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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC, SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

MONDAY, 4 JANUARY 2015

SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF CONTINUED CONSTRUCTIVE ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN IRAN AND SAUDI ARABIA

• The Secretary-General today Mr. Abel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir, Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia. The Secretary-General also spoke by telephone with Mr. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister of Iran, yesterday.
• Speaking to Foreign Minister Zarif, the Secretary-General recalled his statement on the execution of Sheikh al-Nimr and 46 other prisoners by Saudi Arabia on 2 January. He further recalled his condemnation of the attack at the Saudi embassy in Tehran and urged the Foreign Minister to take the necessary measures to protect diplomatic facilities in the country.
• Speaking to Foreign Minister Al-Jubeir, the Secretary-General reiterated his views on capital punishment and his disappointment over the execution of Sheikh al-Nimr, whose case he had raised with the Saudi authorities on several occasions.
• The Secretary-General reiterated that the attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was deplorable, but added that the announcement of a break in Saudi diplomatic relations with Tehran was deeply worrying. Regarding Yemen, the Secretary-General urged Saudi Arabia to renew its commitment to a ceasefire.
• The Secretary-General urged both Foreign Ministers to avoid any actions that could further exacerbate the situation between two countries and in the region as a whole. He stressed the importance of continued constructive engagement by both countries in the interest of the region and beyond.
• In a statement issued over the weekend, the Secretary-General deep dismay over the recent execution by Saudi Arabia of 47 people, including the cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, as announced on 2 January by the country’s Interior Ministry.
• Sheik al-Nimr and a number of the other prisoners executed had been convicted following trials that raised serious concerns over the nature of the charges and the fairness of the process. The Secretary-General had raised the case of Sheikh al-Nimr with the leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on a number of occasions.
• The Secretary-General reiterated his strong stance against the death penalty. He points to the growing movement in the international community for the abolition of capital punishment and urges Saudi Arabia to commute all death sentences imposed in the Kingdom.
• The Secretary-General also called for calm and restraint in reaction to the execution of Sheikh Nimr and urges all regional leaders to work to avoid the exacerbation of sectarian tensions. He deplored the violence by demonstrators against the Saudi Embassy in Tehran.

SYRIA: SPECIAL ENVOY TO VISIT SAUDI ARABIA AND IRAN

• The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, is on his way to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He also intends to visit Iran later this week.
• During his visits, the Special Envoy will assess the implications of the recent developments between Saudi Arabia and Iran on the momentum of the Vienna process for Syria.
• Mr. de Mistura believes that the crisis in Saudi-Iranian relations is a very worrisome development and he stressed the need to ensure that it does not cause a chain of adverse consequences in the region.

ISRAEL: SECRETARY-GENERAL DEPLORES RECENT SHOOTING INCIDENT IN TEL AVIV

• In response to a question about a shooting incident that took place in Israel on New Year’s Day, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General deplored the shooting incident that took place in Tel Aviv on 1 January, during which two Israelis were killed and seven others injured, including two currently in serious condition.
• All need to speak and act unequivocally against all forms of violence and terrorism, which continue to regularly claim innocent civilian lives across Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
• The Secretary-General hopes that whoever is responsible for these acts will be swiftly brought to justice.

MOST POLLING CENTRES WERE OPEN, U.N. MISSION IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC REPORTS FOLLOWING ELECTIONS

• The UN Mission in the Central African Republic () reported that the National Elections Authority (ANE) released partial provisional results yesterday based on votes cast in eight prefectures and 15 per cent of votes cast outside of the country.
• The ANE is expected to announce the final results by the end of this week and the Constitutional Court is due to confirm the results on 15 January.
• The Mission reported that 95 per cent of the polling stations were open on the elections day last week and the participation of the voters in the prefectures is estimated to have reached 75 per cent. Earlier today, some presidential candidates held a press conference denouncing technical irregularities in the election process.

COTE D’IVOIRE: U.N. OFFICAL WELCOMES PRESIDENTIAL PARDON, CALLS FOR STRENGTHENED SOCIAL COHESION

• The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Cote d’Ivoire welcomed the presidential pardon granted to more than 3,000 people detained since the 2010-2011 crisis.
• The Special Representative encouraged all political actors to continue working for the strengthening of social cohesion and national reconciliation.

HUMANITARIAN NEEDS IN ETHIOPIA TRIPLE SINCE 2015, WARNS U.N. FOOD AGENCY

• The World Food Programme () has reported that humanitarian needs in Ethiopia have tripled since the beginning of 2015 as severe drought in some regions, exacerbated by the strongest El Niño in decades, caused successive harvest failures and widespread livestock deaths.
• Out of 10 million people now requiring urgent humanitarian assistance, WFP is expected to support the government in meeting the needs of 7.6 million people in 2016. Yet so far, less than 5 percent of the resources required for the first six months of the year are available.
• WFP also said that the Government is leading a well-coordinated response, and has devoted enormous resources of its own to addressing the growing humanitarian needs, but that a crisis of this scale urgently requires significant support from the international community.

NEW HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES STARTS HIS TERM AT A TIME OF UNPRECEDENTED DISPLACEMENT CHALLENGES

• Filippo Grandi has taken up the position of UN High Commissioner for Refugees, succeeding António Guterres.
• Mr. Grandi begins this role at a time of unprecedented displacement challenges, with record numbers of people globally forced to flee war and persecution, including the more than one million refugees and migrants who crossed the Mediterranean to Europe during the past year.
• Mr. Grandi said that the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is navigating extraordinarily difficult waters, noting the combination of multiple conflicts and resulting mass displacement, fresh challenges to asylum, the funding gap between humanitarian needs and resources, and growing xenophobia.
• The Agency works worldwide to protect, assist and find solutions for refugees, internally displaced people and stateless populations. It has some 9,700 staff across 126 countries, many of them working in humanitarian emergencies and in close proximity to regions of conflict.