United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-07-15

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, 15 July, 1999

HEADLINES

• Secretary-General gives go ahead to begin registration of voters in East Timor.
• Security Council approves six month extension of UN observer mission in Prevlaka peninsula.
• New head of UN mission in Kosovo arrives in Pristina.
• Security Council appeals to all parties in Kosovo to cooperate with UNMIK and KFOR.
• Secretary-General says for Kosovo to succeed, Balkans region must be brought back to health.
• UNDP denies advocating any form of global taxation.

In a letter transmitted to the Security Council on Wednesday, Mr. Annan says he has decided to begin the registration based on positive assurances by the Indonesian authorities and on condition that there are immediate, meaningful improvements in the security situation.

However, the Secretary-General says, he cannot conclude that conditions for a peaceful ballot -- known as a popular consultation -- exist throughout East Timor. He describes the situation as serious with pro-autonomy militias continuing to carry out violence and intimidation with impunity. There has not been enough time to properly assess how far recent steps by Indonesia will improve the situation, according to the letter.

Registration of approximately 400,000 voters was originally scheduled to begin on 22 June but was delayed by three weeks until 13 July and then again by another three days to allow the Indonesian government to take concrete steps to improve security.

While the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) keeps the security situation under constant review, the Secretary-General will reassess conditions halfway through the registration process. He will then decide whether there has been enough progress to continue registration based on the East Timorese ability to participate in the ballot safely and free of intimidation.

The UN Mission of Observers (UNMOP) monitors the peninsula and neighbouring areas of Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

In a unanimous vote, the Council adopted a resolution urging the parties to abide by their mutual commitments and implement fully the Agreement on Normalization of Relations and to fulfil rapidly their commitment to reach a negotiated resolution of the disputed Prevlaka issue in accordance with the Agreement.

The Council reiterated earlier calls for the parties to stop violations of the demilitarized regime in the UN-designated zones, to reduce tension and improve safety and security. It also called on them to cooperate fully with the UN military observers and ensure their safety and full and unrestricted freedom of movement.

UNMOP's 27 military observers conduct foot and vehicle patrols on either side of the border and also meet regularly with local authorities to reduce tensions, improve security and promote confidence.

"I have an agenda", Kouchner told reporters at UNMIK's Pristina headquarters later in the day. "First to make sure that immediate humanitarian needs are met. Second to ensure essential public functions, specifically law and order. And third to lay the foundation for economic recovery and development. It's simple, but ambitious. The job can be done."

As the highest international civilian official in Kosovo, Mr. Kouchner will oversee the UN-led international operation designed to heal the wounds of conflict and ultimately create a democratic form of autonomy.

The United Nations itself will set up the civil administration, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will be in charge of humanitarian assistance, the European Union will be responsible for reconstruction and the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe will head up democratization and institution-building.

Mr. Kouchner, a minister in the French Government well-known for his humanitarian activities, was appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 2 July to lead UNMIK's operations.

Meanwhile, the man who set up UNMIK's advance team, acting Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello, met with Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova who returned to Kosovo earlier Thursday. A crowd of 3,000 to 4,000 Kosovars gathered around the UN mission headquarters chanting "Rugova, Rugova."

The two men discussed steps by the United Nations to put the civil administration in place and discussed Friday's planned first meeting of the Kosovo Transitional Council.

In other developments in Kosovo, the recruitment of applicants will start Friday for the police training academy being set up by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Forms for the future Kosovo Police Service will be distributed throughout the territory and applications will be screened in Pristina. Training is planned to begin in August. After graduating from the academy, the new recruits will receive on the job training by United Nations international police officers.

At a briefing by the U.N. Secretariat on the latest developments in Kosovo, they considered the Secretary General's report on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the report of the international security presence in Kosovo (KFOR).

The members of the Council welcomed the report of the Secretary General on UNMIK as well as the progress achieved in the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1224 (1999). They also expressed their appreciation for the efforts being undertaken by UNMIK, including the advance work accomplished by Under Secretary-General Vieira de Mello and his team, as well as for the activities of KFOR in promoting security on the ground.

In an address at Comenius University, the oldest college in Slovakia, where he is on an official visit, Mr. Annan said reconstruction in Kosovo would require recovery in the region as a whole.

The Secretary-General said a key challenge in Kosovo would be engaging the various political groupings in rehabilitation and reconciliation, which would improve as a sense of security takes root. "This sense of security must take root among Serbs and other ethnic groups no less than the Kosovar Albanians, for we aspire to a multi- ethnic Kosovo."

Mr. Annan said Kosovo would not be rebuilt in a month, or a year and the Balkans would not be restored by one organization or one group of Governments. The ability of the United Nations, or other organizations to do the job would depend entirely on the will of Member States to pledge the resources, he added.

Mr. Annan, who arrived in Bratislava on Thursday is on the first visit by a Secretary-General to Slovakia since it became independent in 1993.

The Secretary-General's first official meeting was with Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan, who is also his Special Envoy for the Balkans.

Neither the United Nations nor UNDP has a mandate or power to create or administer any global taxation system. The Human Development Report is an independent publication whose recommendations do not reflect the policies or views of the UNDP or its member states, the statement concludes.

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

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