�山����

Tuesday,
September 2, 2008��

��

BAN KI-MOON
IS SADDENED BY CRASH OF PLANE CARRYING HUMANITARIAN AID IN DR CONGO��

• Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is deeply
  by the news of a plane crash in the area of Bukavu in the
  eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
  ��

• His thoughts are with the families and colleagues
  of those United Nations and NGO aid workers, Congolese officials and
  crew who were on board the aircraft.�� He notes that a team from the UN
  Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) is making every
  effort to reach the site of the accident in order to verify the fate of
  those on board.
  ��

• The Secretary-General expresses his gratitude to
  all the United Nations staff and international aid workers in the
  Democratic Republic of the Congo who continue to work tirelessly under
  difficult conditions to support the Congolese people in their efforts to
  consolidate peace in their country.
  ������

• A team from MONUC has located the wreckage
  belonging to the private aviation company ‘Air Serv International. The
  plane had been chartered by �山����and Agencies and the humanitarian
  community in the country. It disappeared late Monday, and search and
  rescue operations were conducted this morning.
  ��

• �山����peacekeepers were able to locate the plane and
  view the crash site from a helicopter, but, due to the difficult
  terrain, they were unable to land and verify the fate of those onboard.
  ��

• The plane had been en route from Kisangani to
  Bukavu when it apparently crashed into a mountain about 15 kilometers
  northeast of Bukavu Airport while beginning its landing approach in bad
  weather.
  ��

• The Deputy Special Representative of the
  Secretary-General and Humanitarian Coordinator Ross Mountain left
  Kinshasa immediately this morning for Bukavu to coordinate the emergency
  operation with the United Nations and humanitarian community.��
  ��

• An investigation will be undertaken to determine
  the cause of the crash.

��BAN KI-MOON WRAPS UP VISIT TO SPAIN,
HEADS TO NEW YORK��

• The Secretary-General is now on his way to New York
  from Madrid, where he met this morning with Spanish Prime Minister Jose
  Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and the Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel
  Moratinos.
  ��

• During a joint press conference with the Spanish
  Prime Minister, the Secretary-General referred to the situation in
  Georgia and expressed his concern over the complex and unpredictable
  humanitarian situation on the ground. The Secretary-General stated that
  teams from the �山����Refugee Agency continue to closely monitor these
  movements and to provide material support to the displaced.
  ��

• Responding to a question regarding the situation in
  Western Sahara, the Secretary-General noted that he recognized the
  importance of maintaining the momentum of the negotiations as long as
  the parties are committed to the process.��In the meantime, he said, he
  welcomed the parties’ agreement to expand the programme of
  confidence-building measures. It has a direct impact on the quality of
  life of Saharans and it can help build trust, which could help break the
  impasse in other areas.
  ��

• Monday, the Secretary-General made a stop-over in
  Zaragoza, Spain where he visited the international EXPO 2008 under the
  theme “Water and Sustainable Development”. He visited a number of
  pavilions. The Secretary-General
  guests at the pavilion which is a forum devoted to Water,
  where he expressed the UN´s commitment to protecting and properly
  managing the world´s precious water resources.
  ��

• That morning, the Secretary-General had
  . He met with families
  of the victims and some survivors of the event that struck the
  Organization on 19 August 2003.
  ��

• Prior to that, he visited the site where the
  remains of the �山����flag that was retrieved from the December 2007 attack
  on a �山����office in Algiers, and laid a wreath.
  ��

• On Sunday, he
  the opening of the 29th Session of the Intergovernmental
  Panel on Climate Change that marked the 20th anniversary of the Panel.
  The Panel was awarded the Nobel Prize last year.

��BURKINA FASO ASSUMES SEPTEMBER
PRESIDENCY OF SECURITY COUNCIL��

• There are no meetings scheduled in the Security
  Council today, but with the beginning of the new month, there is a new
  presidency.��
  ��

• The permanent representative of Burkina Faso will
  brief�� tomorrow afternoon on the Council’s programme of work for
  the month.

