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UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
19 May, 2008 =========================================================================
BAN KI-MOON TO TRAVEL TO MYANMAR TO BOOST AID EFFORT
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to arrive in Myanmar on Thursday to visit the areas that have been most affected by Cyclone Nargis, which swept through Myanmar early this month, and also to meet with senior Government officials.
Mr. Ban’s objective is to reinforce the ongoing aid operation to see how the international relief and rehabilitation effort can be scaled up, and to work with Myanmar authorities to significantly increase the amount of aid flowing through Yangon to the Irrawaddy delta, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters. Up to 2.4 million people have been affected by the disaster and more than 130,000 are listed as dead or missing.
Mr. Ban also today released a joint statement with the Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) announcing that an international conference will be held in Yangon on Sunday to raise money from donors for the crisis.
The statement said the conference will seek international support and financial assistance “to meet the most urgent challenges, as well as the longer-term recovery efforts.” Mr. Ban and the Chair of ASEAN called on the international community to “rise to the occasion and translate their solidarity and sympathy into concrete commitments to help the people of Myanmar emerge from the tragedy and rebuild their lives.”
Meanwhile, the UN’s top relief official today visited three cyclone-affected areas, including the town of Labutta in the delta, with the full cooperation from the Myanmar authorities. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes also met with the UN humanitarian country team and with the Myanmar Red Cross and plans to hold talks with Government officials tomorrow.
UN agencies in Myanmar report that they are making progress in reaching victims of the cyclone, but that the operation still needs to be ramped up.
The UN World Health Organization (WHO) said that the official toll of dead and missing now exceeds 132,000, with more than 19,000 injured. Speaking at a press conference in Bangkok, spokesperson Maureen Birmingham said that assessments of the health needs of townships was continuing. She cited Ngaputaw township as one specific example.
WHO found that the most common conditions reported there after the cyclone were injuries, followed by acute respiratory infections, gastroenteritis, dysentery and malaria. Some 46 per cent of the population of the township has been affected by the cyclone and 49 per cent of houses suffered some damage.
WHO and its partners have procured more than 350 tons of medical supplies and equipment for the cyclone-affected area. These include 3 million water purification sachets, 90,000 water containers, more than 50,000 insecticide treated mosquito nets, shelter equipment and emergency health kits.
The World Food Programme (WFP) says it has dispatched enough food to feed over 250,000 people with a first ration of rice – enough to last for two weeks – as well as high-energy biscuits and beans. Most supplies were purchased by the agency within Myanmar itself. WFP is using air transport as well as boats, barges and tugs to distribute aid.
WFP spokesperson Marcus Prior said that this was still insufficient and too slow. He said that aid workers were coming across settlements that have received little if any assistance so far.
Amanda Pitt, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that the current estimate for people who had been displaced was around 150,000. She said they are staying in 120 official or spontaneous settlements.
The UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has deployed 100 satellite terminals to facilitate in-country coordination of the humanitarian effort.
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OVER 2.6 MILLION SOMALIS COULD GO HUNGRY, UN AGENCY WARNS
More than 2.6 million Somalis – comprising 35 per cent of the Horn of Africa nation’s population – need food assistance due because of the deteriorating humanitarian situation triggered by skyrocketing food prices, the weak currency and worsening drought, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) cautioned today.
Violence has also forced nearly 900,000 people from the capital Mogadishu, bringing the total number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Somalia to 1 million.
Compounding the problem is the delayed and worse-than-expected Gu seasonal rains, resulting in a potentially poor cereal harvest which will lead to shortages and push prices higher.
Due to two consecutive seasons of poor rains, 60,000 pastoralists require food aid in the country, which has not had a functioning national government since 1991.
Half of Somalia’s total population could face an acute food and livelihood crisis by the end of the year if the Gu rains are greatly below normal, food prices continue to soar and civil insecurity worsens, Cindy Holleman, FAO’s Chief Technical Adviser for Somalia, warned.
“It’s an extremely worrying situation,” she observed.
