United Nations Daily Highlights, 02-12-16

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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, December 16, 2002

UN WEAPONS INSPECTIONS PICK UP PACE IN IRAQ

UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) inspectors continued their work with a visit to two separate locations involved in missile activity. One of those sites is a fiberglass production plant. When last seen by inspectors in 1998, it employed few people; today, more than 200 people work there. The plant is principally involved in the production of fiberglass tubing.

The UNMOVIC biological team inspected the Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering within the Baghdad University complex. The Institute is engaged in training, teaching and research activities in biotechnology and genetic engineering. It is a new site included in the recent Iraqi declarations.

That same team also revisited the Al Amiryah Serum and Vaccine Institute in Baghdad to seek clarifications from the former Director of the Institute, making a physical inventory of the Institute and taking some samples.

Meanwhile, one International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team visited three sites where inspectors took environmental samples, inspected machine tools in the factories, and conducted a radiological survey. Another IAEA team visited four sites that are part of the Iraqi military armaments structure to produce and test munitions.

The inspection teams also worked over the weekend with visits to a number of sites, including missile factories, glass works, a sulfuric acid plant and a vaccine institute.

OIL-FOR-FOOD OFFICE NOTIFIED OF NEW IRAN-IRAQ CROSSING POINT

The UN oil-for-food program was notified by the Governments of Iraq and Iran that they have agreed to open a border crossing point, the sixth such crossing point under the oil-for-food program, to facilitate bilateral trade between the two countries. The crossing point is at Khusravi and Mondhariya, northeast of Baghdad.

Benon Sevan, head of the Office of the Iraq Programme, has informed the Security Councils 661 Sanctions Committee of the agreement, and his office is preparing to deploy UN independent inspection agents to the new crossing point in late January or early February.

PRESIDING JUDGES ELECTED FOR SIERRA LEONE SPECIAL COURT

Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Government of Sierra Leone today announced that the judges of the Appeals and Trial Chambers of the Special Court have each elected a presiding judge, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Agreement on the Establishment of a Special Court for Sierra Leone, signed in Freetown, Sierra Leone, last January 16.

The judges of the Appeals Chamber of the Special Court have elected Geoffrey Robertson as presiding judge of that Chamber. Pursuant to the Agreement, he is also the President of the Special Court.

The judges of the Trial Chamber of the Special Court have elected Professor Bankole Thompson as presiding judge of the Trial Chamber.

In further implementation of the Agreement, the Secretary-General, in consultation with the President of the Special Court, has decided to appoint Robin Vincent as Registrar as of January 1, 2003. Vincent currently serves as Acting Registrar.

SECURITY COUNCIL TO RECEIVE UPDATE ON MIDDLE EAST TODAY

At 3:00 this afternoon, UN Special Coordinator Terje Roed Larsen is scheduled to give a periodic briefing on the Middle East in an open meeting of the Security Council. That meeting will be followed by consultations, also on the Middle East.

At 10:30 this morning, the Security Councils sanctions committee dealing with al-Qaeda began a meeting with Michael Chandler, who is to present the committee with his panel's latest report.

On Friday afternoon, the Security Council held three back-to-back formal meetings.

The Council President read a presidential statement on Liberia, in which members expressed deep concern with the situation in that country, where conflict between the Government and a rebel group threatens to further destabilize the entire region. The Council proposed the development of a comprehensive strategy among the international community to address the situation, and said it was considering an assessment mission to the region in the first half of 2003.

The Security Council also forwarded to the General Assembly 23 nominations for positions as permanent judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

The Council then voted 14 in favor, with Syria voting against, to adopt a resolution that strongly condemned last month's terrorist attacks in Kenya, where a bomb blast devastated a resort hotel and missiles were fired at an Israeli airliner. The resolution also called on all states to cooperate to find those responsible for the attacks and bring them to justice.

