United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-11-27

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Friday, 27 November, 1998

HEADLINES

• Secretary-General says collective efforts are needed to settle crises in Africa.
• Secretary-General's Personal Representative for East Timor reports "fruitful exchange" between Portugal and Indonesia on autonomy.
• Ambush on World Food Programme convoy in Angola leaves two transport workers dead.
• World Food Programme learns that one of its staff had been murdered in August in Afghanistan.
• United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization reports that global number of hungry people is growing.
• UN agencies in Uganda appeal for $70 million for emergency assistance for over half a million people.
• World Health Organization sponsors meeting in Kazakstan on primary health care.

The Secretary-General said his greatest anxiety concerned the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- a war in which a half a dozen or more other African States were now implicated. "In this war, we may well face our greatest challenge," he said. In Congo-Kinshasa, as everywhere, all parties must irrevocably choose peace and compromise, turning their backs on violence and conflict.

"In too many parts of the continent, ethnic divisions continue to obstruct economic progress and good governance, making every peace fragile and every division explosive," said Mr. Annan. He noted that it was unfair that those conflicts affected the way the entire continent was seen by the rest of the world, pointing out that some African countries had achieved very respectable growth rates and eminently deserve to attract investment. "But, " he said, "we are all affected by the negative image of a continent in crisis."

The Secretary-General said that Nigeria offered an example of an African country which was working constructively to address its internal problems. "General Abubakar has seized the challenge of his country's future," said the Secretary-General, adding, "He has chosen the route of genuine democracy and the rule of law."

Nigeria was demonstrating that the past need not be the prologue. "If carried through successfully and emulated by others, Nigeria's experience will enable us to tell our children and grandchildren that, yes, we did choose peace, we did choose democracy, we did choose human rights," the Secretary-General said.

"I am pleased to inform you that the meetings were held in a very constructive and businesslike manner," Ambassador Jamsheed Marker told reporters in New York at the conclusion of the talks. "We've gone a long way towards the autonomy process." He expressed optimism that the United Nations had put forward "very sound proposals" which, it was hoped, would find a positive response from all sides.

At the round of talks just concluded, the various areas of autonomy were extensively discussed, and the two sides "now have a better understanding of each other's positions on the specific issues," Mr. Marker said. "Also at this round, we've been able to finalize the text of the agreement to establish diplomatic interest sections between the Indonesian and Portuguese Governments."

Ambassador Marker said that both he and Secretary-General Kofi Annan hoped to build on those fruitful exchanges, and advance the process towards an early agreement on the shape of a suitable autonomous regime for East Timor.

He recalled that in August, after meeting with the Secretary- General, the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia and Portugal had reached "the important agreement to set aside the difficult issue of the final status of East Timor, and enter into an in-depth discussion of a possible wide- ranging autonomy for East Timor without, for the time being, determining whether the autonomy would be a transitional arrangement until the question of status is determined through the direct choice of the East Timorese, or whether it would represent a final dispensation for East Timor."

In October, the United Nations submitted a detailed proposal for such a wide-ranging autonomous arrangement. "The primary focus of the present round of talks was to hear the formal response of the Indonesian and Portuguese Governments to the proposal," Ambassador Marker said. The meeting also looked at the other issues on the agenda.

Ambassador Marker said that in the course of the past week, he had also held meetings with various representatives of the East Timorese resistance "with a view to ensuring that they are kept abreast of progress in the talks and that their views are, in turn, adequately channelled to the tripartite talks."

The next round of senior officials meetings will take place from 1 to 5 February 1999. It will be preceded by a small working group to tackle issues relevant to economic matters in the context of the autonomy discussions. "I myself will be travelling to Indonesia and East Timor in mid-December," said Ambassador Marker, adding that one of his assistants would travel there next week to continue the process of intensified consultations with East Timorese leaders.

The 30-vehicle convoy, carrying 400 metric tonnes of food under escort by the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA), was on its way north from Lubango, the capital of Huila province, when it was ambushed in the early morning about 14 kilometres outside of the town of Cacula.

The MONUA escort, consisting of three armoured vehicles from the Namibian contingent, immediately returned fire and repelled the attack. There was no information on who the assailants were.

WFP's Country Representative in Angola, Francesco Strippoli, called the attacks despicable. "We are a humanitarian aid organization here to help the hungry poor," he pointed out. "There is absolutely no excuse for this, because the consequences are that thousands of people -- children, the sick and the elderly -- will be left without food that they desperately need."

