REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Marie Heuzé, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from representatives and spokespersons of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Health Organization, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the International Organization for Migration.
Secretary-General/Sudan
Ms. Heuzé said available in the press room was a transcript of the press encounter with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday in New York, in which he talked about his weeklong trip to Sudan, Chad and Libya and the discussions he had had with the authorities of those three countries. Among highlights from that trip was the announcement of the start of renewed peace talks on Darfur on 27 October in Libya.
Anna Schaaf of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that ICRC was sending out an update today on ICRC activities in Darfur and South Sudan. ICRC remained concerned about the poor security conditions that affected the civilian population in many parts of Darfur. Owing to the unstable and tense environment and the poor road conditions during the current rainy season, access to remote rural zones remained irregular and difficult. Nonetheless, the ICRC had still managed to access most of the rural areas to bring assistance to most of the people who had stayed in their villages.
There had been a new wave of population displacements in Darfur, Ms. Schaaf said. ICRC had determined that thousands of people, many of whom had already been displaced several times since the conflict began in 2003, had moved to Dom Jong, Fujo, Fatma Karal and other remote areas of Western Jebel Marra between June and August. To assist the displaced, ICRC had distributed essential household items to approximately 9,000 people in West Darfur; an ICRC health team had supplied health clinics with additional furniture and extra drugs such as antimalarials, antibiotics, painkillers and others; and ICRC had been conducting animal vaccination campaigns in Northern Darfur. In addition, in August a field surgical team – a surgeon and two nurses – had been deployed to South and North Darfur to treat fighters wounded in clashes, and had performed over 70 operations last month alone.
Geneva Activities
Ms. Heuzé said that, as everyone knew, yesterday the Human Rights Council had begun the first part of its sixth session, which was being held in room XVII of the Palais des Nations until 28 September. Until Thursday morning, the Council was holding open informal meetings, essentially discussing organizational and procedural questions with a view to implementing the institutional mechanisms adopted at its last session in June. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour would present her report to the Council on the morning of Thursday, 13 September. A press conference with the President of the Council and a background briefing with the Ambassador of Morocco, who was one of the chairpersons of the working groups charged with implementing the new institutional machinery, would be announced later in the week.
This was the final week of the Conference on Disarmament's 2007 session, Ms. Heuzé noted. Today, the Conference was meeting in private to finalize its report to the General Assembly, which it would adopt at its next plenary session. It had not yet been announced when the next plenary would be held, but it was expected to be at the usual time, at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 13 September.
On Friday, 14 September, Hans Blix, Chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, would be in Geneva to receive the award of merit (Knight of the Great Cross) from Italy. Ambassador Carlo Trezza of Italy would present the award. Those who wished to attend the ceremony should contact her office, Ms. Heuzé said.
Colombia
Barbara Hintermann, head of the ICRC delegation in Colombia, said that over the past years ICRC had observed an intensification of military operations in the longstanding – and often forgotten – conflict in Colombia. That intensification had had an impact on the situation of the civilian population. Despite peace initiatives, the demobilization of the paramilitary United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, and peace negotiations begun in 2005 between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Government, the situation of the population had not greatly improved, in particular in rural areas. ICRC's priority humanitarian concern at the moment was the situation of the internally displaced, whose numbers were growing each year. In 2005, there had been 45,000 more displaced persons; in 2006, 67,000; and in 2007, if the rate continued at the pace it was going now, there would be 72,000 additional displaced persons by the end of the year. ICRC was providing emergency assistance to the newly displaced for three months, including food and non-food items.
ICRC was also concerned by the existence of anti-personnel mines in Colombia. ICRC had noted an increase in mine victims in recent years. While the majority of those victims were involved in the fighting, some 35 per cent were civilians, Ms. Hintermann said. ICRC, in conjunction with the Colombian Red Cross, was conducting mine risk education/mine risk reduction campaigns.
Finally, Ms. Hintermann noted the preoccupying number of disappeared persons in Colombia: 4,000 people were unaccounted for according to ICRC, but it was thought that the actual number was far greater. ICRC was supporting the National Commission for Missing Persons, as well as associations of the families of missing persons, to improve coordination of activities regarding those who had disappeared and to assist their families. Most recently, ICRC had recovered 11 bodies of former Deputies from Cali and had turned over the bodies to their families this Sunday in the presence of the International Forensics Commission. The Commission was in charge of identification of the remains and investigating what had happened to the Deputies.
