United Nations Daily Highlights, 02-10-02

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

Wednesday, October 2, 2002

CHIEF UN WEAPONS INSPECTOR TO BRIEF SECURITY COUNCIL ON IRAQ

Hans Blix, Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commissioner (UNMOVIC), is scheduled to brief the Security Council Thursday on the talks held with an Iraqi delegation in Vienna this week.

Tuesday evening in Vienna, after the talks between UN weapons inspectors and the Iraqi delegation had wrapped up, Blix said at a press briefing that it had been clarified at those talks that all sites are subject to immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access.

He added that the 1998 Memorandum of Understanding concluded between the Secretary-General and the Iraqi Government established special procedures for access to eight presidential sites in Iraq.

In general, he said, the two sides agreed that many practical arrangements for inspections that were established between 1991 and 1998 remain viable and useful, and could be applied.

The Iraqi delegation also handed over four CD-ROMs containing the backlog of semi-annual monitoring declarations for the period from June 1998 through July 2002. Mohammed ElBaradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which hosted the talks, said, Obviously, we need to analyze the information, but more importantly, we need to go back and verify the information.

Upon arrival at UN Headquarters this morning, Secretary-General Kofi Annan was asked about discussions underway at the Security Council on a new resolution on the Iraq inspections, and he said that is up to the Council to decide what it wants to do.

Until the Security Council comes up with new guidelines for inspections, the Secretary-General said, Blix is guided by existing resolutions, and it is on that basis that he has been dealing with the Iraqis.

CYPRUS TALKS TO REVIEW PROGRESS, SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS

The Secretary-General was asked this morning about the talks that he will hold with the Cypriot leaders this Thursday and Friday, and he said he hoped they would both discuss honestly with him what efforts have been made to secure progress in the talks, following his meeting with them last month in Paris.

He said, When I met with them in May, there were indications that we should be able to make progress by the end of the year. The end of the year is around the corner, so I want to review with them how we get there.

SECURITY COUNCIL HOLDS CONSULTATIONS ON PROGRAM OF WORK

The Security Council met this morning in consultations on the program of work for the month of October.

The program is posted on the Security Council website as well as on the Cameroon missions website.

Council President Ambassador Martin Belinga-Eboutou of Cameroon briefed reporters about the program of work.

UNICEF: ISRAEL BLOCKING PALESTINIAN CHILDREN FROM SCHOOL

The UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) Special Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Pierre Poupard, today voiced his serious concern that the Israeli military is preventing tens of thousands of Palestinian children from attending school.

One month into their school year, he said, a generation of Palestinian children is being denied their right to an education.

UNICEF estimates that almost 226,000 children and more than 9,300 teachers are unable to reach their regular classrooms, and at least 580 schools have been closed due to Israeli military curfews, closures and other security measures.

UNICEF is currently implementing a back-to-school campaign to help ensure that the poorest Palestinian children can afford to stay in schools, by providing some 14,000 children with uniforms and school bags. It estimates that some 317,000 Palestinian children are in desperate need of assistance because of financial hardship.

It should also be recalled that the Secretary-General's Personal Humanitarian Envoy, Catherine Bertini, called on Israel to allow the free movement of children and teachers within the West Bank and Gaza after her recent mission. The Secretary-General and the Quartet have urged Israel to implement her recommendations, including those related to access by the Palestinian population to essential services.

UN RELIEF COORDINATOR MEETS OFFICIALS IN SOUTHERN SUDAN

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima flew to Rumbek in southern Sudan today, where he got a first hand look at a World Food Programme food distribution facility and UNICEFs only primary school for girls in that part of the country, as well as a teacher training facility and a hospital rehabilitation project.

He met with senior officials of Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) and underscored the importance of the UNs humanitarian Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) and the granting of humanitarian access in line with OLS protocols. He informed SPLM officials of the discussions held Tuesday with Sudanese Government officials with regard to access issues.

Oshima also welcomed the release on Tuesday by the SPLM of a detained Oxfam staff member. He reminded the SPLM of the need to respect the safety of humanitarian workers and the principles of the OLS protocols.

He reiterated to SPLM officials the Secretary-Generals call for the cessation of hostilities and the need to return to negotiations and to bring the war to an end, for the sake of the people of Sudan.

UN ENVOY IN KOSOVO PRESENTS PLAN FOR MITROVICA

Michael Steiner, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Kosovo, on Tuesday presented a seven-point plan to return the divided city of Mitrovica to normality, arguing, If we just leave things as they are, they will slide even further.

He promised the Serb community living in northern Mitrovica that UN police and the Kosovo Force would keep watch to ensure that there are no incursions from the southern part of the city, which he believes is unlikely to happen. Serbs from northern Mitrovica, meanwhile, have begun to join the Kosovo Police Service.

Steiner said what is needed now is a new start for governing the whole of Mitrovica, so that important decisions in the municipality are taken jointly. Common interests, he said, need to be decided at the level of the municipality, while specific interests can be dealt with at a more local level.

He added that he is prepared to move an important part of the UN Missions administration to northern Mitrovica, with the Kosovo Trust Agency to be headquartered there. Steiner also he said he is prepared to organize a conference of donors and potential investors specifically for Mitrovica.

Last, he urged all Mitrovica residents to participate in elections, saying that without such participation, the Serb community will have excluded itself from political life for the next four years.

FORMER BOSNIAN SERB PRESIDENT PLEADS GUILTY TO SOME CRIMES

This morning in The Hague, former Republika Srpska President Biljana Plavsic changed her earlier not guilty plea at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, acknowledging guilt for crimes against humanity, including extermination. The change of plea was contained in a written Plea Agreement made with the Tribunal Prosecutor, Carla del Ponte.

Plavsic acknowledged responsibility for killings during the Bosnian war, and expressed her remorse fully and unconditionally. In a statement, she said she hopes to offer some consolation to the innocent victims -- Muslim, Croat and Serb -- of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and also hopes that her acknowledgement would enable her people to move past the carnage of the past decade, to reconcile with their neighbors, and, ultimately, to restore their dignity as a respected people.

Plavsics lead counsel, Robert Pavich, said there is no agreement, nor have there been any discussions, between Plavsic and the Office of the Prosecutor regarding sentencing, and that she understands, as her plea agreement specifically provides, that she is subjecting herself to a possible sentence of life imprisonment. He also noted that Plavsic has not agreed to testify in any case pending before the Tribunal.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Secretary-General is scheduled to travel to Yale University this afternoon. He will deliver a lecture at 4:30 p.m. on globalization at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.

The UN Mission in the DRC provided an update on the withdrawal of forces belonging to Uganda, Zimbabwe and Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The World Health Organization said today that the decoding of the genetic codes of the malaria parasite and its mosquito host means that the most powerful tools of science can be used against one of the biggest killers in the developing world. Using the genetic codes, scientists will be able to target vulnerabilities and build new genetically-based drugs and insecticides. Malaria infects more than 300 million people a year, killing about one million, 90 percent of whom are children.

Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General United Nations, S-378 New York, NY 10017 Tel. 212-963-7162 - press/media only Fax. 212-963-7055

All other inquiries to be addressed to (212) 963-4475 or by e-mail to: inquiries@un.org

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article