United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-12-18

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Friday, 18 December, 1998

HEADLINES

• Security Council hears of worsening humanitarian situation in Sierra Leone.
• Secretary-General recommends six-month extension of UN Mission in Sierra Leone.
• One hundred and six United Nations humanitarian workers leave Baghdad for Amman, Jordan.
• Secretary-General calls on sides in Georgia and Abkhazia dispute to avoid violence.
• UN humanitarian agencies report worsening situation in Angola with 100, 000 people displaced in last two weeks.
• UN refugee agency in Democratic Republic of Congo identifies over 8,000 refugees from Congo-Brazzaville.
• UN Food Programme uses wheat to pay for rebuilding of 14,000 new earthquake-resistant homes in Afghanistan.

The sanctions include an arms embargo against the non-governmental forces and a travel ban on members of the military junta.

The Security Council was briefed by both the Swedish Ambassador and the Under-Secretary-General for UN Peacekeeping Operations, Bernard Miyet on the latest situation in Sierra Leone.

Ambassador Dahlgren said every State must ensure respect for the sanctions. The land borders of Sierra Leone and Liberia were difficult to monitor and the international community might consider the Liberian proposal for joint border control with Sierra Leone, he said.

Mr. Dahlgren said words were not strong enough to describe the atrocities committed by rebel forces in Sierra Leone. They had cut off parts of the bodies of their victims and burned men, women and children alive.

Under-Secretary-General Miyet introduced the Secretary-General's report on Sierra Leone which describes human rights violations by the rebels and Government treason trials of civilian and military supporters of the junta. It also describes several initiatives to improve domestic observance of human rights in Sierra Leone. The Secretary-General, Mr. Miyet said, was planning to deploy another five human rights officers.

He said the Monitoring Group of the West African Economic Community (ECOMOG) had repulsed recent advances by rebels and roads leading to the capital were now clear. Tension had risen in other parts of the country owing to rebel activity, especially in the north-east and the east.

A $28 million 1999 consolidated inter-agency appeal for Sierra Leone was launched in Geneva on Thursday, he said. A total of 29 projects, ranging from immediate life-saving needs to longer-term ones, were planned.

In a report to the Security Council, the Secretary-General says the deployment of five more human rights officers in the provinces, in addition to the five already in the country, would help the Government maintain and improve its commitment to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms. He plans a modest expansion in the Mission's civilian staff to address growing demands on the ground and help with efforts to normalize the situation in the country.

Given the uncertain security situation and delays in the Government's disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme, he says, it is premature to proceed with the further deployment of military observers authorized by the Council. UNOMSIL is ready to deploy the additional observers when required.

Despite Government progress in consolidating its authority, the Secretary- General says he is disturbed at continuing rebel attacks and atrocities on civilians. He calls on the Revolutionary United Front and the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council to stop the attacks and to surrender. The Mission will continue to facilitate surrenders if conducted under acceptable security conditions.

Restoring stability will be a long and arduous process, he continued, and will require military support and other forms of assistance. The Government needs assistance to establish a new professional armed force under civilian control, as well as an effective and well-motivated police force.

A statement issued by a spokesman for the Secretary-General said that the staff members were being relocated due to the prevailing situation in Iraq. For the past few days, all United Nations personnel had been staying at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, where the office of the United Nations is located.

The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General, Ambassador Prakash Shah, and the Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr. Hans von Sponeck remained in Baghdad along with 26 United Nations personnel, including representatives of the United Nations agencies and programmes in Iraq. There are also 578 national staff in the centre and south of the country.

According to the United Nations spokesman, the humanitarian programme in the three northern governorates continued its operations without interruption. There are 232 international and 880 national United Nations personnel working with the programme in the three northern governorates.

Reaffirming its full commitment to the implementation of the "oil- for- food" programme, the United Nations expressed the hope that all those relocated temporarily would soon resume their duties in Iraq.

In a statement issued by his spokesman, the Secretary-General expressed concern about the alarming news of sharply rising tensions between Georgia and Abkhazia (Republic of Georgia). Both sides were reportedly mobilizing troops and using tough rhetoric, he said.

The Secretary-General said that these developments were particularly regrettable in view of the United Nations efforts to promote political dialogue and reconciliation. He said that the escalation of tensions negatively affected the ongoing sixth session of the Coordinating Council, conducted in Geneva by Mr. Liviu Botha, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Georgia.

Abkhazia was an autonomous republic within the former Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Georgia became independent and Abkhazians demanded greater autonomy. Fighting broke out in 1992 when the local authorities in Abkhazia attempted to separate from Georgia.

Since the beginning of 1998, the number of displaced people is estimated to be as high as 500,000, according to the UNHCR.

Fighting between the Angolan Government and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) was concentrated in the central highland area of Huambo and Bie.

Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Friday that it had distributed food to tens of thousands of displaced people in the Angolan town of Kuito.

The WFP estimates 50,000 people are in Kuito, where heavy battles between the Government and UNITA raged last week. Some townspeople fled when the conflict began, while others flocked there in search of safety and assistance. Many arrived without belongings and are in urgent need of food, shelter and medicine.

The 60 metric tons of food distributed from WFP's Kuito warehouses on Friday will provide a one month ration to 5,000 people. Almost 1,000 tons of food currently in the warehouses is enough for a survival ration for 50, 000 people until mid-January.

UNHCR said that its team had gone on a five-day mission to border villages in the Luozi district, west and southwest of Kinshasa.

According to UNHCR, the new arrivals had fled battles in past weeks between rival Ninja and Cobra militias in the Pool region of Congo- Brazzaville. The UN agency said the arrivals included refugees and nationals of the Democratic Republic of the Congo who were living in Congo-Brazzaville.

The United Nations refugee agency said that the group had adequate food at present but was in urgent need of medical assistance. Several children were reported to have died from lack of care since crossing to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, UNHCR added.

The UN agency said that it was distributing medical kits and soap to villages in the area and that food and basic necessities would be given to the most vulnerable members of the group.

According to WFP Emergency Officer, Mohammed Sheikh, the wheat was brought in from Tajikistan to pay men to reconstruct their homes in the remote mountainous regions of Badakshan and Taqhar provinces. It was part of a strategy designed to stop the men from leaving the area to seek work to support their families.

The 31 May earthquake, the second to hit the area in 1998, killed 4,000 people and damaged 125 villages.

Because UN international staff have not been allowed in Afghanistan since the August air strikes by the United States, WFP contacted the French non- governmental organization ACTED to help with the wheat delivery from Tajikistan.

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS 15 December 1998

The second paragraph of the story "Secretary-General encouraged by UN- sponsored talks on Cyprus", should read:

"In a letter to the Security Council released on Tuesday, the Secretary- General said Glafcos Clerides President of Cyprus..."

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

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