United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-05-19

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Tuesday, 19 May 1998

HEADLINES

• United Nations Secretary-General expresses concern at various crisis spots around the world.
• Secretary-General regrets Taliban decision to pull out of talks with Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.
• UN mediator in Angola says failure by parties to respect peace process will call into question his role.
• UN Food and Agriculture Organization urges donors to increase food aid to avert starvation in southern Sudan.
• Over 500,000 Sierra Leonean refugees are in Guinea and Liberia, according to refugee agency.
• Number of displaced persons increases in Kosovo in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
• UN Director-General in Nairobi demands better security for UN staff and their families.
• Head of UNCTAD says developing countries must be helped to compete on equal terms in global economy.
• International Labour Organization reports worker disability problems rising in industrialized countries.
• UN drug agency chief says U.S. money laundering arrests are important strike against world's drug cartels.

Following a briefing of the Security Council on his recent African trip, the Secretary-General responded to a number of questions from reporters outside the Council chamber.

The Secretary-General said that he had shared with the Security Council the discussions he had with African leaders on the crisis on the continent, particularly Somalia, Sudan and the Great Lakes region. They also discussed the issue of governance and "the essential question of economic and social development."

On his reception by the Rwandan authorities, the Secretary-General said that he "had expected it to be difficult but was rougher" than he had expected. He said his visit to the country was "very moving." He said that since the 1994 genocide, he had always felt for the trauma of the people of Rwanda. "But going there and visiting some of the genocide sites brought home to me more forcefully the trauma and the pain that the people of Rwanda had to go through."

Mr. Annan touched on the question of refugees and the presence of armed elements among them. He recalled that when he was in the region, the Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity, Salim Ahmed Salim and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata held a ministerial meeting in Kampala, Uganda to discuss the issue. He added that he hoped the Secretariat and the refugee agency would look at the recommendations coming out of the Kampala meeting.

On the heating up border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia, the Secretary-General said that he had spoken to the leaders of the two countries and appealed for restraint. He also said that he was aware of the efforts of the United States government which has sent an envoy to talk to the two leaders.

The Secretary-General was asked about his assessment of the famine situation in southern Sudan and the relief efforts to alleviate it. He said that humanitarian workers on ground described the situation as "very serious" and that they should deliver enough food before the rainy season. He reminded that the United Nations was looking for $109 million for relief efforts and has so far received only 25 per cent of that amount.

On the crisis in Kosovo, in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Secretary-General said he was encouraged that the leaders of the region and the country had met. He added that there were indications that the meetings would continue.

Turning to the Middle East, Mr. Annan stressed the importance of breaking the impasse in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. "Of course, that would require compromises and flexibility on all sides," he said. He expressed the hope that the efforts of United States President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and the Palestinians and Israelis would yield some results.

The Secretary-General also expressed concern about developments in Asia in the wake of India's nuclear tests last week. Regarding Pakistan's reaction to the tests, Mr. Annan recalled that in a letter to the country's Prime Minister he had appealed for restraint. He said he had also written to the Prime Minister of India recommending that the country sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has received a report from the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan (UNSMA) which was informed by Taliban on Sunday that the Northern Alliance had refused to cooperate. The Secretary- General noted that the proposed Ulema process was a Taliban initiative.

According to the spokesman, the Secretary-General was deeply concerned at the Taliban's decision not to continue face-to-face talks with the Northern Alliance, especially in the light of intensified fighting in Takhar and other areas in northern Afghanistan. He strongly urged the Taliban movement to reconsider their position, and called for both sides to honour their previous commitments to refrain from new military offensives.

The Secretary-General reiterated his belief that there was no military solution to the conflict, the spokesman said, and that the only way to restore peace and stability to Afghanistan, whose people have endured great suffering over many years, was through negotiation.

The Joint Commission, which oversees the implementation of the Lusaka Protocols, was meeting in the capital of Luanda to consider the plan by Alioune Blondin Beye, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Angola.

The plan requires UNITA to give up control of the so-called sensitive areas of Andulo, Bailundo, Mungo and N'harea. It also requires the Angolan national police to end human rights abuses and the Government to stop broadcasting hostile propaganda.

Mr. Beye made it clear that completion of the Lusaka Protocol was a test of the political will of both UNITA and the Government, the spokesman said. He also made it clear that any further failure to respect their commitments to the peace process would call into question his own role as mediator. Mr. Beye has given the parties to the end of May to complete their tasks, the spokesman added.

The Joint Commission includes representatives from the United Nations, the Angolan Government, the Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the Russian Federation, the United States and Portugal.

According to the FAO, in the Bahr El Ghazal region alone, 350,000 people, including 150,000 recently displaced, are at risk of starvation. Intensified civil strife since January, drought conditions and difficulties in distributing relief have led to severe malnutrition in Bahr El Ghazal, Western Upper Nile and Eastern Equatorial States, with starvation-related deaths reported in some areas. Fresh waves of displaced people are aggravating the already precarious food situation.

