United Nations Daily Highlights, 01-03-14

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

BY MANOEL DE ALMEIDA E SILVA

DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Wednesday, March 14, 2001

SECURITY COUNCIL TO MEET ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER

The Security Council has scheduled consultations at 3:30 p.m. today on the Middle East.

After those consultations have ended, it intends to hold a private meeting -- a formal meeting of the Council that only Council members and invited guests can attend -- with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

UN POLICE CONFRONTED BY KOSOVO SERBS IN MITROVICA

The UN Mission in Kosovo reported that around 7 a.m. today, following the arrest by UN police of three Kosovo Serb suspects for illegal possession of weapons, a crowd of some 150 Kosovo Serbs demanding the suspects release gathered in front of the police station in northern Mitrovica North. The crowd threw stones at the police station.

According to preliminary reports, once the crowd had dispersed from the police station, smaller groups began to move around the area, looting residences of UN police officers. Groups of Kosovo Serbs also entered apartments of Bosniak Muslims and beat the residents. In the afternoon, a UN Special Police Unit was confronted by a crowd of 200 to 300 Serbs.

As of 5 p.m. local time, the situation was described by the Mission has relatively calm but still tense. The bridges between north and south Mitrovica remain closed. Small groups of Kosovo Serbs are still moving about.

The Secretary-Generals report to the Security Council on the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) should be issued as a document later today.

The Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Kosovo, Hans Haekkerup, will be here Friday to talk to the Security Council, and he is also expected to brief reporters.

ANNAN EMPHASIZES SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN BANGLADESH

This afternoon in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Secretary-General Kofi Annan delivered an address on sustainable development at the office of the Prime Minister. In that address, he said that Bangladesh, more than almost any other place on the planet, is expected to suffer the devastating impact of climate change.

He noted that the World Summit on Sustainable Development will be held next year in Johannesburg, and said that an early test of resolve to meet sustainable development goals would be whether Governments enforce the Kyoto Protocol, which aims to reduce greenhouse emissions.

He said, "The burden of leadership at this juncture falls on the industrialized countries, and in particular the United States, the European Union and Japan." He urged those countries to proceed with reductions in emissions and assistance for similar efforts in the developing world, adding, "To abandon this process now would set back the global climate strategy for many years."

ANNAN MEETS PRESIDENT, PRIME MINISTER OF BANGLADESH

The Secretary-General began his official visit to Bangladesh this morning by travelling by helicopter to the National Martyr's Memorial at Savar, north-west of the capital, Dhaka, where he laid a wreath at the base of a monument commemorating the Bangladeshis who died in the independence struggle.

From there, he traveled to the Peacekeeping Operation Training Center in Rajendrapu, where he was briefed on the training program for Bangladeshi troops who serve in UN peacekeeping missions. He also met with former peacekeepers and met with the families of Bangladeshi soldiers who died while in UN service.

He then returned to Dhaka, where he and his wife, Nane Annan, visited the house where the first Bangladeshi President, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was assassinated in 1975. The Secretary-General laid a wreath at the portrait of the late President, who is the father of the current Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina.

The Secretary-General then met with Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad, with whom he discussed a wide range of issues. He and the Foreign Minister also had a working lunch together. In the afternoon, the Secretary-General met with Bangladesh's President, Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed. In the evening, the Secretary-General met first with Bangladeshi Finance Minister Shah A.M.S. Kibria, and then with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who later hosted a dinner for him.

Nane Annan today visited an open-air school that provides job training and education for street children in Dhaka, a project which is supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP). She also visited a pilot project, also supported by UNDP, that provides small loans and training to women entrepreneurs.

On Thursday, the Secretary-General will leave Bangladesh for India, the last country on his four-nation travel through South Asia. The Spokesman noted, in response to a question, that he is expected to return to New York by this weekend.

PAVAROTTI TO SING FOR AFGHAN REFUGEE CHILDREN

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced today that world-renowned tenor and UN Messenger for Peace, Maestro Luciano Pavarotti, has agreed to organize a benefit concert for Afghan refugee children in Pakistan, to be held in Modena, Italy, on May 29.

This benefit concert by Pavarotti and friends should raise significant contributions for UNHCR's programs aiding Afghan refugee children in Pakistan and will help to further increase the public's awareness of the plight of these victims of Afghanistan's long conflict.

