UN – HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY MARIE OKABE
DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

 U.N. HUMANITARIAN OFFICIAL IS EXPELLED FROM SOUTH DARFUR

• Asked about reports that the head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan has been asked to leave, the Spokeswoman said that, according to preliminary reports from OCHA, its Head of Office Wael Al-Haj-Ibrahim has not been rendered persona non grata by Sudan, but rather has been forced to leave South Darfur.
   
  
• This is a directive from the State Governor, and is being taken up by the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator with central authorities in Khartoum, she said.
   
  
• Okabe said that the United Nations is extremely concerned about the potential ramifications of this decision. OCHA plays a pivotal role in South Darfur, working with the Government of Sudan, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations and the donor community to coordinate assistance to up to one million vulnerable internally displaced persons. 
   
  
• This is particularly of concern, she said, as it violates the letter and spirit of the Joint Communiqué on the Facilitation of Humanitarian Assistance in Darfur and the Joint Communiqué signed between the Secretary-General and the President of Sudan on the occasion of the Secretary-General’s visit to Sudan
  

  MILITARY BUILDUP CONTINUES ON ETHIOPIA/ERITREA BORDER

• In the Secretary-General’s latest report on Ethiopia and Eritrea, he says that the situation in the Temporary Security Zone and the border region between the two countries remains tense.
   
  
• Eritrea, he says, has moved more in than 2,500 troops and heavy military equipment into the Zone, while both countries have conducted military exercises along the border. Eritrean restrictions on UN peacekeepers and helicopter flights continue, and the UN Mission has been unable to convey a meeting of the Military Coordination Commission since July 2006.
   
  
• The Secretary-General also reports that even as Ethiopia says that it has accepted the 2002 border delimitation decision of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission without preconditions, the country continues to assert that the security conditions for demarcation of the border do not exist.
   
  
• He calls on Eritrea to withdraw its forces and military equipment from the Security Zone and to lift restrictions on UN peacekeepers. He urges both countries to extend full cooperation to the Commission so as to allow it to proceed with the demarcation of the border. He also urges them to reactivate the Military Coordination Commission, which provides a unique framework for dialogue.
  

 U.N. ENVOY REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO HELP RESOLVE CRISIS
 IN EASTERN DR CONGO

• The Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) has an update on the special mission that the Secretary-General has assigned to Haile Menkerios, the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs. The special mission aims to help resolve the crisis in the eastern part of that country, along with its underlying causes.
   
  
• Last weekend, Menkerios was in Goma, in the North Kivu province, to exchange views with Congolese civilian and military officials. He also met with civil society leaders and representatives of ethnic communities affected by the recurring violence there, which has displaced some 800,000 people to date. 
   
  
• Speaking to reporters upon arrival in Goma, Menkerios described his mandate and reaffirmed the United Nations’ commitment to assist the DRC government in finding lasting solutions to the security and humanitarian crisis in the region. Menkerios on Monday left Goma for Kigali, where he is now consulting with the Rwandan leadership.
  

 MAJORITY OF WOMEN IN NORTHERN LIBERIA WERE VICTIMS
 OF WARTIME SEXUAL VIOLENCE

• According to a new survey released today by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than half the women in Lofa County, northern Liberia, were victims of sexual violence during the most recent conflict.
   
  
• Ninety percent of them reported at least one incident of physical violence and more than 98 per cent lost shelter.
   
  
• The Lofa survey, which was conducted in October 2007, is the first scientific survey on the experiences of women during the conflict.
  

U.N. AGENCIES ASSIST ABDUCTED CHILDREN IN EASTERN CHAD

• Asked about reports that some UN agencies may have supported the non-governmental organization Zoe’s Ark in its work in Chad, the Spokeswoman said that UN agencies have been at the forefront responding to the urgent needs of the 103 young children caught up in an abduction scandal in the eastern Chad town of Abéché, and have been tried to bring the children back to their own communities as soon as possible.
   
  
• She later told the reporter that UN refugee agency staff on the ground had acted in good faith when they were asked soon after the NGO’s arrival six or eight weeks ago for a few tents and a generator to help needy children. “Everyone was fooled by them,” according to the UNHCR spokesman.