Back to newsletter list
UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
29 April, 2008 =========================================================================
BAN KI-MOON TO LEAD TASK FORCE TO TACKLE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today that he will lead a high-powered task force to coordinate the efforts of the United Nations system in addressing the global crisis arising from the surge in food prices.
The Task Force on the Global Food Crisis will bring together the heads of UN agencies, funds and programmes and the Bretton Woods institutions, as well as experts within the UN and leading authorities from the international community.
The group will have two coordinators – Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes in New York and Senior UN System Influenza Coordinator David Nabarro in Geneva – and expects to meet in the first week of May.
The announcement came after a two-day meeting of the Chief Executive Board (CEB) – which brings together 27 heads of UN agencies, funds and programmes – chaired by the Secretary-General in the Swiss city of Bern.
In a press communiqué issued following the meeting, the CEB called on the international community to urgently provide the $755 million in emergency funds needed for the UN to feed millions of hungry people worldwide, as the first of a series of concrete measures to be taken.
“We see mounting hunger and increasing evidence of malnutrition which has severely strained the capacities of humanitarian agencies to meet humanitarian needs, especially as promised funding has not yet materialized,” Mr. Ban told a news conference in Bern.
He warned that “without full funding of these emergency requirements, we risk again the spectre of widespread hunger, malnutrition and social unrest on an unprecedented scale.”
Protests and riots have broken out in some countries over the rising cost of many basic foods, such as rice, wheat and corn. Mr. Ban noted that escalating energy prices, lack of investment in agriculture, increasing demand, trade distortion subsidies and recurrent bad weather are among the reasons for the surge in prices.
The food crisis “threatens to undo all our good work,” Mr. Ban noted later in the day in a lecture delivered in Geneva, the first of a series organized by the UN office there and the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).
“If not managed properly, it could touch off a cascade of related crises – affecting trade, economic growth, social progress and even political security around the world,” he said.
In addition to the immediate priority of feeding the hungry, Mr. Ban emphasized the need to “ensure food for tomorrow,” by giving small farmers the support they need to assure their next harvest.
UN agencies are already taking concrete measures to address the crisis. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has proposed an emergency initiative to provide low-income countries with the seeds and inputs to boost production and is calling for $1.7 billion in funding.
In addition, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is making available an additional $200 million to poor farmers in the most affected countries to boost food production.
“I am confident that we can deal with the global food crisis. We have the resources. We have the knowledge. We know what to do. We should therefore consider this not only as a problem but also as an opportunity,” the Secretary-General added, as he called on world leaders to attend the High-Level Conference on Food Security, to be held in Rome from 3 to 5 June.
* * *
AFGHANISTAN: UN MISSION VOICES OUTRAGE AT LATEST SUICIDE ATTACK
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has strongly condemned the suicide bombing that killed a number of civilians in the country’s eastern Nangarhar province today, just two days after terrorists struck a parade in Kabul that was attended by President Hamid Karzai and other dignitaries.
“We share the outrage of all Afghans at such indiscriminate targeting of innocent people,” the Mission said in a statement.
At least 15 people were reportedly killed and 14 others wounded in the blast which occurred in Khogiani district, as an anti-drugs meeting was taking place.
“The circumstances of this attack illustrate the unmistakable bonds of partnership between terrorists and drug traffickers,” UNAMA added.
A terrorist attack against an official ceremony in the capital on Sunday killed two members of Parliament and injured nine others, including two Afghan National Police. Mr. Karzai escaped uninjured in the attack, for which the Taliban has claimed responsibility.
* * *
SURGING FOOD PRICES NOT JUST THREAT, BUT ALSO OPPORTUNITY, SAYS SENIOR UN OFFICIAL
The world must not only take immediate action to address the current food crisis, but also take advantage of the higher food prices by assisting farmers in developing countries to thwart similar situations in the future, the head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today.
“The time for re-launching agriculture is now and the international community should not miss the opportunity,” the agency’s Director-General Jacques Diouf said in a statement.
A two-pronged approach – policies to assist the millions worldwide whose livelihoods are at risk and measures to help poor farmers take advantage of the rising prices – is necessary, he said.
