Noon Briefings

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has released its report on alleged violations of international law, including crimes against humanity, in South Kordofan perpetrated in June. Meanwhile, High Commissioner Navi Pillay is calling for an independent and objective inquiry, aimed at holding perpetrators to account.

The second of three planned humanitarian flights by UNHCR landed in Mogadishu, the capital of famine-hit Somalia, this morning. The plane unloaded a 32-ton consignment of shelter and other aid items. The agency is expecting to send another flight into Mogadishu tomorrow.

The Secretary-General, at the Global Model UN Conference in the Republic of Korea, told hundreds of students from more than 60 countries not to underestimate the power of the individual to make a difference; they were showing increasing resolve to change our world — a capacity to make things happen, by peaceful means.

In the Republic of Korea, the Secretary-General thanked the Government for helping to fund UN food relief operations in the Horn of Africa. Because of the country’s economic development and democratization, he said, the international community was increasingly looking to it in addressing global challenges.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid was dispatched to Somalia in July. Today, the World Food Programme started a series of nine airlifts to Kenya, carrying a total of 800 metric tons of high-energy biscuits for delivery throughout the Horn of Africa.

The Secretary-General, in Fukushima, expressed sadness at the loss of lives, but was encouraged by the determination and resilience of the Japanese people and Government. “You are united. You are overcoming this tragedy,” he told the people of Fukushima.

A peacekeeper serving the African Union-United Nations mission in Darfur was killed and a second one was seriously wounded when their vehicle was attacked by unknown gunmen this morning in Duma village, in South Darfur. The mission says that the attack is a deplorable act and that it is working with the Sudanese police to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has warned that unless there is a massive increase in the humanitarian response, famine in Somalia could rapidly spread to more areas in the south. Relief organizations are reaching only about 20 per cent of the 2.8 million people in urgent need of food aid in that region.

At Kenya’s Dadaab camps, the UN refugee agency says that arrivals of Somalis for July topped 40,000, the highest monthly rate in the camp’s 20-year history. A mass screening for malnutrition conducted in the Dadaab complex showed alarmingly high rates of acute malnutrition and an increasing under-5 mortality rate.

The Secretary-General is saddened by the death of four peacekeepers serving in the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei, who were killed by a landmine detonation during a patrol in Mabok. He also expressed concern for the well-being of the seven other peacekeepers injured in the explosion.