Cereal prices have surged by as much as 375 per cent in the past year, reaching historic levels.
Somalia is a net importer of cereals, and prices will remain at record highs due to the combination of climbing international prices, the sharp devaluation of the Somali shilling by more than 125 per cent in the last four months.
Although many poor urban households have slashed spending on meals and non-food items such as soap, kerosene, medicines and schooling, they still do not have enough money to meet their food needs, FAO said.
The agency appealed for safe access to crisis areas for aid workers, with risks to humanitarian actors increasing at a time of greatest need.
“The security situation is frustrating, but it hasn’t stopped us,” said Graham Farmer, who heads FAO’s Somalia operations.
“One can bring in food, but an important complementary approach is to get money into these communities,” he added. “We need to boost not only production, but also incomes and livelihoods in rural and peri-urban areas.”
FAO’s projects in Somalia include an emergency and rehabilitation programme, as well as livestock sector support through the provision of veterinary services and surveillance of animal health.
The agency also assists in the field of agricultural rehabilitation and diversification through integrated pest management schemes, provision of quality seeds and rebuilding irrigation infrastructures.
In the private sector, FAO helps microenterprises by providing training and boosting market linkages.
For its 2008 needs, the agency has appealed for over $18 million, and to date, it has received $3.8 million from the Governments of Sweden and Italy.
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UN STARTS FEEDING THOUSANDS OF SUDANESE WHO FLED DISPUTED TOWN
United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) today started distributing food and clean water to tens of thousands of people who fled fighting in the disputed Sudanese town of Abyei last week.
“Today we are distributing vital food assistance in two locations in Agok,” said David Greesly, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Southern Sudan. “A total of five food centres are being set up covering some 18 villages. We are also providing clean water and health care to the displaced people.”
An initial assessment found that the most pressing needs of the displaced population were for food, shelter, water and health-care facilities. Humanitarian agencies are also beginning work on reuniting separated children with their families. However, the rainy season is hampering access to some areas in the east, while insecurity is posing challenges to the west, according to a statement issued by the office of the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan.
OCHA estimates that between 30,000 and 50,000 people were displaced by the fighting in Abyei, which broke out last week despite a peace deal signed three years ago between Sudanese Government forces and southern rebels. The town lies in an oil-rich area near the boundary between north and south Sudan.
A joint meeting last Thursday between the Government and the southern rebels, under the auspices of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), struck an agreement to end the clashes in Abyei, which is now largely deserted.
An impasse over the boundaries and status of Abyei has been one of the major stumbling blocks preventing the full implementation of the January 2005 comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) that ended the long-running north-south civil war in Sudan.
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UN RELIEF CHIEF SETS ASIDE $100 MILLION IN EMERGENCY FUNDS FOR FOOD CRISIS
The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator has decided to reserve $100 million from the world body’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to address immediate issues stemming from the food crisis triggered by the recent surge in global food prices.
John Holmes, who also serves as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said that these funds will be used for life-saving activities in the hardest-hit sectors, including food, agriculture, health, nutrition and logistics.
“Since its inception in 2006, CERF has shown that it is a successful humanitarian funding mechanism that ensures that aid is delivered in an effective, fast and predictable way,” UN spokesperson Michele Montas said today at a press briefing in New York.
Since the start of the year, the Fund – which is managed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) – has already earmarked nearly $66 million for food interventions by UN agencies, compared to $37 million during the same period last year.
The CERF was approved by the General Assembly in December 2005, and was created to speed up relief operations for emergencies, make funds available quickly after a disaster and finance underfunded emergencies. Its funds are also made available to address the existing imbalance in global aid distribution which results in millions of people in so-called neglected or forgotten crises remaining in need. Since its inception, it has disbursed nearly $800 million.
It is evident that CERF will need to be replenished, Ms. Montas said, given the demands posed by food-related emergencies as well as multiple crises and disasters around the world.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Mr. Holmes are appealing to donors to make additional contributions to the Fund, beyond the $425 million already pledged for this year.