Asked who was laying new mines, Ms. Hintermann noted that all of the established rebel groups used mines, as well as newly emerging groups. As far as ICRC knew, the Government was adhering to an agreement it had signed to no longer use mines. ICRC had never had access to the hostages being held by guerrillas. That was a major issue that ICRC had been trying to negotiate for a long time.
Climate Change
Ms. Heuzé said that the World Tourism Organization would hold the Second International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism in Davos, Switzerland, from 1 to 3 October 2007. The Conference had been organized together with United Nations Environment Programme and was supported by the World Economic Forum (WEF), and would consider, among others, the concept of sustainable tourism. The programme of work for the Conference was available in the press room.
Continuing on the issue of climate change, a priority issue for the UN, Ms. Heuzé reminded journalists that on 24 September in New York the General Assembly was holding a high-level meeting on the topic which would be attended by heads of State and Government. A few days later, President Bush would be hosting a meeting of 16 States that were among the biggest global polluters, to continue the discussion on climate change and follow up to the Kyoto Protocol. And last week in New York UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Kiyotaka Akasaka had chaired a non-governmental organization conference on the topic, during which 2,500 representatives from 500 non-governmental organizations had adopted a NGO framework for action on climate change threats.
Situation in Iraq/Cholera
Fadéla Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that cholera had been confirmed in three Northern Governorates in Iraq: Kirkuk, Sulaymaniyah and Erbil. Between 23 August and 6 September 2007, 3,182 cases of cholera, confirmed by laboratory tests, had been reported in Sulaymaniyah, including 9 deaths. During the period from 29 July to 2 September, the health authority of Kirkuk Governorate reported a total of 3,728 cases, with one death. More recently, laboratory-confirmed cases had been reported from Erbil Governorate. In total, there were some 7,000 reported cases of cholera, including 10 dead, in the Northern Governorates.
The Government of Iraq had mobilized a multi-sectoral response to the outbreak, Ms. Chaib said. A high-level National Committee on Cholera Preparedness and Outbreak Response had been established. The provincial health authorities of Sulaymaniyah, Kirkuk and Erbil Governorates had also initiated a number of public health control measures to contain the outbreak, including risk assessment, improving water safety and sanitation, and mobilizing medical and other essential supplies. In addition, water supplies were being chlorinated and samples from the public water supply sources were being collected and routinely tested.
WHO had also sent two trucks with tons of medical supplies to the area, in particular antibiotics, rehydration salts and water chlorination kits, Ms. Chaib concluded.
Responding to questions, Ms. Chaib said that the cause of the outbreak had not been definitively determined as yet. Preliminary investigations, however, had suggested that polluted water in Sulaymaniyah, which people had been forced to rely on owing to a shortage of clean drinking water, might have been the source there. In Kirkuk, cracked water pipes allowed contamination by sewage, and it was thought that nearby Erbil had been tainted by the same source. WHO had hopes that, owing to the strong team surrounding the three provincial governments, and the massive communications campaign led by WHO, the cholera outbreaks could be contained.
Iraq/Syria
Ron Redmond of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that, for the first time in months, if not years, UNHCR field workers visiting the Syrian-Iraq border yesterday had found the crossing point virtually empty. Starting yesterday Iraqis wishing to enter were now required to apply for a visa at the Syrian Embassy in Baghdad. The regulations effectively meant that there was no longer a safe place outside for Iraqis fleeing persecution and violence. An estimated 2,000 Iraqis fled their homes daily inside the country, and UNHCR was increasingly concerned about their fate as their options for safety were reduced.
UNHCR had received assurances from various government authorities that Syria would not forcibly return Iraqi refugees currently residing in the country. Syria had already accepted some 1.4 million Iraqis with only limited international support. However, Mr. Redmond drew attention to the fact that the Syrian Embassy in Baghdad was located in the district of Al Mansour, an area which continued to see frequent sectarian violence. Iraqis had told UNHCR that their lives would be at risk if they were obliged to visit this district to obtain a visa.
Responding to a question, Mr. Redmond noted that, as Jordan had long restricted the flow across its borders, Syria had been the sole country on that side of Iraq that had accepted Iraqis.
Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda
Ms. Chaib recalled that WHO had posted an alert about an outbreak of an unknown disease with a high mortality rate in the province of Kasai Occidental in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 31 August. While the exact number of deaths had not been reported, over 50 per cent of cases have been in children under 10 years of age. Now, five cases had been confirmed as Ebola virus. However, WHO was still not excluding the possibility that the other deaths had been owing to another virus, Shigella, which was much less dangerous than Ebola. WHO was continuing its investigations into the nature of the disease outbreak and was beefing up its presence in the region. WHO had a team of five in Kinshasa and in Kasai Occidental, led by a Chief Epidemiologist, and was mobilizing other WHO experts in Geneva and Africa, as well as launching an alert to its partners by means of the Global Alert and Response Network, comprising some 100 institutions.
