REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section, chaired the briefing which provided information about the deaths of Dr. John Garang, First Vice-President of Sudan, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and the humanitarian situation in Niger. Spokespersons for the United Nations Children's Fund, the International Organziation for Migration, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross participated in the briefing. The Spokesperson for the World Food Programme was present but made no announcements.

Statements by the Secretary-General

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier announced that a statement by the Secretary-General on the death of Dr. John Garang, First Vice-President of Sudan, President of Southern Sudan and Chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army, was available. Mr. Annan referred to Dr. Garang as a "symbol of hope for millions of Sudanese who aspired to a better future".

Also available was a statement by the Secretary-General on Lebanon in which he welcomes the establishment of Lebanon's new government headed by Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and the government policy statement outlining an agenda of essential political and economic reforms for Lebanon.

The Chief of the Press and External Relations Section drew attention to another statement by the Secretary-General on the passing of King Fahd Bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia. The Secretary-General paid tribute to King Fahd for his role in international and regional diplomacy. "King Fahd will be remembered not only with deep affection and loyalty among the people of the Kingdom, but with profound respect in the Islamic, Arab and world communities", he adds.

Another statement of the Secretary-General was made available on the action plan presented by the Secretary-General relating to the establishment of a monitoring and reporting mechanism on children and armed conflict, as noted in Security Council resolution 1612 of 26 July 2005. In his statement, the Secretary-General thanked his Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, whose appointment expired on 31 July, for raising the profile of United Nations efforts to protect children in armed conflict. The Secretary-General requested that Karin Sham Poo of Norway, who had, until recently, served as the Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, to be officer-in-charge of the programme.

Director-General

The Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, is today receiving the credentials of the new Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Juan Carlos Faidutti Estrada, and of the new Permanent Representative of Bulgaria to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Petko Draganov.

Activities in Geneva

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier informed correspondents that in connection with the fifty-seventh session of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, which was continuing this week at the Palais in Room XVII, the Chairman of the Sub-Commission, Vladimir Kartashkin, will hold a press conference in Room III tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. to discuss the future role of the Sub-Commission and the mid-point review of the current session.

The eleventh session of the Group of Governmental Experts of the States parties to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW) began its work today in Room XIX. The session will end on 12 August.

The sixty-seventh session of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimation began its work today at the Palais in Room XI. During the session it will review country reports received from Venezuela, Georgia, Zambia, Barbados, Tanzania, Iceland, Turkmenistan and Nigeria. At this session, the 18 Experts of the Committee will also look at the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination in Malawi, Seychelles, Saint Lucia and Mozambique under its review procedure.

Niger

Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children's Fund drew attention to a press release announcing a second round of capacity-building training for national health workers in Niger in the management of severe and moderate under-nutrition being conducted by UNICEF Niger and the Ministry of Public Health of Niger. Some 3.6 million people in Niger have been made vulnerable by the current food crisis, including 800,000 children under five years of age. Of these children, 160,000 are moderately under-nourished and 32,000 are severely under-nourished. UNICEF Niger has issued an additional emergency appeal for $US 14.6 million to care for these under-nourished children.

Other

Mr. Personnaz drew attention to a press release issued by UNICEF on the death of Dr. Garang in which it urged implementation of the peace agreement in the Sudan for all of Sudan's children.

Jennifer Pagonis of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said a fourteen-strong UNHCR team had arrived in Romania over the last few days to help colleagues on the ground and the national authorities with resettlement procedures for 439 Uzbek refugees who arrived last Friday from Kyrgyzstan. The refugees, including 74 women and 23 children, are staying at a reception centre in Timisoara. Fifteen Uzbek refugees and asylum seekers, who were jailed in the western Kyrgyz city of Osh following an extradition request from Uzbekistan, remain in detention. UNHCR was negotiating with the Kyrgyz authorities for their release and remained extremely concerned about their fate.

Ms. Pagonis indicated that the number of Togolese fleeing post-election instability to take refuge in neighbouring countries had now passed 40,000, with over 24,500 arrivals registered in Benin and 15,500 in Ghana. The UNHCR team in Benin reported that the rate of new arrivals had been steadily decreasing over the past few weeks, with only about 200 people a week now being registered. UNHCR needs $US 4.7 million to cater to the needs of all the Togolese refugees in Ghana and Benin, as well as to provide limited assistance to internally displaced Togolese. So far, it has received $US 1.75 million for Benin only, and have made an allocation of $US 1.5 million from its Operational Reserve to cover the immediate regional needs.

Jean Philippe Chauzy of the International Organziation for Migration announced that the IOM Elections Team in Brussels and the Belgian and German Armed Forces on Monday deployed a group of 58 European Union Long-term Elections Observers to Kabul, to provide support in the upcoming Parliamentary and Provincial elections in Afghanistan. Next month, IOM will organize the deployment of 20 European Union Short-term Election Observers.

Mr. Chauzy informed correspondents that IOM and the Nicaraguan government have launched the first phase of a records digitalization system for the Nicaraguan Migration and Alien Affairs General Directorate. The initiative will create a digital database for migration officials to manage information and proceedings in a timely, reliable and secure manner. The new system will, at the same time, provide substantial benefits in terms of security levels, opportunity and reliability of existing migration information.

Annick Bouvier of the International Committee of the Red Cross drew attention to a press release on Usman Saidaliev, one of the ICRC's employees in Chechnya, who disappeared two years ago. Mr. Saidaliev was abducted from his home in the village of Novy-Engenoy by unidentified armed and masked men during the night of 2 August 2003. Since then neither Usman's family nor the ICRC have had any news about his whereabouts.

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier made an announcement on behalf of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) indicating that, along with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the UNECE just released the UNECE/FAO Forest Products Annual Market Review, 2004-2005. The report covers forest products market and policy developments in the UNECE region of Europe, North America and the CIS countries.

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