United Nations Daily Highlights 96-07-03

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Wednesday, July 3, 1996

HEADLINES

• Security Council to favourably consider extension of mandate of UN Military Observers in UNTAES, calls on Croatian Government to safeguard right of local Serb population.
• Nothing should deter adoption of comprehensive test-ban treaty this year, Secretary-General tells Disarmament Advisory Board.
• All parties to peace process in Angola must show greater readiness to implement Lusaka Protocol, Secretary-General says in report to Security Council.

The Council was considering the Secretary-General's report on the UN Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES).

In a Presidential Statement read by the Council President for July, Ambassador Alain Dejammet of France, Council expressed its readiness to consider favourably the extension of the mandate of the UN military observers in UNTAES as recommended by the Secretary-General. It called upon both sides to refrain from any action that might raise tension and to continue to cooperate closely with UNTAES to maintain peace and security in the Region.

Calling for the adoption of a comprehensive amnesty law by the Croatian Government, the Security Council urged that action be taken as soon as possible and called on the Croatian Government to cooperate with UNTAES. The proposed amnesty law would concern all persons who, either voluntarily or by coercion served in the civil administration, military or police forces of the local Serb authorities in the former UN Protected Areas, except to persons accused of having committed war crimes.

The Council highlighted the worsening economic situation in the region and called on the Government of the Republic of Croatia to provide funding for the local administration and public services.

In an earlier statement, the Security Council expressed concern at the failure by the Croatian Government to take sufficient measures to safeguard the rights of the local Serb population and to ensure their safety and well- being. "The Council is also deeply concerned at Croatian Government's failure to promote conditions, including satisfactory procedures, facilitating the return of all Croatian Serbs who wish to do so, and strongly deplores such failure to act," the statement said.

Noting that the Croatian Government has begun to cooperate with international human rights mechanisms, and that it has considered various initiatives for the protection of minority rights, the Council, nevertheless, underlined that the Croatian Government must undertake determined and sustained efforts to ensure respect for and protection of the rights of Croatian Serbs and to provide for their safeguarding in the legal and constitutional framework of the Republic of Croatia. "The Council reminds the Croatian Government that its obligation to promote respect for and protection of such rights cannot be made conditional upon other factors, including upon political negotiations with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia," the Council noted.

A nuclear test ban, the Secretary-General said, will be a step towards nuclear disarmament and nuclear proliferation, and would further devalue the role of nuclear weapons in international security. "The test ban will thus be a victory for nuclear and non-nuclear nations," Dr. Boutros-Ghali said.

Outlining the benefits of a test ban, the Secretary-General said the test ban will be the culmination of more than three decades of work and will be the second treaty of global importance, after the Chemical Weapons Convention, concluded by the Conference this decade.

Urging all parties to ratify the revised Protocol on Land-mines, the Secretary-General said the agreement on revised Protocol II has set a new precedent for international humanitarian and arms control law. "For the first time, a provision bans transfers of all non-detectable anti- personnel land-mines and the provisions governing the protection of peace and humanitarian missions have been strengthened," he noted.

The Secretary-General concluded by noting that disarmament is a global enterprise, involving individual States, regional organisations and the international community as a whole. "Only the UN offers the global forum, the global framework and the global mandate needed to deal with the threat of nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction," the Secretary- General said.

In the report, submitted to the Security Council today, Dr. Boutros- Ghali says the pace of implementation of the Lusaka Protocol has somewhat improved during the last two months. "The promulgation of the Amnesty Law, the completion of the quartering of the rapid reaction police, the partial withdrawal of Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) to barracks, some progress in the quartering of UNITA troops, and a small beginning to the incorporation of UNITA military personnel into FAA, are all positive factors," the report notes.

On a cautionary note, the report says that the coming two weeks will be critical, noting that the parties have not fulfilled the time-frame agreed upon between President dos Santos and Dr. Savimbi during their meeting at Libreville on 1 March. "Continuing delays in the quartering of UNITA troops, the high number of desertions from the quartering areas, the unsatisfactory quality and quantity of weapons and ammunition handed over, the failure to quarter UNITA police personnel and the incomplete withdrawal of FAA from forward positions all require urgent corrective action if the peace process is to retain credibility," the report says.

Recommending the extension of UNAVEM III mandate for three months until 11 October, the report states that UNAVEM III has become the UN's largest peace-keeping operation. "As the February 1997 target for the completion of the UN peace-keeping operation in Angola is fast approaching, I have initiated contingency planning for the phased downsizing of its military component as soon as the quartering process has been successfully concluded and the incorporation of UNITA troops into FAA and the formation of the unified armed forces have reached an advanced stage," the report concludes.

From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

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