“We must produce more food where it is urgently needed to contain the impact of soaring prices on poor consumers, and simultaneously boost productivity and expand production to create more income and employment opportunities for the rural poor,” the Director-General noted.
He said that small holders must have access to land and water, as well as to essential inputs including seeds and fertilizers. This will allow them to increase their supplies when prices are high, enhancing their incomes and livelihoods.
Countries must boost their spending on public resources for agriculture and rural development, which could spur private investment, according to FAO.
Historically, farmers in the developing world have had to contend with low prices and poor infrastructure, and limited access to technology and credit.
When many Asian governments faced climbing food prices in the 1970s, they responded by stepping up their spending on irrigation and agricultural research, leading to growth and preventing the descent of millions into hunger and poverty.
“A similar response is urgently needed today – particularly in sub-Saharan Africa,” which is grappling with the problem of the lack of irrigation, Dr. Diouf observed.
The food crisis will be discussed in early June at the FAO-sponsored “High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy,” which will be attended by such Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil.
In a related development, the UN rural development arm has made nearly $72 million in loans and grants available for anti-poverty initiatives in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The funds were approved by the Executive Board of the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Rome last week. Programmes receiving IFAD assistance include an initiative in Cape Verde to improve the lives of 60,000 poor rural people by integrating them into the island nation’s rapidly expanding economy; a scheme in India seeking to improve the employment prospects of 95,000 poor households; and an initiative in the Philippines to reduce poverty among indigenous peoples in the north of the country.
* * *
UN OFFERS TO HELP TO RESOLVE POLITICAL CRISIS IN ZIMBABWE
The United Nations stands ready to support regional diplomacy to help end the political crisis in Zimbabwe, where violence has flared after last month’s presidential elections, the world body’s political chief, B. Lynn Pascoe, said today.
Speaking after briefing the Security Council, Mr. Pascoe said he had a great deal of concern about violence in the country, particularly from the Government’s side, though he added that there had been reports of violence from both sides.
He said that the Secretary-General was ready to use his “good offices” to work alongside the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to help resolve Zimbabwe’s problems.
Mr. Pascoe also said he was very concerned about the humanitarian situation, stating that the political turmoil had prevented some aid agencies from delivering food and other relief.
Unrest and violence have been widespread in Zimbabwe following the 29 March presidential election, in which the incumbent Robert Mugabe was challenged by Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Full results of that poll have still not been announced.
Mr. Pascoe’s comments echo an earlier statement by the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, who called on the country’s political leaders to restrain their supporters and renounce the use of threats, intimidation and violence against opponents.
* * *
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT CALLS FOR ARREST OF CONGOLESE MILITIA LEADER
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has called for the arrest of a militia leader accused of forcibly enlisting children as soldiers to fight in the volatile, resource-rich Ituri district in the far east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from July 2002 until the end of 2003.
The ICC’s pre-trial chamber yesterday published an arrest warrant for Bosco Ntaganda, currently alleged to be chief of staff of the militia known as the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), which has been active in Ituri and other parts of North Kivu province in the DRC. The warrant was first issued in August 2006, but remained secret until prosecutors this week asked the pre-trial chamber to unseal it.
Prosecutors said Mr. Ntaganda is a former associate of the militia leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, who in June is scheduled to become the first person to go on trial at the ICC, the world’s first permanent war crimes court.
“Today, he [Mr. Ntaganda] is active in the Kivus,” prosecutors said in a statement to the media released today. “We count on all concerned States authorities and actors to contribute to his arrest and surrender him to the Court.”
Mr. Ntaganda is accused of playing a central role in enlisting and conscripting children aged below 15 into the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo (FPLC), another militia group, and of using those children in active hostilities in 2002-03.
Prosecutors said Mr. Ntaganda remains at large in the Kivus and continues to be implicated in crimes committed in the DRC.
“He must be arrested. Like all the other indicted criminals in Uganda and the Sudan, he must be stopped if we want to break the system of violence. For such criminals, there must be no escape. Then peace will have a chance. Then victims will have hope.”
The CNDP, a political-military group under the command of Laurent Nkunda, a former general with the Congolese national forces, is one of several groups facing “credible reports,” prosecutors say, of serious crimes, “including sexual crimes of unspeakable cruelty.”
