WORKING GROUP ON DISABILITY CONVENTION TO MEET AT UN HEADQUARTERS, 5-16 JANUARY

The Working Group established to draft a text of an international convention on the rights of persons with disabilities will meet from 5 to 16 January at United Nations Headquarters, Conference Room 4.

PRESIDENT OF UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL AND CHAIRMAN

OF MILITARY STAFF COMMITTEE IN JANUARY

In accordance with the principle of alphabetical rotation, the following are the President of the United Nations Security Council and the Chairman of the Military Staff Committee for January:

Security Council

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS OF UNITED NATIONS BODIES IN JANUARY 2004

The following is a tentative list of United Nations meetings scheduled to be held in January, including major meetings of intergovernmental organizations related to the United Nations:

Meetings beginning in January

January

International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Committee, Montreal

January-February

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONGRATULATES HAITI ON BICENTENNIAL, SAYS INDEPENDENCE

WAS ‘BEGINNING OF THE END’ OF SLAVERY IN AMERICAS

The following statement was issued on 1 January by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

POOR RAINS DELAY PLANTING IN SOUTHERN AFRICA, SAYS UN HUMANITARIAN OFFICE

UNITED NATIONS TO LAUNCH APPEAL FOR IRAN QUAKE VICTIMS

CHINA’S ROLE IN GLOBAL EFFORTS FOR PEACE, DEVELOPMENT ‘VITAL’, SAYS

SECRETARY-GENERAL IN NEW YEAR’S GREETING TO CHINESE PEOPLE

Following is the text of Secretary-GeneralKofi Annan’s videotaped greeting to the Chinese people on Chinese New Year (22 January 2004), which aired today,

31 December:

My dear Chinese friends,

I know that your New Year is a special time for all of you.

SECRETARY-GENERAL SADDENED BY DEATH OF JAIME DE PINIES, VETERAN SPANISH

DIPLOMAT, FORMER UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

                                                            SC/7969

SECRETARY-GENERAL SHOCKED BY BRUTAL MURDER OF APOSTOLIC NUNCIO IN BURUNDI

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General was deeply shocked and saddened to learn the news of the tragic death of Monsignor Michael Courtney, the Apostolic Nuncio in Burundi, who was brutally murdered during a road ambush today in Minago, about 50 kilometres south of Bujumbura in Bururi province.