United Nations Daily Highlights, 00-07-06

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

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE NOON BRIEFING
BY THE DEPUTY SPOKESMAN OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
MANOEL DE ALMEIDA E SILVA
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

• Earlier today, UN Legal Counsel Hans Corell completed formal discussions with the Government of Cambodia on the establishment of a tribunal to try Khmer Rouge leaders.

• The tribunal envisaged would be a Cambodian court with the participation of international judges and prosecutors. Because the outstanding substantive issues were resolved earlier by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, the discussions focused on technical issues involving the formation of the tribunal, and were frank and comprehensive.

• Corell provided his Cambodian counterpart, Senior Minister Sok An, with a draft Memorandum of Understanding that would govern the relationship between Cambodia and the United Nations. The Memorandum would be signed by the United Nations and Cambodia after the Cambodian parliament passes legislation in keeping with the understanding between the parties.

• Corell and Sok An, in a press conference following their meeting, agreed that the responsibility for moving the process toward completion now lies squarely with the Government of Cambodia.

• This morning, the Security Council began its closed consultations with a briefing by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast on the latest developments in Afghanistan. There are indications that the warring parties may resume heavy fighting in Afghanistan in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation is described as bleak, particularly as a result of the recent drought.

• After that briefing, the Council discussed Haiti, on which it received a briefing by Angela Kane, Director of the Americas and Europe Division of the Department of Political Affairs. Last week, it was announced that the second round of Haiti's legislative elections will take place on July 9. The United Nations, however, remains concerned about the method for counting the votes of the Senate races in the first round, which were not in accordance with the methodology detailed in the Electoral Law.

• The Security Council also discussed Ethiopia and Eritrea, on which it was briefed by Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Bernard Miyet. An assessment team dispatched by the Secretary-General is in Ethiopia on the first leg of a mission to develop a concept of operations for a future UN operation.

• The Council also received the text of a draft resolution concerning AIDS and peacekeeping issues.

• Early Wednesday evening, the Security Council voted in favor of a resolution that decided that states must take the necessary measures to prohibit the direct and indirect import of all rough diamonds from Sierra Leone to their territory for an initial period of 18 months. Diamonds certified by the Government of Sierra Leone will be exempted from the ban.

• The resolution aimed at banning trade in diamonds from rebel areas in Sierra Leone was approved with 14 votes in favor and one abstention, by Mali.

• The resolution is the first of three resolutions the Security Council is working on regarding Sierra Leone.

• The UN Secretariat will work with the sanctions committee on Sierra Leone to convene a hearing on the role of diamonds in the Sierra Leone conflict and the link between trade in Sierra Leone diamonds and trade in arms. It will also name a panel of experts, as stipulated in the resolution.

• The Secretary-General left Geneva today, concluding a 3-week trip to countries in the Middle East and Europe.

• He is now on his way to Ghana, where he will conduct a private visit and will also open an exhibit Friday organized by the Ghanaian Government and the UN Information Center in Accra on UN peacekeeping. The booklet "Ghana: Four Decades of UN and Regional Peacekeeping" will also be presented.

• Annan will leave Ghana on Sunday, for Lom&eacute;, Togo, to attend the 36^th annual meeting of the heads of state of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). The Secretary-General will speak at the opening ceremony next Monday. The summit will run through Wednesday, July 12.

• On Wednesday afternoon, the Secretary General, in a statement, warmly welcomed U.S. President Bill Clinton’s decision to invite Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel and Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority, to a summit meeting at Camp David, Maryland.

• The Secretary-General strongly supports this effort and feels that a "Peace of the Brave" between Israelis and Palestinians would not only end more than 50 years of hostilities, but also pave the way for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East based on relevant resolutions of the United Nations.

• The Secretary General has been in regular contact with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on this issue. He noted that during her numerous visits to the region, she demonstrated the necessary determination and inspiration to bridge differences between the two sides.

• The second day of the High-Level Segment of the Economic and Social Council’s (ECOSOC) 2000 substantive session began this morning with a ministerial round table breakfast hosted by the President of ECOSOC, Ambassador Makarim Wibisono of Indonesia. Five simultaneous round tables were held on the themes of e-commerce, knowledge sharing, investment and finance, e-governance and info-ethics.

• When the Council met at 10, it heard keynote addresses by the President of Mali, Alpha Oumar Konar&eacute;, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus, Gennady Novitsky. This afternoon, in addition to hearing from delegations, the Council will hear presentations from industry representatives on the potential of information communication and technology.

• Ten East Timorese athletes travel today to Canberra, Australia, for a training and selection process for the Sydney Olympic Games. The team consists of three boxers, three marathoners, two weightlifters and two athletes competing in taekwondo. These athletes, pending their selection, will be able to participate in the Olympics under the East Timorese flag for the first time.

• Meanwhile, five journalists from Kupang, West Timor, are currently visiting Dili in what is the first visit of West Timorese media to East Timor since the so-called "popular consultation" on August 30, 1999.

• These visits were arranged during a meeting between West Timor’s Governor, Piet Tallo, and the Secretary-General's Special Representative for East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, in Dili on June 8. It was decided that an exchange of journalists from both countries would help accelerate the repatriation of some of the 120,000 refugees currently in West Timor.

• The World Food Programme (WFP) said today that despite a recent peace agreement between Eritrea and Ethiopia, hundreds of thousands of war-affected Eritreans would continue to need large amounts of food aid for some time to come.

• WFP announced that it would provide food relief until next April to 750,000 internally displaced and war-affected people, out of one million people estimated by the Eritrean Government to have been affected by the fighting. Non-governmental organizations and other agencies are to supply food for the rest of the displaced population.

• Most of the people in need of food assistance are women and children who continue to live in makeshift camps, dry riverbeds and caves.

• Carolyn McAskie, the UN's Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, left on Wednesday for a 10-day mission to the Horn of Africa to assess the humanitarian situation further to the drought and the conflict and to review existing coordination arrangements to meet the needs of the affected populations in the region. Ethiopia will be among the countries she will visit.

• Today in Seattle, Washington, Assistant Secretary General John Ruggie is scheduled to address the Washington Council’s International Trade Conference, a private nonprofit association which deals with international trade. In his speech today, Ruggie will renew the United Nations call for greater corporate responsibility as a way to increase the benefits of globalization for all.

• A media advisory was issued on a new independent study commissioned by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which says that human trafficking is the only escape route for many genuine refugees who flee persecution and seek protection in Europe. It recommends that European nations review their migration and asylum policies to open other channels to people fleeing persecution in their native countries. The report will be posted on UNHCR’s web site at
• www.unhcr.ch
as of noon GMT Friday, July 7.

• Germany has become the 97^th Member State to pay its dues in full to the regular budget for this year by making a payment of just over $103 million. Also, according to the Status of Contribution to the UN budget, as of June 15, Member States owed just under $2.9 billion, including approximately $820 million for the regular budget, just under $2 billion for the peacekeeping budget and around $80 million for the two international tribunals.

• On Friday at 10 a.m., Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Ambassador Stephen Lewis, members of the International Panel of Eminent Personalities established by the Organization of African Unity to investigate the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, will give a press conference to launch the Panel's report.

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