United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-05-11

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From: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Monday, 11 May, 1998

HEADLINES

• Security Council members welcome progress in peace process in Bosnia and Herzegovina but warn of remaining problems.
• United Nations Secretary-General learns with "deep regret" of three nuclear tests by India.
• Secretary-General arrives in Paris following eight-nation African tour.
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights emphasizes importance of field operations in Rwanda.
• Chief of UN Drug Control Programme predicts that June UN special session on drugs will forge new global alliance.
• President of International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia says it must be expanded to expedite cases.
• UN health agency says more people will have longer, healthier life in twenty-first century.

The Security Council met on Monday to consider the latest report of Carlos Westendorp, the High Representative for the Implementation of the Peace Agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, the President of the Security Council for the month of May Ambassador Njuguna Mahugu of Kenya said that Council members welcomed the substantial progress made in the implementation of the peace agreement. They shared the assessment of the High Representative on the recent improvement of the situation in Republika Srspka and underlined the importance of continued international support for the Republic's government headed by Mr. Dodik in its efforts to fulfill its obligations under the Peace Agreement.

However, the members of the Council noted that the process had not yet become irreversible and a number of critical problems remained in both Federation and Republika Srpska.

The members of the Council reiterated their urgent appeal to the parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina to increase the return of refugees and displaced persons, particularly to areas where they are a minority. Council members underlined the importance of the Sarajevo Returns Conference held in February and the Conference on the Return of Refugees, held in Banja Luka on 28 April.

"Against this background, the members of the Council strongly condemned the acts of violence and intimidation which took place recently in Drvar and Derventa, and other places," Ambassador Mahugu said.

In a statement issued by his Spokesman, the Secretary-General noted that for quite some time now, there had been a de facto moratorium on nuclear testing. He said that the moratorium and the successful conclusion of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in September 1996 were seen by the international community as setting a norm regarding nuclear non- proliferation.

While noting that India was not a signatory to the CTBT, the statement said, the Secretary-General was nevertheless concerned that the latest tasting was inconsistent with the pattern which had been firmly endorsed by the international community.

Secretary-General Annan called on all States to exercise maximum restraint in order to facilitate nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. "The Secretary-General strongly supports accelerated measures of nuclear disarmament, cessation of all nuclear tests by all States and strengthening of the nuclear non-proliferation regime," the statement said.

Over the course of his trip, the Secretary-General conferred with officials in Ethiopia, Kenya, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Eritrea, Sudan and Djibouti. While visiting those countries, he also met with officials from elsewhere on the continent, including Algeria, Ghana, Morocco and Burkina Faso. Mr. Annan also took the opportunity to view first- hand United Nations activities in the region, and to speak to United Nations staff stationed there.

Over the weekend, the Secretary-General paid an unscheduled visit to Sudan after his flight to Asmara encountered strong headwinds and had to refuel in Khartoum. During the brief stopover there, the Secretary- General met with the country's Foreign Minister, Mustafa Osman. "The Secretary-General took the opportunity to ask for access by United Nations aid workers to the Nuba Mountain area of the Sudan, which it had not had for eight years," said a United Nations spokesman travelling with the Secretary-General. He added that the Foreign Minister granted the request.

While in Eritrea on Sunday, the Secretary-General met for an hour and a half with President Afewerki. The two discussed the situation in Somalia, Sudan, and the Great Lakes region, as well as the issue of United Nations reform.

The Secretary-General was in Uganda on Friday, where he met with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. The two discussed the nature of conflict in Africa in general, as well as specific conflicts, such as those in the Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Middle East. According to his spokesman, the Secretary-General raised the issue of what he called "the armies of losers" -- defeated soldiers who crossed borders with their weapons after losing a war, creating havoc wherever they went.

Upon his arrival in Paris on Monday, the Secretary-General met with French Minister of State for Health, Bernard Kouchner. They discussed a proposed European programme to fight AIDS.

