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BY FRED ECKHARD
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

ANNAN CALLS ON ISRAELIS, PALESTINIANS TO STOP VIOLENCE

• Secretary-General Kofi Annan is deeply disturbed by the alarming violence in Gaza City which started today. Among the dead are several Palestinians, including civilians and children, and at least six Israeli soldiers.
  
• The Secretary-General is particularly concerned by the heavy fighting in densely populated neighborhoods, which is exposing more Palestinian civilians to death and injury.
  
• He urges both sides to desist from further violence and instead to heed the calls of the Quartet and the international community to resume negotiations to end the conflict.

• Lakhdar Brahimi , the Secretary-General's Special Adviser, met Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, in Baghdad this morning, as well as his principal aide, Adel Abdel Mahdi.
  
• They discussed Brahimi's report to the Security Council and his proposals for the formation of a new government, and Ayatollah Hakim expressed his appreciation for Brahimi's efforts. He said he had passed the report on to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who was pleased with it and found it to be balanced and positive.
  
• They spoke about various aspects of the transition, including the importance of the new government having the time to work out its relationship with the occupying power, the armed forces on the ground and the United Nations. They also discussed ideas for the convening of a national conference.
  
• Brahimi later met with a group of 15 newspaper editors representing the main Iraqi dailies. He then had a town hall meeting with over fifty Iraqi men and women, representing a wide spectrum of society, from business leaders and academics to religious leaders.
  
• Asked about whether Iraq is showing signs of political progress, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General would want Brahimi to report back to him at the end of his visit to Iraq before he makes a judgment. The initial signs, he added, are that Brahimi's meetings are going well, with Iraqis coming to grips with the challenges facing them as they prepare to form a transitional government.
  
• Asked whether Brahimi wanted that government to be comprised of technocrats, the Spokesman clarified that Brahimi believed that the people who run the government in the transitional period should not also run for office in the January elections. He added that Brahimi hopes the transitional government's members will be competent and of great integrity.
  
• However, the Spokesman said, Brahimi has said he has not put forward any names, which should come from Iraqis. Instead, he has put forward a formula, which is gaining support among Iraqis.
  
• Asked when Brahimi would leave Iraq, the Spokesman said his departure would not be announced in advance, but Brahimi is expected to have an extended stay, and will not be leaving in the next few days.

• UNICEF , the UN Children's Fund, is profoundly disturbed by news reports alleging that children might have been among those abused in detention centers and prisons in Iraq .
  
• Although the news reports had not been independently substantiated, they are alarming nonetheless, UNICEF says. Any mistreatment, sexual abuse, exploitation or torture of children in detention is a violation of international law.
  
• UNICEF reiterates that the detention or imprisonment of a child must be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time. For their safety and protection, children should never be incarcerated with adults.

• The wave of violence that Kosovo experienced in mid-March was the most serious setback to the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo's (UNMIK) work in that country in five years, and shook the Mission to its foundations, the head of the Mission, Harri Holkeri, told the Security Council.
  
• Briefing the Council in an open meeting today, Holkeri said the Mission is doing all it can to bring to justice all those who provoked or engaged in the violence, with some two hundred and seventy arrests made so far.
  
• The violence has also forced the Mission to take a hard look at itself, and Holkeri said it is working to review how it operates in response to crises.
  
• He added that some 4,100 people were displaced in just two days, and that the current security environment in Kosovo is not conducive to the return of members of minority communities to their homes.

• The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reports that a vehicle carrying four Afghan electoral workers was hit by an explosive device as they were driving towards Assadabad, in the province of Kunar. This is the second such incident in recent days.
  
• The four Afghans all suffered injuries, with the most serious received by the driver and a civic education officer, who both sustained head injuries and lower back trauma. Those two people were admitted to the Jalalabad Hospital, where they have been treated and are reported to be out of danger.
  
• The Electoral Secretariat vehicle was completely wrecked.

• In Geneva, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the report of the independent commission of inquiry on Côte d'Ivoire would be issued on Friday, 14 May.
  
• On that day, the acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bertrand Ramcharan, would brief the Security Council on the human rights situation in Côte d'Ivoire.
  
• Council members are expected to receive the report prior to those consultations.

• The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that although the UNHCR team in Chad was continuing to move tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees from the dangerous border area with Sudan's Darfur region to safer camps further inland, it was extremely concerned about the ongoing challenges that the agency and its partners were facing in what was one of the most difficult humanitarian operations anywhere.
  
• Those included a vast insecure and remote area of operations, stretching along some 600 kilometres of borderland, severe logistical challenges, water shortages, a looming shortage of fuel and firewood, and slow funding.

• UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy warned today that Ukraine is on the threshold of a full-scale epidemic, with an estimated quarter of a million people living with HIV/AIDS.
  
• In addition, a large proportion of Ukraine's population faces a range of iodine deficiency disorders, UNICEF says.

• The international community has a unique opportunity to change the course of history in relation to . That's one of the key findings of the – which is being released today by the .
  
• The report notes that we're at a critical point with HIV/AIDS: while there's more money, more political will and more attention being paid to this disease than ever before; more people than ever are dying of AIDS and becoming infected with HIV.
  
• Almost 6 million people in developing countries will die in the near future if they don't receive treatment – but less than half a million of them were receiving it last year.
  
• The World Health Report calls for a comprehensive strategy that links prevention, treatment, care and long-term support.

• The warns that urgent action is needed to protect one of the world's most ancient life forms and the species that depend on it. A new study estimates that as many as half of the world's 1,200 woody bamboo species may be in danger of extinction as a result of massive forest destruction.
  
• Consequently, many extraordinary and vulnerable species such as lemurs, giant pandas and mountain gorillas that depend almost entirely on bamboo for food and shelter face an even-greater struggle for survival.
  
• Millions of people use wild bamboo for construction, handicrafts and food. And international trade in bamboo products, mostly from cultivated sources, is worth more than $2 billion annually.

: In response to a question, the Spokesman noted that the Secretary-General sent the Security Council a letter on Monday night, asking the Council for a few more days to name the head of the secretariat of the Counter-Terrorism Committee.

ANNAN TO MAKE HIGH-LEVEL CONTACTS WITH LIBYA OVER BULGARIAN MEDICS: The Secretary-General was asked by Associated Press this morning about the question of Bulgarian nurses who have been sentenced to death in Libya, and he said that he intends to be in touch at a high level on this issue with the Libyan authorities, to see what can be done to help the nurses.

CRIME CONFERENCE BEGINS IN VIENNA: The 13th session of the UN Commission of Crime and Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna today. The focus of the conference will be the rule of law and development. Today's events included a meeting between Croatian Minister of Justice Vesna Škare-Ožbolt and Antonio Maria Costa , Executive Director of the (UNODC), during which they possible co-operation between Croatia and UNODC in efforts against organized crime, with a focus on trafficking in drugs and human beings.

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