United Nations Daily Highlights, 00-02-17

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

BY MARIE OKABE

ASSOCIATE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Thursday, February 17, 2000

KOFI ANNAN RECEIVES EMOTIONAL WELCOME IN EAST TIMOR

Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Dili, East Timor, from Jakarta, Indonesia, late Thursday morning. He met with UN Transitional Administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello and independence leader Xanana Gusm&atilde;o, President of the National Council of Timorese Resistance, at the airport. He then met with Gusm&atilde;o alone.

They drove through the town of Dili, where about half of the buildings were burned-out shells, many with tidy piles of charred rubble in front. Clean-up work had begun in preparation for rebuilding.

The party then traveled in Russian UN helicopters to the town of Liqui&ccedil;a, about 25 miles west of Dili, which had been a base for anti-independence militia, and where post-referendum killing, rape and destruction were severe. It has been called the "killing field" of East Timor.

On descending from the helicopter, the Secretary-General was surrounded by villagers. An old man came up to him, embraced him and cried.

They walked to the village church, where hundreds of people had been killed in an April 1999 massacre. The Secretary-General laid a wreath at a monument to the dead. Survivors standing by began to cry and then wail. One after another embraced the Secretary-General and his wife, while crying.

The Secretary-General and his party continued to walk down the road, which he was told had just been renamed "Avenue of the Secretary-General of the United Nations."

The crowd, which had swelled to 5,000 people by UN police estimates, poured onto the soccer field where Xanana Gusm&atilde;o introduced the Secretary-General.

Referring to the church massacre, Annan said he found it "shocking" that "a house of worship should be desecrated" in this way. He called for justice to prevail over impunity. Justice should be handed down in a courtroom, he said, "not in the street." He pledged UN support to usher in a new era in which East Timorese might live in dignity and peace. Click here for speech in Liquica.

He then met with UN representatives and then attended a special meeting of the National Consultative Council. Later, he had a smaller meeting with Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and Bishop Basilio Nascimento.

The Secretary-General plans to deliver a speech to the people of East Timor on Friday morning. Click here for the embargoed remarks.

SECURITY COUNCIL RECOMMENDS TUVALU'S ADMISSION

This morning, the Security Council held a formal meeting to consider the application of the Pacific island chain of Tuvalu to become a Member State of the United Nations.

By a vote of 14 to none with one abstention, the Council decided to recommend Tuvalu's application for admission to the General Assembly. It is now up to the Assembly to consider the question of Tuvalu's admission at its next formal session.

Tuvalu became independent in 1978 and has a population of about 10,000; if admitted, it would become the 189th Member State of the United Nations.

After its formal meeting, the Council went briefly into informal consultations.

The Security Council has scheduled informal consultations on the Democratic Republic of the Congo for Friday morning.

SECRETARY-GENERAL'S MESSAGE DELIVERED TO AFRICA SUMMIT

Today in Washington, Ibrahim Gambari, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa, delivered a message on behalf of the Secretary-General at the National Summit on Africa, which was opened by U.S. President Bill Clinton.

The Secretary-General's message expressed the hope that the Summit would draw attention to the new opportunities for foreign investment in Africa and emphasized that the United Nations has made Africa a priority in every facet of its work.

He particularly drew attention to UN efforts in Angola and Sierra Leone, as well as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where, he noted, the United Nations anxiously awaits Security Council authorization of the deployment of 500 military observers, backed up by more than 5,000 military personnel.

K.Y. Amoako, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, also addressed the Summit, noting that today, 21 percent of Africa's peoples are in war and conflict, while the region has the highest levels of poverty and the most unequal income distribution of any in the world.

He urged the United States to become more involved in helping Africa and added that when the United States pays its UN dues and makes voluntary contributions to the United Nations, it is helping Africa.

The Economic Commission for Africa also announced today that it will hold a regional conference on the problem of "brain drain" in Africa at its headquarters in Addis Ababa from February 22 to 24.

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS BOMBING IN AFGHANISTAN

In a statement by the Spokesman, the Secretary-General deplored the "indiscriminate bombing of the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan" this week, resulting in the death of eight civilians. One of the bombs, in the attack Monday, fell some 200 meters from UN offices in the Bazarak/Changaram area, the statement said.

"The Secretary-General is also gravely concerned that civilians are still being deliberately targeted in different frontline areas of Afghanistan," the statement said.

"The Secretary-General is also concerned with recent fighting that has led to signification displacement in north-central Afghanistan and hopes that all parties will take urgent measures to halt the fighting and suffering in this area," it said.

UN TASK FORCE CONTINUES CYANIDE SPILL INVESTIGATION

The mobile lab from the United Nations Environment Programme-Habitat Balkans Task Force is continuing its emergency water sampling of the Danube River following the recent cyanide spill from Romania.

On Wednesday, they conducted studies near Pancevo in Serbia and today upstream at the Iron Gate dam area, near the Hungarian/Romanian border. The first preliminary analysis is expected late Friday.

Pekka Haavisto, the Chairman of the Task Force, has been touring affected areas in Hungary and Romania with the Environment Ministers of the two countries, along with the European Environment Commissioner, Margot Wallstrom. They have been discussing possible next steps.

ANNAN ISSUES DISARMAMENT REPORT TO COUNCIL

On the racks today are copies of the Secretary-General's report on the UN peacekeeping role in disarmament, demobilization and reintegration. The report, which summarizes UN analyses about its disarmament work, is in response to a request by the Security Council in July 1999 for the Secretary-General's recommendations on further disarmament work.

The report notes that, although UN disarmament, demobilization and reintegration operations are fairly recent, they have "rapidly become a well-established feature of post-Cold War peacekeeping."

It adds that UN peacekeepers can help to reassure former combatants to disarm and even, if necessary, offer incentives to do so. The Secretary-General notes that a non-governmental operation in Mozambique allowed for weapons to be exchanged for such tools as sewing machines, bicycles, hoes and construction materials, which helped to benefit entire communities.

UN peacekeepers, the report notes, can also be used to destroy weapons -- sometimes "the best scenario for the disposal of weapons" -- and to monitor regional arms flows.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) announced the appointment today of the first international prosecutor in Mitrovica, as part of the emergency measures to restore security in the divided city. UNMIK decided that the pressure upon the fledgling local judiciary was so great as to warrant the immediate appointment of international jurists to quickly prosecute those suspected of inflaming the situation in Mitrovica.

In response to a question on Tajikistan, the Spokesman noted that a UN electoral team has arrived there. However, she said, she could not confirm any reports that the United Nations might scale back its operations in the country due to recent violence.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has come up with a "recipe" for the vaccine to combat the flu season that has hit the Northern hemisphere this year. Scientists and researchers, gathered in Geneva this week, identified the three components needed to deal with the new influenza viruses.

In a speech delivered at the opening on Tuesday of a three-day regional disarmament meeting of Asian and Pacific nations, held in Kathmandu, Nepal, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Jayantha Dhanapala said that global disarmament efforts are "entering a dangerous new era." He warned that, while leaders of nuclear weapon states talk about wanting to disarm, they balk at negotiating concrete measures to do so.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced in a press release that its Executive Director, Carol Bellamy, will tour on Friday flood-affected areas in Mozambique.

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