���山����REFUGEE AGENCY REMAINS CONCERNED
ABOUT HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN GEORGIAN TOWN

• The �山����refugee agency
  it
  remains concerned about the humanitarian situation in and around the
  Georgian town of Gori, just south of the boundary with the region of
  South Ossetia.
  ��

• The current shelter capacity in Gori is exhausted,
  with some 4,200 people registered as internally displaced persons
  (IDPs). All came from villages in the so-called “buffer zone” between
  Gori and the South Ossetian border. Some 1,200 are in the UNHCR tented
  camp in Gori, which was set up for internally displaced Georgians just
  five days ago. Another 1,000 are staying with host families, and some
  2,000 are dispersed in 22 collective centres around the city.
  ��

• At its height, more than 158,000 people were
  displaced during the conflict that erupted on Aug. 8 – about 128,000
  within Georgia and some 30,000 who fled to the Russian Federation. The
  vast majority of those who fled to the Russian Federation have now
  returned to their places of origin in South Ossetia.

HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR BEGINS THREE-DAY VISIT TO ETHIOPIA��

• Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief
  Coordinator John Holmes yesterday began a three-day visit to Ethiopia.
  ��

• He travelled to the Southern Nations Nationalities
  and People’s Region to review humanitarian efforts to address Ethiopia’s
  drought and food crisis.�� While there, Mr. Holmes met with farmers who
  had lost their crops to drought and visited an outpatient therapeutic
  centre.
  ��

• Noting that Ethiopia is facing one of the world’s
  worst food crises, Holmes stressed that it was important to make every
  effort to respond to the tragedy. 75,000 children are at risk of severe
  malnutrition, and 4.6 million people receive emergency food aid.

FLOODS IN INDIA AFFECT MORE THAN 3
MILLION PEOPLE

• In South Asia, the World Health Organization (WHO)
  the recent flooding in India has affected some 3.1 million
  people with the death toll increasing to 56.
  ��

• In Nepal, some 70,000 persons have been displaced
  due to the floods.
  ��

• So far, there have been no outbreaks of
  communicable diseases, but Nepal has seen an increase in diarrhea and
  acute respiratory infections.
  ��

• In both countries, there was an increased risk of
  water-borne infection and diseases due to the number of people
  displaced, the hot climate, inadequate levels of hygiene and sanitation,
  and the pools of stagnant water once the water receded.
  ��

• WHO is working with the local Ministries of Health
  to provide technical assistance as requested.

UNITED
NATIONS SENDS ASSISTANCE TO HURRICANE VICTIMS IN HAITI

• UNICEF and WFP are bringing life-saving assistance
  to thousands of hurricane-affected people now living in temporary
  shelters across Haiti. This follows Hurricane Gustav’s landfall on the
  island, which destroyed livelihoods, homes, livestock and crops.
  ��

• The agencies are providing portable water,
  blankets, hygiene kits, cooking sets and food items to some 4,000 people
  in Port-au-Prince two other towns. �山����Aid operations are expected to
  expand tomorrow after a joint review of emerging needs with the
  government.

SENIOR
PEACEKEEPING OFFICIAL VISITS CHAD, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

• Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Edmond
  Mulet is in Chad for a working visit. Earlier today in N’Djamena he met
  with President Idriss Deby. They discussed the performance of the UN
  Mission in Chad and the Central African Republic (MINURCAT) after a
  six--month presence in the country.
  ��

• ��Mulet also met with the head of Chad’s main
  agency for coordination and support of the international humanitarian
  deployment in eastern Chad.
  ��

• Both Mulet and Victor Angelo, the
  Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Chad and the Central
  African Republic, are now en route to Bangui, where they are expected to
  discuss cooperation between the United Nations and the Central African
  Republic in the area of peacekeeping.

��NEW HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF BEGINS
FOUR-YEAR TERM

• On Monday, South African, Ms. Navanethem (Navi)
  Pillay officially
  her four-year term as the new United Nations High Commissioner
  for Human Rights.
  ��

• Appointed as the fifth human rights chief in July
  by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Secretary-General,
  Ms. Pillay takes over a growing organization that now hosts 1,000 staff
  working in 50 countries with a total annual budget of some $150 million.
  ��

• The new High Commissioner has spent the past five
  years as a judge on the International Criminal Court in the Hague, the
  first permanent independent court set up to try cases of genocide, war
  crimes and crimes against humanity.��Born in South Africa in 1941, Pillay
  has been very active in supporting women’s rights throughout her career,
  and was one of the co-founders of the international NGO Equality Now,
  which campaigns for women’s rights.

