United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-05-10

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Monday, 10 May, 1999

HEADLINES

• Shock and concern expressed at UN in immediate aftermath of NATO's bombing of Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
• Thousands of refugees sweep into Albania amid reports of new wave of ethnic cleansing in western Kosovo.
• International Court of Justice opens hearings on Yugoslavia's case against 10 States on use of force.
• Advance team begins negotiations in Belgrade for UN humanitarian assessment mission to Kosovo.
• On tour of Balkan countries, UN human rights commissioner vows to ensure accountability for ethnic cleansing.
• Secretary-General recommends six-month extension for UN mission in Tajikistan.
• UN mission in East Timor should be fully deployed by mid-June, says senior UN official.
• New study by UN Development Programme calls for changes in international cooperation and public policy.

On Saturday, within hours of NATO's attack on the embassy, members of the Security expressed their shock and concern over the casualties and damage caused by the incident.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General Kofi Annan in an immediate reaction to the news of the bombing, said he was "shocked and distressed", according to a statement issued late Friday by his spokesman. According to the statement the Secretary-General spoke to China's UN Ambassador Qin Huasun to express his condolences for the loss of life and injuries incurred.

The reaction by Security Council members came in the form of a press statement by the Council President, Ambassador Denis Dangue Rewaka of Gabon. The statement was issued just before the Council met in the early hours of Saturday morning to discuss the bombing at China's request. In the statement, Council members expressed their sympathy and condolences to the Chinese Government and the families of the victims. They also took note of the regrets expressed "in this tragic event", as well as the fact that an investigation had been initiated by NATO, the results of which Council members were "awaiting".

During the Council meeting, which started at 3:43 a.m and adjourned at 5:06 a.m., the Chinese representative registered "the strongest possible protest", stressing that the bombing of Yugoslavia by NATO had now violated China's sovereignty as well the basic norms of international relations. In his remarks at the end of the meeting, the Chinese representative said the argument that NATO had not intentionally bombed the Embassy and therefore it had not contravened the convention on diplomatic protection was absurd. Whether deliberate or not, he said, the incident was a blatant transgression of international law, and NATO must take responsibility for its actions.

The United States representative said that NATO did not target civilians, or embassies. If it was responsible for the incident, he was deeply sorry. However, one man alone was responsible for the crisis: Slobodan Milosevic, the US representative stressed.

The representative of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia said NATO was waging total war against a sovereign country and its people. Noting that the entire international legal system was at stake, the Yugoslav representative stressed that it was perhaps the Council's last chance to exercise its authority and its duty under the United Nations Charter.

Representatives of 19 States took part in the debate, including 13 members of the Security Council.

Most of the new arrivals were from villages around the Pec area in western Kosovo and Isotok in the northeast, said UNHCR. Many had fled from their original villages and spent from a week to a month hiding in the mountainous countryside.

The refugees told consistent stories of houses being torched and men being taken -- either singly or in small groups from tractors fleeing the region, or in larger groups from villages, said UNHCR. New arrivals repeatedly mentioned that many men, perhaps several hundred, had been taken by Serb forces to the village of Zac, near Isotok. Other refugees reported between 8 and 30 people had been killed in Trbuhovc during Serbian clearing operations and many men were taken away.

The UN refugee agency said that although the evidence of abductions appeared overwhelming, the exact numbers of people taken and specific reports of killings and executions could not be independently verified.

Meanwhile, the number of Kosovars crossing into the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was down to a trickle despite assurances by the Skopje government that the borders would be open to refugees.

According to UNHCR estimates there are now 746,000 refugees and displaced people as a result of the Kosovo crisis, including more than 240,000 in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, 422,000 in Albania and 63,000 in Montenegro.

The ten countries named by Yugoslavia in its application to the Hague-based Court are the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Portugal and Spain.

In its claim, Yugoslavia also charges the ten countries with the breach of their obligations not to use prohibited weapons and not to deliberately inflict conditions of life calculated to cause the physical destruction of a national group. Among other claims, the application states that the ten countries have violated their obligations to protect the environment and the civilian population and civilian objects in wartime, as well as obligations relating to free navigation on international rivers and fundamental rights and freedoms.

Belgrade is asking the Court to order an end to the bombing and to provide compensation for the damage done.