Fifteen years of civil strife have dealt a serious blow to southern Sudan's economy and damaged much of the region's infrastructure, according to FAO. Economic and agricultural activities, as well as traditional trading and exchange patterns have been seriously disrupted.

Another poor harvest in 1998 following last year's drought-reduced one will have serious implications for the food security, the FAO reports. So far, prospects for this year's harvest are not favourable.

The FAO has urged international donors to make additional food aid pledges and to provide financial support for seeds and tools for the next cropping season. Support for relief distribution to the affected population is also needed.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) says the refugees are continuing to arrive in Guinea at a rate of 300 per day. According to UNHCR Spokesperson, Judith Kumin, the new arrivals are reporting that thousands of Sierra Leoneans are still hiding in the bush in eastern Sierra Leone afraid of being caught and tortured or maimed by the rebels.

"A very major concern is the extremely high level of malnutrition among the refugee children," Ms. Kumin said. She added that a survey conducted recently by the Guinean health authorities found that 33 per cent of the children under five years of age are suffering from severe levels of malnutrition. "The health situation generally is also not good," said Ms. Kumin adding that there are "alarmingly" high levels of malaria and diarrhoea among the new arrivals.

In Guinea, UNHCR is transferring the new arrivals from border areas to sites further inland, she said. She added that the United Nations agency is working with partners on the spot, including Medicins sans Frontiers, Action Contre la Faim and the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ), to help the refugees.

UNHCR Spokesperson Judith Kumin said on Tuesday that there are more than 32, 000 internally displaced people inside Kosovo and several thousand more across the border in the Republic of Montenegro. Quoting Montenegrin authorities, the UNHCR Spokesperson said that around 2,600 displaced persons have fled into Montenegro.

Ms. Kumin said that the recent clashes in Serbica, Djakovica and Decane in Kosovo "seem to account for the increasing number of displaced people."

The call by Klaus Topfer, who is also the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), came in the wake of killing of a long- serving UN staff member, Mr. Seth Sendashonga, and his driver, Mr. J. Bosco Kalyubukeye last Saturday in Nairobi.

Mr. Topfer, who returned directly to Nairobi from New York, upon hearing the news of the killing, expressed shock and deep sorrow for the families of both men. He strongly appealed to the media to respect their privacy and feelings.

Early on Monday, Mr. Topfer met with the Kenyan Foreign Minister, Bonaya Godana to discuss how the United Nations and the local authorities can cooperate to improve the security situation in Kenya.

Mr. Ricupero was speaking on Tuesday on behalf of UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan at the second World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Geneva. He said the WTO must address the challenges of globalization, particularly that of avoiding marginalization of the weaker members of the international community.

The trade liberalization process must maintain its momentum, he continued. But priority should be given to trade barriers targeting the exports of developing countries both in goods and services. Tariff peaks should be reduced and so-called trade remedies further disciplined. Access for the temporary movement of natural persons should also be facilitated.

He said the international trading community was being called on to demonstrate solidarity in the trade field to assist Asian countries to remedy their situation. But he cautioned against the use of trade rules as a mechanism for imposing disciplines in non-trade areas which, he said, could put heavy strains on the system. The WTO must be seen as a partner in the overall international effort, carried out by the UN and its various agencies -- aimed at promoting sustainable development and human rights in the pursuit of the goals of the UN Charter.

Renato Ruggiero, WTO Director-General, told the Ministerial Conference that 80 per cent of 132 WTO members and all 31 candidates for membership were from developing or transition economies. The WTO system, he said, was based on principles whose value is timeless and universal - - consensus, non- discrimination and the rule of law.

"Trade is peace," he continued. As people increasingly shared similar concerns, aspirations and hopes, the trading system would help to channel present turbulent global concerns into rules and commitments which reflected shared responsibilities. The challenge for the next decade would be to manage a world of ever deeper integration.

The ILO's International Research Project on Job Retention and Return to Work Strategies for Disabled Workers, which was released on Tuesday, covers eight countries -- Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Preliminary findings suggest new laws to protect the disabled may only increase the reluctance of private firms to hire them. ILO Assistant Director General, Ali Taqi, says recent innovations in national laws are not adequate to assist new classifications of the disabled, particularly workers suffering from occupational diseases such as those related to stress, and for those with invisible disabilities that fall outside the scope of legal definitions.

The ILO estimates that 600 million people, or 10 per cent of the world's population have mental and physical disabilities and these figures are increasing. Growing global competition is forcing firms the world over to seek ways of decreasing personnel costs. Mr. Taqi warns, "cost reductions should not come on the backs of disabled workers".

"The international community is heartened by this important strike against the world's drug cartels and money launderers", Mr. Arlacchi said in a statement issued in Vienna. "The announcement underscores the importance of targeting drug traffickers at their most vulnerable point: when they attempt to inject illegal profits into the world's financial system."

Money laundering is one of the key issues to be addressed at the Drug Summit scheduled to be held in New York from 8 to 10 June. Strengthening international cooperation on supply and demand reduction is among other issues on the agenda of the meeting.

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

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