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Friday, 22 November 2024
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United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-08-04United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgDAILY HIGHLIGHTSWednesday, 4 August, 1999This daily news round-up is prepared by the Central News Section of the Department of Public Information. The latest update is posted at approximately 6:00 PM New York time. Latest Developments HEADLINES
To ensure the greatest possible voter participation, the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) announced Wednesday that the period for eligible voters to register for an upcoming ballot on the territory's future has been extended two days until the end of this week. The Secretary-General's Special Representative, Ian Martin, told reporters in Dili that registration centres inside East Timor would be kept open through Friday, 6 August. External registration centres in Indonesia, Portugal, Australia and elsewhere will remain open until Sunday, 8 August. The extended period would not affect the ballot date of 30 August, Mr. Martin said. As of Monday, more than 400,000 have registered in East Timor alone, said Mr. Martin. Although it is a satisfactory overall number, UNAMET wants to ensure that everybody has the best opportunity to register. "I would also like to stress that anybody who is in line at the registration centre at 4 p.m. Friday would be registered," Mr. Martin added. United Nations agencies are gearing up to bring emergency humanitarian relief to tens of thousands of people who have fled the latest fighting in Afghanistan. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the new fighting has pushed thousands out of an area north of the Afghan capital Kabul and into the Panshir valley. While questions of access are being worked out, the UN agencies are preparing a contingency plan to deliver food, medicine and other relief to some 100,000 people in the Panshir valley. Highlighting the magnitude of the refugee problem, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday that more people had fled from Afghanistan than from any other country. According to UNHCR figures, there are some 2.1 million Afghans in Iran and 1.6 million in Pakistan. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced Wednesday that it has begun distributing desperately needed relief food to thousands of starving Angolans in the war-torn city of Malange. WFP staff who visited the city last week described the situation there as "critical", with an estimated three to four people dying of hunger each day. Some of the 245 tonnes of WFP food -- the first shipment to arrive in Malange since May -- was given to non-governmental organizations from Holland for immediate distribution to child centres and a local hospital. Malange and several other Angolan cities have been under continuous attack by rebel forces in recent months, making it impossible to deliver food either by air or road, WFP said. Since last December, rebel activity has forced some 1,000,000 people into the towns and cities, where food prices have rocketed beyond most people's means. The situation in Angola has deteriorated so fast that WFP had to revise its humanitarian appeal to $61 million. The relief agency said it currently could deliver only approximately 7,000 tonnes of food per month. In order to feed all hungry Angolans it would need to double supplies to 13,000 tonnes a month, WFP said. For information purposes only - - not an official record From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgUnited Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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