REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which provided information about new statements by the Secretary-General on Israel's disengagement from Gaza and the northern West Bank and the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement; as well as Geneva meetings. Spokespersons for the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the World Food Programme and the International Organization for Migration participated in the briefing. Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs were present but had no announcements.

New Statements by the Secretary-General

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Secretary-General was following attentively the process of Israeli disengagement from Gaza and the northern West Bank, which began yesterday and was expected to last into the month of October. He was hopeful that it would be executed in a peaceful and smooth manner, building on the coordination efforts of James Wolfensohn, the Quartet Special Envoy for Disengagement. The Secretary-General believed this was a moment of promise and hope. Success would demand statesmanship of the highest order, on a sustained basis, on the part of all concerned. Copies of the statement were available in the press room.

The Secretary-General welcomed the signing yesterday in Helsinki of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement. He applauded both parties for reaching a peaceful settlement of the dispute through dialogue. He commended Mr. Martti Ahtisaari for the mediation role that he played throughout the negotiation process. The Secretary-General was pleased to learn that the Memorandum of Understanding was a comprehensive agreement, covering a wide array of issues ranging from the governing of Aceh and security arrangements to human rights issues. He sincerely hoped that the Memorandum would be implemented in full, so that a lasting peace could prevail in Aceh after nearly thirty years of conflict there. He was encouraged to learn that monitors from the European Union and a number of ASEAN countries were being deployed as of yesterday to Aceh as a part of the Aceh Monitoring Mission. Copies of the statement were available in the press room.

Geneva Activities

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was continuing its work at the Palais des Nations. This morning, the Committee would conclude its consideration of the fourteenth to eighteenth periodic reports of Nigeria. This was the last of the country reports that it would review this session. On Friday, 19 August, the last day of the three-week session, the Chairperson and other members of the Committee would brief journalists in Room III about the session and would release the concluding observations on the country reports considered.

The third and last part of the 2005 session of the Conference on Disarmament started on 8 August. The next plenary would be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 18 August. There were no speakers on the list so far.

Other

Brigitte Leoni of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction said
there had been an earthquake in Japan which had registered 7.2 on the Richter scale, which meant it was quite a serious earthquake. There was a delegation of Japanese experts attending meetings in Geneva for two days on Japanese efforts for the prevention of natural disasters and they were willing to speak to any interested journalists. She would be happy to arrange the interviews.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said concerning Mali, WFP was asking for more money for Mali in order to help 175,000 children threatened by malnutrition. These children lived in the areas most affected, especially in Gao, Timbuctu, Kidal in the north, as well as Kayes and Koulikoro near the border with Mauritania. Today, WFP had launched a new appeal for $ 13.6 million. The previous appeal had been for $ 7.4 million to help 450,000 persons. So now, with the addition of these 175,000 children under five, WFP would be helping 625,000 persons in Mali until the end of the year. Mali was one of the least developed countries in the world. Last March, the Government of Mali had estimated that 1.2 million persons were threatened by food shortages in the country and had started to distribute 30,000 tons of food. Funds for Mali had to start coming in now if the world hoped to avoid another crisis similar to Niger. Some $ 2.7 million had already been donated to the Mali appeal, so WFP was still missing $ 10.9 million.

On Gaza, Ms. Berthiaume said that with the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in mind, WFP had pre-positioned 5,800 tons of food in 21 warehouses in Gaza in case of need. This was enough to help the 156,000 Palestinians who already received food aid from WPF. WFP had also distributed the equivalent of two months of rations to the people living in the area. Next month, WFP would be launching a new appeal for the Palestinian refugees for $ 80 million to buy 150,000 tons of food to last from September 2005 to September 2006. So far, the European Union had donated $ 10 million and the United States had donated $ 1 million.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said in Zimbabwe, IOM would establish in early September a reception and support centre providing humanitarian assistance for Zimbabwean migrants deported from South Africa. Between 1,000 and 2,000 Zimbabweans are deported from South Africa to Zimbabwe on a weekly basis. In 2003, the South African authorities deported nearly 56,000 Zimbabweans without official documents. Figures for this year were likely to be higher with 24,000 Zimbabwean irregular migrants deported from January to March alone. The reception would help the deported migrants with transportation, food rations, basic health care, information on HIV/AIDS and irregular migration issues, including human trafficking and smuggling.

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