United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-06-23

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Tuesday, 23 June, 1998

HEADLINES

• Security Council members are concerned by delay over three contested "tribal" groups in Western Sahara.
• Secretary-General says no nation alone can deal with environmental threats which transcend borders.
• High Commissioner for refugees welcomes release of Peter Zollinger and hopes Vincent Cochetel will also be freed.
• New UN country-by-country study of AIDS epidemic shows deaths down in richer countries and up in poorer ones.
• Hundreds of people continue to leave Guinea Bissau every day to Senegal and Guinea-Conakry.
• UN Deputy Secretary-General praises small loans as an effective means to help the poor.
• United Nations humanitarian office says aftershocks of earthquake continue in Afghanistan.
• United Nations food agency prepares to deliver food to 4 million hungry people in Ethiopia.
• Secretary-General's Personal Representative heads for Portugal next week for consultations on East Timor.

The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) is working to enable the people of Western Sahara to decide between independence and integration with Morocco.

Following consultations on Tuesday, the President of the Security Council for the month of June, Ambassador Antonio Monteiro of Portugal, noted that there had been an increased pace in the identification process in May and June.

Addressing reporters on behalf of Council members, Ambassador Monteiro expressed support for the Secretary-General in calling on Morocco and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (POLISARIO) to cooperate fully with his Special Representative, Charles Dunbar, in overcoming all of the current problems so that an effective plan and a realistic schedule could be agreed on for the final phase of the settlement plan.

In an interview with United Nations Radio, Mr. Dunbar said the issue of the "contested tribes" remained problematic. "The parties are maintaining fairly rigid positions on that," he said. POLISARIO believed that 65,000 people in the "contested tribes" should not be identified, while the Moroccan Government believed that they should, he noted.

So far, MINURSO has identified some 135,000 people to be convoked for identification out of an expected 175,000. Over 240,000 have submitted applications to be convoked for identification. Each must prove that they satisfy the eligibility criteria.

Mr. Dunbar said the repatriation of refugees had been proceeding well. "We've got a long way to go -- we've got a long way to go on both sides -- but everybody is working very hard with a very positive spirit."

In a message to European Environment Ministers meeting in Denmark on Tuesday, the Secretary-General said pollution, overfishing, hazardous wastes and deforestation are examples of "problems without passports" and challenges that transcend borders.

"No nation is immune; no nation can address such issues on its own; and no nation is exempt from risks without the benefits of international cooperation," said the Secretary-General.

He said efforts by European countries to promote more efficient use of energy and other resources were setting important examples for other regions. He was also heartened, he said, by the innovative way the Ministers were opening up environmental decision-making to the general public.

The Secretary-General's message was delivered to the Fourth Pan- European Conference of Environment Ministers, "Environment for Europe", by Yves Berthelot, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe.

UNHCR said it was delighted to learn of the release of Mr. Zollinger over the weekend. He has safely returned to his family in Switzerland.

The United Nations refugee agency expressed the hope that its staff member, Vincent Cochetel who was abducted in North Ossetia on 29 January will be freed rapidly. UNHCR said that it had no news about Mr. Cochetel who has spent 145 days in captivity.

Officials of UNHCR and the International Committee of the Red Cross who held a high-level meeting in Geneva on Sunday appealed for Cochetel's immediate release.

The study points to a "prevention gap": while most industrialized nations and a handful of developing countries are seeing the spread of HIV level off or even decline -- thanks to strong prevention programmes - - infection rates are reaching alarming new highs in most of the developing world.

The Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic, produced by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), blames the gap on uneven access to drugs that combat HIV and forestall the development of AIDS- related infections and cancers.

"This particular AIDS gap shines the spotlight on the have-nots of the epidemic," said Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS. "For nine out of ten people living with HIV, the overwhelming issue is access to care -- not just antiretrovirals, but treatment for tuberculosis, diarrhoea and other AIDS-related conditions that would enable them to live in dignity and comfort."

By the end of 1997, an estimated 30.6 million people worldwide were living with HIV, including over 1 million children, according to United Nations estimates. Africa has the highest prevalence of HIV, with some 21 million infected people. In Botswana and Zimbabwe, one out of every four adults has HIV.

Thailand and Uganda are the only developing countries in the world where HIV rates are declining, thanks to prevention programmes, according to the study. Other developing countries have the potential to achieve similar success through sustained and focused prevention efforts, Dr. Piot said. "In the end, their efforts will pay off."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that its team travelled 1,800 kilometres from Conakry to the eastern border of Guinea Bissau and met people who had been walking for days from the eastern town of Gabu. According to the agency, tens of thousands of displaced people were reported to have gathered in that town.

UNHCR quoted authorities at crossing points with Guinea as saying that approximately 12,000 people have arrived since June 11. Of those people, 8, 500 arrived within a four-day period from the 11th to the 14th.

The United Nations refugee agency said that officials were allowing people to cross for humanitarian reasons although the border has been officially declared shut.

Addressing the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest in New York, Ms. Fr‚chette said that while microfinance is not a panacea for poverty, it has proved to be a powerful instrument in helping people to help themselves.

By making the client the focus, microfinance served as an excellent example of "people-centred development," said the Deputy Secretary- General. Every day, poor households accessing microfinance services are demonstrating their resilience and creativity, she noted, describing the poor as "an untapped source of strength to the global economy."

Ms. Fr‚chette expressed confidence that the United Nations could help build a dynamic microfinance industry "aimed at reaching the poorest market in our global economy."

According to OCHA, most people in the affected area choose to live outside of their mud houses. OCHA said that the number of people in need of shelter is likely to increase as more reliable data is accumulated.

OCHA said that the relief operation is fully on track reaching all severely destroyed villages with food and shelter material. More relief supplies are in the pipeline and will be delivered in the next few weeks, said OCHA.

OCHA added that enormous rehabilitation needs remain and must be addressed in the coming months. It strongly encouraged governments to support the appeal for $6.8 million issued last week for relief and emergency rehabilitation.

Mr. Eckhard said Ambassador Marker was then "expected to visit Indonesia, including East Timor, in the second half of July."

Ambassador Marker was appointed as the Secretary-General's Personal Representative in February 1997 and immediately embarked upon a process of intensive consultations with the Governments of Indonesia and Portugal on how to revitalize the effort to find a just, comprehensive and internationally acceptable solution to the problem of East Timor. At the same time, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has remained personally engaged in the process, which has received renewed international attention following the recent change of Government in Indonesia.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) negotiated this week with Ethiopian officials, Djibouti port authorities and transport companies to ensure that, in coming months, 240,000 metric tons of much-needed food will be processed through the port and safely delivered by rail and truck.

The food had been committed to vulnerable populations in Ethiopia before the outbreak of hostilities last month, the WFP says. However, Djibouti's port is expected to become increasingly congested as shipments are diverted from the Eritrean ports of Massawa and Assab. The food relief agency fears the increased traffic would slow down food aid.

WFP is confident it will now be able to move a minimum of 30,000 tons of food aid from the port each month and create a lifeline for millions of Ethiopians and refugees who depend on food aid to help them and their families make it through the next harvest. The food aid was contributed to Ethiopia by WFP, the European Union, the United States and Canada.

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

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article