Deadly violence involving militias and Government forces has continued to plague North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, which are rich in resources and border Rwanda and Uganda, despite the official end to the DRC civil war in 2003.
* * *
STARTING NEW LECTURE SERIES, SECRETARY-GENERAL ISSUES WARNING ON FOOD CRISIS
The current food crisis threatens to undo all the recent efforts to lift people out of poverty around the world and could spark related economic, social and political crises, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today at the inaugural event in the Geneva Lecture series.
“We are familiar with the causes: rising oil prices, growing global demand, bad trade policies, bad weather, panic buying and speculation, the new craze of biofuels derived from food products and so on and so on,” Mr. Ban said at the lecture, jointly organized by the UN Office at Geneva (UNOG) and the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).
He warned that the recent surge in prices of basic foods, such as rice, wheat and corn, already having an enormous impact on poor people worldwide, could lead to further deleterious effects.
“If not managed properly, it [the food crisis] could touch off a cascade of related crises – affecting trade, economic growth, social progress and even political security around the world.”
But the Secretary-General also said he was confident that the world has both the resources and the knowledge to deal with the problems, and he called on leaders to see the crisis as not just a problem, but as an opportunity.
“It is a huge chance to address the root problems of many of the world’s poorest people, 70 per cent of whom live as small farmers. If we help them – if we offer aid and the right mix of sound local and international policies – the solution will come. And along the way we will have struck a mighty blow for social equity and development.”
He called for a mix of short-term and long-term measures, including steps to immediately feed the most hungry people and actions to help farmers bring in their next harvests.
Today’s lecture is the first of a series that aims to raise awareness to a wide audience in Geneva of the most pressing global challenges and focus on how individuals can contribute to resolving such problems.
* * *
HAITIANS CAUGHT UP IN FOOD CRISIS RECEIVE HELPING HAND FROM UN VOLUNTEERS
United Nations Volunteers (UNV) working in Haiti have helped provide emergency relief to elderly and handicapped residents suffering from the current global food crisis.
Working with the Community Violence Reduction (CVR) section of the UN mission in the Caribbean nation, known as MINUSTAH, UNV assisted in providing some 1,000 elderly and handicapped people with rice and beans.
Earlier this month, violent protests erupted in the capital Port-au-Prince in response to the soaring price of staple foods.
In Haiti, the volunteers have focused on helping the country foster political and institutional stability, and played a pivotal role during the 2006 elections when they were the only monitors operating in parts of the Caribbean island nation.
“Volunteering to save lives brings me personal satisfaction,” said Emmanuel Sannoh, UNV and team leader of the CVR section who has served with MINUSTAH since 2004.
Last week, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote to more than a dozen key Member States, asking for their urgent assistance in addressing the situation in Haiti, which has witnessed a rapid deterioration in socio-economic conditions that threatens to undo the gains achieved by the tiny nation, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.
* * *
FIRST OFFICIAL OF UN-BACKED TRIBUNAL ON LEBANESE KILLINGS STARTS WORK
The first official of the United Nations-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon to take up his functions, the registrar Robin Vincent, began his duties yesterday as the court continues to make progress in its start-up phase.
In a statement issued today by his spokesperson, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that Mr. Vincent will work closely with the Special Tribunal’s management committee and with the UN Secretariat to take the necessary steps to formally establish the court, in line with Security Council resolution 1757 from last year.
“He will initially concentrate his activities on preparing the premises of the Tribunal, coordinating the transition between the International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC) and the Tribunal, recruiting core staff, and finalizing the Tribunal’s budget,” the statement added.
The Council asked Mr. Ban last year to set up the court after Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora informed the 15-member body that all domestic options had been exhausted, due to the country’s ongoing political crisis.
The Special Tribunal is designed to try those accused of recent political murders in Lebanon, particularly the February 2005 assassination of the former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in a massive car bombing in downtown Beirut that killed 22 others.
Last month, in a report to the Council, Mr. Ban said the selection of the judges and the prosecutor has also been completed and a draft budget will be submitted soon to the management committee of the Tribunal.
