United Nations Daily Highlights, 07-03-02

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From: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: [email protected]

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY MICHELE MONTAS

SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

U.N. HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Friday, March 2, 2007

NEW SENIOR OFFICIALS COME ON BOARD

Three recently appointed Under-Secretaries-General signed a declaration this morning, promising to exercise in all loyalty, discretion and conscience the functions entrusted to them as international civil servants.

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe, and Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management Services, Muhammad Shaaban, took their oath of office in a special ceremony in the Secretary Generals conference room today.

IBRAHIM GAMBARI APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVISOR TO BAN KI-MOON

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has decided to appoint Ibrahim Gambari of Nigeria as his Special Advisor on the International Compact with Iraq and Other Political Issues. The appointment is at the Under-Secretary-General level.

Based at Headquarters, the Special Advisers role with regard to the International Compact with Iraq will be to ensure coordinated support from the United Nations System to the implementation of commitments made, through the Compact, toward a peaceful, secure and prosperous Iraq. The Secretary-General values Mr. Gambaris recent service to the Organization as Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs and he looks forward to working with him in this new capacity.

[Ibrahim Gambari will be leaving tonight for Saudi Arabia as a Special Envoy of the Secretary-General in order to carry out consultations on regional issues with the senior Saudi leadership. This will include an audience with King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud. The visit is also to help prepare for the Secretary-Generals attendance at the forthcoming Arab Summit in Riyadh at the end of this month.]

Meanwhile, the Secretary-General has also appointed Carlos Lopes of Guinea Bissau as Executive Director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), in succession to Marcel Boisard. Mr. Lopes has been serving since 1 September 2005 as Director for Political Affairs in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General.

Asked if Gambari would also take on issues arising in Africa and Latin America, the Spokeswoman said that he would work primarily on the Iraq Compact and on other issues as assigned by the Secretary-General and that his potential area of responsibility was not limited by geography. Asked if Gambari would continue to work on the Cyprus dossier as he did while serving as the head of the Department of Political Affairs, Montas reiterated that his primary brief was the Iraq Compact and that he would take on Cyprus should the Secretary-General assign him to do so.

BELGRADE AND PRISTINA REMAIN DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED

ON KOSOVOS STATUS

The UNs Kosovo Status Envoy, Martti Ahtisaari, today

concluded a round of consultations in Vienna, with delegations from Belgrade and Pristina, on his draft status proposal.

Over the last seven days, the delegations held in-depth discussions on all aspects of the proposal but remain diametrically opposed on the future status of Kosovo.

Ahtisaari will now review the parties positions and prepare a revised proposal, which will be made available to the parties next week.

In that regard, he has invited both parties to attend a high-level meeting in Vienna on 10 March.

LEBANON: U.N. ENVOY ASSESSES POST-CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION

The UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Geir Pedersen, today toured south Lebanon to assess UN recovery and reconstruction projects begun in the wake of the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah of last August.

Pedersen was briefed on the state of operations of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) by the Force Commander, Gen. Claudio Graziano. Then he visited key UNIFIL positions, and later met with the staff of various UN entities operating in the region.

While in Bint Jbeil, Pedersen met with local officials and Members of Parliament to hear their concerns and brief them on the work of the UN in the region.

ERITREA IMPOSES NEW RESTRICTIONS ON U.N. PEACEKEEPERS

The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has confirmed that Eritrean authorities recently imposed additional restrictions on the movements of UN peacekeepers in the Missions area of responsibility within the Temporary Security Zone between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

The Mission says that as a result of the new restrictions, UN peacekeepers ability to monitor the ceasefire has been reduced in these areas.

Asked if the Secretary-General had been in touch directly with Eritrean authorities to resolve the issue around the Eritrean restrictions on the movement of UN peacekeepers, Montas said that the UN Mission, represented by the Missions Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and the Force Commander, have held consultations with the Eritrean Commissioner for the Coordination of the Peacekeeping Mission. Montas added that the Secretary-General was not directly involved in resolving the impasse.

HAITI: U.N. MISSION HELPS RESTORE SECURITY

IN GANG-RIDDEN NEIGHBORHOOD

The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) says that UN peacekeepers have completed the first phase of joint operations with the Haitian National Police, during which the combined forces gradually took over the strongholds of armed gangs in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Cit� Soleil. The operation has successfully restored a secure environment for all local residents, the Mission reports.

As a result of this law-enforcement operation, some 55 presumed gang members were arrested, five kidnap victims were freed and a number of weapons and ammunition were seized.

The Mission congratulates local residents for facilitating a number of the arrests s using confidential hot-lines to pass on information to UN peacekeepers and Haitian police.

U.N. AGENCIES HELP SOMALIS DISPLACED BY INSECURITY

On Somalia, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

reports that, because of insecurity, the displacement of civilians from Mogadishu has escalated over the past week, bringing the total number of displaced from the city up to nearly 20,000.

Concerns are rising regarding the health and sanitation situation for these displaced Somalis, as available social services, particularly water supply systems, are limited. That is leading to an increase in diarrhea cases, which the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF are working to address. On the flip side, however, WHO says that the number of malaria cases is decreasing as flood-hit areas are drying out.

Meanwhile, twenty-five World Food Programme-contracted trucks crossed into Somalia today from Kenya with nearly 800 tons of food aid.

