United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-10-19

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

Monday, 19 October, 1998

Latest Developments

HEADLINES

• Secretary-General calls for assistance to West African peacekeepers to end conflict in Sierra Leone.
• Secretary-General "disappointed" that United States "can- do" spirit does not prevail in paying UN dues.
• "Shocked" by oil pipeline explosion in Nigeria, Secretary- General conveys condolences to families of victims.
• Head of UNESCO warns that global financial and economic crisis poses a threat to all societies "without exception."

In his second report on the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL), the Secretary-General said that the continuing commitment of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) had been essential in assisting the Government of Sierra Leone to restore peace throughout the country.

In view of the importance of the present offensive to the east and the wresting of the initiative from the rebels, the Secretary- General appealed to the members of the Security Council and the international community to extend all possible technical and logistical support to achieving the successful conclusion of the conflict in that country.

The Secretary-General said that the continuing conflict in Sierra Leone imposed immense suffering on the people on that country. He strongly condemned "the summary executions, torture, mutilations, rapes, looting and other acts of barbarism carried out by former junta elements" and called on them to lay down their arms and surrender.

Mr. Annan said that the human rights abuses committed by the rebels also gave rise to the humanitarian emergency in Sierra Leone, as they continued to cause widespread dislocation of local populations. He said that although the United Nations and non- governmental organizations had done much to aid the victims of attacks and displacement, more was needed to be done urgently, especially in the provision of medical and surgical capacity, specific services for amputees and psychological treatment for the trauma suffered by the victims and their families.

In an address to the annual convention of the American Association of Magazine Publishers and Editors held in Orlando, Florida, the Secretary- General paid tribute to the "spirit which enabled America, three times this century, to lead the world in a struggle against tyranny and aggression." He said that spirit had enabled the country to overcome the great depression in the 1930s, and in the 1940s to design the architecture of the postwar world, with the United Nations as its centrepiece.

"I must say I am disappointed, and indeed disturbed, in the light of that record and those achievements, that today the United States is failing to keep faith with the other 184 Member States by honouring its legal obligation to paying what it owes," Mr. Annan said. He said the challenge posed by the current financial crisis must be addressed globally, and called the United Nations "a tailor-made forum" for a collective, multilateral effort to meet the global aspects of this challenge. Mr. Annan noted, however, that the international community could "meet the challenge only if the United States plays its due part in the effort, and provides once again the leadership we saw in the days when the United Nations was founded."

The Secretary-General spent the weekend in Florida, where he visited Disney's Epcot Center on Sunday. He was taken to the site of the 'Millennium village' where there will be a United Nations pavilion set to open in approximately one year. "I think by coming together and working with Disney, we can share some of the values we have at the United Nations, " Mr. Annan told reporters at Epcot. "I think we will come here, celebrate diversity and help uplift the human spirit."

In a statement issued by his spokesman, Mr. Kofi Annan said that the explosion, which took hundreds of lives, was a major tragedy and environmental disaster.

The Secretary-General conveyed his condolences to the families of the victims and the Government of Nigeria.

Speaking at the opening of the 155th session of UNESCO's Executive Board in Paris on Monday, Mr. Federico Mayor said that the crisis was predictable and might have been averted. He said the crisis illustrated what UNESCO had long predicted, that there could be no sustainable development "based on exclusion, poverty, ignorance, and injustice, environmental decay, and blind market forces alone."

The 58-member Executive Board meets twice a year to review the implementation of programmes adopted by the General Conference, UNESCO's main decision-making body, and to discuss administrative and financial issues.

The hallmark of the current three-week session is the focus on the upcoming fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Opening Monday's debate on the subject, the Board's Chairman, Mr. Pal Pataki stressed that UNESCO must reiterate that "the concept of the 1948 Declaration rests on the universality and indivisibility of human rights."

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

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article