United Nations Daily Highlights, 01-07-18

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

BY FRED ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK Wednesday, July 18, 2001

ANNAN DISCUSSES BALKANS, TRADE, MIDDLE EAST IN GENEVA

Secretary-General Kofi Annan met this morning in Geneva with his former Special Envoy for the Balkans, Carl Bildt, for a review of the situation in that region.

He then reviewed with Rubens Ricupero, the head of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the prospects for a new round of global trade talks this year as well as the current High Level Segment of the Economic and Social Council taking place in Geneva.

His last appointment of the morning was with Terje Roed Larsen, his Special Coordinator for the Middle East, with whom he discussed the latest developments in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Larsen had met Monday with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Gaza, and also with Russian Special Envoy Andre Vdovin and European Union Special Envoy Miguel Moratinos.

On Thursday, the Secretary-General will travel to Rome, from where he will go to Genoa, Italy, on Friday to attend the Group of Eight (G-8) Summit.

Asked what role the Secretary-General will play in that Summit, the Spokesman said that some details about the Summit were still to be determined but that the Secretary-General's role would focus on support for his Global AIDS and Health Fund.

SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

The Security Council today held informal consultations on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Kamel Morjane, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in that country, briefed Council members. He reviewed recent political developments, military aspects, including disarmament and demobilization of armed groups, as well as the humanitarian and social situation in the country. He also updated Council members on the efforts to re-start navigation on the Congo River.

DISARMAMENT, MINING HALT TO BEGIN IN SIERRA LEONE DISTRICT

Today in Sierra Leone's Kono District, the Government and the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) are to resume disarming their forces and to begin a total moratorium on all mining activities, in an effort to complete disarmament there by the end of July.

Representatives of the Government, the RUF and the UN Mission in Sierra Leone met Tuesday in Bo, where the parties agreed to a series of measures to deal with the cease-fire violations that have taken place recently in Kono.

Oluyemi Adeniji, the Secretary-General's Special Representative in Sierra Leone, witnessed the signing by the parties of a communique, copies of which are available upstairs, agreeing to resume disarmament, halt mining activities and dismantle all checkpoints in Kono.

UN peacekeepers from the Bangladeshi contingent will be monitoring the resumption of the disarmament process in Kono, which had slowed to a trickle last week.

The UN Mission also noted the freeing on Monday by the RUF of 107 children in Makeni, mainly girls, including 11 who are pregnant and many others who are recent mothers.

SMALL ARMS CONFERENCE CONTINUES REVIEW OF PROGRAMME

The United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects went into a night session again Tuesday evening. Delegates finished reviewing Section 2 of the draft Programme of Action shortly after midnight, and they have two more sections to review before finishing the first round of negotiations on the revised Programme.

This morning, the Conference held an open plenary, to hear a message from Ambassador Said Djinnid, the Organization of African Unity's Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs. The Conference also approved the report of its credentials committee before returning to closed negotiations on the draft Programme of Action.

BORDER COMMITTEE MEETING ON EAST TIMOR TO BEGIN IN JAKARTA

Indonesian officials and senior personnel from the East Timor Transitional Administration and the UN Mission in East Timor comprising the Joint Border Committee will hold a two-day meeting in Jakarta beginning Thursday.

Participants at the meeting will discuss cross-border security cooperation, police cooperation, demarcation and regulation of the border, and the cross-border movement of people and goods.

Meanwhile, the campaign for the August 30 Constituent Assembly continues to gain momentum. On Tuesday, UN radio and TV broadcast live an eight-hour debate with 15 political parties. The media also started to broadcast campaign messages by the candidates, as part of the UN Missions efforts to give all candidates equal media access during the campaign period.

KOSOVO COUNCIL DISCUSSES DRAFT LAW ON PROPERTY SALES

On Tuesday in Kosovo, the Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Tom Koenigs, provided an update to the Interim Administrative Council on a proposed regulation to introduce a mechanism to monitor inter-ethnic sales of property in some areas of Kosovo where minorities are present.

The regulation would allow the Special Representative to designate specific areas in Kosovo, particularly in multi-ethnic locales, where people selling property would be required to register any contract with the municipal administrator's office before it can be validated. The regulation is intended to ensure that irregular sales that are detrimental to minority rights and the multi-ethnic character of Kosovo are not validated by the courts.

The Interim Administrative Council will study the draft regulation, which will be discussed at its meeting next week.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

In response to a question, the Spokesman confirmed that a meeting planned next week between the Secretary-General and Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer has been cancelled. Ben Eliezer spoke by phone with the Secretary-General to inform him that he would not be coming to the United States.

Mira Markovic, wife of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, will be visiting the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague starting Thursday. For security reasons, the Tribunal will not release the precise details of her visit to The Hague, where Milosevic is currently detained. The visit is a private one.

This morning, the Holy See ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, becoming the 78th party to the Treaty.

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a new Fact Sheet on Protecting Children from Ultraviolet Radiation. Children are at high risk of suffering damage from exposure to such radiation, which can cause skin cancer, eye damage and premature ageing of the skin. The best protection for children is protective clothing, hats and sunscreen.

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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