The attackers hit a truck owned by a commercial transport firm under contract to WFP, according to the agency. The operator and the driver were killed during the first wave of shooting, while one of the two driver's assistants was injured. The casualties were taken to Lubango. None of the WFP escort staff who were riding with the convoy were injured.

Sayed Essa, an Afghan national working as a WFP warehouse guard, was shot and killed in August as he tried to escape advancing Taliban forces. Mr. Essa was the eleventh WFP staff member to lose his life in the line of duty this year, according to the agency, which said the exact date of his death remains unknown.

WFP learned of Mr. Essa's murder during the first official visit of a United Nations mission to Bamiyan since the evacuation of the Organization's international staff from the city on 13 August. After the Taliban took control of Bamiyan, a total blockade was imposed on the city, making surface travel and radio communications impossible.

Mr. Essa had been recruited on 15 August after a number of other guards had abandoned their work in Bamiyan and fled to the mountains as the Taliban advanced on the city. He was apparently killed in Taliban cross-fire while making his way to the mountains.

"We deeply regret this savage attack on a WFP employee," said the agency's Executive Director, Catherine Bertini. "This is part of an ongoing and deeply troubling escalation of violence against humanitarian workers worldwide."

WFP has set up a task force which is looking into security issues in conditions in the field, where 80 per cent of its 4,000 staff members are stationed.

The total number of chronically undernourished people in developing countries is now estimated to be 828 million for the 1994-96 period, up from 822 million for 1990-92, according to the report. In addition to weather-related crop damage which reduced domestic food availability in many countries, the problem was compounded by foreign exchange constraints that prevented those countries from importing food to make up the shortfall.

The report warns that global financial turmoil now threatens the earlier economic gains, including improved food security, made by many Asian and Latin American countries. Its negative effects on household incomes, employment and prospects for agricultural production and trade could lead to greater food insecurity for millions of people.

"Efforts to meet the World Food Summit goal of reducing, by at least half, the 1996 number of hungry people in the world by the year 2015 are all the more urgent," said Jacques Vercueil, Director of FAO's Agriculture and Economic Development Analysis Division, which produced the report. "In East Asia and Southeast Asia, there are 258 million malnourished people. In South Asia, in 1994-96, there were 254 million undernourished people, up from 237 million in 1990-92," he said.

"In sub-Saharan Africa," Mr. Vercueil continued, "the number of hungry is also increasing," with the most recent data showing an increase in the region's malnourished people from 196 million in 1990-92 to 210 million in 1994-96.

The largest absolute numbers of undernourished people are in Asia, according to the report, while the largest proportion of the population that is undernourished is in sub-Saharan Africa.

"More striking," says the report, "is the fact that, contrary to the overall tendency in the developing countries as a whole, the poorest group of countries has not been able to reduce the number or percentage of undernourished since 1969-71."

Globally, the number of countries facing food emergencies rose from 29 in mid-1997 to 36 in mid-1998, mainly because of the effects of the El Ni¤o weather phenomenon, according to the report. Since it was printed, that number has risen to 40, according to FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System.

The appeal aims at increasing food security and ensuring the availability of basic health, water and social services to conflict- affected communities and the large number of people seeking refuge in towns and camps as a result of continued insecurity.

Persistent fighting between rebel movements and the Government in the northern and western parts of the country has led to the disruption of essential social services and economic livelihoods. Significant population movements have also resulted. At present, United Nations agencies and other humanitarian organizations are providing assistance to communities in conflict-affected areas and approximately 400,000 internally displaced persons. In addition, some 182,000 refugees from neighbouring countries, most of whom live in the north, also require assistance.

The meeting will take stock of primary health care achievements since 1978, when governments adopted the Alma Ata Declaration of Health For All.

Since the primary health care approach was enshrined, the worldwide infant mortality rate has decreased by 34 per cent, from 90 per 1000 live births in 1975 to 59 in 1995. Immunization coverage for children under one year of age has risen from 20 per cent to 80 per cent between 1980 and 1990. In the mid 1970s, only 38 per cent of all people in developing countries had access to safe drinking water and 32 per cent to adequate sanitation; those figures had risen to 66% and 53%, respectively, by 1990.

The Almaty meeting aims to identify key directions for the development of local, national and international health systems. According to WHO, mechanisms will be needed for strengthened collaboration across government ministries and various sectors of society, including the private sector.

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

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