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HEART DISEASES AND STROKES BECOME THE WORLD’S BIGGEST KILLERS, UN REPORT FINDS
Chronic conditions such as heart disease and stroke have taken over from infectious diseases as diarrhoea, HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis as the leading causes of death around the globe, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) says in a new report.
Based on data collected from the 193 Member States of WHO, the annual report contains measures on 73 separate health indicators covering areas including mortality levels, availability of health-care workers and the prevalence of risk factors such as smoking and alcohol consumption.
“We are definitely seeing a trend towards fewer people dying of infectious diseases across the world,” said Ties Boerma, Director of the WHO Department of Health Statistics and Informatics.
“We tend to associate developing countries with infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. But in more and more countries the chief causes of death are non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease and stroke.”
This year’s report highlights several key issues, including the relatively slow increase in life expectancy in Eastern Europe since 1950 when compared with the rest of the continent, the soaring cost of health care worldwide and the effect that has on the poor, and the vast imbalance between maternal mortality rates in rich and poor nations.
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FOOD CRISIS, CLIMATE CHANGE AND INFLUENZA ARE MAIN THREATS TO HEALTH, SAYS UN
The global food crisis, climate change and pandemic influenza are the main threats to human health, according to the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO).
“These three critical events, these clear threats to international security, have the potential to undo much hard-won progress in public health,” WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said today in Geneva.
Speaking at the opening of the 61st session of the World Health Assembly, which is WHO’s supreme decision-making body, Ms. Chan said the organization had identified 21 “hot spots” around the world which are already experiencing high levels of acute and chronic malnutrition. As part of the international task force on the global crisis caused by soaring food prices, WHO is aiming to guide priority action, she said.
Ms. Chan added that an estimated 3.5 million deaths a year are caused by undernutrition, and that poor households spend on average between 50 and 75 per cent of their income on food. “More money spent on food means less money available for health care, especially for the many millions of poor households who rely on out-of-pocket payments when they fall ill.”
On climate change, she said that more droughts, floods and tropical storms would add to the demands for humanitarian assistance and would result in a growing number of environmental refugees. “Again, the poor will be the first and hardest hit. Climate change is already adding an additional set of stresses in areas that are already fragile, with marginal livelihoods and thin margins of survival when shocks occur.”
Ms. Chan described pandemic influenza, potentially set off by the spread of bird flu to humans, as the “third global crisis looming on the horizon.” She said that “the threat has by no means receded, and we would be very unwise to let down our guard, or slacken our preparedness measures.”
“As with climate change, all countries will be affected, though in a far more rapid and sweeping way,” she added.
The week-long session of the World Health Assembly will also discuss female genital mutilation (FGM) and the harmful use of alcohol.
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UN PEACEBUILDING COMMISSION MEETS TO DISCUSS ASSISTANCE TO SIERRA LEONE
Representatives of the United Nations, individual Member States, regional organizations, the private sector and civil society have gathered today in New York to discuss how to increase the level of international involvement in Sierra Leone’s efforts to make the transition from years of civil conflict towards eventual stability and prosperity.
The UN Peacebuilding Commission’s high-level stakeholders consultation on Sierra Leone, being held at UN Headquarters, also considered new initiatives and partnerships to generate more support for existing peacebuilding activities, the Commission said in a press statement.
Last December the Commission and the Government of Sierra Leone adopted an agreed framework spelling out what specific actions both parties will take in the short-to-medium term to deal with the remaining challenges to consolidating peace in the West African country, which has been beset by war for nearly all of the 1990s.
The framework highlights five priority areas: justice and security sector reform; youth employment and empowerment; good governance; energy sector development; and capacity building.
Addressing today’s consultation, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated that effective peacebuilding is based on three principles – national ownership, mutual accountability and sustained engagement.
Mr. Ban said he hoped today’s meeting would result in clear commitments for support to the implementation of the framework.
“Our collective and individual support will be critical to sustaining Sierra Leone’s impressive progress towards peace, development and prosperity,” he said.
