United Nations Daily Highlights, 00-08-02

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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 MANOEL DE ALMEIDA E SILVA
DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

• Today in East Timor, an Australian peacekeeper serving with the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor shot and killed two armed militia members in a clash in Maliana District, about 10 km away from the border with West Timor.

• The Australian troops had been tracking militia activity in Maliana, and, shortly after noon today, they came across a group of four to five militia, who were armed with rifles and grenades, about 5.5 km northeast of Maliana.

• The UN soldiers shot and killed two militia members, while the others are still at large.

• No UN peacekeepers were injured during the incident.

• Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello said the incident was important because "it indicates that the militia remain active."

• De Mello also noted that today's incident was the first time that the UN peacekeeping force successfully engaged a militia group at a short distance, and the first time it had killed militia members.

• He added that the rules of engagement in East Timor had not changed, but were being applied at the border "without the slightest hesitation," following the killing last week of Private Leonard Manning, a member of New Zealand's UN contingent, near the border.

• Force Commander Lt. Gen. Boonsrang Niumpradit said that the actions by the UN troops today should send a signal across the border to make militia members think twice before placing human lives in jeopardy.

• In response to a question, the Deputy Spokesman said that the UN mission continues to search for those involved and that the militia members killed were wearing TNI (Indonesian military) uniforms.

• Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a statement issued through his Spokesman, said he learned with great dismay about the series of overnight massacres in Kashmir in which reportedly 93 people, mostly Hindu pilgrims and other civilians, were killed.

• Annan strongly deplored this violence and calls for maximum restraint to prevent any further escalation and called for maximum restraint to prevent any further escalation, the statement said. He reiterated his call for an end to terrorism attacks where ever they may occur.

• The Secretary-General once again urges India and Pakistan to find an early political solution to the Kashmir problem, it said.

• This morning, the Security Council met in closed consultations in the first session under the new Council President for August, Ambassador Hasmy Agam of Malaysia, to discuss the program of work for this month.

• The Council then heard a briefing by Taye Brook Zerihoun, Director of the Africa I Division of the Department of Political Affairs, on the latest developments in Burundi.

• The Facilitator of the Burundi peace process, former South African President Nelson Mandela, last month circulated a draft peace agreement, and has expressed the hope that it will be signed on August 28. However, some parties have voiced their concerns about the draft peace agreement, and the United Nations is monitoring the situation following some worrying indications that extremist elements may threaten violence.

• Following the consultations on Burundi, the Security Council heard a briefing on the latest developments in Guinea-Bissau by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Danilo Turk.

• Today is the last day of the Secretary-general's official visit to his home country Ghana.

• Tuesday evening the president of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings, made the Secretary-General Companion of the Order of the Star of Ghana, the highest Ghanaian civilian decoration, in recognition of his "valiant commitment to social justice for all peoples (…) and efforts to achieve peace, security and tranquility world-wide".

• In his toast at the state banquet in his honor, and in reply to Rawlings' remarks on globalization, the Secretary-General said that "while the developing countries have a lot to do, the developed, the countries with capacity to give, also have a lot to do. They can accelerate debt relief. I believe, he said, they can consider allowing countries to qualify for debt simply on the basis of poverty, extreme poverty alone."

• This morning, he broke the ground for the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College.

• Speaking to reporters after the event, he said that "a good peacekeeper is a well trained and well equipped peacekeeper".

• Annan added that the Centre will be opened to troops from other nations in the African continent preparing them for action on "our own continent and eventually for participation in peacekeeping operations around the world.

• In the afternoon, he was to receive an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Ghana.

• Once the official visit is over later today, the Secretary-General will remain in Ghana for a few days on a private visit.

• The Secretary-General has sent a letter to the Security Council announcing the composition of a five-member panel to collect information on possible violations of the arms embargo, the link between the trade in diamonds and arms and to consider the adequacy of air traffic control systems in the region.

• The panel chaired by Martin Chungong Ayafor of Cameroon consists of a diamond expert from Canada, Ian Smillie, an expert on arms and transportation from Belgium, Johan Pelemen, an Interpol expert from India, Harjit Singh Sandhu and an aviation expert from Senegal, Atabou Bodian.

• The five men are expected to meet at UN headquarters during the week of August 21 to discuss the organizational aspects of their work.

• The Secretary-General, in a letter dated July 28 to the President of the General Assembly, informed him of a decision to appoint Gerd Merrem as his Special Representative in Guatemala and Head of the UN Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA). The appointment took effect on August 1, 2000.

• The decision was made after consultations with the Government of Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) in compliance with the commitments contained in the 1996 Peace Agreements.

• In Geneva today, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a report in which it said that evidence from tobacco industry documents reveals that tobacco companies have deliberately tried to subvert the WHO's efforts to control tobacco use. The report's authors claim that the effort has been "elaborate, well-financed, sophisticated and usually invisible."

• The report, titled "Tobacco Company Strategies to Undermine Tobacco Control Activities at the World Health Organization," accuses tobacco firms of maintaining relationships with current or former WHO staff in order to influence the agency's activities; of putting pressure on relevant WHO budgets; and of discrediting WHO and distorting its tobacco research.

• The authors of the report say such efforts are unacceptable and must be condemned.

• In response to a question about the trip by the Executive Director for the Office of the Iraq Programme Benon Sevan’s visit to Iraq, the Deputy Spokesman said it is similar to previous visits and includes meetings with government ministers, the heads of UN agencies and programs as well as with his own staff in Baghdad – including Humanitarian Coordinator, Tun Myat. Sevan will also travel to the Northern Governorates where the United Nations implements the Oil-for-Food program. The Deputy Spokesman noted that the Security Council, in its resolution 1302 of June of this year, requested that the Secretary General appoint a panel of independent experts to publish a comprehensive report on the humanitarian situation in Iraq. Names for the panel have been collected and individuals are in the process of being contacted.

• Some 400 university students from Japan in Pristina. Kosovo, are helping out with garbage removal and beautification -- that is planting trees, bushes and flowers -- in a three-week program with Kosovo youth counterparts, according to the UN mission in Kosovo.

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