REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section, chaired the briefing which also heard from the Spokespersons for the World Food Programme, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization and the International Organization for Migration.
Activities of the Secretary-General
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that yesterday, during a joint press conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the Secretary-General had stressed once more his conviction that the long-term safety and security of Israel and the creation of a Palestinian State went hand in hand. In his remarks to the press, the Secretary-General had encouraged all Israelis to assess carefully the opportunity that might be emerging, saying that "We must use the weeks and months ahead to advance the political dialogue, since the alternative is renewed stagnation, which only means more extremism and violence". The Secretary-General had also stressed the need to give the new Palestinian unity Government some "political space".
Also yesterday, the Secretary-General had conveyed to the President of the Security Council the report on Kosovo’s future status and the comprehensive proposal for the Kosovo status settlement, prepared by his Special Envoy for the Kosovo future status process, Martti Ahtisaari, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said.
Copies of the Secretary-General's statements were available in the press room.
Conference on Disarmament
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Conference on Disarmament, currently under the Presidency of Ambassador Sarala Fernando of Sri Lanka, would complete the first part of its 2007 session on Friday, 30 March.
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier recalled that last Friday, at the end of the day, the Conference had held a plenary meeting at which a draft decision proposed by the Six Presidents of the Conference for 2007 had been presented for consideration. That draft decision called for four Coordinators to be appointed to lead substantive discussions on nuclear disarmament; an arms race in outer space; and negative security assurances; as well as to preside over negotiations on a non-discriminatory multilateral treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.
This morning, the Conference was holding a plenary meeting to continue its discussion on the Presidential proposal for a draft decision, and was also scheduled to hear a statement from the Nigeria on negative security assurances, and to hear general statements from France and Austria.
Human Rights Council
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier recalled that yesterday the Human Rights Council had held a special event on the human rights of persons with disabilities, to highlight the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, which had been adopted by the General Assembly in December 2006 and would be opened for signature next Friday, 30 March. The Council had also heard presentations of reports by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Martin Scheinin, and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak. As was customary after presentations of reports by special procedures, the Council had then begun an interactive dialogue with the two mandate holders, and that discussion would be continued this morning.
This morning, following the conclusion of yesterday's discussion, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Council was scheduled to review reports from the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. This afternoon, it would hear presentations from the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent; and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racisms, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
In addition, at the end of the day, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Council might take action on three draft resolutions: L.2, on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory: follow-up to the Human Rights Council resolutions S-1/1 and S-3/1; L.3, on Israeli violations of religious and cultural rights in Occupied East Jerusalem; and L.6 on the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Review of Mandates.
Situation in Darfur and Chad
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that the insecurity in Darfur had spread to Chad and was currently threatening to destabilize the heart of Africa –thus endangering hundreds of thousands of people and putting the humanitarian operations in the area in jeopardy. Massive population displacements were occurring over the frontier between Chad and Darfur, with both Chadian refugees arriving in Darfur and Dafurian refugees coming into Chad, because of the conflicts along the border. During February alone, the UN assessment team that WFP was part of estimated that some 30,000 people had been displaced by the conflict in Darfur. Because of security concerns, WFP had not been able to assist some 78,000 who required help in that region during February. While that was well below the 470,000 that could not be accessed by WFP aid in July, it showed that the security situation was not improving. In total, for the month of February, WFP had provided assistance to some 2 million in the area.
Jennifer Pagonis of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said UNHCR was very concerned by recent insecurity in areas surrounding some of its refugee camps in eastern Chad. On Sunday, immediately following a visit to Kounoungou refugee camp by President Idriss Deby Itno – during which he had promised to improve security in the region – armed men had raided a market close to the camp and had beaten several refugees, including at least five men and nine women. In addition, last Thursday, a plane described by witnesses as a Sudanese Antonov, had bombed areas north and south of the northeastern Chadian town of Bahai. The air strikes had included the area around Lake Cariari, several kilometres from the Oure Cassoni refugee camp, which hosted nearly 27,000 Sudanese refugees. While no refugees had been injured, several Chadian civilians and two humanitarian workers from international non-governmental organizations had been wounded. UNHCR had been seeking agreement from the refugees and Chadian authorities to move the camp further from the border. There were more than 220,000 Sudanese refugees in 12 UNHCR camps in eastern Chad.
Across the border in West Darfur, meanwhile, a total of 730 Chadian refugees had been transported since last week from the Sudanese border town Arara to UNHCR's Um Shalaya refugee camp, located about 75 kilometres from the volatile border. Ms. Pagonis said that UNHCR, together with the International Organization for Migration, had organized three separate convoys last week.
Cyclone Indlala in Madagascar
Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) provided an update on the affects of Cyclone Indlala, which had struck Madagascar 10 days ago, affecting several regions of that country. At least 80 had been killed, tens of thousands had been left homeless or had been deprived of all their belongings, and very large agricultural areas had been destroyed. Relief operations, which had started on 18 March, continued unabated.
