United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-08-16

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Monday, 16 August, 1999

HEADLINES

• Secretary-General urges immediate end to fighting in Democratic Republic of Congo.
• Good progress in implementing key points of Tajikistan peace agreement, reports Secretary-General.
• UN plans review of Kosovo legal code to conform with international law.
• UN envoy for East Timor hails parties' commitment to peaceful atmosphere for upcoming autonomy vote.
• UN confirms forced displacement of thousands in Afghanistan.
• Nearly all UN staff members and aid workers safely evacuated from conflict area in northwestern Liberia.
• Many drug donations to developing countries do not meet local needs, says World Health Organization.

In a statement on Monday, Mr. Annan said he is particularly concerned that the clashes around the city of Kisangani will further complicate ongoing regional and international efforts for a peaceful resolution to the conflicts in the Great Lakes region of Africa.

The fighting has led to civilian deaths and trapped hundreds of women and children in health centres where children are being vaccinated as part of an polio immunization campaign by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Mr. Annan said the fighting violates a 8 to 20 August truce endorsed by all parties to allow the vaccination to go ahead. "It is unacceptable that this fighting is taking place during the national immunization days, which were supposed to provide the opportunity for some 10 million children to be immunized against polio," he said.

The Secretary-General also expressed the hope that the women and children trapped in the health centres would be allowed to return to their homes and humanitarian agencies would have access to the wounded.

In a report to the Security Council released Monday, the Secretary- General said the United Tajik Opposition's (UTO) decision to disband its armed forces had opened the way for the legalization of its political parties, allowing them to participate fully in the political process.

Next month, Tajikistan will have a referendum on constitutional amendments, to be followed by presidential elections in November and parliamentary elections in February. In his report, the Secretary- General noted that any United Nations involvement in the parliamentary elections will depend entirely on voluntary contributions, and that he will be approaching governments with concrete proposals on the subject.

At a press briefing in Pristina, Nadia Younes, spokeswoman for the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), said its head, Bernard Kouchner, met Sunday with local judges and prosecutors and invited them to establish a partnership with the UN Mission for the creation of new laws.

Following the meeting, a special advisory group, which included 19 Kosovar legal experts, was established to work in consultation with UNMIK on refining both the criminal code and laws on property, customs, social welfare and the judiciary.

The group will review "the existing legal framework and the laws applicable in Kosovo with a view to purging it of all provisions which are inconsistent with the standards recognized in Europe and the rest of the world," said Ms. Younes.

Dr. Kouchner told the meeting of judicial experts on Sunday that one of the main aims of the special advisory group would be to draft laws to eliminate all elements of discrimination.

The meeting, he said, had helped to establish a model for UNMIK's overall effort to restore civil society and develop democracy in Kosovo, adding that he also intended to follow the same consultative procedure in all administrative areas, such as health and education.

At a press conference in Dili, Ambassador Jamsheed Marker said that the commitment by the Indonesian Government and the East Timorese political leadership had emerged from talks with senior officials last week in Jakarta. The discussions focused on the role of the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) during the post-ballot period.

Ambassador Marker also said that after visiting parts of East Timor last week, he had found definite signs of improvement in the security situation. "The atmosphere and climate was much better than I have known it before," he said.

However, he noted that some disturbing elements were still present, and cited reports of threats to some personnel on the day of balloting. "I don't say that they are necessarily true but I do not intend that we would ignore them either," he said.

Meanwhile, campaigning for the popular consultation, as the ballot is known, started Saturday and will last until 28 August. At a launch ceremony, the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Ian Martin, thanked supporters of both sides for their agreement and commitment to the code of conduct, which is intended to ensure a peaceful contest.

Mr. Martin also stressed that UNAMET will continue to ensure that the autonomy proposal is fully understood throughout the territory. "We will be continuing our public information work to ensure that all voters understand the process of the consultation, that this will be a fair and secret ballot, and that the United Nations will remain in East Timor after the ballot to assist in the implementation of either option," he said.

According to first-hand accounts by new arrivals, in the 36 hours between Friday and Saturday, Taliban fighters forced men, women and children out of their houses and told them to walk to Kabul, says the Office of the UN Coordinator for Afghanistan. There are also confirmed reports that the Taliban are intentionally setting houses on fire.

"Families speak of whole villages being burned to the ground and crops set on fire to deter them from moving back to this once-fertile valley," the UN Coordinator's Office says. Taliban authorities continue to deny any "scorched earth" policy in the area.

International agencies are providing food and water to the new arrivals, many of them dehydrated and completely destitute following their 40- kilometre journey. The UN is expecting another major influx of displaced people into the Afghanistan capital over the next few days.

On Saturday, a convoy of 10 vehicles crossed into Guinea and then to Cote d'Ivoire, and they are expected back in Monrovia today, the spokesman said. Yesterday, another group was evacuated by helicopter to Monrovia.

Last week, an armed group in northern Liberia abducted nine aid workers, forcing about 50 aid personnel to temporarily withdraw to neighbouring Guinea and others to flee to nearby villages.

While most US pharmaceutical donations fulfilled the criteria of relevance and time-to-expiry, a substantial proportion failed to do so, says WHO in its bulletin on the findings of a three-year study by the Harvard School of Public Health, which examined shipments by two relief organizations to 129 countries.

About 30 per cent of the drugs had a shelf-life of a year or less and six per cent had less than 100 days, says the study. Furthermore, between 10 and 42 per cent of the donated drugs were not listed as essential by the recipient country or the WHO Model List of Essential Drugs, nor were they permissible therapeutic alternatives.

According to the WHO bulletin, donated drugs also arrive unsorted and inappropriately labelled and their quality does not always comply with standards in donor countries. The drugs may also have a high declared value, based on the market value in the donor country, leading to high customs charges for recipients.

The study collected data on 16,566 pharmaceuticals shipped by the two relief agencies between 1994 and 1997. Field studies focused on the freshness and relevance of donations to Armenia, Haiti and the United Republic of Tanzania.

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

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