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GENERAL ASSEMBLY CHIEF PAYS TRIBUTE TO INTERNATIONAL LAW COMMISSION
General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim paid tribute to the International Law Commission (ILC) on its sixtieth anniversary today, describing it as “a living testament to the importance that the General Assembly attaches to the progressive development of international law and its codification.”
Speaking to the sixtieth anniversary session of the ILC in Geneva, in a video message from New York, Mr. Kerim said the Commission’s meticulous and painstaking work over the past 60 years had served as the basis for the adoption of many multilateral conventions under the auspices of the UN.
“Its composition, representing the principal legal systems of the world, embodies the desire of the international community to advance a common understanding of international law within a multicultural and regionally representative framework,” he said.
The ILC was created by the General Assembly in 1948 to promote the codification of international law.
Looking to the future, Mr. Kerim said that the global challenges faced today could no longer be addressed within a system that put the interests of States above all others, and called for “a new kind of internationalism that situates the well-being of the individual and communities at its centre.”
“It is pleasing to note that the Commission in its work over the years has elaborated on topics that have strived to improve the status and protection of the individual,” he said.
“The development of international law for the direct benefit of the individual should be the focus of law-making in the 21st century.”
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UN AGENCIES INCREASE AID RELIEF IN QUAKE-AFFECTED SOUTH-WESTERN CHINA
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Food Programme (WFP) are stepping up their support to authorities in China as they deal with relief efforts in the wake of last Monday’s devastating earthquake in Sichuan province.
UNDP has allocated $100,000 for emergency relief activities, which will be used in part to help coordinate the relief response and make needs assessments, the agency announced today in Beijing. It is also providing tents, quilts, clothing, food, drinking water and medicines to some of the most affected areas.
UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters that the WFP is also distributing some $100,000 worth of noodles, joining the support already provided by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO).
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) is expected to procure and supply water purifying and testing equipment, while the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will supply emergency telecommunications.
State media report that the official death toll has risen to more than 28,000, with some 14,000 others still trapped under debris and rubble and nearly 200,000 others injured. An estimated 3.3 million homes have been destroyed and 15.6 million others have been partially damaged.
The quake measured 7.8 on the Richter scale when it struck south-western China on Monday afternoon, just before 2:30 local time. At least 4,400 aftershocks have since been recorded.
UN staff in China observed three minutes of silence today as the country began a three-day mourning period for the victims of the quake. The UN flag is also being flown at half-mast in observance.
UN Resident Coordinator Khalid Malik said the thoughts and hopes of the UN went to bereaved families.
“The ache in our souls is almost too much to bear,” he said. “We believe, under the leadership of the Chinese Government, the Chinese people will overcome the devastating effects of this catastrophe. We are ready to further provide any possible support and comfort in the relief and rehabilitation efforts.”
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NEPAL: UN CONDEMNS MURDER OF BUSINESSMAN BY MAOISTS
The United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) has condemned the recent killing of a local businessman, Ram Hari Shrestha, after Maoist army commanders acknowledged to the mission that the murder was committed by members of their group.
UNMIN condemned the killing as a serious breach of the commitments made in an agreement on monitoring arms and armies reached between the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) (Maoist) and the former Government, and also noted that it was a violation of fundamental human rights.
UNMIN arms monitors have conducted a preliminary inquiry and will present the results to the next meeting of Nepal’s Joint Monitoring Coordination Committee.
UNMIN has been informed that the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is following the investigation that is being carried out by the police.
UNMIN calls on the CPN (Maoist) to cooperate fully with the police to ensure that all those responsible for ordering or carrying out the abduction or killing are apprehended and punished in accordance with the law.
Last month, with the assistance of UNMIN, Nepal held country-wide elections for a new Constituent Assembly.
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AT LEAST 3 MILLION ETHIOPIANS NOW NEED FOOD AID – UN RELIEF WING
Some 3.2 million people are now in urgent need of food aid in Ethiopia because of the continued drought in the African country, up from 2.2 million just one month ago, according to the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Humanitarian agencies in Ethiopia say they face a shortfall in food aid valued at $147 million.
