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United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-01-14United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgDAILY HIGHLIGHTSWednesday, 14 January, 1999This daily news round-up is prepared by the Central News Section of the Department of Public Information. The latest update is posted at approximately 6:00 PM New York time. HEADLINES
Members of the Security Council on Wednesday expressed their outrage at the reported massacres of hundreds of civilians in south Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and called for an international investigation of the killings. Speaking to the press, following a briefing to the Council by Under- Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, the President of the Security Council, Ambassador Celso Amorim of Brazil said that Council members demanded cooperation from all sides in the investigation of the massacres. Regarding human rights, Council members welcomed the prospective visit of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Mr. Roberto Garreton to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at the invitation of the Congolese Government. Ambassador Amorim said that the members of the Security Council expressed the hope that the visit would bring further progress in the area of human rights. They also called for respect for humanitarian law. On the diplomatic front, Council members urged the parties to the conflict to attend the forthcoming meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, at the highest political level in a spirit of compromise to agree on a ceasefire to be promptly implemented. Members of the Security Council insisted on the need for early progress towards a political solution to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ambassador Amorim added. They expressed the need for the Council to continue with its own involvement and that of the United Nations at large in support of regional mediation efforts. Council members reaffirmed their commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ambassador Amorim said. Members of the Security Council on Wednesday expressed their concern about the developments that could affect the process of national reconciliation in the Central African Republic. Following a briefing by H‚di Annabi, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peace-keeping Operations, Council President, Ambassador Celso Amorim of Brazil said that Council members expressed their strong support to Mr. Annabi on his mission to support the peace process. Mr. Annabi is expected to leave on Thursday in order to be in the country's capital, Bangui on Saturday. On his return, Mr. Annabi will again fully brief the Council on the results of his trip. Ambassador Amorim said that the briefing would be important as the Council consider the renewal of the mandate of the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINURCA). An official from the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) claims the rebel movement has located the crash site of the second UN plane in Angola, according to UN spokesman, Fred Eckhard. Two UN-chartered aircraft were downed on 26 December 1998 and 2 January 1999 over UNITA-controlled territory. The United Nations Security Coordinator, Benon Sevan, got in touch with the official in Paris on Tuesday on his way back from Angola, said Mr. Eckhard. The official told Mr. Sevan that UNITA would take a UN rescue team to the crash site, although he did not give details about the exact location. Mr. Sevan was in Angola to oversee the investigation of the downing of the two UN-chartered planes. He was expected to arrive back in New York on Wednesday. The UN Deputy Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, Martin Griffiths, left New York on Wednesday to assess the humanitarian situation in three trouble spots in Africa. UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said that following recent developments in Angola and the deteriorating humanitarian situation, Mr. Griffiths will travel first to the capital Luanda to review conditions on the ground and discuss future humanitarian operations. Some one million people in Angola were in need of urgent assistance, Mr. Eckhard added. After Angola, Mr. Griffiths will visit the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a week. He will discuss a plan of action for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and other humanitarian issues with Government officials in Kinshasa and also with authorities in areas not under government control. Mr. Griffiths will also travel to Brazzaville, the war-ravaged capital of the Republic of Congo. He will review the possibility of emergency intervention to assist some 250,000 people who have been displaced in the city since the outbreak of fighting last month. The United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Humanitarian Affairs for the Sudan is currently on a week-long mission to the Sudan and Kenya to review the status of the humanitarian cease- fire in the Bar-El Ghazal region of southern Sudan. Ambassador Tom Vraaslen will discuss the ceasefire, which expires on 15 January 1999, with representatives of the Sudanese Government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). They will also examine issues related to the protocol on the use of rail and road corridors agreed to in Rome, Italy on 18 November 1998 among the Sudanese Government, the SPLM and the United Nations. On Tuesday the UN World Food Programme warned that a resurgence in fighting would strike a deadly blow to thousands of vulnerable people in that region. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and other humanitarian agencies are preparing to resume emergency aid delivery as soon as possible in Sierra Leone, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday. Spokesman Fred Eckhard said that the top priority would be Freetown where hundreds of thousands of people have been trapped in their homes for a week during the fighting. WFP and other humanitarian agencies met with the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Sierra Leone, Francis Okelo on Tuesday and asked him to intercede with all parties to the conflict to ensure delivery of urgently needed assistance. On the same day, Mr. Okelo met with Foday Sankoh, the leader of the Revolutionary United Front, who had been taken to Conakry by the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG). Also present at that meeting, were the foreign ministers of Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea and Togo, Spokesman Fred Eckhard said. Mr. Sankoh said that he was willing to order a one-month ceasefire as soon as he was released. He said that he could not support a ceasefire call before his release. The Secretary-General's Special Representative was expected to fly back to Sierra Leone on Wednesday to discuss the rebel proposal with President Tejan Kabbah. For information purposes only - - not an official record From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgUnited Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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