UN Gazeti

Wednesday 07 May 2008

Issue No. 263

UN Observances

UN IN KENYA

WIPO TO HELP MAASAI PEOPLE FROM KENYA PRESERVE THEIR HERITAGE

Two people from the Maasai community of Laikipia in Kenya are to be given training in documenting and archiving their cultural heritage through a new project launched yesterday by the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The two people from the Maasai community will travel with an expert from the National Museums of Kenya to the United States for intensive, hands-on training in documentary techniques and archival skills at the American Folklife Center and the Center for Documentary Studies, which are collaborating on the project with WIPO.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UN IN AFRICA

SG ‘DEEPLY CONCERNED’ AT FIGHTING IN DISPUTED SUDANESE TOWN

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is deeply concerned about renewed fighting between the Sudanese Government and rebel forces in the area around the disputed town of Abyei, which lies in an oil-rich area near the boundary between north and south Sudan.

The clashes, which began on 13 May, have resulted in the destruction of Abyei town and the displacement of between 30,000 and 50,000 people.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

SITUATION IN BURUNDI STILL VERY FRAGILE, SG WARNS

The fresh outbreak of fighting in Burundi could roll back valuable progress made since a peace agreement was reached in 2000, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cautioned in a new report made public yesterday.

“The recent rapid relapse into violent conflict is alarming evidence of the extreme fragility of the situation in Burundi,” Mr. Ban wrote in his report, covering the period from 23 November last year to 7 May, to the Security Council.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

AT LEAST 3 MILLION ETHIOPIANS NOW NEED FOOD AID – UN RELIEF WING

Some 3.2 million people are now in urgent need of food aid in Ethiopia because of the continued drought in the African country, up from 2.2 million just one month ago, according to the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Humanitarian agencies in Ethiopia say they face a shortfall in food aid valued at $147 million.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

OVER 2.6 MILLION SOMALIS COULD GO HUNGRY, FAO WARNS

More than 2.6 million Somalis – comprising 35 per cent of the Horn of Africa nation’s population – need food assistance due because of the deteriorating humanitarian situation triggered by skyrocketing food prices, the weak currency and worsening drought, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) cautioned on Monday.

Violence has also forced nearly 900,000 people from the capital Mogadishu, bringing the total number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Somalia to 1 million.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

GROWING VIOLENCE IN EASTERN CHAD ALARMS UNHCR

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is voicing deep concern about the escalating violence inside eastern Chad, where two gendarmes guarding a refugee camp were shot dead earlier this week and an increasing number of vehicles have been hijacked by bandits.

UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told journalists today in Geneva that the agency is also alarmed that last weekend’s attack by Darfur rebels on the outskirts of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, could further destabilize the already fragile security situation in the region.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

SG WELCOMES ARRIVAL OF REBEL GROUP FOR PEACE TALKS in BURUNDI

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the 16 May arrival in Burundi’s capital of a delegation from the Palipehutu-FNL, the rebel group involved in deadly fighting with Government forces in recent weeks, for a resumption of peace talks.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban strongly urged the delegation from the Palipehutu-FNL “to engage in good faith” in the Joint Verification and Monitoring Mechanism and Political Directorate, the latest phase of the Burundi peace process, which is being held in Bujumbura.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

‘ENCOURAGING’ PROGRESS ON PEACE AND SECURITY IN CENTRAL AFRICA – SG

Improved political dialogue in the Central African Republic (CAR), a peace conference in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as well as the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Chad and CAR are all signs of progress towards peace in the region, the Secretary-General said on 15 May.

In a statement presented today in Luanda, Angola’s capital, by the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Sergio Duarte, Mr. Ban said that “recent efforts to promote peace and security in the region have yielded encouraging results.”

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

 UN AROUND THE WORLD

HEADING FOR MYANMAR, SG PLEDGES TO DO ‘UTMOST’ TO SPEED AID EFFORTS

As he prepared to leave for Myanmar yesterday, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he will do all he can to reinforce the immediate relief effort in the cyclone-devastated country and will also draw attention to the need for long-term reconstruction and development.

“I will do my utmost for the people of Myanmar,” Mr. Ban told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York. “I want to see the conditions under which relief teams are working and I intend to do all I can to reinforce their efforts in coordination with the Myanmar’s authorities and international aid agencies.”

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

KOSOVO JOURNALIST FACING CONTEMPT CHARGES BEFORE UN WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL
A Kosovo Albanian journalist is being brought before the United Nations war crimes tribunal set up to deal with the war crimes committed during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s on charges of contempt of court after he allegedly identified a secret witness in a trial.

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) allege that Baton Haxhiu, the editor of a newspaper last year, obtained information about a witness with a protected identity and then revealed the witness’ identity in an article he published.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UN VOICES CONCERN OVER WORSENING HEALTH CONDITIONS OF PALESTINIAN REFUGEES
Calling for a boost in funding to continue its operations, a United Nations agency expressed its concern over the deteriorating heath conditions of Palestinian refugees, especially in the West Bank and Gaza, in a new report launched yesterday.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said in the report that many Palestinian refugee families must now spend nearly two-thirds of their incomes on food.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

GENERAL ASSEMBLY CHIEF PAYS TRIBUTE TO INTERNATIONAL LAW COMMISSION

General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim paid tribute to the International Law Commission (ILC) on its sixtieth anniversary on Moday, describing it as “a living testament to the importance that the General Assembly attaches to the progressive development of international law and its codification.”

Speaking to the sixtieth anniversary session of the ILC in Geneva, in a video message from New York, Mr. Kerim said the Commission’s meticulous and painstaking work over the past 60 years had served as the basis for the adoption of many multilateral conventions under the auspices of the UN.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UNDP, WFP INCREASE AID RELIEF IN QUAKE-AFFECTED SOUTH-WESTERN CHINA
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Food Programme (WFP) are stepping up their support to authorities in China as they deal with relief efforts in the wake of last Monday’s devastating earthquake in Sichuan province.

UNDP has allocated $100,000 for emergency relief activities, which will be used in part to help coordinate the relief response and make needs assessments, the agency announced on Monday in Beijing. It is also providing tents, quilts, clothing, food, drinking water and medicines to some of the most affected areas.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UNICEF RUSHES EMERGENCY RELIEF TO QUAKE VICTIMS IN CHINA

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is rushing to send emergency relief supplies to the centre of China's Sichuan province, the area most devastated by last Monday's catastrophic earthquake.

The first aid, comprising 1,000 tents, 15,000 blankets and 60,000 school kits, are expected to arrive in quake-affected areas over the next 24 hours, UNICEF reported on Sunday from Beijing, with medicines, water, sanitation materials and health equipment to follow soon after.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

PARTICIPANTS AT UN-BACKED MEETING AGREE TO WORK TOWARDS RULES ON BIOSAFETY

More than 2,000 participants attending a week-long biosafety meeting that wrapped up yesterday have agreed to work towards legally binding rules for liability and redress for potential damage caused by the movements of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reports.

The participants at the fourth meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, held in Bonn, Germany, and said to be the largest ever gathering on the issue, have reached a deal on both a timetable and a framework for negotiating the rules and procedures.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UN CONTRIBUTES $7 MILLION FOR VICTIMS OF DEADLY CHINESE QUAKE – SG

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on Friday that up to $7 million will be released from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support United Nations relief efforts in the aftermath of Monday’s massive earthquake in China that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban said that the grant will be used by UN agencies, funds and programmes to assist with urgent relief efforts.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

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