United Nations Daily Highlights, 01-10-26

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

THE NOON BRIEFING

BY FRED ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Friday, October 26, 2001

UN ENVOY, HUMANITARIAN OFFICIALS VISITING AFGHAN REGION

The Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, is headed for the region near Afghanistan later today. His consultations on the ground in Pakistan are expected to begin on Monday.

Also headed to Pakistan is the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Ruud Lubbers.

Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima, as part of his mission to the region, met with the President and the Foreign Minister of Tajikistan today and reports that the Government is very supportive of UN efforts to provide assistance to Afghanistan. The Government is committed to working with the UN to simplify administrative procedures and to support the use of facilities, including access to airports in the south and deliveries across the border river.

Oshima plans to visit drought-affected areas in Tajikistan Saturday. He said international assistance to Tajikistan should not be overshadowed by events next door.

The UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) said that it has gained access to the no-mans land between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, where some 6,000 Afghan children were among the groups stranded there since last October. UNICEF said it was immunizing the children and distributing supplies.

AGENCIES STEP UP WORK IN AFGHANISTAN AS SNOWS FALL

The first snows were reported to have been falling in Afghanistan, the World Food Programme (WFP) said, with a light snow falling in the Anjuman Pass in the northern part of the country, between Faizabad and the Panjsher Valley. The snow has served as a reminder that aid needs to get to the people in the mountainous areas before winter sets in.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that Afghan families continued to cross the Pakistan border and were going to a camp near the Chaman crossing.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said there were reports of a probable outbreak of malaria near Jalalabad, with the already poor health situation expected to deteriorate further.

WFP and UNHCR both report a deterioration in the security situation inside Afghanistan. UNHCR said it has heard reports that the its office and warehouse in Kandahar have been looted. People arriving in Pakistan from Kandahar have spoken of seeing some of UNHCR's nine vehicles being driven around town by armed men.

WFP said that armed individuals had reportedly occupied its offices in Mazar-i-Sharif.

The sixth report on human rights in Afghanistan by UN human rights rapporteur Kamal Hossein, available today, describes the latest massacres around Yakawlang in May and June when it was reoccupied by Taliban forces.

SECURITY COUNCIL SAYS ISRAEL MUST WITHDRAW FROM PALESTINIAN TOWNS

On Thursday night, the Security Council heard a briefing on recent developments in the Middle East from Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast. He drew attention to a statement read late Thursday in Gaza by the Secretary-Generals Special Coordinator for the Middle East, Terje Roed Larsen, on behalf of the UN, US, Russian and European Union envoys who had met with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat earlier that day.

In that statement, the four envoys noted that Arafat had detailed the steps he has taken to control violence and combat terrorism, and they urged him to make a concerted effort to ensure full and strict compliance with the Palestinian Authoritys cease-fire orders and to take further steps against terrorist organizations. They also called on Israel to withdraw immediately from Area A areas, which are under full Palestinian control, to ensure greater restraint by the Israeli Defense Force, to respect the cease-fire fully and to move swiftly to ease closures, among other steps.

Following the Councils consultations, Security Council President Richard Ryan of Ireland issued a statement to the press, saying that Council members were deeply concerned by the escalation in violence and deplored the loss of life on both sides. Council members supported statements in capitals calling for immediate withdrawal by all Israeli forces from Area A, and strongly supported all the elements in the statement read by Larsen.

The Council members also welcomed the resumption of security meetings involving the Israelis, Palestinians and the United States, which are to take place later today.

No Council meetings are scheduled for today.

Today, Larsen met with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and is continuing his intensive diplomatic efforts on the ground.

Asked about whether the United Nations knew of any dates for Israels withdrawal from Palestinian towns, the Spokesman said that it had not been made aware so far of any such dates.

UN ENVOY ON COLOMBIA TO HEAD NORWEGIAN RED CROSS

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a statement, noted the announcement in Oslo that Jan Egeland, his Special Adviser on Colombia, will become the next Secretary-General of the Norwegian Red Cross from January 2002.

The Secretary-General congratulated Egeland warmly on this appointment, and said he has made a decisive contribution to the UN's support for Colombia's efforts to end violence and bring peace to the country, and has worked tirelessly to promote peace, human rights, humanitarian assistance and development in the country.

Egeland will continue in his functions as Special Adviser until January. Arrangements for his succession will be announced later.

ANNAN TO PARTICIPATE IN ILO FORUM IN GENEVA PRIVATE

NEXT WEEK

The Secretary-General will travel to Geneva next Tuesday to participate in the Global Employment Forum, which opens on Thursday.

That forum is sponsored by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and is designed to provide policy options to deal with the 500 million additional members of the global work force over the next decade.

While he's in Geneva, Annan will take the opportunity to meet with staff, as he has been doing at UN Headquarters.

He will return to New York at the end of the week.

UN ENVOY TO KOSOVO MEETS YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT

In Belgrade Thursday, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Kosovo, Hans Haekkerup, had a series of meetings with Yugoslav and other officials on the possibility of a joint declaration that would encourage Serb participation in the upcoming Kosovo elections. The UN Mission in Kosovo and the Yugoslav Government presented proposals on such a declaration, but did not reach agreement on a text.

Haekkerup held a productive one-on-one meeting with Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, in which they agreed on the need to conclude a joint declaration that would enable the highest Serb participation in the elections.

Haekkerup said afterward at a press conference that Serbs had five reasons to come out to vote: to end their isolation; to strengthen their security; to bolster democracy; to enable further returns; and because there was no alternative to moving ahead.

FIRST EAST TIMORESE BATTALION INAUGURATED

The first battalion of the East Timor Defence Force (ETDF) was formally inaugurated today at a ceremony at which their Australian-built facility was officially handed over to the people of East Timor.

