10 August 2009

Spokesperson's Noon Briefing

Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Marie Okabe, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**Guest at Noon Today

The Central African Republic was at a critical crossroads which could see a reversal of the modest gains made in 2008 or a consolidation of the progress towards national dialogue and agreement with rebel groups, United Nations Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Catherine Bragg said at Headquarters today.

On the sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of the four Geneva Conventions, the Secretary-General reaffirms their enduring significance and relevance for the protection of human life and dignity in situations of armed conflict.

In Bonn today, the climate change talks -– the United Nations negotiating session towards a new global response to climate change -– concluded in Germany.

On Sunday, that’s last night, at around midnight, the UN-World Food Programme (WFP) compound in Wajid, southern Somalia, was attacked by armed militia. This is the fourth UN compound deliberately targeted in Somalia within two months. The United Nations strongly condemns the attack.

Today is the UN’s first observance of World Humanitarian Day. The General Assembly established the Day last December to highlight humanitarian work worldwide, including the dangers that aid workers face while carrying out their missions in conflict zones.

Five people working for the World Food Programme (WFP) have been confirmed dead after what local police are describing as a suicide bomb attack at the WFP offices in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

General Assembly President Ali Abdussalam Treki of Libya, in his first press conference since the close of the Assembly’s annual general debate earlier this week, said this year’s gathering, had drawn more than 100 world leaders who had demonstrated their sustained interest in the United Nations and a wide array of crucial issues ‑‑ from climate change to the financial crisis to human rights.

The Secretary-General welcomes the arrest, in Kampala, Uganda, of Idelphonse Nizeyimana, who allegedly participated in the killing of Tutsis and moderate Hutus during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Rescue efforts were winding down and emergency relief getting into full gear in response to the successive natural disasters that recently hit Asia and the Pacific, John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, told correspondents at Headquarters this afternoon.