United Nations Daily Highlights, 02-12-24

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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

Tuesday, December 24, 2002

ANNAN SENDS LETTER TO CAMBODIA TO RESTART SPECIAL COURT TALKS

In response to a question of yesterday, the Spokesman said that following the adoption by the General Assembly last week of a resolution concerning the establishment of extraordinary chambers for the trial of Khmer Rouge leaders in Cambodia, the Secretary-General sent a letter to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen over the weekend.

In that letter, the Secretary-General invited Cambodia to send a delegation to New York for an exploratory meeting to prepare for the resumption of negotiations. We understand that the Cambodian delegation will be headed by Sok An, Senior Minister in charge of the Council of Ministers. The Secretary-General has asked his Legal Counsel Hans Corell to lead the UN delegation.

That exploratory meeting is expected to take place in early January.

NORTH KOREA CONTINUES TO IMPEDE IAEA MONITORING OF NUCLEAR PLANT

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, said that on 23-24 December, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) had cut most of the seals and continued to impede surveillance equipment at three facilities at Nyongbyong: the 5-Megawatt reactor including the associated spent fuel pond, the fuel rod fabrication plant and the reprocessing facility.

ElBaradei stated that unless the IAEA is able to reinstate without delay its safeguards measures at these facilities, it will not be able to provide assurances that the DPRK is not diverting nuclear material to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, as required by its safeguards agreement pursuant to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

Elbaradei is currently consulting with the Chairman and Member States of the IAEA Board of Governors on ways and means to address this disturbing development.

SECURITY COUNCIL WELCOMES KABUL DECLARATION ON GOOD NEIGHBOURLY RELATIONS

The Security Council first held consultations on Afghanistan this morning before adopting unanimously resolution 1453 (2002), welcoming and endorsing the Kabul Declaration on Good-Neighbourly Relations signed by the Transitional Administration of Afghanistan and its six neighboring countries on Sunday.

Prior to adopting the resolution, Security Council members were briefed by an official of the Department of Peacekeeping operations on the latest outbreak of fighting in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Afterwards, the President of the Security Council, Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso read out a statement to the press in which he said the Council condemned the fighting and said it violated the spirit and the letter of the all-inclusive agreement on transition, which was recently signed in Pretoria, South Africa.

UN INSPECTORS RESUME INTERVIEWS OF IRAQI SCIENTISTS

Inspections conducted by teams from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) continued today with visits to missile plants, a veterinary school and an electronics factory.

During a visit to Baghdad Technical University, an IAEA team requested an interview with a particular Iraqi scientist, conducted separately from the rest of the inspection. The scientist consented to lengthy interview regarding technical activities in Iraq.

The interview was conducted in a private office chosen at random, without cameras, or recordings devices being present. This represents a resumption of a regular interview programme that was interrupted in 1998.

Due to additional personnel movements, there are now a total of 104 inspectors as of today, 98 from UNMOVIC and six from the IAEA.

IRAQ EXPORTS CLOSE 14 MILLION BARRELS UNDER UN OIL FOR FOOD PROGRAMME

According to the latest figures released by the Office of the Oil for Food Programme, during the week ending 20th December, Iraq exported 13.9 million barrels of oil.

The exports netted an estimated $361 million.

Estimated revenue generated from the beginning of phase XIII of the oil-for-food programme now stands at $508 million.

UNITED STATES RATIFIES OPTIONAL PROTOCOL ON CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT

Yesterday, the United States deposited instruments of ratification for two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the rights of the Child. The first is on the involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and the second on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

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