
Asked about
the reasons for the Secretary-General’s decision on Lubbers, the Spokesman
said that the Secretary-General made his decision after studying the OIOS
report, studying Lubbers’s reaction to that report and seeking legal guidance.
He added,
in response to another question, that there had been no change in the
Secretary-General’s position since he made his decision over the summer.
Asked
whether the matter could come before the Joint Appeals Board, the Spokesman
said that every staff member has the right to bring a case to that Board. He
could not predict how long it would take for the Board to come to a decision.
He declined
to speculate on what course of action the Joint Appeals Board would take.
Asked
whether the Secretary-General had taken a decision that should have been taken
by a joint disciplinary committee, the Spokesman said he was not aware that
anything that had departed from standard procedure had taken place in this
case.
Asked
whether the Secretary-General would address the matter in a meeting with
Rosemarie Waters of the staff union, Eckhard said that the Secretary-General
wanted to discuss staff security at that meeting.
AFRICA’S SHARE OF PRIVATE CAPITAL
FLOWS,
TRADE IS STILL TOO SMALL
In a
to the Asia-Africa Investment and Trade Conference, being held in
Tokyo today and tomorrow, the
said that while Africa today is significantly
more open to international trade and investment, its share of private capital
flows and trade is still far too small.
“This is partly due to institutional and technical
barriers, which Africa’s governments, in close cooperation with their
development partners, must continue to tackle,” the Secretary-General said.
The perception of prohibitive risk, often exacerbated by the mistaken view
that the whole of Africa is a continent engulfed in violence, must change.”
The Secretary-General’s message was delivered on his
behalf by Ibrahim Gambari, the Special
Adviser to the Secretary-General on
Africa.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
AID WORKERS
TACKLE
CHOLERA OUTBREAK IN NORTHERN UGANDA:
The
(OCHA) has been
reporting over the past week on efforts to rebuild
the oldest camp housing
in
, where thousands were left homeless after a severe rain
storm. Now, aid workers are tackling a cholera
outbreak that has killed three people in the camp. An update from OCHA draws
attention to the fact that at least 1.6 million people in northern
Uganda have been
displaced by the 18-year long conflict in the north.
COMPANY
BOARDS AREN’T DISCLOSING ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS:
A new international
study, co-authored by the
,
that company boards are failing to disclose to investors how
environmental and social issues pose strategic risks and opportunities for their
businesses. The international review of corporate sustainability – entitled “Risk
& Opportunity: Best Practice in Non-Financial Reporting” –
adds that this failure to disclose comes despite this
information being increasingly important to analysts, investors, lenders,
insurers and re-insurers.
TURKMENISTAN
ACHIEVES UNIVERSAL SALT IODISATION:
Turkmenistan has
the fourth country in the world – and the first in central Asia – to
achieve
. Salt
is the most effective way to protect children from iodine
deficiency – the world’s leading cause of preventable mental retardation and
brain damage.
, the UN Children’s Fund, is helping countries work towards the goal
of achieving the sustainable elimination of iodine deficiency disorders by 2005;
and it has congratulated the Government of Turkmenistan on its success.
INTERNATIONAL HEALTH REGULATIONS TO BE
REVISED:
Member States of the
have begun a two-week meeting in Geneva to revise
the
. The Regulations are a code of practices
and procedures to prevent the spread of disease. They’re legally binding and
were originally intended to help monitor and control six serious infectious
diseases – today, only cholera, plague and yellow fever are notifiable diseases.
The revisions aim to bring the Regulations up to date, and to increase controls
on the international spread of infectious diseases.
Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
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