Ad Melkert, who is the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, has strongly condemned the assassination of a female election nominee, Suha Abdullah Jarallah, who was shot dead in Mosul, just before Iraq’s electoral campaign is due to start. And Melkert said that such incidents cannot be tolerated. He said that campaign violence in Iraq must not be allowed to intimidate candidates or interfere with the right of every Iraqi to vote.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
Next week, on 12 February, the World Food Programme will host a high-level meeting at its headquarters in Rome on agricultural development, food security and nutrition in Haiti. And that meeting will kick off the agriculture component of the Haiti redevelopment plan.
The number of children affected by humanitarian disasters and crises is increasing significantly around the world, and the critical role of partnerships in assisting them and their families is the focus of UNICEF’s flagship humanitarian action report, “The Partnering for Children in Emergencies”, launched today.
This morning the Secretary-General had a good meeting with President Bill Clinton to talk about Haiti and President Clinton’s role as Special Envoy. He specifically asked President Clinton to assume a leadership role in coordinating international aid efforts, from emergency response to reconstruction of Haiti. The Secretary-General said this would require extraordinary leadership; and he said he couldn’t think of a better-suited leader than President Clinton.
The Spokesperson for the Secretary-General would like to clarify erroneous reports about remarks attributed to the Secretary-General and reaffirm his position on Sudan, which is in accordance with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the United Nations mandate in Sudan. Any suggestion that the United Nations may have taken a position that may prejudge the outcome of next year's referendum is incorrect.
The Secretary-General is in Cyprus today, where he met separately with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias, before meeting the two of them together. He made brief remarks at a press conference afterwards and read out a joint statement on behalf of the two leaders.
The Secretary-General is on his way to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to attend the Fourteenth African Union Summit this weekend. On Sunday, he will deliver an opening address, in which he will highlight the need for African leaders to mobilize behind the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, especially with the deadline of 2015 fast approaching.
The Secretary-General today addressed the London Conference on Afghanistan, saying that we face a long and complex process of recovery and institution-building in that country. He said the international effort to deal with Afghanistan must be inclusive; it must strengthen governance and meet the basic needs of the Afghan people; it must respect human rights; and it must foster an environment conducive to justice and accountability, where corruption cannot thrive.
“This is really a children’s emergency. You know, in Haiti, 40 per cent of the population is under 14, so the number of children affected is really huge. And what we’re doing is for the moment very much focusing on life-saving operations,” Dr. Guido Cornale, Country Director for United Nations Children’s Fund, told reporters today during a video link briefing on Haiti.
Thousands of civilians have had to flee their homes in the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The UN refugee agency says that it has registered more than 15,500 newly displaced persons since mid‑December. Those displaced are fleeing the negative repercussions of a Government military campaign against Rwandan rebels, as well as widespread banditry.