WHO priorities included identifying Ebola cases, isolating them, transporting victims to proper medical facilities, and ensuring safe burials for Ebola victims Ms. Chaib said. WHO had also sent protective clothing for those working with Ebola cases. For background, she recalled that there had been a total of 1,800 cases of Ebola in Africa since it was first identified in 1976, of whom 1,200 had died.
Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that UNICEF remained very concerned about the situation in North Kivu. Despite an apparent lessening in the intensity of the clashes there, thousands of people, women, children and entire families, continued to flood into Muganga, 15 kilometres northwest of the provincial capital of Goma. Some had found refugee in local schools, but the schools were now overflowing and insufficient to handle the new wave of displaced. A new camp had been set up in Bulengo, also 15 kilometres outside Goma. UNICEF and its partners had already distributed 2,400 jerry cans, and that distribution was continuing. A water treatment station had been set up that would provide for 1,500 families, and toilets had been installed. UNICEF reported 1,390 cases of children suffering from moderate to severe malnutrition, and was distributing high nutrition biscuits. Six additional schoolrooms had been set up and provided with back to school kits. UNICEF had also launched a measles and tetanus vaccination campaign yesterday in conjunction with the local authorities, targeting 22,000 children and 2,000 pregnant women. A press release would be available this afternoon.
Mr. Redmond of UNHCR said that there were still some 25,000 to 30,000 Congolese refugees at Bunagana on the Ugandan side of the border with the troubled North Kivu province in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Most had fled last week's escalation in fighting between the Congolese army, renegade troops and rebels. Ugandan authorities, fearing an outbreak of cholera because of congestion and a lack of adequate sanitation, water and health facilities, on Monday had asked them to either move to the UNHCR-supported Nyakabanda reception centre some 20 kilometres inside Uganda or to return to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There were now some 1,500 refugees at the Nyakabanda reception centre where UNHCR teams, together with Médecins sans frontiers (MSF), had set up shelter facilities. Over the weekend, UNHCR had distributed aid items in the camp, and the World Food Programme had distributed food to 1,000 people. A Ugandan health team in cooperation with MSF France had provided medical screening at the reception centre.
Also in Uganda, the first 2 out of 40 camps for IDPs were to be closed today in the northern Lango region, as most of the IDPs there had gone home. That was the result of the improved security situation, ongoing peace talks between the Ugandan Government and the Lord's Resistance Army and generally improved freedom of movement, Mr. Redmond said. Estimates were that some 92 percent of some 466,000 IDPs in the Lango Region at the height of the displacement in 2005 had now returned.
Other
Mr. Redmond said that UNHCR welcomed a decision by the Chilean Government to receive 100 Palestinian refugees who had been living in Iraq, and who had been forced to live in destitute conditions on Iraq's borders over the past few years. With this generous offer, Chile joined Brazil, which in July had accepted the resettlement of 117 Palestinian refugees. The resettlement to Brazil was about to start.
Noting that the season for migrants seeking to cross the Gulf of Aden from Africa to Yemen had begun, Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that among IOM projects carried out both in Yemen and along the migration routes in Africa were plans for a database that would register migrants and asylum-seekers from the Horn of Africa who have arrived in Yemen. The database would enable IOM and its partners to better coordinate assistance and put in place prevention strategies in countries of origin and along well-established migration routes. According to UNHCR, some 26,000 migrants and asylum seekers had entered Yemen by sea in 2006. This year alone, 385 people had lost their lives at sea and 118 are still missing.
Ron Redmond of UNHCR added that, according to UNHCR staff in Yemen, over the past eight days, four boats had landed on the Yemeni coast with 324 people – Somalis and Ethiopians. Twelve had died on the high seas under horrific circumstances. At least five of them had been beaten and stabbed by smugglers and thrown overboard, while another six had died of asphyxiation and dehydration in the hold of a boat. One person had drowned after disembarking in deep waters.
Mr. Chauzy of IOM said that today in Lebanon a new psychosocial centre had opened in the eastern town of Baalbek to provide psychosocial support to war-affected communities from the Bekaa valley. The centre, which was funded by the Government of Belgium, was being run in cooperation with the Lebanese Ministry of Social Affairs and UNICEF. It aimed to provide members of the community with a wide range of social activities and qualified counselling on an individual basis. Special attention would be paid to the needs of children, women and the elderly, who had particularly suffered from last year's conflict.