United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-06-09

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Wednesday, 9 June, 1999

Latest Developments

HEADLINES

• UN agencies appeal for $474 million in emergency aid to help people affected by Kosovo crisis.
• Flow of refugees out of Kosovo down to a trickle -- UNHCR.
• Forum on safety of UN staff calls for new measures to protect civilian personnel serving in hazardous conditions.
• Iraq exports first shipment of oil under new phase of UN oil-for-food programme.

The amount will go to improve facilities for refugees in asylum countries as summer sets in and preparations for the coming winter. Funds have also been earmarked for the return of more than 780,000 refugees and displaced persons once a peace plan is implemented. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which is coordinating relief efforts, will receive $246 million.

When the peace plan is concluded and an international military presence established inside Kosovo, UNHCR estimates some 400,000 refugees and displaced persons will return in the first three months. UNHCR plans also cover the possibility of large-scale spontaneous returns. The agency will set up 7 satellite offices and establish mobile teams to cover all of Kosovo's 30 municipalities.

A senior military liaison officer from UNHCR will accompany the international military force sent to Kosovo. The first wave of UN people to go into post-conflict Kosovo will include staff from UNHCR, the United Nations Children's Programme (UNICEF) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP). Mine awareness campaigns already under way in the refugee camps will be stepped up in coming weeks.

A total of 106 people, including 88 ex-prisoners, crossed into Albania at the Morini border on Tuesday, UNHCR said. The ex-prisoners said they fled from their homes a week ago, but the military separated them from their families and stripped them of valuables and ID cards. They were beaten and taken to Smrekovnica prison outside Kosovska Mitrovica. More than 2,500 prisoners from Smrekovnica have been freed since last month, reportedly to make room for new detainees.

A total of 213 Kosovars arrived in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, including 144 without papers. Among the latest arrivals were 60 boys under 18 whose families reportedly left Kosovo one or two months ago. The boys claimed to have hidden in the mountains until they ran out of food.

"This is, literally, a life-or-death issue for the international civil service," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the second Summit on International Security. "United Nations personnel continue to die and suffer grievous injury in the line of duty."

Addressing the forum, which was organized by the UN Staff Union's Standing Committee on the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service (CSIICS) to focus on Governments' commitment to protect international staff, the Secretary-General stressed that much more needed to be done to get the situation under control.

Among the positive moves towards that goal, Mr. Annan pointed to the recent entry into force of the 1994 Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel. The Secretary-General urged countries not party to the treaty to ratify the Convention, which makes it an international crime to abduct or kill UN and associated personnel. He also called on States to sign an ratify the Rome Statute for an International Criminal Court, which includes provisions making attacks on aid workers or peacekeepers a war crime. Noting, however, that the real value of any agreement lay in implementation, the Secretary-General stressed that Governments "must live up to their words."

That sentiment was echoed by the President of the Security Council for June, Ambassador Baboucarr-Blaise I. Jagne of Gambia. In his statement to the meeting, the Council President said that Member States should be continually reminded of their obligations under numerous international instruments. Other means should also be worked out, he said, to persuade non-State actors to comply.

Stressing that the safety and security of UN personnel would always be at the top of the Council's agenda, Ambassador Jagne paid tribute to all civilian staff killed in the line of duty.

According to the latest data, more than 20 UN civilian personnel have been killed since the first staff security summit was held in February 1998. Four UN aircraft have gone down with substantial loss of life. Kidnapping, arrest, detention and harassment have continued to be frequent occurrences. Meanwhile, the fate of some 50 staffers, some of them detained or missing since the 1970s, remains unknown.

In an update of the Iraq oil-for-food programme, the OIP says that 5.4 million barrels of oil worth $74 million left the port of Ceyhan on 1 June. In the six-month period that began 25 May, known as Phase VI, 33 contracts to export 197.3 million barrels of oil have been approved so far.

Under terms set out by the Security Council, Iraq is permitted to export up to $5.2 billion worth of oil every 180 days to buy food and health supplies. Iraq is also authorized to import up to $300 million worth of spare parts and equipment to increase its oil- producing capacity.

According to the OIP, the Secretary-General is reviewing Iraq's Distribution Plan for Phase VI, which contains proposals for how the oil revenues will be spent. Industry experts sent by the United Nations are also in Iraq working with oil ministry officials on the Government's proposals for additional spare parts.

In the previous 180-day period, Phase V, the low price of oil and the state of Iraq's oil industry combined to cause a $1.4 million shortfall in targeted revenues, the OIP said.

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

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