The recruitment and selection process for the first 600-member battalion was completed in January, and 250 of these recruits completed their basic training at their former base in June. The remaining 350 battalion recruits are currently undergoing basic training. The process of recruiting men and women to join a second Defence Force battalion is underway.

As indicated in the latest report of the Secretary-General on East Timor, it is envisaged that the first battalion will be fully operational by next June. A second battalion is expected to be ready by late 2003.

CHILDREN REUNITED WITH FAMILIES IN NORTHERN SIERRA LEONE

In the town of Makeni in northern Sierra Leone Thursday, 95 children who were formerly associated with the fighting forces were reunited with their families.

The Secretary-Generals Special Representative, Oluyemi Adeniji, gave the keynote address at the ceremony where the families were reunited, and urged the families to provide all the support the children need to grow up normally. He said, We have to make sure we give them all opportunities in life.

RWANDAN GENOCIDE SUSPECT PLEADS NOT GUILTY

In Arusha, Tanzania, the former prefect of Kigali-Rural, Francois Karera, today pleaded not guilty to charges of genocide and crimes against humanity at his initial appearance before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

Karera is accused of carrying out patrols in his prefecture to hunt down and kill Tutsi civilians during the 1994 genocide. He was arrested in Nairobi last Saturday and transferred to the Tribunals detention facility later that day.

Also today, the Tribunal issued a report reviewing its work over the past year, saying that over that time, the Tribunal has improved its performance remarkably, with its work accelerating and all three trial chambers actively engaged in trying suspects.

LIBERIA SANCTIONS REPORT TO BE ISSUED MONDAY

The report of the independent panel on Liberia sanctions will be out on Monday, and the chair of the panel, Martin Ayafor, and Singaporean Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani, chair of the Security Council sanctions committee on Liberia, will speak to reporters at 12:30.

The Security Council is expected to take up the report as part of its consultations on Liberia early next week.

FRECHETTE LINKS ANTI-POVERTY AND ANTI-TERRORISM STRUGGLES

Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, is in Ontario, Canada, today, where she is being conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws at Queens College.

In her acceptance speech, she said, "If we reject what the terrorists stand for: violence, intolerance, fanaticism; if we want to protect the values that we hold dear: freedom, tolerance, justice, equality; then we must do better, much better, to bridge the gap between rich and poor."

UN RECEIVES NEGATIVE TEST RESULTS FOR ANTHRAX

Last week, on Thursday, October 18, some staff working on the 30th floor of the Secretariat building reported seeing a white substance falling from the ceiling. In response, initial culture tests were taken of the area, which were negative for anthrax bacteria.

However, because of some other test results that were inconclusive, fresh samples were taken last Sunday night, October 21, and turned over for testing to the US authorities. In addition, as a precautionary measure, the area was sealed off and some staff members who had been in close proximity of the incident were started on antibiotics, upon recommendation of the New York City Department of Health.

The United Nations has received the results of the detailed testing that took place on Sunday, and they were all negative for anthrax.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Asked about how a letter from the Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan, to the Security Council sanctions committee on Iraq, containing allegations of Iraqi oil smuggling, would be followed up, the Spokesman said the matter was in the hands of the Councils sanctions committee.

Asked how the Secretary-General and the United Nations would spend the prize money for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize, the Spokesman said that question was still under consideration. The money, he noted, has not been awarded yet.

Today in Baidoa, Somalia, a two-day sports tournament, in which football and basketball teams from Mogadishu and Baidoa faced off against each other, wrapped up after drawing thousands of onlookers. The UN Sports for Peace Program and the Somali Olympic Committee organized the event, which kicked off on UN Day, which was Wednesday.

The World Health Organization (WHO), in its updated guidance on smallpox vaccination, does not recommend the mass vaccination of any population because of the risk of adverse side effects associated with vaccination. Only those who suspect they have been exposed to smallpox should be vaccinated, as vaccination is still effective after exposure.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) jointly stated that, despite having its best harvest in six years, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea will still need substantial food aid for next year. There is a projected shortfall of 1.47 million tons of cereal for 2001-02 compared with 2.2 million tons in 2000-01.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed its concern that the dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed by the Namibian government along its border with Angola will prevent genuine Angolan refugees from seeking asylum. No one will be allowed to travel at night along the 450-km border within a 200-meter wide band inside Namibia.

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS Sunday, October 28 The Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, will arrive in Islamabad, Pakistan, on the first leg of talks on political developments in Afghanistan.

Monday, October 29 The Security Council is expecting to receive the report of the panel dealing with Liberia sanctions. At 12:30 p.m., the chair of the panel on Liberia sanctions, Martin Chungong Ayafor, and the chair of the Councils sanctions committee on Liberia, Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani of Singapore, will speak to the press.

In the afternoon, the Security Council intends to hold a private meeting to receive a briefing from the President of the International Court of Justice, Gilbert Guillaume.

The Conference of Parties to the Framework Convention for Climate Change will begin in Marrakesh, Morocco.

The International Narcotics Control Board will begin its 72nd session in Vienna.

Tuesday, October 30 At 1:15 p.m., Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), will chair a press briefing with women peace leaders from Afghanistan, Kosovo, East Timor and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Those leaders are also to meet with members of the Security Council in an Arria formula discussion of violations committed against women during and after conflict. Danita Hubner, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe, will represent the Secretary-General at the international conference on globalization in Brussels. Belgium.

Wednesday, October 31 The Security Council will hold a public meeting on East Timor.

Thursday, November 1 The Secretary-General will address the International Labour Organizations Global Employment Forum in Geneva.

Ambassador Patricia Durrant of Jamaica will take over as President of the Security Council for the month of November, replacing Ambassador Richard Ryan of Ireland.

Friday, November 2 The Security Council is likely to discuss its program of work for November.

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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