United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-05-28

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, 28 May, 1998

HEADLINES

• Secretary-General deplores Pakistani nuclear tests; Security Council members condemn them and consult late on further action.
• Security Council establishes group to examine Secretary- General's recommendations on preventing conflict in Africa.
• Responding to violence in Georgia, Security Council calls on parties to observe ceasefire.
• Citing volatile situation, Security Council members call on Eritrea and Ethiopia to show maximum restraint.
• Milojica Kos, indicted by International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia, is detained in Bosnia.
• World Food Programme delivers food aid to Hazarajat and Taliban- held Ghorbund enclave in Afghanistan.
• United Nations arms experts meet with senior Iraqi officials in New York.
• Deputy Secretary-General says United Nations is changing to meet emerging challenges.
• Scientists discuss impact of science on society at UNESCO symposium in Paris.
• New UN handbook provides guide on how small and medium-sized enterprises contribute to economic growth.
• Head of United Nations Geneva office meets with Swiss authorities to discuss security and reform.

Meanwhile, the Security Council held consultations past 11 p.m. Thursday on a possible draft presidential statement in reaction to the tests. Council President Ambassador Njuguna Mahugu of Kenya told reporters that the Council condemned the nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan, and that consultations would continue on Friday. "We are almost there," he said, adding that Council members agreed on the need to formally act on the matter.

The Secretary-General said both Pakistan and India should freeze their nuclear weapons development programmes. "The number of nuclear weapons should decrease, not increase," he stated.

"As we approach the new century, we should be asking how best to preserve life, culture and civilization, not how to become more destructive," Mr. Annan observed. He said it was hoped that the focus would be on how to create "a world full of tolerance, a world in which people can live their lives and push economic and social development, and not get into a competitive arms race."

The Secretary-General is prepared to play a role in diffusing the tensions in South Asia's trouble spot, according to his Spokesman, Fred Eckhard. "The Secretary-General strongly appeals to both India and Pakistan to make every effort to reduce increasing tensions in the region, especially in Kashmir," Mr. Eckhard said. Calling on the two countries to refrain from accusations which could further inflame the situation, and urging a dialogue between India and Pakistan, the Secretary-General referred to "the availability of his good offices."

The Secretary-General uses his good offices to mediate in conflict situations, such as that prevailing in Cyprus.

Meanwhile, General Assembly President Hennadiy Udovenko of Ukraine has also condemned the recent explosions. According to his Spokesman, Alex Taukatch, Mr. Udovenko viewed Pakistan's tests as "a serious blow to global non- proliferation efforts." The General Assembly President said they "flew in the face of the international community that had overwhelmingly deplored a similar exercise earlier this month by India and had urged restraint by the two countries."

The latest series of tests in South Asia threatened to dash hopes for breaking the legacy of an unbridled nuclear arms race, Mr. Taukatch said. "The President of the General Assembly appeals to both governments to refrain from continued development of their nuclear weapons and urges them to pledge their prompt and full cooperation with the international community in averting further aggravation of the situation."

In mid-April, the Secretary-General proposed a comprehensive set of far- reaching, realistic and achievable measures designed to significantly reduce political tensions and violence within and between Africans States. His report came in response to a Council request, issued at a ministerial meeting it held last September.

The working group is charged with preparing a framework for implementing the Secretary-General's proposals. Its recommendations for concrete action are due this September, at which time the Council will convene another ministerial meeting. By Thursday's resolution, the Council also expressed its intention to convene ministerial meetings every two years in order to assess progress in promoting peace and security in Africa.

In his report, the Secretary-General recommends, among other things, that Member States pass legislation making the violation of Security Council arms embargoes by individuals or corporations a criminal offence under their national laws. He strongly encourages Member States to contribute to the United Nations and Organization of African Unity (OAU) Trust Funds for conflict prevention and peacekeeping. The report also recommends consideration of how the United Nations might help compile, track and publicize information on arms trafficking. It further suggests that African governments reduce purchases of arms and munitions to 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), and maintain zero-growth on defence budgets for the next decade.

Another recommendation calls for holding combatants financially liable to their victims. An international mechanism should also be established to help host governments maintain the security and neutrality of refugee camps. The report also contains a number of proposals for dealing with the problems of debt, including the idea that creditors should convert into grants all the remaining official bilateral debt of the poorest African countries.

"The Security Council is gravely concerned by the recent outbreak of violence in the zone of conflict, which has resulted in the loss of human life and a significant outflow of refugees," the Council President, Foreign Minister Bonaya Godana of Kenya, said in a statement he read out on behalf of Council members. The Council called on the parties to strictly observe the Moscow Agreement they signed in 1994, as well as the recent ceasefire agreement.

