United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-06-29

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Tuesday, 29 June, 1999

HEADLINES

• Security Council backs Secretary-General's decision to postpone UN- sponsored vote on East Timor's future.
• Attack on UN office in East Timor denounced by Security Council, Secretary-General.
• Eighteen countries pledge to send police contingents for UN mission in Kosovo.
• Pace of spontaneous returns to Kosovo slowing, UN refugee agency reports.
• Security Council extends UN operation in Cyprus, urges commitment from both sides to talks next fall.
• Resumption of voter identification process in Western Sahara welcomed by Security Council members.
• Deputy Secretary-General says international community must agree on new agenda for disarmament.
• Fighting in Democratic Republic of Congo continues to drive refugees into Tanzania -- UNHCR.

Through a formal statement read by its President, Ambassador Baboucarr- Blaise I. Jagne of Gambia, the Council expressed its serious concern that militias and other armed groups have been intimidating the local population in order to influence the political process. The Council stressed the need to end all violence, saying that "these activities continue to constrict political freedom in East Timor, thus jeopardizing the necessary openness of the consultation process."

The Council also noted with understanding the Secretary-General's decision to postpone, by two weeks, his assessment of whether conditions permit preparations for the vote to go forward, endorsing his preference to wait until the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) is fully deployed to begin the operational phase of the consultation process. The full deployment is now expected to be completed not earlier than 10 July.

Recognizing the positive developments so far, the Council welcomed the excellent communication between UNAMET and the Indonesian authorities through the establishment of a high-level Indonesian task force, as well as the convening of peace talks this week in Jakarta between pro-autonomy and pro-independence leaders.

In a presidential statement read out at an open meeting, the Security Council expressed grave concern at the attack on the UN regional office in Maliana by a stone-throwing crowd, which left one UN staff member and several local Timorese injured. "The Council demands that the incident be thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators be brought to justice," the Council statement said, noting that it was the Indonesian Government's responsibility to maintain law and order in the territory.

For his part, the Secretary-General said in a statement issued by his spokesman, that any assault on UN personnel or property was "completely unacceptable" and that he held the Indonesian Government accountable for allowing such an attack to occur.

According to UN officials, a group of about 100 members of a reportedly pro- integration militia began throwing rocks and stones at the regional office of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) in Maliana, near the border with Indonesia. One UN electoral officer suffered a minor leg injury while several Timorese who were in the compound suffered head and other injuries. The UN office was considerably damaged.

UNAMET's chief security officer and a senior UN civilian police officer were dispatched to Maliana and reported back to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Ian Martin, who then met with the Chairman of the Indonesian Task Force to express strong concern at the incident.

Mr. Martin said later at a news conference in Dili that he asked the Indonesian Government to take strong measures to ensure similar incidents did not happen again, adding there were indications the attack was not an unplanned event. "Indeed the large size of rocks thrown at our office suggest that it wasn't spontaneous," he said. "There had also been indications that such action would be taken, which we reported to the police beforehand."

In a separate development, the UN General Assembly approved without a vote a resolution authorizing $52.5 million for UNAMET operations until 31 August.

So far, the UN has received commitments of more than 900 civilian police and is hoping to bring in large contingents of 150 to 200 officers every five days from the beginning of July. UNMIK estimates it will need a force of 3,000 international officers to maintain law and order until a multi- ethnic Kosovo Police Force is set up.

Meanwhile, five teams of UN police officers were sent to KFOR brigade headquarters in the Kosovo capital of Pristina, as well as Mitrovica, Prizren, Pec and Urosevac, to provide advice on civilian police functions. The rest of the 35-member contingent, on loan from the UN mission in Bosnia, will fan out to the 29 municipalities and the border points.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that while it was too early to say if the trend would continue, the decline might have reflected the fact that most refugees who have the means to arrange their own trip and a place to go to, have already returned.

Earlier today, UNHCR and International Organization for Migration organized a second repatriation of around 320 refugees to Pristina and Urosevac from camps in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Yesterday, more than 300 people went back to Kosovo in the first organized return.