“I am deeply concerned about the food security situation in Ethiopia, and the consequent increasing numbers of malnourished children, as a result of the current drought,” UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said in a statement issued today.
“We will need a rapid scaling up of resources, especially food and nutritional supplies, to make increased life-saving aid a reality.”
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warns that as many as 6 million children under the age of five are at risk of acute malnutrition. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) says it is in danger of running out of supplies of relief commodities such as blended food, which is a special supplement for children and other vulnerable groups.
The shortage of blended food is already impeding the ability of the Government and humanitarian agencies to provide help to people suffering from severe acute malnutrition and the nutritional disease kwashiorkor. There has been a rapid increase in such cases in recent weeks in Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR) and Oromiya Region.
UNICEF needs 1,800 metric tons of ready-to-use therapeutic food for the coming three months for Oromiya Region and SNNPR alone. It currently has only 6 metric tons in stock, and is to receive another 90 metric tons, which is expected to last just two weeks.
“The Government of Ethiopia, the UN, donors and NGOs [non-governmental organizations] are responding to the crisis, but the enormity of the problem means that more resources will be required to alleviate the suffering of those affected in the coming weeks and months,” OCHA said.
Rising food prices in Ethiopia have also contributed to the deteriorating situation. The WFP estimates that the price of maize increased by 83 per cent, sorghum by 89 per cent and wheat by 54 per cent between September 2007 and February 2008.
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UN REFUGEE AGENCY PRAISES YEMEN FOR PROTECTING PEOPLE FLEEING SOMALIA
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) António Guterres today praised Yemen for providing protection to people making the dangerous Gulf of Aden crossing from Somalia, and called for more international support so the country can assist the refugees.
“The Yemeni Government has shown leadership in responding to the protection needs of individuals in the migratory movement,” Mr. Guterres said in an address at the opening of a two-day regional conference on the issue in the Yemeni capital Sana’a.
So far this year, more than 18,000 people have made the perilous Gulf of Aden crossing aboard smugglers’ boats, double the number for the same period a year ago. More than 400 people have died trying to make the voyage this year.
Yemen, despite meagre resources, has maintained an open-door policy to refugees, but it has been calling for more support from the international community, a call which Mr. Guterres echoed.
“While the Government continues to scale up to meet the challenge, it will not be able to do so alone,” he said. “I strongly appeal to all countries that have the capacity and resources to do so in the region and beyond, to fully support Yemen in its generous hospitality to many refugees from Somalia during more than 15 years.”
UNHCR and other international agencies have stepped up their efforts to assist Yemen and other countries in the region, and are jointly calling for global action to better address the challenges.
The Sana’a conference brings together high-level government officials from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen and the Gulf Cooperation countries as well as representatives of civil society and international organizations.
Its main objective is to establish a regional mechanism and a longer-term plan of action on refugee protection and mixed migration in the Gulf of Aden region.
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SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN ISSUES CALL TO ELIMINATE SCOURGE OF CLUSTER MUNITIONS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today appealed for the creation of a new global pact to rid the world of cluster munitions, deadly weapons which he described as “particularly indiscriminate and unreliable.”
The devices are “inherently inaccurate and often malfunction,” and they pose “a very real danger to civilians, both at the time of use and long after conflicts have ended,” Mr. Ban said in a video message to the opening of the two-week Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions, which opened today in Dublin.
More than 100 governments have converged in the Irish capital to hammer out an international treaty to ban the weapons, a process which began last February in Oslo.
The Secretary-General pointed to breakthroughs in efforts to further disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control, including the mine ban treaty and the recent protocol on explosive remnants of war.
“But the quest for a safer world continues,” the Secretary-General said.
Curbing cluster munitions could slash deaths, suffering and deprivation that civilians face during conflicts, he noted, while ridding the world of these weapons could also allow refugees and displaced people to return to their homes, while freeing up land to be used productively.