The Council also requested the Secretary-General to consult both sides to the conflict in Abkhazia, Georgia, on the possibility of providing the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) with a self-protection unit, in light of the conditions of high insecurity threatening the personal safety of unarmed United Nations military observers there.

The Secretary-General was also asked to consult the parties on other options he put forward in a recent report to the Council. These include a reduction of UNOMIG personnel, a re-deployment of the Mission at its authorized strength and a resumption of previous operations using mine- and ballistic-protected vehicles, and strengthened security arrangements with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) peacekeeping force.

The Council expressed deep concern that the deteriorating security situation in the Gali region gravely impeded the work of aid workers, personnel of the UNOMIG and of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces of the CIS.

The parties to the conflict were called upon to take all measures to improve the security situation, including the creation of a joint mechanism for investigation and prevention of violations of the Moscow Agreement. They were also called upon to display the political will to achieve substantial results on key issues of the negotiations within the framework of the United Nations-led peace process and through direct dialogue.

The Council reaffirmed the right of all refugees and displaced persons to return to their homes in secure conditions, and it called upon both sides to fulfil their obligations in that regard. Efforts undertaken by the CIS in support of returning refugees and of a comprehensive political settlement were welcomed.

"The crisis between those two sisterly countries has surprised the international community," Ambassador Njuguna Mahugu of Kenya, the current President of the Council, told reporters in New York following consultations among the members.

"The Council strongly encouraged President Hassan Gouled Aptidon of Djibouti, in his capacity as the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, as well as the United States and Rwanda, to actively continue their mediation efforts, with a view to resolving the crisis peacefully," Ambassador Mahugu said. He added that the Council members reaffirmed their strong support for the pacific settlement of disputes, as enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

Milojica Kos, also known as Krle, was detained by SFOR in Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to a spokesman for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which issued his indictment. Arrangements are being made for his transfer to the Tribunal's detention unit.

Mr. Kos is one of eight accused persons named in an indictment issued by the Tribunal on 13 February 1995. The indictment covers atrocities allegedly committed between May and August 1992 against Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat civilians from the Prijedor district who were held at the Omarska camp. Mr. Kos allegedly was one of the shift commanders who supervised guards that operated the camp.

The deliveries follow the 6 May announcement by the Taliban representative in Islamabad that 1,000 tonnes of food aid would be allowed into the two regions.

The convoy which arrived in Hazarajat was made of 40 trucks carrying 500 tonnes of wheat flour which will be distributed under the supervision of international monitors to the most hard-hit parts of the region. WFP estimates that this delivery will feed about 30,000 people for one month and represents approximately 10 per cent of the food which the agency believes is currently needed in the region.

A second convoy dispatched from the WFP base in Bamyan crossed the front- lines in Parwan province, taking 110 tonnes of wheat to feed 35,000 residents under Taliban control. The residents are trapped between warring factions and steep mountain ridges and their access to Kabul and other Taliban areas has been cut off, leaving only a donkey path as a means out of the enclave.

The team from the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM), which oversees the dismantling of the weapons, is headed by UNSCOM Executive Director Richard Butler. General Amer Al-Sa'adi is leading the Iraqi delegation.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Said Al-Sahaf did not attend the meeting, which will continue on Friday, Mr. Eckhard said.

Ambassador Butler is expected to brief the Security Council on 3 June about the latest findings of UNSCOM inspections. Under Council resolutions, Iraq is required to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction before the economic sanctions imposed after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait can be lifted.

Meanwhile, on Thursday afternoon, the Executive Director of the United Nations Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan, briefed the Committee which oversees the sanctions regime against Iraq on the contents of the Government's revised distribution plan.

The plan was submitted under Phase IV of the oil-for-food programme which allows Iraq to sell up to $5.2 billion worth of oil every six months to buy food, medicine and humanitarian supplies. Phase IV will last for 180 days beginning on 3 June.

Mr. Eckhard said the current distribution plan is based on $3 billion worth of humanitarian assistance and will require the export of about $4.5 billion of oil. Under plan, the calorie content of the food basket will increase from 2,000 kilocalories, which is less than the 2,400 kilocalories recommended by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. After it is reviewed by the Sanctions Committee, the revised plan is expected to be submitted to the Secretary-General for approval.

