United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-10-12

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Monday, 12 October, 1998

Latest Developments

HEADLINES

• Secretary-General urges Yugoslav President to comply with Security Council resolutions on Kosovo.
• UN special envoy to visit Kandahar, Afghanistan, amid growing tensions between Iran and Taliban.
• In latest report, Secretary-General warns situation in Afghanistan poses threat to regional stability.
• Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs deplores emerging "gun culture" but says initiatives to combat it are numerous.
• Top United Nations humanitarian official welcomes extension of ceasefire in famine-stricken area of Sudan.

A spokesman for the Secretary-General said that Mr. Annan encouraged President Milosevic to continue to work with the United States Envoy, Richard Holbrooke, in pursuance of this objective.

Spokesman Fred Eckhard said that President Milosevic assured the Secretary- General that "he was in the process of complying, or trying to come into full compliance with the Security Council resolutions." The Yugoslav leader and the Secretary-General also discussed some of the details of the discussions between the President Milosevic and Mr. Holbrooke, Mr. Eckhard added.

Asked by a reporter if the Secretary-General was encouraged by the call, Spokesman Eckhard said that Mr. Annan "just felt he was doing his duty by urging the President to comply with Security Council resolutions, something he felt he had to do."

On Friday last week the Secretary-General met with the Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to express his concern about the dangerous situation in the conflict- torn Kosovo province and called for efforts to be made to reach a political solution to the crisis.

"The Secretary-General wishes to emphasize the very exceptional nature of Mr. Brahimi's visit," said his Spokesman, Fred Eckhard, on Monday. The Secretary-General's decision was taken following two days of talks in Islamabad, on 10 and 11 October, between Mr. Brahimi and a delegation of senior Taliban representatives.

Mr. Eckhard recalled that in view of serious security concerns, all international United Nations staff had been withdrawn from Afghanistan on 22 August, one day after the fatal shooting in Kabul of Lieutenant Colonel Carmine Calo, a military advisory serving with the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan (UNSMA).

"The Taliban leadership have given Mr. Brahimi assurances that they will address seriously unresolved United Nations concerns, in particular Taliban's sharing of information of their investigation into the killings of Lieutenant Colonel Calo, as well as other security concerns about the possible return of international United Nations staff to Afghanistan," Mr. Eckhard concluded.

The Secretary-General recalls that he has appealed to the parties, "and to outside Powers that continue to fuel the conflict," for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, to be followed by the resumption of political negotiations. He notes that even if one party were to overwhelm the others by force, the conflict would not end, but would merely enter a new phase. "Sadly, these appeals, as well as resolutions and presidential statements of the Security Council, appear to have fallen on deaf ears."

The Secretary-General repeats his appeal to all Afghan factions, particularly the Taliban, to respect the human rights of people under their control. "I also stress that cultural and historic relics of Afghanistan, including the statues of Buddha in Bamiyan, are the common heritage of mankind and should be protected by all," he writes, reminding the Afghan factions that "the international community is watching closely not only their words but also their deeds."

In a speech delivered in Brussels on behalf of Secretary- General Kofi Annan to the International Conference on Sustainable Disarmament for Sustainable Development, Mr. Dhanapala stressed that the problem of small arms has transnational dimensions. "These weapons have proliferated both widely and deeply in society today -- they are finding their way not just to more countries but to more private arsenals within those countries including -- but not limited to -- militia groups, drug cartels and organized crime syndicates, creating an insidious and pervasive 'gun culture'," Mr. Dhanapala said.

Mr. Dhanapala said the picture was not entirely bleak, since initiatives for curbing the arms trade or its consequences were proliferating almost at a daily pace. "I cannot begin to recount all of the farsighted initiatives that I see each day emerging from governments, non-governmental organizations, regional institutions and from inside the United Nations itself," he noted.

Among the efforts under way at the United Nations, Mr. Dhanapala noted that the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice had recommended that States work towards the elaboration of an international instrument to combat the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, their parts and components, and ammunition. That treaty would be developed within the context of a United Nations convention against transnational organized crime, which is expected to be finalized by the end of the year 2000.

In a statement issued on Monday, Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Under- Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said he was pleased to learn that the Sudanese parties to the conflict had agreed to extend the ceasefire for an additional three-month period.

Mr. de Mello said that the cessation of hostilities would enable the massive United Nations and non-governmental relief effort, known as Operation Lifeline Sudan, to continue its work unhindered by security considerations in Barh El Ghazal. "This is particularly important now as the rainy season, when relatively little fighting takes place, comes to an end."

The United Nations official added, however, that he remained concerned over the continuing serious humanitarian situation elsewhere in southern Sudan, particularly in Western Upper Nile, Bor County and Eastern Equatoria, and over the need for the intensive relief operation to continue until next year's harvest. "I will continue to work closely with our humanitarian partners and others for a further extension of the ceasefire both in temporal and geographic scope," Mr. de Mello said.

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

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