Asia Pacific

Sukehiro Hasegawa

UN envoy returns from Timor-Leste to brief Annan as aid appeal launched

9 June 2006
Secretary-General Kofi Annan was briefed by his Special Envoy for Timor-Leste today as a stronger United Nations presence there looked increasingly likely following the recent outbreak of violence in the small nation that the world body shepherded to independence from Indonesia four years ago.
Leandro Despouy

Afghanistan: UN rights expert deplores reported public execution by Taliban

8 June 2006
A United Nations human rights expert today condemned “in very strong terms” the reported public execution by Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban regime of an alleged murderer in Daikundi province.
Haya Rashed Al Khalifa

UN General Assembly to be headed by its third-ever woman president

8 June 2006
The Legal Counsel to the Royal Family of Bahrain, pioneering lawyer Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, has been elected President of the 61st General Assembly session, becoming only the third woman who will hold that post and the first one elected since 1969.

Annan’s Special Representative meets Timor-Leste President as UN expands aid effort

8 June 2006
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Timor-Leste met the country’s President today for talks focusing on political and humanitarian efforts aimed at helping the country out of its current crisis, as United Nations agencies stepped up efforts to provide relief assistance to the more than 100,000 people internally displaced by the recent violence.
Ian Martin

Increase in UN presence in Timor-Leste seen as likely

7 June 2006
A senior United Nations envoy ended a nine-day visit to Timor-Leste today after the recent outbreak of violence there, heralding a possibly beefed up presence by the world body in the small nation that it shepherded to independence four years ago.
WFP distributes food aid to the affected

Indonesia: from food and vaccinations to saving historic sites, UN steps up quake aid

7 June 2006
United Nations agencies are stepping up aid to Indonesian earthquake victims with plans to feed 100,000 people for the next two months, an emergency immunization campaign for 1.3 million others and efforts to preserve historic sites and boost education in the Yogyakarta area where 6,000 people died and at least 200,000 more lost their homes.

Annan welcomes release of Myanmar rights defender, urges lifting of restrictions

7 June 2006
While welcoming Myanmar’s decision to release human rights defender Su Su Nway, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged the authorities to follow this with further measures to promote national reconciliation, including lifting the remaining restrictions on democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political leaders.
Quake-damaged canal structure

UN agency calls for immediate funds to ensure farm production after Indonesian quake

6 June 2006
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today called for $5.6 million in immediate funding for victims of last month’s earthquake in Indonesia to ensure that small-scale irrigation repairs are completed and seeds and fertilizers are in farmers’ hands before the next cropping season in October.

UN agency calls on tourists to continue visiting Indonesia to help quake recovery

6 June 2006
Pursuing its policy of helping stricken countries to recover from natural disasters, the United Nations tourism agency has appealed to tourists to continue travelling to parts of Indonesia not damaged by the 27 May earthquake that struck the Yogyakarta area, killing more than 6,000 people and displacing 200,000 others.

Human-to-human bird flu infection ruled out in latest Indonesian cases

6 June 2006
The United Nations health agency today ruled out human-to-human transmission of bird flu in four Indonesian nurses tending patients with the disease, confirming that none of the nurses has the H5N1 virus and easing fears that it might already be acquiring the ability to spread more readily among humans.