United Nations Daily Highlights, 01-04-10

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

FROM THE NOON BRIEFING

BY FRED ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Tuesday, April 10, 2001

ANNAN SAYS NOT ENOUGH DONE TO PROTECT CIVILIANS IN CONFLICT

The Secretary-General's second report to the Security Council on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, which follows up on a report he wrote in September 1999, is out as a document today. The report presents 14 new recommendations for Council and General Assembly actions to help protect civilians.

The Secretary-General warns that, as internal armed conflicts have proliferated, civilians have become the principal victims, and yet both Member States and the United Nations have often been unable to respond to their need for protection and assistance. What is needed, he says, is a "culture of protection" involving all major actors, including Governments, armed groups, the private sector and international organizations.

He also notes that, although some 18 months have passed since his last report to the Council on this subject, only a few of the 40 recommendations contained in the earlier report have been implemented so far.

ANNAN WORRIED AT CONTINUING U.S.-CHINA STAND-OFF

Responding to a question on the possible involvement of the Secretary-General in resolving the current dispute between China and the United States, the Spokesman said that this morning the Secretary-General had met with Ambassador Wang Yingfan of China, at the ambassadors request to convey a letter from President Jiang Zemin concerning China's ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The Secretary-General, the Spokesman added, used the opportunity of the meeting to ask Ambassador Wang to convey to the President his worries concerning the current stand-off, adding that is not in the interest of either country, or any other.

Asked further about a possible role for the Secretary-General in resolving this issue, the Spokesman said the Secretary-General is, as he declared Monday, always available should member states call on his good offices.

In response to a question on the nature of the Secretary-Generals contacts with the United States on this issue, the Spokesman answered that the topic had come up during a conversation he had Monday, as part of his regular conversations with a senior U.S.official.

COUNCIL BRIEFED ON INTER-AGENCY MISSION TO WEST AFRICA

The Security Council met in consultations this morning to hear a briefing by Ibrahima Fall, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, on a UN inter-agency mission he led to West Africa between March 7 and 26.

The missions objective was to provide recommendations to the Secretary-General on a coordinated and coherent United Nations response to the multifaceted problems confronting West Africa.

FYROM PRESIDENT PRESSES FOR ENERGETIC CONTROL OF BORDER

In an address this morning to the Human Rights Commission in Geneva, the President of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) Boris Trajkovski said the goal of the "armed extremists" operating on the border with Kosovo is to destroy "the model of multicultural democracy" that exists in his country.

He charged that the rebels are an export from Kosovo, "governed by racist ideology" and by interest in "trafficking in drugs and women."

Trajkovski also urged KFOR and the UN mission in Kosovo (

UNMIK) to exercise more energetic and consistent control of the border area.

CRASHED KOSOVO CHOPPER WAS PART OF EFFORT TO SECURE BORDER

Two British officers, the pilot and navigator, were killed and the five others suffered injuries when a British helicopter crashed on Monday in Kosovo near the border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Today, KFOR said that the aircraft was conducting operations in support of efforts to secure the border and eradicate the extremist activity that has threatened to destabilize the region.

The weather at the time was poor with low cloud and heavy rain. At this stage, KFOR said, the cause of the crash is unknown but there are no indications that it was caused by hostile action from any group, and that the border region had been relatively quiet over the weekend.

SURGE IN IRAQ OIL EXPORT REPORTED

According to the weekly update from the Office of the Iraq Programme (OIP), Iraqi oil exports under the oil-for-food programme surged to an average of 2.29 million barrels a day in the week leading to April 6, 2001, from the previous weeks average of 1.8 million barrels a day.

The sale of 16 million barrels of oil generated an estimated 356 million (euros) in revenue at current prices

The total value of contracts placed on hold by the Security Councils 661 Sanctions Committee decreased slightly, standing at $3.43 billion, of which about $2.99 billion worth of contracts were for humanitarian supplies, while another $438 million worth were for oil industry spare parts and equipment.