After a preliminary statement on Monday by Judge Christopher Weeramantry, Vice-President of the Court, who is presiding over the ten cases, the Court heard from Yugoslavia as the applicant State and then proceeded to hear from the ten countries in English alphabetical order, beginning with Belgium. The United States is scheduled to be the last country to speak on Tuesday evening.

Members of the advance team, which is being led by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), met with UN country staff, senior officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other agencies dealing with humanitarian assistance. The advance team is negotiating all aspects of the needs assessment mission, including security, logistics and communications arrangements.

Once the advance team completes consultations in Belgrade, the humanitarian needs assessment mission is scheduled to go to Yugoslavia, beginning with Kosovo. The team is expected to report to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who will chair a high-level meeting in Geneva next Thursday and Friday on the Kosovo crisis.

In Zagreb, she met with President Franjo Tudjman, and signed a cooperation agreement on human rights training and education programmes with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mate Ganic.

During her brief stopover in Montenegro on Sunday, her first visit to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Mrs. Robinson commended the attitude of the authorities in dealing with the effects of the crisis in Kosovo and the influx of internally displaced persons. She urged a continuation of the policy of openness and tolerance as she again condemned the practice of ethnic cleansing which had caused the displacement of Kosovar Albanians. "We are determined we are going to ensure accountability for this," Mrs Robinson stressed.

The High Commissioner said her office was cooperating with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and other international agencies in coordinating the collection of evidence. Earlier, on a trip to Sarajevo, she had met with Louise Arbour, the Chief Prosecutor of the tribunal.

Originally planned as a visit to the field where the Office of the High Commissioner has established its presence in the countries of the former Yugoslavia, Mrs Robinson's tour has been expanded in response to the situation in Kosovo. In the past week, she has visited the special missions set up by her Office in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro to collect and verify testimonies from refugees and displaced persons on grave human rights violations in Kosovo.

In the report released at UN headquarters on Monday, the Secretary-General says that the preoccupations of the two sides -- the Government and the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) -- has further delayed the inclusion of other parties in the political process. A broad dialogue with all elements of the political spectrum is essential if the outcome of the peace process is to find lasting acceptance by the Tajik body politic, Mr. Annan stresses.

Noting that the peace process still requires direct international attention and support, the Secretary-General recommends that the mandate of the UN Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) be extended for another six months, until 15 November. The report says that the Mission has been assisting the parties in overcoming obstacles and "contributing to an atmosphere conducive to finding agreed solutions."

The Secretary-General cautions, however, that the UN Mission makes up only one pillar of the Security Council's strategy for Tajikistan. He describes the other pillar, which requires the demobilization of soldiers and the holding of elections, as "extremely weak" due to a lack of voluntary funding, and appeals to Member States to provide the crucial support needed for a positive outcome.

Speaking at a press conference at UN headquarters, Francesc Vendrell, the Director of the Asia and Pacific Division of the Department of Political Affairs, said approximately 600 international staff, including about 400 registration and polling officers, as well as civilian police and political advisors would help prepare for the ballot scheduled for 8 August.

A police advance team was already in East Timor and was expected back in New York next week, said Mr. Vendrell. The civilian police would advise the Indonesian police in East Timor on the maintenance of law and order, which was the responsibility of the Indonesian authorities. They would also supervise the escorting of ballot boxes and ballot papers to and from the polling stations. Other responsibilities would depend on the advice received from the advance team.

Mr. Vendrell said there was no date regarding the deadline for "laying down of arms" by the militias in East Timor, but it was envisaged that it would happen well in advance of the 8 August poll -- at the latest by early July. The registration process was to begin in the third week of June and there would need to be minimum security conditions, minimum ability for the various political groups to express themselves, and freedom for the voters to register, he added.

The new study, "Global Public Goods: International Cooperation in the 21st Century," says that these assets, which include public health, the environment, human rights and market efficiency, have been undervalued and mismanaged by institutions and governments.

The study, which was launched on Monday at Harvard University in the United States, calls for policies to make the institutions more capable of responding to global challenges.

Contributors to the report include Amartya Sena, 1998 Nobel Laureate in Economics, Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Harvard Institute for International Development, and Joseph Stiglitz, World Bank Vice- President.



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

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