* * *
GRAVE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AGAINST CHILDREN CONTINUE IN PHILIPPINES, UN FINDS
Both rebel and Government forces have killed and maimed children during ongoing conflicts in the Philippines, according to a report released today by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The report states that 19 children were killed in conflict situations between July 2005 and November 2007, while 42 were maimed. Just over half of these cases were perpetrated by Government security forces, a fifth were attributed to the Abu Sayyaf Group/Jemaah Islamiya rebels, and 8 per cent to the communist insurgents, the New People’s Army (NPA).
The report also says there is evidence that Government paramilitary forces and rebel groups, including the NPA and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, recruited children during the same period.
Overall, the Secretary-General’s report finds that around half of verified grave violations against children were carried out by Government security forces, a third by the NPA, and 15 per cent by the Abu Sayyaf Group/Jemaah Islamiya. But the report adds that the lower number of cases reported for the rebels is most likely due to a lack of access to these groups.
The Secretary-General recommends that State and non-State actors enter into dialogue with the UN to end the recruitment of children as well as other grave violations of children’s rights.
* * *
SECURITY COUNCIL WELCOMES STEPS TOWARD HOLDING OF IVORIAN PRESIDENTIAL POLLS
The Security Council today welcomed the news that Côte d’Ivoire will be holding previously delayed presidential elections on 30 November, and urged the West African nation to redouble its efforts to meet that vital goal on the path to peace.
The announcement of the election date, supported by all Ivorian parties, and the signing by President Laurent Gbagbo of related decrees, constitute “an important step forward,” according to a statement read out by Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo of South Africa, which holds the rotating Council presidency for April.
Côte d’Ivoire became divided in 2002 between the Government-controlled south and the rebel Forces Nouvelles-held north, but last year’s Ouagadougou Peace Agreement paved the way for an end to the conflict and included a provision calling for free and fair elections to be held.
Presidential polls were to be held as far back as 2005, but have been delayed several times since then.
During his visit to the country last week, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encouraged all the main political actors in Côte d’Ivoire to continue making progress in the country’s peace process.
“We all know however that considerable challenges remain to be addressed,” Mr. Ban said. “The road to the elections, to sustainable peace and reconciliation, may be treacherous and we should be vigilant.”
In addition to the setting of the election date, the Council said it was encouraged by the signing last week, under the auspices of the Secretary-General, of a Code of Good Conduct for elections by all political parties.
The 15-member body also encouraged the parties to build on the ongoing mobile courts’ process for the identification of the Ivorian population and registration of voters, and said it looked forward to the publication of the electoral list “as a crucial step in the electoral process.”
The Council adopted the presidential statement after receiving a closed-door briefing by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Côte d’Ivoire, Choi Young-Jin.
Mr. Choi’s active engagement, as well as the continued support of President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso to the country’s peace process, “has been instrumental towards achieving the establishment of a consensus among all political parties to hold presidential elections in 2008,” the Council added.
* * *
NEARLY $1 BILLION PAID OUT BY UN REPARATIONS PANEL FOR INVASION OF KUWAIT
The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), which settles the damage claims of those who suffered losses because of Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, today announced the disbursement of some $972.4 million to 26 successful claimants.
Today’s amount brings the overall total compensation issued by the UNCC to individuals, corporations, governments and international organizations to $24.3 billion.
Eighteen other claims, including five environmental claims, remain to be paid in the future, the UNCC said.
The vast majority of funds for compensation payments have come from the sale of Iraqi petroleum under the so-called Oil-for-Food programme, which came to an end in 2003, and later within the scope of arrangements made under Security Council resolutions.
* * *
PAYING TRIBUTE TO VICTIMS, BAN KI-MOON CALLS FOR DESTRUCTION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS
Marking the Remembrance Day for Victims of Chemical Warfare, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on all States to ratify the international treaty banning the deadly weapons.
The Day is “a solemn occasion for the world to pay tribute to all victims of chemical warfare, and to ensure their suffering will not be forgotten or repeated,” Mr. Ban said in a message.
Today also marks the 21st anniversary of the Chemical Weapons Convention – which provides for the eradication of these instruments of mass destruction – entering into force. All States Parties to the pact are obliged to destroy their existing stockpiles by 29 April 2012.
