United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-08-23

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Monday, 23 August, 1999

HEADLINES

• UN aid officials and Security Council members voice concern at deteriorating humanitarian situation in Angola.
• Latest upsurge in militia activity apparent effort to intimidate and move out East Timorese voters, UN says.
• UN system stepping up efforts to assist earthquake survivors in Turkey.
• Higher revenues projected for current phase of Iraqi oil-for- food programme, Secretary-General reports.
• UN Kosovo Transitional Council discusses ways to improve security situation.
• UN peace-building office assisting Guinea-Bissau electoral commission for upcoming elections.
• Kosovars should accept emergency shelter kits for onset of winter -- UNHCR.
• UN civilian police assume law enforcement powers in Kosovo capital.
• Joint UN task force begins assessment of Balkans conflict on Danube River.
• New UN labour report warns social progress risks stalling in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In a press statement, Council President Ambassador Martin Andjaba of Namibia said the members commended the efforts of the humanitarian agencies operating in Angola but were concerned at the low level of donor response to the humanitarian appeal.

Ambassador Andjaba's comments came after a briefing to the Council by the heads of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP) and UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Assistant-Secretary- General for Peacekeeping Operations Hedi Annabi also briefed the Council on security issues.

Ambassador Andjaba said Council members welcomed the Angolan Government's emergency plan to allow outside assistance to reach millions of people living in desperate conditions and called on the Government and the opposition National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) to provide access to those persons.

WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini told reporters that the UN has been trying to provide humanitarian aid "to anyone in any situation" but that without peace "thousands of people continue to be not only at risk but dying of starvation as they are now."

About 2 million Angolans have been affected by fighting between the Government and UNITA, either forced to flee from their homes or assisting those who have been displaced, according to Sergio Vieria de Mello, Under- Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Three million more are estimated to be living in inaccessible areas in a country where only 30 per cent of the territory is accessible to humanitarian agencies, he said.

UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said conditions in Angola since the end of 1998 have deteriorated terribly. "Between the lack of access, the overcrowding in major cities and lack of services, it is a country that is spiralling downward," she said.

Incidents over the last two weeks in Maliana, Suai, Viqueque, Liquica and Ainaro, particularly, have resulted in many locals being moved away from where they are registered to vote in next week's UN- supervised ballot on an autonomy proposal for East Timor, UNAMET Spokesman David Wimhurst said.

In places like Maliana, where people have been intimidated, many locals have gone to register despite the insecure situation, Mr. Wimhurst said. "It is their courage and determination that saw them through the registration process and we believe that the same determination and courage will be shown on polling day," he said.

In Ainaro on Saturday the residence of UNAMET District Electoral Officers was attacked by militia who were seen in the area armed with knives and bayonets. The Officers were moved to the local police station for their protection, Mr. Wimhurst said.

Meanwhile in Suai, visiting US Senators and Congressmen found that the more than 2,000 refugees living in the church there had been without water for several days because the piped water supply into the church compound was cut off and is controlled by the local militia, Mr. Wimhurst said. The US delegation took up the matter with Indonesian authorities, who assured them that the water supply would be restored, which it was late Sunday night.

Also on Sunday, a meeting in Jakarta of East Timorese leaders from the pro- autonomy and pro-independence sides agreed to hold another set of talks in Dili on 25 August, Mr. Wimhurst said.

Sergio Piazzi, Head of OCHA's Regional Desk for Europe, told reporters that a number of UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination teams were visiting the various sites to assess damage and levels of homelessness and to help the government set up a more fine-tuned list of requirements for further disaster relief.

The UN was sending people from Istanbul to seven of the hardest-hit areas to report on what further assistance was required, Mr. Piazzi said. Other UN agencies, such as the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Health Organization (WHO), were strengthening this effort.

Mr. Piazzi said there is adequate water available in the Izmit area, and rumours of cholera and typhoid outbreaks were unsubstantiated. Civilian and military hospitals had been deployed for the more than 35,000 injured. However, an enormous number of people were still missing, and on Sunday night the Government had applied for 45,000 body bags to be supplied to the relief effort.

Meanwhile, UNDP said it has been establishing links between international donors and national authorities to direct donor aid. The agency is also assisting local organizations such as the Turkish Red Crescent Society in administering the aid, and is helping the government preparing "requirement lists" for donors.

The Secretary-General says that in anticipation of the Council's review of its ceiling on Iraq's oil income, he has invited the Government to submit proposals for spending the surplus revenues on additional spare parts and equipment to upgrade the country's oil industry, which remains in a "lamentable state."

In his report, Mr. Annan also expresses concern about the number of contracts currently on hold and asks the Council for an "all-out effort" to review these -- currently worth around $500 million -- to ensure the timely and effective implementation of the programme.