SECURITY COUNCIL MISSION VISITS KOSOVO AND BELGRADE

The Security Council delegation, led by Ambassador Ole Peter Kolby of Norway, which arrived in Pristina on a three-day visit on Saturday, left Kosovo for Belgrade this morning, after a final press conference in which Kolby said there has been substantial progress since Security Council members last visited Kosovo 18 months ago.

He said the delegation was impressed by the work of the UN Mission and the Kosovo Force (KFOR), as well as the dedication shown by local political leaders.

Over the weekend, the Council delegation met UNMIK officials, Kosovo leaders and Assembly members and members of minority communities, and it also visited both the northern and southern parts of the town of Mitrovica.

In different meetings with Kosovo leaders, the Security Council delegation stressed that they had focused on three key issues in Kosovo: full support for the eight standards articulated for Kosovos progress by Special Representative Michael Steiner; a demonstrated commitment to multi-ethnicity; and integration.

ANNAN RECOMMENDS EXTENSION OF GOLAN HEIGHTS FORCE

The Secretary-Generals latest report to the Security Council on the UN Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights (UNDOF) notes that, while the situation along the Israel-Syrian sector has remained relatively calm, the situation in the Middle East is very tense and is likely to remain so, unless and until a comprehensive settlement covering all aspects of the problem can be reached.

In light of this situation, the Secretary-General recommends that the Security Council extend the missions mandate for a further six months, until June 30, 2002.

The Council is expected to take up the report in closed consultations this week.

UNITED NATIONS, AFGHAN GOVERNMENT TO LAUNCH JOINT APPEAL

The United Nations and the Afghan Government will jointly launch on Tuesday the 2003 UN Transitional Assistance Programme for Afghanistan. This years $815 million appeal, which will cover the period from January 2003 to March 2004, intends to help meet immediate humanitarian needs and provide funds for recovery and reconstruction.

Though the humanitarian situation has improved greatly in the past year, six million Afghans out of the total population of 23 million remain critically poor, and over four million Afghans will need food aid in 2003. It is estimated that another 1.2 million refugees will return.

The launch will be undertaken during the annual meeting of the Afghanistan Support Group in Oslo, this year chaired by the Government of Norway.

CITING 38 MILLION IN NEED, WFP LAUNCHES AFRICA HUNGER ALERT

The World Food Programme (WFP) today officially launched the Africa Hunger Alert campaign, aimed at drawing international attention to the unprecedented hunger crisis gripping the African continent where 38 million people face starvation.

The campaign represents a global response to a growing number of spontaneous grass-roots initiatives in North America, Europe and Asia.

In a growing sign of concern among ordinary citizens, WFP has recently received hundreds of unsolicited online donations from people of different nationalities, all of them eager to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe.

CONSIDERABLE CHALLENGES REMAIN IN ANGOLA, ANNAN SAYS

The Secretary Generals report to the Security Council on the UN Mission in Angola notes that there are real prospects for lasting peace in Angola, but the challenges facing the Angolan people are still considerable.

The disarmament of the civilian population remains central to the overall enhancement and consolidation of peace and security. Full support for the promotion and protection of human rights is also required, it says. The major remaining challenges are in the humanitarian and developmental sectors.

The report is scheduled to be discussed Tuesday afternoon in the Security Council.

ANNAN SAYS POPULATION ISSUES AT HEART OF ASIAS CHALLENGES

The Ministerial level meetings of the Fifth Asian and Pacific Population Conference opened this morning in Bangkok.

In a message to the Conference, the Secretary-General underscores that population issues are at the heart of the challenges that the region is facing now. He says, The Millennium Development Goals, particularly the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, cannot be achieved if questions of population and reproductive health are not squarely addressed.

In the message, the Secretary-General also appeals for stronger efforts to promote womens rights, and greater investment in education and health, including reproductive health and family planning.

One of the Co-organizers of the Conference, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), emphasized at the Conference that the meaning of the phrases reproductive health and reproductive rights are not in doubt. She said, The components of reproductive health are safe motherhood; voluntary family planning; protection from and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, and protection from gender-based violence.

The Conference will end Tuesday with adoption of a Plan of Action.