Responding to a decision by the Rwandan Government to suspend the operation pending a review, the High Commissioner said she had asked Gerard Fischer, who was working with the operation in Rwanda, to travel to Geneva for consultations. "Mr. Fischer should then be able to return to Kigali and, with counterparts in the Government, reach agreement on a strategy for the future work of the field operation," she said.

The review will aim to update the mandate of the United Nations operation in Rwanda to ensure its continuing relevance to the process of reconciliation and reconstruction in the country.

Mrs. Robinson emphasized that the field operation contributed to reconciliation in Rwanda by monitoring the human rights situation in all parts of the country, supporting the development of an independent national human rights commission, and providing various forms of technical cooperation in the fields of education and the administration of justice.

So far, over 30 heads of State and government are slated to attend the special session, including the leaders of the United States, France, Mexico, Colombia, Italy, Canada, Belgium, Sweden, Peru, Spain and Ukraine.

"Narcotics and organized crime are the major threats to the world in the next century," said Mr. Arlacchi, who heads the United Nations International Drug Control Programme. "With the involvement of so many world leaders, we now have an opportunity for the first time to meet a global threat with a global response."

In preparatory meetings leading up to the special session, delegates drafted a proposed strategy to combat the global drug scourge which includes the first international agreement on demand reduction.

If the strategy is adopted as expected, then "the international community will hold each State accountable for its commitments," Mr. Arlacchi noted. He expressed confidence that the problem could be tackled in the next 10 years or so, noting that global coca leaf and opium poppy acreage total an area less than half the size of Puerto Rico.

The appeal, which arises from the recent dramatic increase in the number of persons accused of crimes under the Tribunal's Statute, is contained in a report of the Secretary-General released on Monday.

In her appeal, Tribunal President Gabrielle Kirk McDonald says that without an additional trial chamber, "some accused who have recently been placed in custody may have to wait until the year 2000 for their cases to begin, and certainly for their cases to be concluded."

There are now 47 persons who have been publicly indicted by the Tribunal who are not in custody. If all were transferred immediately, the Tribunal would have the potential to conduct at least 21 trials.

The establishment of a third trial chamber would require the election of four new judges as well as the hiring of additional professional legal staff. The total cost is estimated to be over $14 million per year.

Last month, the Security Council responded positively to a similar request from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda by establishing a third trial chamber for that body.

In The World Health Report 1998, WHO offers a "cautiously optimistic" view of the future. It predicts that worldwide, premature deaths -- defined as occurring before the age of 50 years -- will be cut by half by the year 2025. But it warns that in 1998, over 7 million adults will die before reaching this age, and 10 million children will die before their fifth birthday.

WHO says global life expectancy at birth, now 66 years, is projected to reach 73 years by 2025. However, Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, WHO's Director- General, points out that the extra years are shared unequally among rich and poor. "Tragically, while average life expectancy has been increasing throughout the 20th century," he says, "three out of four people in the least developed countries are dying before the age of 50 - - the global life expectancy of half a century ago".

Dr. Nakajima says the international community's prime concern must be the plight of those most likely to be left furthest behind "as the rest of the world steps confidently into the future".

The Report, which is based on a review of health trends over the last 50 years, finds that socioeconomic development and major advances in health have benefitted people in most countries and are likely to continue in the next century, unless a major economic crisis arises. The Report cites "an unmistakable trend towards healthier, longer life".

For developing countries, the good news is that by 2025, infectious diseases such as poliomyelitis, leprosy, guinea-worm disease, filariasis and hepatitis B, which together afflict and disable hundreds of millions of people, will have been eliminated or reduced to very low levels.

In the industrialized world, where the ageing population is a major concern, declines in disability from heart disease and some cancers among older people are already evident, due to prevention programmes, education and improved treatment, WHO says. Technological advances, and more progress in medical research, treatment, care and rehabilitation should further enhance the quality of life, especially for older people.

From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

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