The report also backs the recommendation by UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund, in its recent report on child and maternal mortality that the Iraqi Government and the Council committee overseeing the sanctions should give priority to contracts that will have a direct impact on the well-being of children. UNICEF also recommended that the Government begin targeted nutrition campaigns and improve water and sanitation supplies.

The Secretary-General notes in his report that at current prices and volumes Iraq would have the capacity to export $6.3 billion worth of oil in the six-month period ending 21 November. Under the programme, Iraq is permitted to sell up to $5.2 billion worth of oil every 180 days to purchase medicine and other humanitarian supplies. The Council, in renewing the programme in May, indicated a willingness to review the ceiling in an effort to improve the humanitarian situation in the country.

Dr. Bernard Kouchner, who heads the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and chaired Saturday's meeting in Pristina, said UNMIK would fully consider the many concrete proposals made, but cautioned there would be no quick-fix to the security problems in Kosovo.

"Please don't believe that confidence and goodwill will come in just days or weeks," Dr. Kouchner said. "There is a fantastic density of hatred here, but the answer is not the police; the answer is not soldiers. The answer is development, peace and democracy. The answer is jobs for young people."

Dr. Kouchner proposed a number of initiatives to build unity in Kosovo, suggesting that teams of young Kosovars be sent to damaged areas to rebuild homes and repair other damage.

The meeting was the second of the Kosovo Transitional Council, which is the highest political body under UNMIK. The Council provides local political parties and ethnic groups a means for direct input into UNMIK's decisions on civil reconstruction and democratic development.

The UN Peace-Building Support Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS) is assisting the country's Electoral Commission and will also play a coordinating role during the elections, slated for 28 November. The census operations went well Monday despite the reported murder of a former member of the ousted Government of Guinea-Bissau, said the spokesman.

UNOGBIS has been operational for two months, and several projects have been initiated in support of the national reconciliation process and the upcoming elections, including last week's seminar on the role of civil society in a democratic state and another seminar planned for women contesting the November elections, the spokesman said.

UNHCR said it has received reports of a number of people refusing the shelter kits in the hope that a more substantial package would become available later to rebuild their homes. The refugee agency stressed that distribution of the kits is only a temporary measure to get people through the first winter.

According to UNHCR, 5,800 basic shelter kits have been distributed to the most vulnerable groups. The kits are designed to provide enough material to allow homeowners to temporarily weatherproof one room per house before winter and contain reinforced, heavy-duty plastic sheeting for roof repairs, as well as translucent plastic to cover broken windows. They also include timber, plywood, nails, staples, tape and tools.

Given an estimated 47,000 non-repairable homes, UNHCR is also mounting an assistance programme to host families in order to encourage them to take in the homeless this winter, drawing lessons from the trend that refugees who fled to surrounding countries stayed with host families and not in refugee camps. UNHCR is also identifying temporary community shelters for those who have nowhere else to go.

At a press briefing in Pristina, Nadia Younes, spokeswoman for the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), said the UN contingent of 200 police took over "jurisdiction for enforcing criminal codes, conducting, investigations, making arrests for criminal offences and interfacing with the community."

The UN police force will continue to receive support from KFOR, the international security force, Ms. Younes said. KFOR military police will continue to be responsible for policing tasks in the remainder of the Pristina region.

UNMIK has more than 700 civilian officers working to enhance the rule of law in Kosovo. The UN police force, which will number more than 3,000 at full strength, will also help train an indigenous Kosovar police force.

The nine-man UNEP/Habitat Balkans Task Force (BTF) is gathering sediment and soil samples from potential pollution "hot spots" throughout the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, including the Novi Sad oil refinery, the Pancevo industrial complex and the tributary near the Zastava car factory in Kragujevac.

The Team is also scheduled to visit the Iron Gates dam on the border between Yugoslavia and Romania, where the Djerdap Reservoir holds extensive layers of sediment that can absorb organic matter and toxic and hazardous waste possibly carried down the Danube. The samples taken there might reveal what BTF Chairman Pekka Haavisto called "an environmental history of the war."

The mission, comprising scientists from the Czech Republic, Hungary, France, Germany, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia and Sweden, is the third to the region and will end Saturday. A fourth BTF team will begin an assessment of the war's affect on biological diversity in September.

Despite a decade of economic reform and modernization, the 9.5 per cent figure is higher than the peak jobless rates during the external debt crisis of the 1980s, the report says.

Economic reforms have helped to tame rampant inflation in the region but economic growth and price stability have not significantly improved job availability or wage levels, ILO says.

In the past decade, up to 85 per cent of all new jobs have been created in the low-wage and low-security informal sector, while modern organized sectors have generally been stagnant. Temporary and part-time work has also increased, according to the report.

The report, "Decent Work and Protection for All: Priority of the Americas," recommends new training systems to improve productivity and competitiveness, labour law reforms and increased ratification of international labour standards. The report also calls for changes in workers' protection and a renewed emphasis on labour administration and the role of labour ministries.

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

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