The Secretary-General and Nane Annan visited New Shamshatoo refugee camp in northwest Pakistan on Monday, where they saw the difficult conditions under which some of Pakistan's 170,000 new Afghan refugees are living.

The Secretary-General is very grateful for the initiative shown by Pavarotti and friends in supporting UNHCR in its mission to help Afghan refugee children.

AFGHAN PARTIES AGREE TO CEASE-FIRE FOR POLIO IMMUNIZATIONS

The UN Humanitarian Office for Afghanistan reported that both the Taliban and the Northern Alliance have given their commitment to respect a cease-fire during the first rounds of National Immunization Days against polio, which will be conducted from March 15-17.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) made the request to both sides.

Special efforts will be undertaken to ensure that internally displaced children in Afghanistan will be reached during this vaccination campaign. Additional efforts will be made to ensure that children who cross borders are also vaccinated.

UN ADVANCE PARTY DEPLOYS TO REBEL-HELD ZONE SIERRA LEONE

The UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) began its first deployment into territory held by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) since the crisis of May 2000.

An advance party of peacekeepers arrived this morning in Lunsar, a town approximately 200 km from Freetown in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone, to initiate preparations for the full deployment of a Nigerian UN battalion later this week.

The deployment into RUF-held territory is among the terms of the Abuja cease-fire agreement, signed by the Government of Sierra Leone and the RUF last November.

UN Force Commander, Lt. Gen. Daniel Opande has held several meetings with the RUF since the beginning of the year to facilitate the movement of peacekeepers into areas controlled by the RUF.

The RUF has agreed to remove its roadblocks on the Rogberi-Lunsar Road and to ensure that Lunsar is a weapons-free zone. Forward deployment of UN peacekeepers into RUF-held towns is expected in the coming weeks.

UN MISSION PREPARES FOR START OF CONGOLESE DISENGAGEMENT

The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), in a press release, noted that Thursday will be the start of the disengagement of forces that will continue from March 15-28.

Kamel Morjane, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be traveling to Goma, and is expected to review the situation with Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) officials on "D Day" Thursday.

UN Force Commander Gen. Mountaga Diallo will be in Equateur province for talks with the Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) leadership.

TWO UN VEHICLES HIT MINES IN ERITREA

On Thursday, the Security Council expects to vote on a draft resolution on a six-month extension of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). That Mission's present mandate expires Thursday.

Two light armored vehicles belonging to Canadian peacekeepers of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) today struck mines near the town of Tsorena, Eritrea. No one was hurt, although the vehicles sustained some damage.

"Fortunately these incidents did not result in tragedy," said UN Force Commander Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert. "However, it underscores the absolute necessity of receiving all relevant mine information from both parties," he stressed.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY VOTES ON YUGOSLAV TRIBUNAL JUDGES

Today, the General Assembly is taking action on the list of candidates, given to it by the Security Council, for permanent judges on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). After one round, the Assembly had chosen 12 judges out of a list of 25 judges, with two more vacancies to be filled in subsequent rounds. The 14 judges are to occupy seats for a four-year term on the Tribunal beginning this November.

In answer to a question about the shortage of women candidates on the list, the General Assembly Spokeswoman noted that the nominations had been submitted by Member States, at the request of the Secretary-General, and that the Security Council had extended the deadline for nominations once because fewer nominations had been submitted than the minimum level.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today that the current outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Disease demonstrates the ability of the virus to infiltrate wide geographic areas and cause epidemics in countries which had been free from the disease for many years. The FAO recommends that countries most exposed to risk should reinforce surveillance and control measures at borders, and also develop contingency plans.

The UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) announced a new report, "Beyond Krismon," which warned that Indonesia's Government is deep in debt, and that, since the 1997/1998 budget, the health budget has shrunk by 20 percent and the education budget by 40 percent.

The UN Drug Control Programme today announced that basketball star Eduardo Nàjera of the Dallas Mavericks has been named a Goodwill Ambassador for Sports against Drugs.

This morning, Liechtenstein signed the Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, both supplementing the Convention Against Transnational Crime. On Tuesday, Brazil became the 85th country to sign the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

Today, three more Member States paid their contribution to the 2001 regular budget in full. Cape Verde and Dominica both made payments of more than $10,000 and San Marino made a payment of more than $20,000. This brings the number of fully paid-up Member States to 62.

Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

United Nations, S-378

New York, NY 10017

Tel. 212-963-7162

Fax. 212-963-7055

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