Currently, 183 States, representing 98 per cent of the world’s population, have signed on to the treaty.
“However, I remain gravely concerned that a number of key States have not adhered to the Convention,” Mr. Ban said, calling on nations not party to the treaty to ratify or accede to it immediately.
The memory of the victims of chemical warfare can be honoured through the total elimination of the deadly weapons as well as through worldwide adherence to the Convention, he noted.
“On this Remembrance Day, let us renew our commitment to realize a world free of chemical weapons. Let us redouble our efforts to build a safer place for this and future generations.”
Earlier this month, the Secretary-General called on States to redouble their efforts to eliminate the scourge of chemical weapons.
“Our efforts to build a world free of chemical weapons require that all States Parties adopt, enhance and strengthen the national implementation measures called for under the Convention,” Mr. Ban told the gathering, in a message delivered by Tim Caughley, Deputy Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament, at a meeting in The Hague, Netherlands, of countries which have ratified the pact.
* * *
SECRETARY-GENERAL TO FOCUS ON GLOBAL HEALTH DURING UPCOMING VISIT TO ATLANTA
Global health will be the focus of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s visit to Atlanta, Georgia, next week, part of his ongoing tour of major cities in the United States.
Mr. Ban will be convening a meeting at the Carter Center with the Elders – a small group of world figures ranging from civil society leaders to past heads of State – on critical global health priorities, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters.
Participants in the meeting will include top UN officials, philanthropists, and global health leaders from the private sector, non-governmental organizations and academia. Mr. Ban also plans to tour the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While in Atlanta, the Secretary-General is scheduled to attend a luncheon hosted by Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue.
He will also join Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin in viewing the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Collection at the Robert W. Woodruff Library.
In addition, he plans to visit CIFAL Atlanta, a not-for-profit organization affiliated with the UN Institute for Training and Research, and attend a luncheon with the Atlanta business community.
Since taking office in January 2007, the Secretary-General has travelled to San Francisco and Chicago, where he saw first-hand how these two major cities are tackling climate change, as well as to Washington D.C.
In February this year he made his first visit to the state of Texas, where he participated in the William Waldo Cameron Forum on Public Affairs at the Bush Presidential Library, located in College Station.
* * *
EFFORTS TO REACH ASIA-PACIFIC DEVELOPMENT TARGETS THREATENED BY GAPS – UN
Without filling gaps in key areas – including child and maternal mortality, environmental sustainability and water and sanitation – countries of the Asia-Pacific region may not be able to meet all of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a new United Nations-backed report cautioned.
The report, entitled “A Future Within Reach 2008,” is the third such study on the MDGs jointly produced by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Colombo, Sri Lanka-based MDG Initiative team of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The eight MDGs – ranging from eradicating extreme poverty and hunger to combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases – were agreed upon by all of the world’s countries and leading development institutions at the historic Millennium Summit in 2000.
Noeleen Heyzer, ESCAP Executive Secretary, said that on the plus side, the Asia-Pacific region has been able to lift over 350 million people out of extreme poverty between 1990 and 2004.
“But that’s just not enough, we cannot rest for a minute – the gaps cited in the report need to be filled and they need to be filled immediately,” she said.
The area is currently home to 641 million of the world’s poorest, or nearly two-thirds of the global total.
The eighth MDG calls for global cooperation through official development assistance (ODA), debt sustainability and international trade, and the new study underscored the importance of improved coordination by international organizations in assisting countries trying to reach the development goals.
“Everyone involved – from all the agencies and funds of the United Nations and regional development entities to bilateral donors – needs to lift their game in this respect,” Ms. Heyzer observed. “It’s essential that development partners contribute according to their unique strengths, yet uphold the spirit, principle and practice of uniting to ‘deliver as one.’”
Efforts to boost youth employment are also facing hurdles. “Youth unemployment is on the rise almost every where and in several countries has reached double-digit levels,” according to the report. “Although some countries they have narrowed the gap, overall young women seem to have higher levels of unemployment than young men.”
An increase of 1 per cent in per capita gross domestic product (GDP) leads to a 0.86 per cent drop in the headcount poverty ratio, but the report warned that economic growth alone does not have as large of an effect on other MDGs such as under-nutrition and child mortality.
