United Nations Daily Highlights, 01-11-19

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

OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY

FRED ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Monday, November 19, 2001

UN OFFICIALS RETURN TO KABUL, MEET WITH AFGHAN LEADERS

UN international staff returned to Kabul for the first time in 65 days on Saturday, when the head of the UN office in Kabul, Eliane Duthoit, stepped off the first returning UN plane. The Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, and the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator, Mike Sackett, arrived in Kabul later that day.

Vendrell

continues to hold meetings with various Afghan leaders and exchange views on the approach for a political transition, presented last week by Lakhdar Brahimi, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative.

He is awaiting a response from the United Front to the Secretary-Generals invitation for an all-Afghan conference.

Among the Afghans with whom Vendrell met on Sunday were Burhanuddin Rabbani, President of the United Front-led Afghan Government; Professor Abdul Rabb Rasul Saayyaf, head of Ettehad Islami, one of the components of the United Front; and representatives of the Shuras from the Pashtun south of Afghanistan. Vendrell is also hoping to meet with the leaders of Hazara groups. Vendrell earlier met with Abdullah Abdullah, Foreign Minister of the United Front Government.

Asked about reports that the United Front had given a response to that invitation, the Spokesman said Vendrell was still awaiting a confirmation.

Asked about Brahimis activities, the Spokesman said that he was in constant contact with all parties who have influence on Afghanistan.

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONCERNED ABOUT SITUATION IN KUNDUZ

Although the United Nations has not been directly contacted about mediating a surrender in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, Secretary-General Kofi Annan is very concerned about the situation there and has been in touch with the Coalition Forces, which have the capacity to deal with the situation.

Lakhdar Brahimi has spoken with the International Committee for the Red Cross, which said it was in touch with its people on the ground, and is in touch on this issue with Francesc Vendrell, who is raising this question with his interlocutors in Kabul.

Asked about what the Secretary-Generals concerns were, the Spokesman noted reports of a large number of persons in Kunduz wanting to surrender, and the need for the matter to be handled in an orderly way.

RETURNING UN AGENCIES EXAMINE RESOURCES IN AFGHANISTAN

The United Nations is stepping up its stock-taking of the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.

The situation in Kabul is being described as relatively calm, but fragile. Buses are moving, and trucks are reportedly on the move from Peshawar into Afghanistan as far as Jalalabad. A preliminary investigation into UN offices in Kabul offices shows that at least eight vehicles and seven radios remain missing.

Reports from Mazar-i-Sharif show that the UN guesthouse in has been looted, and that there is a need also for mine action experts to inspect the guesthouse. The scale of looting in the north was so large that the United Nations reportedly has lost all vehicles, radios, and communications equipment in Mazar-i-Sharif.

A security assessment is being planned as soon as possible for Herat. UN national staff have also reached Jalalabad, but international staff have not yet been able to return.

UN mine action staff are starting a special training program today, in which they will first be trained to recognize new ordnance and sub-munitions, which will enable them to survey, identify and mark off these materials.

ROBINSON: HUMAN RIGHTS AT HEART OF AFGHAN PLANS

In a speech given this morning in New Delhi, where she received the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said the promotion and protection of human rights is at the heart of the planning for the future of Afghanistan.

The country needs to break the pattern of human rights abuse, establish a safe environment for its women, men and children and ensure judicial accountability for criminal acts.

ANNAN TALKS TO WORLD BANK, IMF COMMITTEES IN OTTAWA

On Saturday afternoon, the Secretary-General left New York for an overnight trip to Ottawa, Canada, to talk to the members of the Finance and Development Committees of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund during a private dinner.

Prior to the dinner, the Secretary-General met with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Foreign Minister John Manley for over thirty minutes at the Canadian Foreign Ministry.

In a press encounter afterwards, the Secretary-General said they had discussed the UNs responsibilities in Afghanistan, both political and humanitarian, as well as the global fight against terrorism.

