United Nations Daily Highlights, 00-08-03

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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

• The Security Council this morning met in a formal session to adopt a Presidential Statement on East Timor.

• In that statement, among other things, the Council appreciated the progress made by the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor and condemns the murder last week of a private from the New Zealand contingent to the UN peacekeeping force.

• It also called on the Indonesian Government to take effective steps to establish secure conditions in the East Timorese refugee camps in West Timor.

• Security Council members then held a closed, so-called "private" meeting in the Security Council chambers to receive the Human Rights Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Leonard She Okitundu.

• The private meeting -- attended only by the 15 Council Member States and the DRC -- began with a briefing by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations H&eacute;di Annabi on the latest developments in that country, before the Council members heard from the Human Rights Minister.

• This afternoon, at 3:30 p.m., the Council will hold closed consultations on Sierra Leone to consider the Secretary-General's recent report on that country, issued earlier this week, and to discuss a draft resolution that the Council intends to vote on Friday. Gen. Vijay Jetley, the force commander of the UN mission in Sierra Leone, will attend the session.

• That draft resolution concerns the extension of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone, the current mandate of which is to expire next Monday. Another draft resolution on the trial of Sierra Leonean nationals is expected to come up in consultations later next week, tentatively on Thursday.

• A soldier from the Bangladeshi Battalion of the UN Mission in East Timor was killed today as a result of the blast from unexploded ordnance. Another soldier was lightly wounded in the same incident, which occurred while 15 Bangladeshi soldiers were engaged in a clean-up operation at one of Dili's beaches to ensure the area was free of unexploded ordnance.

• The beach had been sealed off to the public on July 1, when unexploded ordnance wounded three Portuguese peacekeeping soldiers. Part of the beach was used as a training ground for small arms fire practice by the peacekeeping force.

• Though the device that exploded is still to be identified, the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor reported that it was left there prior to the deployment of the UN peacekeepers. The Mission has established a Board of Inquiry to investigate the incident.

• The United Nations has established a humanitarian presence in Ambon in Indonesia's Maluku province to support local and international efforts to assist some 300,000 displaced persons throughout Maluku.

• The team is comprised of five UN staff from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Development Program, the UN Children's Fund, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization.

• The presence, established on Monday, follows consultations between the United Nations and Government of Indonesia and follows several joint assessment missions to various parts of Maluku province.

• The United Nations has also established a smaller presence with a two-member team in Ternate, the capital of North Maluku province.

• Negotiations between the United Nations and the Taliban are continuing in an attempt to get the Taliban to reconsider the July 5 edict barring Afghan women from working with UN and non-governmental organizations. One mission is currently in Kabul, and another is scheduled for Sunday.

• There have been numerous missions to Afghanistan by the UN officials, and a complaint to the Taliban representative in Islamabad has been lodged by donors based in the Pakistani capital.

• Despite these efforts, Mullah Omar, the head of the Taliban, signed an edict last week informing the Taliban Council of Ministers that the employment of women has "paved the way for immorality," and that Afghan women must not work in any organizations, except for in the health sector.

• In response to a question, the Spokesman noted that the report by the Panel on UN Peace Operations, led by Lakhdar Brahimi, is expected to be launched around August 24.

• Indonesia has become the 105^th Member State to pay its regular budget dues in full for this year, with a contribution of nearly $686,000.

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