“To achieve the MDGs [Asia-Pacific countries] will need to improve the structure and quality of economic growth as well as make appropriate changes to national development strategies,” Ms. Heyzer pointed out.
“The effectiveness of all efforts at achieving MDGs will depend critically on the quality of governance,” said David Lockwood, acting head of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific. “Raising standards of governance will assist countries in their efforts to achieve ‘pro-poor’ growth.”
* * *
SLOVAK DIPLOMAT SET TO HEAD UN PREVENTIVE DIPLOMACY CENTRE IN CENTRAL ASIA
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has informed the Security Council of his plan to appoint an experienced Slovak diplomat as the head of the new United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA).
Miroslav Jenca will serve as head of the centre – which is located in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan – and also as Mr. Ban’s Special Representative, the Secretary-General’s spokesperson told reporters today.
UNRCCA was established by the UN last year to help the countries of Central Asia respond more proactively to cross-border challenges and threats before they become costlier and more difficult to control.
According to the Department of Political Affairs (DPA), the centre is tasked with assisting Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan “in building capacities to peacefully prevent conflict, in facilitating dialogue, and in catalyzing international support behind projects and initiatives.”
It is expected to work closely with existing UN agencies and programmes already operating in Central Asia, and with regional groups such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Mr. Jenca, currently the Director of the Office of Slovakia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, recently served as head of mission for the OSCE centre in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He has also served in an array of other diplomatic posts for his country.
* * *
MIDDLE EAST PEACE MUST INCLUDE SOLUTION FOR PALESTINIAN REFUGEES, BAN KI-MOON SAYS
A sustainable peace in the Middle East will have to factor in a viable and just solution to the Palestinian refugee issue, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a United Nations meeting convened in Paris to assess the condition of the refugees and examine the role of the world body in alleviating their plight.
“The Palestinian people’s desire or right to live a normal daily life in their own sovereign land remains undiminished, as do the individual and collective rights of Palestine refugees,” Mr. Ban said in a message to the conference, read out by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Angela Kane.
“This year marks the 60th year of Palestinian dispossession, an anniversary that underlines the importance and urgency of finding a solution to the question of Palestine and of addressing the plight of the Palestine refugees,” he noted.
The Secretary-General said that the peace process launched in the United States city of Annapolis and the negotiations under way between the Israelis and Palestinians are the only way to settle the conflict and address all permanent status issues, including that of the refugees.
“Negotiations are the only means of realising the legitimate aspirations of both parties – Palestinian statehood and self-determination, and security for Israel,” Mr. Ban stated, as he pledged the UN’s continued support to the Palestinian and Israeli leaders as they seek to reach an agreement by the end of this year.
At the same time, he drew attention to the worrying situation on the ground, including the daily violence that besets the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Israel, as well as the food and fuel shortages that are worsening the already dismal living conditions of those in Gaza.
Noting that the UN now provides assistance to approximately 75 per cent of the population of the Gaza Strip, Mr. Ban welcomed efforts to end violence and re-open the Gaza crossings, which would allow all legitimate and necessary humanitarian and commercial supplies to reach the population.
The Secretary-General also lauded the efforts of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which has for the past 60 years been providing education, health care, social services and emergency aid to over 4.5 million refugees living in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
* * *
SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS MANDATE OF GROUP MONITORING FLOW OF ARMS IN SOMALIA
The Security Council today extended the mandate of an expert group monitoring the arms flow to Somalia.
In a unanimously-adopted resolution, the Council called on the four-member group to “continue to investigate any means of transport, routes, seaports, airports and other facilities used in connections with arms embargo violations.”
The expert group was created by a 2003 resolution to analyze the movement of weapons to and through the war-torn nation, which has not had a functioning government in nearly two decades.
In today’s resolution, the Council condemned “flows of weapons and ammunition supplies to and through Somalia in violation of the arms embargo as a serious threat to peace and stability in Somalia.”
Earlier this week, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that some 7,000 people fled the Somali capital Mogadishu after a recent round of fighting that killed a significant number of civilians and reportedly wounded 200 people, including women and children.
