United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-08-17

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Tuesday, 17 August, 1999

HEADLINES

• Secretary-General says UN will help with relief and rehabilitation efforts for earthquake victims in Turkey.
• Human rights violations and forced displacement of civilians in Afghanistan condemned by Secretary-General.
• Security Council members demand immediate stop to latest fighting in Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• UN reports higher than expected voter registration tally for upcoming East Timor ballot.
• UN begins payments to local health professionals to spur build- up of public services in Kosovo.
• UN refugee agency acts to protect Kosovo Serbs against continuing violence.
• Forensic experts from UN war crimes tribunal exhume mass grave in northeastern Bosnia.
• UN food agency resumes river deliveries to Upper Nile region of Sudan.

In a statement released by his spokesman, Mr. Annan said that the promptness with which the Turkish Government has mobilized initial humanitarian aid has helped to mitigate the initial level of suffering.

The Secretary-General extended his condolences to the people and the Government of Turkey, particularly to the families of the victims.

In a statement by his spokesman on Tuesday, Mr. Annan said he was alarmed and deeply distressed by reports of widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law against inhabitants of the Shomali Plain and displaced people in the capital, Kabul.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) around 10,000 people arrived in Kabul on foot over the weekend, after trekking by foot from the Shomali plain and Panshjir valley north of the city. Another 9,000 reportedly arrived in the city on Monday.

In his statement, Mr. Annan expressed deep concern over reports that students, some as young as 14, were involved in the conflict and he called on the warring parties to respect the Convention on the Rights of the Child. He urged the parties to immediately end the conflict and ensure the protection of civilians.

The Secretary-General also called on the warring parties to ensure the safe and free movement of relief workers who, he said, remain committed to providing humanitarian assistance to the victims of the conflict. However, he noted, the primary responsibility for the welfare of the Afghan civilians rested with those who have displaced them from their homes.

In a press statement, Council members voiced serious concern at the eruption of fighting reportedly between troops from Rwanda and Uganda and Congolese rebel factions in the northern city of Kisangani.

Council President Ambassador Martin Andjaba of Namibia said the members called on leaders of the Congolese Rally for Democracy to resolve their differences and sign the ceasefire agreement without further delay and abide by its provisions. The leaders of six African nations signed the accord in Lusaka, Zambia, on 10 July.

Ambassador Andjaba said the members were particularly concerned that the fighting had disrupted a truce that both sides agreed to so that 10 million children could be immunized against polio.

Speaking at a news conference at UN Headquarters in New York, Carina Perilli, Director of the Electoral Division in the UN Department of Political Affairs, said 451,792 voters in and outside of East Timor had signed up for the 30 August vote.

"We were extremely encouraged by the turnout," she said, adding that the final figure far exceeded not only United Nations expectations, but those of most observers of the East Timor question as well.

In the lead up to the popular consultation, as the vote is called, Ms. Perilli said regional campaign committees have been set up and will be chaired by the regional electoral coordinator with representatives of both sides. District campaign committees had also been established in five of the territory's 13 districts to coordinate the dates and sites of campaign events, thereby averting potential trouble and establishing consensus regarding compliance with the campaign's code of conduct, she said.

A code of conduct for observers had also been agreed upon, Ms. Perilli said, and will apply to the 1,371 international and local observers officially accredited so far. In addition, there are 50 Indonesian and 50 Portuguese official observers.

As for the security situation inside East Timor, Ms. Perilli said it has improved significantly enough that no major upheavals should be expected for the day of the popular consultation itself. "We have been given assurances in the senior officials meetings that an order from Jakarta has gone out that there is a policy of no incidents tolerated," she said.

More than 2,000 health professionals, who have not been paid in months, will receive ad-hoc payments from a UN trust fund established to finance the rebuilding of the civil administration in Kosovo.

Dr. Bernard Kouchner, head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), told health workers gathered at Pristina Hospital that he would begin broad-based consultations with representatives from all sectors of the health system to gain their input on how best to shape the future healthcare system in the province.

"Being a doctor myself, I fully understand how crucial a health system is for a society and how crucial it is that it truly reflects what the people of Kosovo want and that it meets its expectations," he said. "We will work together on this, as we are working together on other issues."

Payments to health workers follow an earlier series of payments made by the UN Mission to judges, prosecutors and customs workers. The payment programme for public employees will expand to other parts of Kosovo in the coming days.

As part of the effort to restore city services, UNMIK has begun garbage collection and cleaning the city's green areas as part of a project called "I Love My City -- Pristina." Jointly funded by UNMIK and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the project will create more that 300 jobs for people in Pristina.

Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva, UNHCR Spokeswoman Judith Kumin said that despite "extensive measures" by the UN and the KFOR international security force, violence against the shrinking Serb population has continued. UNHCR had been working to enable people to stay in their homes but sometimes had to evacuate those at extreme risk.

According to UNHCR, no more than 2,000 of the original 20,000 Serb population remain in the capital Pristina. In the last two months, nearly 130,000 Serbs have fled Kosovo, mostly for other parts of Serbia and Montenegro.

Last week, Dennis McNamara, the head of the humanitarian "pillar" of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), met in Belgrade with high- level government representatives to discuss UNHCR's assistance programme for those displaced from Kosovo. He also visited sites in central Serbia where many of the displaced Kosovo Serbs and Roma have congregated.

Kelly Moore, Spokesperson for the UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH), said the forensic team from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia had begun exhumation of a mass grave in northeastern Bosnia related to the Srebrenica investigation.

Last week, another forensic team found the remains of approximately 250 bodies in a mass grave in northeastern Bosnia. Although the grave was disturbed, the team found the remains of the bodies -- some with their hands tied behind their backs -- along with clothing and personal effects.

A WFP convoy of four barges is carrying over 1,000 metric tonnes of food, including wheat grain, lentils and vegetable oil, to 30 locations along the Sobat river corridor in the Upper Nile region.

WFP officials said the people in the region have been experiencing food shortages since serious flooding last year destroyed their crops. Persistent insecurity and communal fighting has also reduced the livestock population, forcing the people to survive on fish, wild food and the barter system.

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

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article