United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-12-11

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Friday, 11 December, 1998

HEADLINES

• Security Council prepared to consider UN involvement in Democratic Republic of Congo to help implement a cease-fire.
• Security Council members support outcome of Paris meeting to resolve Kosovo crisis.
• UN refugee agency appeals for more than $900 million for its operations in 1999.
• UN sees good prospects for repatriation of Cambodian refugees in Thailand.
• Experts from 130 countries discuss contingencies to deal with Y2K computer conversion problem.
• Secretary-General says New York City and UN are natural partners that both stand for power of diversity.
• Asthma kills over 180,000 people worldwide annually: UN health agency.
• United Nations exhibit on special initiative on Africa opens in London.

In a statement read out by its President Jassim M. Buallay of Bahrain, the Council said it was deeply concerned about the country's continuing conflict, which threatened peace, security and stability in the region and had grave humanitarian consequences. It expressed its support for the regional mediation process begun by the OAU and the Southern African Development and currently led by the Zambian President.

The Council welcomed commitments to end the conflict made at last month's meeting in Paris of the 20th Conference of the Heads of State of Africa by the Presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Rwanda and delegations of Namibia, Zimbabwe, Angola, and Chad. It strongly urged them to live up to those commitments and called on the parties concerned to participate at the highest levels at next week's summit in Lusaka.

The Council called for peaceful solution to the country's conflict, including an immediate cease-fire, the orderly withdrawal of all foreign forces, security arrangements along the country's borders and re- establishment of Government authority over all territory. It also called for an all-inclusive national reconciliation process that respected equality and rights for all, irrespective of ethnic origin, and a political process leading to early democratic elections.

Speaking to reporters in New York, Council President Ambassador Jassim Mohammed Buallay of Bahrain, said that the members also supported a press statement of that meeting.

That press statement said, in part, that the international community had fulfilled its commitment by putting in place all the components of the verification and monitoring mechanism in Kosovo. The mechanism's aim was to prevent the resumption of hostilities and to enable the early start of negotiations for a political settlement.

According to the press statement, it was imperative and urgent for the parties to comply with their obligations under relevant Security Council resolutions to reach an early political agreement which alone could guarantee regional peace and stability.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that the funds it was seeking, which are eleven cents per refugee per day, could make a huge difference in the lives of the most vulnerable people.

The United Nations refugee agency said that it needed the funds not only to look after refugees forced to flee because of violence and persecution, but also to help those returning to areas devastated by war and facing dim prospects for rebuilding their lives.

The head of UNHCR, Sadako Ogata said that the nature of UNHCR's work required both predictability and flexibility of funding. "We need to know early where we stand, to avoid interruption of life-saving activities, and we must have the flexibility to deploy resources where they are needed most, " she said.

Mrs. Ogata pointed out that ongoing or renewed conflicts in Kosovo, the Caucasus, the Great Lakes region, West Africa and other areas were complicating humanitarian responses and prolonging human suffering. The outbreak of violent conflict in Serbia's Kosovo province drove hundreds of thousands from their homes. Tens of thousands of people fled when a bloody rebellion engulfed Sierra Leone.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) made this assessment following a visit to the country earlier this week by Francois Fouinat, the agency's Director for the Asia and Pacific region. Mr. Fouinat met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and co-Ministers of National Defence and officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

UNHCR said that it believed the Cambodian refugees could be repatriated as a result of the recent surrender of the remaining Khmer Rouge factions and their reintegration into the Cambodian Armed Forces.

According the UN agency, there are still 37,000 Cambodian refugees in three camps in the Surin, Sisaket and Trat provinces in Thailand. These refugees fled fighting between government and rebel forces in west and northwest Cambodia in July 1997.

The meeting of the Economic and Social Council's working group on informatics prepared a set of action-oriented documents which were posted on UN Website.

Addressing the experts, Secretary-General Kofi Annan described the Y2K conversion problem as the most complex problem in the history of computing. If left unresolved, he said, it would impact on everyone's daily life in unknown ways. At the national level it would disrupt supermarket supplies and affect public transport and health care.

At the international level, he continued, the impact would be felt through the global interdependence of trade, manufacturing, transport, energy generation and distribution, telecommunications and defense technology. International cooperation was crucial to minimize the impact on cross- border activities.

UN Under Secretary-General for Administration and Management Joseph Connor spoke about the state of worldwide preparedness and said the global cost of fixing the bug could be as high as $600 billion and even the best prepared countries would face significant problems.

At a press conference Ambassador Ahmad Kamal of Pakistan, who chaired the working group, said the focus was on the key sectors of telecommunications, electricity and nuclear power, oil and gas, aviation, shipping and ports. It was crucial, he said, to identify linkages such as power and finance and where breakdowns were likely to occur.

Stressing New York's importance for the UN, Mr. Annan said day after day, it drew strength from the intellectual, cultural, and financial riches for which the city was a magnet.

The United Nations also brought much to the partnership, he said. Each year, it contributed $2.2 billion annually to the New York economy. The UN promoted democracy and literacy and fought corruption and drugs. It also encouraged investment and trade, protected copyright, helped governments open their markets, wrote business-friendly legislation and ensured regulatory consistency.

Mr. Annan said he had great faith in the UN-New York partnership and would do his utmost to see that the UN continued working for New York. He hoped the UN could count on the city to help it and "to support it in Washington on the chronic and debilitating problem of United States arrears; to continue the great tradition of New York philanthropy by considering UN agencies and causes in your plans for giving; and in the broadest sense to continue to be a powerful voice for all people, which is New York City at its vibrant and multicultural best".

Realising its latest statistics on the disease, WHO said that between 100 and 150 million people suffered from asthma and that this number was rising. The United Nations health agency said that mortality due to asthma was not comparable to the day-to-day effects of the disease.

Although largely avoidable, asthma tended to occur in epidemics and affected young people, said WHO. The agency said that the human and economic burden associated with this condition was severe and that the costs of asthma to the society could be reduced to a large extent through concerted international and national action.

The exhibit at the Olympia Exhibition Centre, which was opened by Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, is part of the annual Global Partnership Exhibition which showcases the work of international and national agencies and organizations concerned with humanitarian and development issues.

The ten-year $25 billion programme launched in 1996, was a new milestone in the ongoing effort to strengthen collaboration between the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions and other organizations of the system.

The exhibit was organized by the UN Information Centre in London, the United Nations Development Programme and the Westminster branch of the United Nations Association in the United Kingdom.

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

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