“And we can add a new chapter to international humanitarian law, alongside those on landmines and explosive remnants of war,” Mr. Ban stressed, calling for an international treaty to prohibit the use, development, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions.
The new pact should also require the destruction of existing stockpiles and help to clear the weapons and assist victims, he added.
Also addressing the Conference was Ad Melkert, Associate Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), who emphasized the devastating impact of the devices on development.
“Cluster munitions kill and maim individuals – not only at the time of use but for generations afterwards,” Mr. Melkert, who was speaking on behalf of the UN Mine Action Team, said.
The weapons also contaminate farmland and kill livestock, as well as impede individuals’ rights to adequate living standards, personal safety, health and education.
“In short, in affected countries, unexploded sub-munitions are yet another major obstacle to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs],” Mr. Melkert pointed out, referring to the eight anti-poverty targets which have a collective 2015 deadline.
At least 75 countries have stocks of cluster munitions, he said, noting that the consequences would be devastating if these weapons were to proliferate, including among non-State armed groups, for use in current and future conflicts.
“A strong and comprehensive treaty could stop the proliferation and use of these cluster munitions by prohibiting transfers and ensuring that stockpiles of cluster munitions are subject to prompt and safe destruction,” the Associate Administrator stated.
Stressing the effect cluster munitions have on children, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also called on all countries to conclude a new legal instrument to do away with the devices.
Some 40 per cent of victims of these weapons are children who are injured or killed long after direct hostilities have drawn to a close, the agency highlighted. Children are particularly at risk because they are drawn to the devices, which are often small and shiny.
Used for more than six decades, cluster munitions have contaminated countries such as Laos, Viet Nam and Cambodia for over 30 years, while more recently they have been used in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and in southern Lebanon.
UNICEF estimates that there are billions of these weapons still in existing scattered across over 70 countries.
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UN TELECOMMUNICATION OFFICIAL WARNS OF WIDENING INTERNET BROADBAND DIVIDE
With more than half of the world’s population now becoming mobile telephone subscribers the digital divide in such phones has been largely bridged, but there remains a widening risk of an Internet broadband divide, the head of the United Nations agency for telecommunication warned today.
Speaking at the Global Forum on Access and Connectivity, which is meeting today and tomorrow in Kuala Lumpur, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré said a “complicity” between the private sector and the government was essential to increase the availability of information and communication technologies (ICT).
The private sector needed to believe in the governments’ intention, he said, and governments needed to set up fair rules. The other essential element was the presence of strong ICT capacity-building programmes.
The Global Forum, organized by the UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development, brings together participants from different sectors to seek ways to expand affordable connectivity, application and services in the Asia-Pacific region.
Opening the Forum, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang noted the “phenomenal growth” in wireless communications in Asia. Although the growth had been slower in small-island developing States, many had managed to increase the penetration of mobile telephony to between 10 to 20 per cent of their populations, he said. Such growth was the result of policies that favoured infrastructure deployment and competition in the telecommunications market, he said.
With very limited funds at their disposal, Mr. Sha said, small-island developing countries were using mechanisms such as universal service funds and an audiovisual tax to subsidize the deployment of infrastructure in rural and remote areas.
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SENIOR UN ENVOY AND IRANIAN PRESIDENT CONFER ON RECONSTRUCTION OF AFGHANISTAN
The top United Nations envoy to Afghanistan met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran today in a bid to boost support for the reconstruction of the strife-torn Asian nation.
“We had a very constructive discussion on the challenges facing Afghanistan and the importance of full cooperation with Afghanistan’s neighbours to help secure peace, stability and progress for all people in the region,” Kai Eide, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, said following the talks.
He said the two agreed that a stable Afghanistan will benefit Iran, and noted that they also discussed next month’s Paris Conference in support of the Afghan Government and the current food crisis.
“I interpret the fact that the President received me immediately upon my arrival in Tehran today as a clear sign of support for my mission and for our work together in the future,” Mr. Eide, who also heads the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) noted.