On arrival in Kosovo, refugees from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia receive food assistance provided by the UN World Food Programme, as well as blankets, mattresses, hygienic kits and plastic sheeting.

Meanwhile, UN staff in northern Kosovo, especially in the Pec area, has reported that lack of shelter continues to be the biggest problem. An estimated 45,000 houses in Kosovo are uninhabitable and UNHCR has been distributing family-sized tents to returnees.

A sudden increase in spending for shelter materials, repair of damaged buildings and transport for refugees has further strained the UN agency's resources. UNHCR says it has only $2.4 million left for the Kosovo operation for July unless it receives fresh funding.

The Council took its action by adopting unanimously a resolution on the Secretary-General's mission of Good Offices in Cyprus. In another unanimous vote on a separate resolution, the Council decided to extend the UN operation in the country through the end of this year.

Requesting the Secretary-General to invite the two sides to "comprehensive negotiations" later this year, the Council urged both leaders to commit themselves to a set of four principles: no preconditions; all issues on the table; good faith commitment to continue to negotiate until a settlement is reached; and full consideration of relevant UN resolutions and treaties.

In the meantime, the Council requested the two sides, including their military authorities, to work constructively with the Secretary- General and his Special Representative for Cyprus to create a positive climate on the island that would "pave the way" for the upcoming negotiations.

By its action on the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), whose mandate was extended through 15 December 1999, the Council called on the military authorities on both sides to refrain from any actions that would exacerbate tensions. The Council reminded both sides of their obligations to prevent any violence against UNFICYP personnel, to cooperate fully with the Force and to ensure its complete freedom of movement.

Stressing the need to build trust and cooperation and reduce tensions, including demining along the buffer zone, the Council urged the Greek Cypriot side to agree to the implementation of the UNFICYP package of measures. Reiterating its support for UN efforts to promote the holding of bi-communal events aimed at building trust and mutual respect, the Council called on the Turkish-Cypriot leadership to resume such activities.

The Council called on all concerned to commit themselves to a reduction in defence spending and in the number of foreign troops in Cyprus, as well as to a staged process aimed at limiting and substantially reducing the level of all troops and armaments as a first step towards the withdrawal of non- Cypriot forces to help restore confidence between the sides.

In a statement to the press, the President of the Security Council, Ambassador Baboucarr-Blaise I. Jagne of Gambia, said the members commended the parties -- Morocco and POLISARIO -- for cooperating in the identification process and expressed the hope that it would continue.

The Council members also commended the important role played by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the resettlement and return of refugees.

Following acceptance by Morocco and POLISARIO of a UN-brokered package of measures to allow preparations for the referendum to go ahead, the identification process resumed on 15 June.

The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) will identify and register qualified voters for the referendum on whether the former Spanish colony will gain full independence or become part of Morocco.

In remarks to the Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters meeting at UN Headquarters in New York, Ms. Frechette said that the agenda must be comprehensive and not selective.

"Many observers are forecasting a gloomy future for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, as well as rough times ahead for all efforts towards disarmament," said the Deputy Secretary-General.

Although no international conference on disarmament was in view, there would be opportunities over the next several years to assess progress and make commitments for future action, said Ms. Frechette. She pointed to the Millennium Summit scheduled for September 2000 as one such opportunity, noting that disarmament would be one of the principle themes in the Secretary-General's report to the forum.

UNHCR said massive civilian displacement was apparently the result of non- stop fighting in the South Kivu area between local Mayi-Mayi factions, which back the Kinshasa Government, and rebels groups. Last week's arrivals in Tanzania included two Italian priests, who described the humanitarian situation in the area as "truly catastrophic." Since last August, more than 80,000 refugees have poured into Tanzania from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Meanwhile, UNHCR has officially ended its operation in northern Mali. The agency's spokesman said on Tuesday that almost all of the 305,000 Malians who became refugees or were displaced within the country following the Tuareg rebellion in 1990, have returned to their homes.

During that period, UNHCR has assisted in voluntary repatriation of more than 130,000 refugees mainly from Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Algeria and Niger. UNHCR has spent nearly $240 million between 1995 and 1999 on the refugee programmes and on rehabilitating over 600 returnee sites in Mali.

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

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