In Region Diana, one of the four severely affected regions in the north, large flash floods and exceptional rains had led to massive destruction in 16 of 23 communes, affecting 143,182 people, or 80 per cent of the population there. Access remained difficult and only possible by small boats or helicopters. The northern regions of Sava, Analajirofo and Sofia were also hard hit. Ms. Byrs stressed that there was an urgent need for helicopters, food, drugs, mosquito nets and tents, among other things. On 15 March, the UN and its humanitarian partners had requested $9.6 million to assist the Government in providing aid to people affected by floods and cyclones for a period of six months. So far, that appeal was only 42 per cent funded.
Other
Ms. Berthiaume of WFP announced that, owing to a critical shortage of funds, WFP was preparing to stop vital food aid rations to 53,000 people in Djibouti, where malnutrition rates among children under five were well over the international emergency threshold. Overall, WFP needed $6 million for operations until December 2007, and $1 million immediately to avoid stopping distributions in May, just before the start of the dry season when many families faced the most severe food shortages, among them Somali refugees. WFP would be forced to stop distributing food aid to more than 47,000 pastoralist drought victims in April and from May would no longer be able to feed some 6,000 refugees who relied entirely on food aid.
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) recalled that tomorrow, as previously announced, WHO and UNAIDS were holding a press conference to announce expert recommendations on male circumcision in the context of HIV prevention, at 11 a.m. (in Room V). A press conference on the subject would be held simultaneously in Paris for those who could not attend the Geneva meeting. Also, a two-day technical meeting on organ transplants would open tomorrow at WHO headquarters. A media advisory would be available tomorrow, and a press conference would be organized for the afternoon of Friday, 30 March.
Ms. Chaib also announced the certification of 12 countries as "Guinea-Worm Free", including Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Afghanistan and Djibouti. Now only two countries in the world suffered from cases of Guinea worm: south Sudan and Ghana. That tropical malady was not deadly, but it did paralyse its victims and it had a long history. A press note on was available at the back of the room.
Ms. Pagonis said that, over the weekend, UNHCR had led a joint UN/non-governmental organization mission to the Birao area, in the remote north-east of the Central African Republic. The area had been the scene of attacks by a militant group, the Union des Forces Démocratiques pour le Rassemblement (UFDR), in early March, as well as last October. After the March attack on Birao town, almost the entire population of 14,000 had fled. More than 700 houses had been burned, destroying vital stocks of food and seeds for the upcoming planting season. The joint mission found that while some of the town's residents were slowly starting to return and have begun to reconstruct their homes, others are too afraid to come back. Some residents had fled to Am Dafok at the border with Sudan and some 2,000 to 3,000 inhabitants of the region had already sought refuge in Sudan's Darfur region, where they are being helped with basic supplies by a joint UNHCR/NGO team. An estimated 212,000 people have been driven from their villages in the Central African Republic and another 70,000 had fled to Cameroon, Chad and now also to Sudan.
UNHCR was conducting a campaign to raise awareness among the authorities of conflict-affected areas and to sensitize members of the security and armed forces on the basic human rights of internally displaced persons. Five workshops have already been organised in the capital, Bangui, and the north-western towns of Bossangoa and Bozoum together with other humanitarian agencies. UNHCR, along with NGOs working in the Central African Republic, was also distributing clothing, mosquito nets and some basic household items to the displaced.
Finally, Ms. Pagonis announced that UNHCR had just opened a new field office in the eastern Cameroon town of Bertoua, some 400 kilometres east of the country's capital, Yaoundé. The need for a new and stronger field presence had been triggered by the arrival of several waves of ethnic Mbororo refugees fleeing from the neighbouring Central African Republic in 2005 and 20006. In total, an estimated 25,000 refugees had arrived in Cameroon and were scattered along the country's border with the Central African Republic.
Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that a group of 34 adolescents who had been promised international football careers in Europe had been assisted by IOM and UNICEF to return to their homes to Abidjan. The boys, whose parents had been tricked into paying up to CFA 300,000 ($600) to a rogue agent who had promised he would place them in European football clubs, had been kept for the past three months against their will in a villa in the Southern Malian town of Sikasso. IOM was now working with the Ivorian Government, UNICEF and local non-governmental organizations to ensure that the boys got the reintegration and psychological support they needed and to increase awareness among the general public of the dangers of entrusting talented young footballers to unscrupulous agents.
In Ethiopia, IOM had provided 2,500 plastic sheets to provide emergency shelter for about 12,000 people displaced by cattle raiders from the Murle tribe in South Sudan in early March. Eight villages in the district of Lare in Ethiopia's Gambella State, which bordered with south-east Sudan, had been affected when raiders attacked in the middle of the night. Seven villagers had been killed and 13 had been injured, including women and children, according to local authorities. The raiders were also said to have taken more than 3,300 cattle in addition to destroying the sorghum and maize crops being cultivated by the villagers. The distribution today was targeted at 13,000 people, and in addition to providing essential household and hygiene items, would comprise sorghum and maize seeds for immediate planting.