UNHCR ALARMED AT VIOLENCE AGAINST SERBS IN CROAT-CONTROLLED BOSNIA

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR) today expressed alarm at the recent acts of violence that have taken place against Bosnian Serbs who have attempted to return to their homes in the Croat-controlled parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Last Friday, an explosive device was thrown at the house of one Serb who had just returned to a village near Grahovo, 150 kilometers west of Sarajevo. Also last week, a school that had been rebuilt in another village in the Grahovo area was blown up, in an attack which caused no casualties but, UNHCR claimed, was clearly intended to intimidate Serbs from returning home.

UNHCR says that the incidents in Grahovo are "a sad exception in today's Bosnia and Herzegovina," where last year a record 8,723 people returned home to areas controlled by their former foes. Some 3,000 Serbs had returned to Grahovo without incident before last week's attacks.

UN ECONOMIC REPORT SEES POSSIBLE REBOUND IN 2002

This morning the Development Policy Analysis Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) launched the Global Economic Outlook report, which includes inputs from the econometric modeling system of Project LINK.

The report notes the economic factors at work in the current economic slowdown, in which the growth of gross world product is expected to decline from 4 percent last year to about 2.4 percent this year. The current downturn, the report says, is being propelled by retrenchment in major developed economies, including a deceleration in the US economy.

Although the report forecasts a rebound of the global growth rate, to about 3 percent by 2002, it notes that several risks remain, including the possibility of a deeper or more prolonged slowdown in the United States, which it says could be transmitted, through direct or indirect linkages, to many other economies.

The spring meeting of Project LINK -- which brings together the economic work of national LINK centers to prepare short-term and medium-term forecasts on the global economy -- began at UN Headquarters yesterday, and will continue through tomorrow.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

The World Food Programme (WFP) today announced the launch of a nearly $90 million emergency operation to feed 2.5 million Ethiopian nomad farmers affected by drought. WFP said that although the overall humanitarian situation in Ethiopia is gradually improving, populations in several regions of the country remain highly vulnerable.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR) reported today that it has resumed the voluntary repatriation of Somali refugees from Ethiopia. The High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers is in Ethiopia and witnessed a departing convoy carrying 1,500 refugees.

The UN mission in Sierra Leone ( UNAMSIL) reported today that about 100 Zambian peacekeepers conducted a long-range patrol to Tongo over the weekend as part of the missions forward deployment into territory held by the rebel Revolutionary United Front. The mission also said that some RUF commanders attended a sensitization workshop on the disarmament and demobilization process in Lunsar.

Kenzo Oshima, Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (OCHA), is in Kinshasa and met with President Joseph Kabila and senior officials today. This followed his weekend visit to survey the humanitarian situation in the east of the country, where the needs are significant. Oshima will hold a press conference tomorrow in Kinshasa.

Dennis McNamara, Special Coordinator on Internal Displacement, will travel to Afghanistan next week. He will leave for Islamabad on Tuesday and will be in the area for a week. Asked about the nature of his trip to the area, Carolyn McAskie, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, who was a guest at the noon briefing, said that as part of his mandate McNamara would be visiting zones where they were large numbers of internally displaced people. Afghanistan, especially the area around Herat, had seen a large number of people forced to flee their homes.

The Secretary-General, in a letter to the Security Council, said that the report by a panel of experts on the illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be out by April 16. More time was required to complete analyzing the voluminous information obtained by the panel. In response to a question on the presentation of the report to the media, the Spokesman said the chair of the panel would probably hold an on the record briefing.

Asked about when the General Assembly would take-up the renewal of Mary Robinsons mandate as High Commissioner for Human Rights which ends on September 11, 2001, the Spokesman later answered that he expected the matter to be taken during the current session of the General Assembly which ends on September 11, 2001.

Responding to a question on the Secretary-Generals meeting today with Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNDCCP), the Spokesman answered that the meeting was a routine one but that the on-going investigation being conducted by the UN Office of Investigation and Oversight ( OIOS) could also come up.