He added that he is grateful for the Iranian people’s generosity towards Afghanistan, voicing hope that the relationship between the two countries will continue to grow.
During his two-day visit to Iran, the Special Representative will also meet with the country’s Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Refugees, Interior and Defence.
Meanwhile in Afghanistan, UNAMI reported that a convoy of 79 trucks carrying UN World Food Programme (WFP) aid was attacked by anti-Government elements using small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.
The incident took place on Saturday on the main ring road in the Maiwand district of Kandahar province as the convoy was headed towards Herat and Nimroz provinces.
Two trucks were hit by grenades and burned down, resulting in a loss of 84 tons of wheat to feed over 10,000 people, and no casualties were reported.
In a separate incident on 8 May, a truck carrying 48 tons of wheat for 6,000 people went missing as it was making its way from Kandahar to Herat.
WFP said that there have been more than 30 attacks against commercial vehicles or convoys loaded with the agency’s supplies in 2007, with 870 tons of food – worth over $700,000 – being lost. In at least four of these incidents, crew members and Afghan police escorts were either killed or injured.
“The United Nations is working to deliver life-saving assistance to Afghanistan’s poorest people under a strict principle of impartiality,” UNAMA’s acting spokesperson Aleem Siddique told reporters in the capital Kabul. “We condemn the unscrupulous theft and pointless destruction of such life-saving food aid.”
The most recent incidents come at a time when Afghanistan is facing a difficult food security situation, he said, appealing for an immediate end to the attacks which inhibit the delivery of food to communities most in need.
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HEAD OF UN WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL TO VISIT BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
The head of the United Nations tribunal set up to deal with the worst war crimes committed during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s will arrive in Bosnia and Herzegovina today to discuss the country’s participation with the court.
During his three-day visit, President Fausto Pocar of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which sits in The Hague, will hold talks with authorities, members of the judiciary and victims’ associations.
Mr. Pocar will also visit the prison in the town of Foca, in the country’s south-east.
The Tribunal is extremely concerned that Radovan Stanković, who escaped from the prison in May 2007, is still at large. He had been sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for rape and other crimes against humanity committed in Foca after Bosnia and Herzegovina referred his case to the ICTY.
Meanwhile in New York, the Security Council is meeting today on the challenges the country faces in consolidating peace, progress and stability.
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BIODIVERSITY KEY TO TACKING GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS – UN AGENCY
Just 12 crops and 14 animal species provide most of the world’s food, and this lack of diversity means that the food supply has become more vulnerable and less sustainable – according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
“The erosion of biodiversity for food and agriculture severely compromises global food security,” FAO Assistant Director-General Alexander Müller said today. “We need to strengthen our efforts to protect and wisely manage biodiversity for food security,” he added.
Speaking at the beginning of a global conference on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Bonn, Germany, Mr. Müller called on the international community to intensify its commitment to integrating food security and biodiversity concerns.
FAO also raised the alarm about a worldwide decline in biodiversity. It estimates that the genetic diversity of agricultural crops has declined by 75 per cent over the last century and that hundreds of the 7,000 animal breeds registered in FAO databases are threatened with extinction.
FAO says that less genetic diversity means that there are fewer opportunities for the growth and innovation needed to boost agriculture at a time of soaring food prices.
Representatives from 191 countries attended today’s opening on the conference in Bonn, which is expected to focus on such issues as the current food price crisis, the loss of forests globally, climate change, efforts to eradicate poverty and how to meet the globally agreed target for reversing the loss of biodiversity.
The meeting is also taking place less than two years before the deadline, agreed by governments two years ago in Brazil, to devise a system that provides access to, and shares the benefits from, the genetic resources of the world.
“The Bonn Biodiversity meeting is taking place at a defining moment in the history of mankind,” said Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary to the Convention on Biological Diversity. “The challenge is daunting and I call upon all states to adopt exceptional efforts.”
“Half measures and business-as-usual are no longer options when it comes to the unprecedented loss of biodiversity, which, in the future will be compounded by climate change.”
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