In an address to the Foreign Policy Association, Ms. Fr‚chette described how the Organization is actively working to rise to the challenges posed by the end of the cold war, globalization, environmental degradation, democratization, the growing influence of civil society and the simultaneous growth in "uncivil society" -- drug-traffickers, terrorists, criminals and money launderers. "These forces form not only the backdrop but the very raison d'ˆtre for the current work of the United Nations, and for the quiet revolution of reform and renewal launched last year by the Secretary-General," she said.

In the wake of the cold war's end, United Nations peacekeeping forces were sent into the field in unprecedented numbers and with unprecedented mandates. Although results were sometimes mixed, efforts were being made to learn from the past and prepare for the future, she said.

"To deal with the long-range challenges of globalization and fragmentation, a cycle of landmark world conferences enabled Member States to address the leading developmental, economic, social and environmental problems of our day," Ms. Fr‚chette pointed out. With respect to the environment, she noted that the United Nations has long spearheaded global efforts to safeguard the planet's ecosystems and life-forms.

Democratization has become a major enterprise for the United Nations, according to the Deputy Secretary-General. "Our work now encompasses not only election observation and verification but also the drafting of electoral laws and constitutions and the formation of political parties."

Ms. Fr‚chette said that the relationship between the United Nations and non- governmental players "has changed beyond all recognition." She pointed out that the private sector is also part of this picture. To tackle the elements of "uncivil society," she pointed out, the United Nations Office at Vienna, under the leadership of renowned Italian crime fighter Pino Arlacchi, has become the focal point from which the Organization fights crime, drugs and terrorism.

"The spirit of reform courses through all United Nations activities, and throughout the United Nations system," said the Deputy Secretary- General. "As a result of the last year's progress, the United Nations today is in fundamental respects a new institution."

The scientists are attending a three-day international symposium entitled "Niels Bohr and the Evolution of Physics in the 20th Century." The symposium which opened at the headquarters of the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has been organized by the Niels Bohr Institute of Copenhagen and UNESCO.

The Copenhagen institute is named after Niels Bohr who, in 1950, wrote an open letter to the United Nations in which he spoke of the atomic threat. In that letter, Mr. Bohr said that "the very necessity of a concerted effort to forestall such ominous threats to civilization would offer quite unique opportunities to bridge international divergencies."

Addressing the opening session of the symposium, UNESCO Director- General Federico Mayor spoke about Mr. Bohr's sense of scientific and social responsibility. He said that "after a century scarred by the use of science and technology to fuel a culture of war and confrontation, the world has at last begun to follow the example of Niels Bohr."

Mr. Mayor said that the symposium corresponds to one of the fundamental goals of UNESCO: to promote understanding of science on a global scale, and to relate science to other parts of human culture.

He warned that unequal distribution of wealth and knowledge are still widening with so many people living in inhuman conditions which lead to violence and aggression.

The symposium will end on Friday with a round-table discussion on the role of science in society which will be moderated by Sir John Maddox, former editor in chief of "Nature," a scientific weekly magazine.

"The Handbook on Foreign Direct Investment by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises -- Lessons from Asia", reviews the economic structures and policies of Japan, Myanmar, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Viet Nam.

Susan Brandwayn, an Economic Affairs Officer with UNCTAD, and Henry Jackelen, Director of the Private Sector Development Programme with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) introduced the Handbook at a press conference in New York.

According to Ms. Brandwayn small and medium-sized enterprises are a very dynamic element for economic growth and, in developed countries, great contributors to employment and technology. Data for developing countries is more scanty, she said. The handbook tries to gauge the potential in those countries and includes recommendations for policy- makers to promote small and medium-sized enterprises.

Mr. Jackelen said entrepreneurship is a key element in the integration of economies into the global market on equitable terms for all. Using Asia as its focus, the Handbook advances the idea that it is possible to encourage joint ventures between small enterprises in industrial and developing countries, as well as between small enterprises within developing countries.

Media attention to the successes will encourage an entrepreneur in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to consider working with one in Hanoi, he continued. Investing in small and medium sized entrepreneurships generates greater access to jobs at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Collaboration is also an effective mechanism for technology transfer. The Handbook is a major step in addressing the issues of foreign direct investment and, by implication, technology, and partnerships, he added.

Vladimir Petrovsky was received by President Flavio Cotti of the Swiss Confederation and was later joined by Secretary of State Jakob Kellenberger.

The topics discussed on Thursday included the security of the international organizations in Geneva, the reforms implemented by the United Nations Secretary-General, various conferences and meetings planned in the medium and long term and the work of the Conference on Disarmament.

The discussions between Mr. Petrovsky and the Swiss Government are part of a series of regular meetings between the United Nations and Switzerland.

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

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