Violence drove approximately 700,000 people from Mogadishu last year alone.
* * *
TIMOR-LESTE: UN WELCOMES SURRENDER OF FUGITIVES LINKED TO ATTACK ON PRESIDENT
The United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) today welcomed the surrender of 12 armed fugitives wanted in connection with the assassination attempt on the President in February.
The UNMIT head and Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Timor-Leste, Atul Khare, said that the attacks of 11 February had threatened the country, and that he shared “the feelings of the entire community in welcoming the peaceful submission of Gastão Salsinha and his men. They must now face justice.”
President José Ramos-Horta was shot and wounded by rebel soldiers in the attack on his home. He recently returned to Timor-Leste from Australia after recovering from his injuries.
In today’s statement Mr. Khare praised the people of Timor-Leste “for the calm manner in which the events of these past months have been handled.” He said that the lessons learned should serve to strengthen the country’s security institutions, and urged all Timorese to work together toward a “peaceful, prosperous and stable nation, securely anchored in a culture of democracy, rule of law, and respect for human rights.”
* * *
ONLY 4 PER CENT OF IRAQIS IN SYRIA PLAN TO RETURN HOME: UN REPORT
Only 4 per cent of Iraqi refugees currently plan to return to their own country, while almost all have fled their homeland because of direct threats or general insecurity, according to a report out today from the United Nations refugee agency.
The report found that 65 per cent of refugees who do not wish to return said that they were under direct threat in Iraq. Some 30 per cent do not want to return because of the general insecurity in their home country and 8 per cent said their home in Iraq had been destroyed or was occupied by others.
A total of 4.7 million Iraqis have been uprooted as a result of the crisis in their country. Of these over 2 million are living as refugees in neighbouring countries – mostly Syria and Jordan – while 2.7 million are internally displaced inside Iraq.
An estimated 44 per cent of Iraqi refugees left Iraq between 2003 and 2006, while 54 per cent left after 2006.
In January, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) appealed for $261 million to support Iraqi refugees and Iraqis displaced inside the country, but so far the agency has received just under half of that amount.
The survey was carried out with nearly 1,000 Iraqis refugees in the Syrian capital, Damascus, at UNHCR’s registration and food distribution sites, as well as in community centres or during home visits.
* * *
UN EXPERTS CONDEMN ‘INTIMIDATION, VIOLENCE AND TORTURE’ IN ZIMBABWE
Intimidation, violence and torture are being used to take retribution against supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) after last month’s presidential elections in Zimbabwe, according a statement issued today by a group of United Nations human rights rapporteurs.
They say there is reliable evidence that security forces, paramilitary groups and gangs have attacked the homes of MDC supporters, and of workers with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, in areas where the MDC received more votes than the ruling ZANU-PF party. The UN experts report that at least 351 people have been hospitalized, nearly 300 homes have been destroyed through politically motivated arson, 15 women have been abducted, and several people have been murdered.
As a result of the violence, which has been taking place mainly in rural areas, townships and farms, hundreds of families and individuals, mainly women and children, have been displaced internally or are seeking refuge in neighbouring countries.
The UN human rights rapporteurs, who serve in an unpaid and independent capacity, express grave concern that the attacks are coordinated and say that it is particularly worrying that State-controlled media is airing programmes that encourage the violence.
The experts “strongly urge the authorities of Zimbabwe to restore peace in the country and put an end to organized and politically motivated violence”. They also urge the authorities to grant free access to independent observers and media personnel to all regions of the country.
The Special Rapporteurs who issued the statement are: Philip Alston (extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions); Yakin Ertürk (violence against women); Miloon Kothari (adequate housing); Ambeyi Ligabo (freedom of opinion and expression); Hina Jilani (human rights defenders); Manfred Nowak (torture).
* * *
-----------------------------------------
Click here for a PDF version of the UN Daily News: http://www.un.org/News/dh/pdf/english/2008/29042008.pdf
For more details go to UN News Centre at: http://www.un.org/news
To listen to news and in-depth programmes from UN Radio go to: http://radio.un.org/
---------------------------------------------------------
To change your profile or *** go to: http://www.un.org/apps/news/email/