��NEW DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE
FOR TIMOR-LESTE IS APPOINTED

• The Secretary-General has appointed Takahisa
  Kawakami of Japan as his Deputy Special Representative for Security
  Sector Support and Rule of Law in the �山����Integrated Mission in
  Timor-Leste (UNMIT).
  ��

• Mr. Kawakami is currently serving as Chief of Staff
  in the �山����Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).��He has held a
  number of posts within the UN, both in the field and at Headquarters.
  Prior to joining the United Nations, he served in the Japanese Foreign
  Ministry.

��NEW CHIEF OF MARITIME TASK FORCE IN
LEBANON TAKES UP POST

• The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
  Maritime Task Force (MTF), currently led by the European Maritime Force
  (EUROMARFOR),
  of command from Rear Admiral Ruggiero Di Biase
  of Italy to Rear Admiral Alain Hinden of France.
  ��

• A formal handover ceremony was held aboard
  the flagship Scirocco off the coast of Lebanon. It was attended by
  UNIFIL Force Commander Major-General Claudio Graziano, senior Lebanese
  military officers and diplomatic representatives from countries
  contributing troops to UNIFIL.
  ��

• Since it was deployed in October 2006, the Maritime
  Task Force has hailed around 18,000 ships and referred more than150
  suspicious vessels to the Lebanese authorities for further inspection.

��UNITED NATIONS IS VERY CONCERNED
ABOUT RECENT JUVENILE EXECUTIONS IN IRAN

• The High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is
  very concerned and saddened by reports from the Islamic Republic of Iran
  that two minors were recently put to death, in violation of the
  country’s obligations under international law, which contains an
  absolute prohibition of the death penalty for juvenile offenders.
  ��

• Reza Hedjazi is believed to have been executed on
  19 August and Behnam Zaare on 26 August. They are reported to have been
  15 and 16, respectively, when they committed their crimes.
  ��

• The human rights office is also concerned about two
  other minors facing imminent risk of execution and has urged Iran not to
  impose the death penalty on juvenile offenders in strict compliance with
  its international human rights obligations.
  ��

• OHCHR stresses the International Covenant on Civil
  and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, both
  of which Iran has ratified, prohibit the death penalty for crimes
  committed by people below the age of 18.
  ��

• OHCHR is also concerned over reports of a recent
  increase in the number of executions in Iran, noting that more than 220
  people, including six juvenile offenders, are believed to have been
  executed this year.

��

DEATH OF
U.N. CORRESPONDENT LEE LOVE

• On a sad note, we send our best wishes to the
  family of longtime U.N. correspondent, Lee Love, who passed away Sunday
  night.
  ��

• In her decades of covering the U.N., Lee focused
  especially on efforts to ensure the peaceful use of outer space.�� She
  wrote about the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space from its
  early days.
  ��

• Lee will be missed.��

OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS

��

BACKGROUND
BRIEFING ON SYMPOSIUM SUPPORTING VICTIMS OF TERROR TO BE HELD MONDAY: On
9 September, the Secretary-General will host a full-day symposium on
supporting victims of terrorism at United Nations Headquarters.�� The
Symposium’s aim is to provide a forum which will assist Member States in
their commitment under the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy to “strive to
promote international solidarity in support of victims and foster the
involvement of civil society in a global campaign against terrorism and for
its condemnation.” A background briefing by a senior �山����official is now
scheduled to take place on Monday, 8 September at 11a.m.

��

TEXT MESSAGING CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED FOR
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE: Ahead of the International Day of Peace,
which is September 21st, a text messaging for peace campaign has been
launched today.�� In the United States, cell phone users are urged to compose
a 160-character message beginning with the word “PEACE” and send it to the
number 69866. The �山����Department of Public Information will gather the
messages, and publish them at
, as well as deliver them to world leaders gathered
at the General Assembly later this month.

��

NEW ONLINE
GAME GENERATES MORE THAN 40 MILLION GRAINS OF RICE: From the World Food
Programme, the phenomenally successful FreeRice vocabulary game on the
internet, now has a few competitors.�� Several additional games on art, math,
language and chemistry have just been added to the site. In the new games,
users can test their knowledge of world capital cities, chemical symbols,
multiplication, and even the styles of famous painters. The vocabulary game
has generated more than 40 billion grains of rice for WFP since its launch
last fall.�� That’s enough to feed more than two million people for a day.

��