United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-05-27

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, 27 May, 1999

Latest Developments

HEADLINES

• UN tribunal indicts Yugoslav President Milosevic for crimes against humanity in Kosovo.
• Secretary-General calls on world community to support UN tribunals for Rwanda and former Yugoslavia.
• UNHCR concerned over halt to Kosovars' flight into former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
• Security Council extends mandate of UN force supervising Israel-Syria ceasefire in Golan Heights.
• Alarmed by worsening situation in Somalia, Security Council calls on factions to stop fighting.

In a statement issued in the Hague, Louise Arbour, the Tribunal's Chief Prosecutor, said the charges included murder, deportation and persecutions, and war crimes committed in Kosovo since the beginning of 1999.

"There is a credible basis to believe that those accused are criminally responsible for the deportation of 740,000 Kosovar Albanians from Kosovo and for the murder of over 340 identified Kosovo Albanians," said Justice Arbour.

The Chief Prosecutor said she believed the current charges would be expanded. "We are still actively investigating other incidents in Kosovo, as well as the role of the accused, or some of them, in Croatia and Bosnia in earlier years," she said, adding that others were also being investigated for the crimes in the indictment.

Arrest warrants have been issued against the accused and are being served on all United Nations Member States and Switzerland, said Justice Arbour. The warrants are accompanied by a court order requesting States to search for and freeze any assets of the accused. The order was sought to prevent foreign assets from being used to evade justice, and permit restitution on conviction, she added.

The Chief Prosecutor said she was mindful of the impact the indictment might have on the peace process, adding that she was confident that the Tribunal's work would have a major contribution to a lasting peace in Kosovo and the region.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a statement issued in Sweden, where he is on an official visit, that he had been informed personally by Justice Arbour of the Tribunal's decisions to indict President Milosevic.

The Tribunal, he said, was established by the Security Council and, according to its statute, acted independently. "The Prosecutor therefore must go where the evidence leads her. Justice must be allowed to take its course," Mr. Annan said.

The four other accused are two senior officials of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia -- Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Dragoljub Ojdanic; and two top officials of the Republic of Serbia -- President Milan Milutinovic and Minister of Internal Affairs Vlajko Stojiljkovic.

In an address to the Faculty of Law at Lund University in Sweden, where he is on an official visit, the Secretary-General said, "As human beings we cannot be neutral - or at least we have no right to be - when other human beings are suffering." Each person had a duty to intervene even though it would be much safer to do nothing, he added.

The Secretary-General said that ad hoc tribunals, set up only when gross violations had already occurred, were not enough. He called on States to ratify the Statute of the International Criminal Court to bring it into existence, with as near universal jurisdiction as possible early in the new century.

To date, 82 countries have signed the Statute of the International Criminal Court and two -- Senegal and Trinidad and Tobago -- have ratified it. The Statute was adopted at an international conference in Rome last year.

Earlier Thursday, on the way to Lund University, the Secretary-General visited Backäkra, the summer residence of Dag Hammarskjöld, the second UN Secretary-General. Mr. Annan toured the house, then walked across the fields, where he had a brief moment alone at Hammarskjöld's meditation site -- a circle of fieldstones overlooking the sea. "Given what Dag Hammarskjöld represents for the UN and for me personally, it's a great inspiration to be here. It's a wonderfully peaceful place," said Mr. Annan.

UNHCR reported that only 300 refugees crossed the border on Wednesday and there was no sign of the thousands who had reportedly massed on the Serbian side. After a lull in recent weeks, more than 30,000 refugees streamed into the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in the last five days, many claiming that a new wave of ethnic cleansing was underway in Kosovo. However, on Wednesday, local police reported that the border area was empty, and there was no immediate explanation available, said UNHCR.

Meanwhile in Albania, fighting near the border early Thursday prevented aid workers from reaching the area, said UNHCR. There has been intense NATO activity in the region and several shells fell in Albanian villages in the Krume district. Under a relocation operation, more than 2,200 refugees were moved to safer areas in the south.

Of the more than 800 refugees who arrived at the Morini crossing on Wednesday, some 200 had been released from the prison at Smrekovnica in Kosovska Mitrovica municipality. So far, more than 2,000 prisoners have arrived in Albania after being freed from Kosovo jails, apparently to make room for new detainees, according to refugees.

The UN refugee agency also said there was continuing tension along the border between Montenegro and Kosovo, following the Yugoslav army's takeover of the areas two weeks ago.

(Visit UNHCR's for in-depth coverage.)

By a unanimous vote, the Council decided to renew until 30 November 1999 the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which was established in May 1974 to oversee the disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria.

In a related action, the Council issued a presidential statement backing the view expressed last week by UN Secretary- General Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In his report on UNDOF, Mr. Annan said that although the Israeli-Syrian sector was presently quiet, the situation in the Middle East continued to be "potentially dangerous" and was likely to remain so until a comprehensive peace settlement for the entire region could be reached.

Through a statement read out at an open meeting by its President, Ambassador Denis Dangue Rewaka of Gabon, the Council expressed support for the activities of the Standing Committee on Somalia and called on all Somali factions to stop fighting and cooperate with peace and reconciliation efforts.

The Council expressed concern at reports of increasing external interference in Somalia. It also expressed deep concern at recent reports of the illegal delivery of weapons and military equipment to the country, in violation of the Council's 1992 arms embargo. Those violations, it said, could exacerbate the crisis and endanger regional peace and security.

In a related provision, the Council expressed deep concern at the humanitarian impact of Somalia's long-lasting crisis. It urged all parties to guarantee the security and freedom of movement of humanitarian personnel and to ensure unhindered access to those needing assistance.

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

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