VIOLENCE CAUSES DISPLACEMENT OF MORE THAN 5,000 TIMORESE IN DILI

The Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Timor-Leste, Atul Khare, announced yesterday that more than 5,000 additional Timorese have fled to internally displaced persons camps over the past month, due to recent violence in the capital Dili.

Khare, who also heads the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT), added that the violence is now under control and security has remained stable with more UN police patrolling the streets and high-risk areas of gang-related violence.

UNMIT says there are approximately 25,000 to 29,000 people in the camps in Dili, and has, over the past month, seen an increase of more than 5,000.

REFUGEE CHIEF TO DISCUSS IRAQ AT ARAB MINISTERS MEETING

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ant�nio Guterres on Sunday will address the opening session of the League of Arab States Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Cairo, focusing on the situation of Iraqi refugees in neighbouring Arab countries and the internally displaced inside Iraq.

He will be highlighting the urgent need for humanitarian solidarity by the international community and seek partnerships with the Arab States in addressing the needs of the Iraqis.

His agency will be convening an international conference in Geneva on 17-18 April on Iraqi displacement.

In other refugee-related news, on 1 March, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) resumed the voluntary repatriation of Afghans in Pakistan after the winter break. More than 2.87 million Afghans had returned from Pakistan to Afghanistan with UNHCR assistance since 2002. This year marked the sixth year of the largest such operation in the refugee agency's history. The planning figure for returns from Pakistan and Iran in 2007 is 250,000 Afghan returnees.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

SECURITY COUNCIL ADOPTS PLAN FOR MARCH: The Security Council today held its first consultations under the South African Presidency and adopted its programme of work for the month of March.

BAN KI-MOON WILL CONSIDER MEETINGS ONCE REQUESTS ARE MADE: Asked if Ban Ki-moon would be meeting with the relatives of Palestinians in Israeli custody as he did recently with the families of Israeli soldiers in Lebanese and Palestinian captivity, the Spokeswoman said that the meeting with the Israeli families took place at the latter's request and that no such request had been made by the families of Palestinians detained by Israel. Asked if the Secretary-General would consider such request should it be made, Montas said that he would.

CHAD DEPLOYMENT IN HANDS OF SECURITY COUNCIL: Asked for the Secretary-General's response to the reported rejection by the President of Chad of a proposed UN military deployment along the Chad-Sudan border, Montas said the matter was with the Security Council and that Ban Ki-moon was waiting for the Council to chart the way ahead before commenting.

NO PLANS FOR BAN KI-MOON TO MEET NORTH KOREAN DELEGATION: Asked if the Secretary-General would be meeting a delegation from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea now visiting the United States to meet with US officials, Montas said she had no information that Ban Ki-moon would meet that delegation.

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS

[This document is for planning purposes only and is subject to change.]

Sunday, March 4

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ant�nio Guterres will today address the League of Arab States Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Cairo, focusing on the situation of Iraqi refugees and internally displaced Iraqis.

Monday, March 5

The 51st session of the Commission on the Status of Women will continue this week in Conference Room 2.

At 10:30 a.m., the Mission of Georgia to the United Nations will hold a press conference.

At 11:15 p.m., John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, will hold his first press briefing in his new post.

Our guest at the noon briefing will be Alicia Barcena, Under-Secretary-General for Management.

At 1:00 p.m., the Mission of Belarus is sponsoring a press conference on human trafficking.

From 1:15-2:45 p.m. in Conference Room 4, there will be a debate on what the UN can do to put an end to the use of rape in conflicts around the world. Among the participants will be the UNs new Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, and the former UN Force Commander in Liberia and Sierra Leone, General Daniel Opande.

At 3:00 p.m., the General Assembly plenary will hold informal consultations on the Secretary-General's proposal to realign the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

Tuesday, March 6

This morning, the Security Council is scheduled to hold consultations on Sudan. The Council will be briefed by Jan Eliasson, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Darfur. Eliasson is scheduled to be at UN Headquarters from 6-8 March.

Today and tomorrow, the General Assembly will hold an informal thematic debate on the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.

The Secretary-Generals Special Adviser on Africa. Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, will be in Accra, Ghana, for the 50th anniversary of Ghanas independence. He will deliver a message on the Secretary-Generals behalf.

An international consultation on the relationship between male circumcision and AIDS will be held from 6 to 8 March, under the auspices of WHO and UNAIDS, in Montreux, Switzerland.

At 12.30 pm, there is a press conference on gender equality and the empowerment of women by Ms. Mary Robinson, President of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative (former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former President of Ireland) and Ms. Beatriz Paredes Rangel, President of Mexicos political party, PRI.

Wednesday, March 7

The Security Council is scheduled to hold consultations this morning on the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission.

At 10.15 am, there will be a press briefing by the President of the International Narcotics Control Board, Dr. Philip Emafo and the Secretary, Mr. Koli Kouame, on their latest report.

Thursday, March 8

This morning, the Security Council is scheduled to adopt a Presidential Statement on the Role of Women in Peace and Security.

Today is International Women's Day. At 10:00 a.m. in Conference Room 2, there will be a panel discussion to mark the occasion. There will also be statements by the Secretary-General and Presidents of the General Assembly and Security Council.

The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs will hold a workshop on developing sustainability strategies in Asia at the UN Conference Centre in Bangkok, today and tomorrow.

Friday, March 9

The Security Council is scheduled to hold a briefing on the Great Lakes region this morning.

Today is the one year anniversary of the launch of the UNs Central Emergency Response Fund.

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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