REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Office at Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also addressed by spokespersons and representatives from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe made statements. A spokesperson for the International Labour Organization also made a short announcement.

Secretary-General's Activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would travel to Washington, D.C., on Thursday for a two-day visit. Mr. Ban was scheduled to meet President Bush at the White House on Friday, February 15, to discuss issues of common interest to the United Nations and the United States, including climate change, the Millennium Development Goals, human rights, counter-terrorism, and international peace and security. The Secretary-General was also scheduled to meet Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday evening.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said she had made available in the Press Room the Secretary-General's statements on the situation in Timor-Leste, and Myanmar, as well as the text of his address yesterday to the General Assembly on the issue of climate change.

Geneva Activities

Turning to meetings in Geneva, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that this morning the Conference on Disarmament was holding a plenary meeting, at which Sergey Lavrov, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Russia, would make an address. The Conference on Disarmament was scheduled to hear from at least two more such high-level personalities during this first part of its 2008 session – the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan and Romania, who would speak before the Conference at the Conference plenary on Monday, 4 March.

At 10.50 a.m., Foreign Minister Lavrov would present the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, with a sculpture "Preserving Peace for Future Generations", in a ceremony in the Hall outside the Council Chamber. A Press Conference with Mr. Lavrov would then be held in Room III at 11 a.m.

Situation in Chad and Border Areas

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that, at the moment, the situation in the Chadian capital, N'Djamena was calm. Commercial activities were being to pick up again slowly. Humanitarian personnel evacuated from N'Djamena were also beginning to return, and would begin to assess the situation. In the east, the situation remained tense, but calm, in particular in the 12 refugee camps and in the 29 camps for internally displaced persons in that region. Access was good to eastern Chad, but humanitarian personnel there were still on high alert. United Nations operations were continuing to distribute aid to 500,000 people in eastern Chad. A briefing note was available at the back of the room.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that, Saturday, WFP had distributed food assistance to the 37,000 Chadian refugees who had fled from the violence in N'Djamena to Cameroon. The distributions had been carried out in the areas where the refugees – the majority of them women and children – had been sheltering for several nights already, including in mosques, churches, schools or simply out in the open. The Cameroonian Red Cross and the United Nations Refugee Agency had participated. More than 120 tons of food had been delivered, and yesterday the WFP had flown in 37 tons of high-energy biscuits, as well as medical supplies donated by WHO, to WFP's humanitarian supply warehouse in Accra, Ghana. A second supply flight was expected today.

In Chad, Ms. Berthiaume said WFP expected to be able to complete its regular distribution of food supplies for February to the 235,000 Sudanese refugees from Darfur by the end of this week.

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that, in eastern Chad some 10,000 to 12,000 refugees from West Darfur had fled across the border since Friday. The refugees had been located during a UNHCR-led emergency humanitarian mission on Sunday, which had travelled through a very insecure region to the border. They had found some 4,000 to 6,000 refugees and were told there were thousands more south of Birak, around Koruk. A mission was planned to Koruk on Wednesday to locate the refugees. There were also reportedly more refugees arriving. The refugees, who had brought virtually nothing with them, having fled by night across the border on foot, were living out in the open and it was bitter cold at night. They were in a poor condition, and many were malnourished. It was hoped that UNHCR could begin moving the refugees to a camp today in the Guereda area. However, the security in the Guereda area was very poor, Ms. Pagonis said, with armed gangs and unknown, armed men roaming around. UNHCR had earlier had to reduce its staff in the area because of the volatile security situation, but would now reinforce numbers to cope with the fresh arrivals from West Darfur. Still the situation was deteriorating in Guereda, and on Sunday night the market and the school were looted, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

In Cameroon, a plane chartered by UNHCR had landed in the northern town of Garoua on Sunday, carrying 45 tons of relief items for thousands of Chadian refugees who had fled from N'Djamena. Today, relief items were scheduled to reach Kousseri in northern Cameroon, where an estimated 30,000 Chadians had found refuge 10 days ago. UNHCR teams in Kousseri said people were still crossing back and forth over the bridge linking Kousseri to N'Djamena, but it was difficult at this point to quantify definitive returns. In southern Chad, some 6,000 to 7,000 refugees from the Central African Republic had crossed the border since late January with more reportedly on their way. UNHCR was sending a team today, to check on new arrivals. The new arrivals brought the number of refugees from the Central African Republic in south Chad to 50,000, Ms. Pagonis said. A briefing note was available.

Emergency Appeal for Iraq

Ms. Byrs of OCHA said that today in Baghdad the international aid community had today appealed for a comprehensive international response to help vulnerable people in Iraq. United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations said $265 million was needed to deliver urgent relief to Iraqis in need of assistance over the next 12 months. An estimated 4 million people in the country were in need of food assistance and only 40 per cent of the population had reliable access to save drinking water. A press release on the meeting in Baghdad, the executive summary of the appeal, and a fact sheet were available in the back of the room.

Ms. Berthiaume said that, under the appeal, WFP planned to assist up to 750,000 displaced persons in Iraq. The Public Distribution System for humanitarian had broken down in Iraq given the high number of displaced, which had meant not everyone had been able to be properly registered. WFP was going to target that population in particular. She also noted that, last Sunday, WFP had completed a distribution of supplies to 360,000 Iraqi refugees in Syria. If that programme was to be continued, WFP needed more financial assistance.

Other

Fadéla Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that yesterday afternoon the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body on a protocol on illicit trade in tobacco products had opened in Geneva, electing Ian Walton-George, Head of the European Commission Customs, Cigarettes and VAT Unit, as Chair, and hearing a number of statements by countries. This morning, regional groups were meeting, and a plenary meeting would be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to take decisions on how to move forward.

Today, UNHCR was launching an appeal, for $63 million to fund its 2008 operations in Southern Sudan, including organizing the voluntary return and reintegration of 80,000 Sudanese refugees now in neighbouring countries, Ms. Pagonis said. Altogether there were about 260,000 Sudanese refugees outside Sudan's borders.

Turning to the activities of UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, Ms. Pagonis noted that he was in Jordan today, for a weeklong mission to the region aimed at highlighting the plight of millions of uprooted Iraqis and the efforts by host countries to help them. The High Commissioner, who arrived in Amman on Monday, was scheduled to meet today with several senior Jordanian officials and would also visit UNHCR's registration centre. He would next travel to Damascus.

Charlotte Griffiths of the United Nations Economic Council for Europe (UNECE) said that, on 31 January 2008, Germany had ratified the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Inland Waterways. That brought the number of contracting parties to seven, and the agreement would enter into force one month from Germany's ratification. The agreement, among others, worked to prevent pollution resulting from accidents during carriage of such goods. A press release was available.