United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-03-31

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Wednesday, 31 March, 1999

HEADLINES

• Exodus from Kosovo continues with numbers climbing by the hour.
• Prosecutor of Yugoslav Tribunal warns President Milosevic of accountability under international law.
• UN human rights chief expresses grave concern at reports of mass killings and disappearances in Kosovo.
• UN Tribunal prosecutor confident arrested Rwanda war crimes suspect will be tried in Belgian court.
• UN regional workshop in Bangkok highlights right to development amid Asia's economic crisis.

More than 130,000 people have now fled the province in the last week and the number is climbing every hour. UNHCR staff reported a 12-car train carrying up to 3,000 people crossed into the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on Wednesday. The new arrivals spoke of being forced by gunmen from their homes, which were then torched. Earlier on Wednesday, another train carrying several hundred people was allowed into the country, after being turned back the previous night.

Another 4,000 people who spent several nights in the mountains bordering the frontier in freezing temperatures also arrived in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Several women gave birth en route. Some people arrived barefoot and most had only the clothes they wore. There were more men among the arrivals than in previous days.

The UNHCR said thousands of people also streamed into Albania which is still the major exit point for Kosovars. The latest arrivals in the Albanian town of Kukes said they had encountered landmine explosions en route and that there had been casualties. Several men arrived with shrapnel and gunshot wounds.

An estimated 5,000 people arrived in Montenegro, bringing the total influx in the last week to 25,000.

Meanwhile, in London, the Executive Director of the UN World Food Program (WFP), Catherine Bertini, told reporters that the food distribution system had collapsed in Kosovo. She said that without international assistance people in Kosovo faced extreme hardship and hunger.

Reacting to the latest developments in Kosovo, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday said he was "profoundly outraged" by reports of ethnic cleansing by Serbian forces in Kosovo.

"I welcome these statements and I take these assurances seriously," Justice Arbour told reporters in the Hague.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Prosecutor made public letters she wrote last week to top Yugoslav officials, including President Milosevic, reminding them of their obligations under international law and warning them of their accountability. She also made public an indictment against "Arkan", or Zseljko Raznjatovic and said she hoped that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia would comply with Security Council dictates by arresting Arkan and transferring him to the Tribunal in The Hague.

Meanwhile, the President of the Tribunal, Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, said she was "stunned and horrified" by the recent reports out of Kosovo.

Judge McDonald called on President Milosevic to prevent further crimes, and reminded him that just eight months ago, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda convicted the country's former Prime Minister of genocide. In doing so, the Court affirmed the responsibility of governments to ensure that their citizens live in peace and security. The resulting trust and authority that governments enjoy applies equally, if not more, to heads of State, said Judge McDonald.

Ms. Robinson joined the Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur on the situation in the former Yugoslavia, Jiri Dienstbier, in issuing a statement on the reports out of Kosovo.

The High Commissioner and the Special Rapporteur said they were appalled by reports of killings of Kosovo Albanian human rights defenders, intellectuals and political leaders, including Fehmi Agani, Baton Haxhiu, Din Mehmeti and Alush Gashi. It has not been possible to confirm those killings.

Ms. Robinson and Mr. Dienstbier said they were also deeply concerned at the plight of tens of thousands of refugees and displaced persons uprooted by the ongoing Kosovo crisis.

A statement released by the Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday, said that Justice Louise Arbour was confident that the arrest of Bernard Ntuyahaga in Dar Es Salam yesterday would allow his prosecution by a national court.

Mr. Ntuyahaga was released from the custody of the Tribunal after the Prosecutor requested that the charges against him be withdrawn because she considered that it was more appropriate for him to be tried in Belgium than at the International Tribunal.

The Prosecutor made clear that Belgium had already instituted proceedings against Mr. Ntuyahaga for his implication in the genocide in Rwanda and in the murder of the ten Belgian soldiers serving with the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR).

Noting that Belgium had already sought Mr. Ntuyahaga's extradition from Tanzania, the statement stressed that withdrawal of an indictment was not an acquittal of the accused and therefore nothing prevented a prosecution against him in any competent forum.

In an opening address to a two-day regional workshop held in Bangkok on Promoting the Right to Development, Adrianus Mooy, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), said that raising awareness about the right to development was essential because "no concept, however noble, can be of social significance unless communicated to as wide an audience and in as convincing a manner as possible".

The workshop, part of a one-year project funded by the Norwegian Government to produce television and animation spots on the right to development, was organized to discuss ideas for a series of broadcasts in Asia intended to inform and educate the public about human rights.

Arne Fjortoft, the head of Worldview International Foundation, co- organizer of the event, said that while the international media was busy covering the crisis in Kosovo there was not enough coverage of developmental issues. He emphasized that the media could play an important role in changing society by promoting the right to development.

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

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