At the dinner, he said that there is a need to project a message of hope following the 11 September attacks, and especially emphasized the Conference on Financing for Development, to be held in Monterrey, Mexico, next March, as one that the world cannot afford to ignore.

SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES KOSOVO ELECTIONS

The Secretary-General, in a statement today, welcomed the orderly and peaceful conduct of the elections that took place on Saturday in Kosovo. He congratulated the people of Kosovo on the commitment to democratic norms through peaceful adherence to the electoral rules shown throughout the campaign and on election day.

He is gratified that members of the minority communities turned out in significant numbers and expressed the hope that the elected representatives of all communities will take up their rightful place in the institutions of provisional self-government.

On Saturday, the people of Kosovo voted for their legislature, with high voter turnout and a peaceful, orderly scene at the polls, the UN Mission in Kosovo reported. The voting was praised by the Mission as a success.

By Saturday night, with three-quarters of precincts reporting in, the Mission and the OSCE said that some 63 percent of eligible voters in Kosovo, as well as select polling stations in Serbia and Montenegro, turned out to vote.

The preliminary results of the voting will be announced on Monday evening.

SECURITY COUNCIL TO CONSIDER PANEL REPORT ON DR-CONGO

The Security Council will be meeting in closed consultations this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. to hear a briefing from Mahmoud Kassem, the chair of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In the report, the Panel confirms that the exploitation of the DRCs natural resources for the enrichment of a wide-range of actors, both foreign and Congolese, continues unabated.

The web of interests represented by the current beneficiaries has ensured that the war remains a self-financing and self-sustaining affair. Not surprisingly, the report adds, the Congolese people do not figure among the beneficiaries of this unfettered and increasingly systematized exploitation.

ANNAN RECOMMENDS SIX-MONTH EXTENSION FOR GOLAN FORCE

The Secretary-Generals latest report to the Security Council on the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which operates in the area of the Golan Heights, recommends that the Council extend the Missions mandate for a further six months.

The Secretary-General also mentions the financial shortfall of the Forces funding and appeals to Member States to pay their dues, so as to cover $19 million in unpaid assessments.

TALKS ON BIOLOGICAL CONVENTION BEGIN IN GENEVA

The fifth review conference of the States who are party to the Biological Weapons Convention kicked off in Geneva this morning, and Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Jayantha Dhanapala delivered a message from the Secretary-General welcoming that meeting.

Seventy-two delegations, or half the State Parties to the Convention, attended the opening of the three-week conference.

At a press conference today, Dhanapala was asked about recent anthrax attacks in the United States, and said that, if anything, those incidents made it more urgent for States to strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention so that such attacks do not occur.

TASK FORCE ON DIGITAL DIVIDE HOLDS FIRST MEETING

The UN Information and Communication Technologies Task Force (ICT) began its inaugural meeting today, ahead of its official launch, which will take place Tuesday at 10:00 a.m.

The Task Force was mandated last year by the Secretary-General, to find new, creative ways to spread the benefits of the digital revolution to the four billion people worldwide who are currently excluded.

The Task Force, chaired by the Secretary-Generals special representative, José María Figueres Olsen, former President of Costa Rica, is made up of members of the public and private sectors, civil society and the scientific community, leaders of the developing and transition economies, as well as the most technologically advanced countries.

The Secretary-General is expected to address the gathering Tuesday at which the website of the Task Force (www.unicttaskforce.org) will be launched. He invited the Task Force members to a luncheon today.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has issued a media advisory that a 14-year-old former child soldier from Sierra Leone will address Tuesdays Security Council meeting on children and armed conflict. This is the first time the Council has invited a child to address a meeting and highlights the importance of involving children in decisions that affect them directly.

A three-day joint Border Committee meeting began today in Dili, East Timor, involving some 50 East Timorese and Indonesian officials. Among other items, the Committee will discuss a Right of Passage proposal that would allow East Timorese living in the enclave of Oecussi to travel through West Timor to other districts in East Timor.