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United Nations Daily Highlights, 96-12-04United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgDAILY HIGHLIGHTSWednesday, 4 December 1996This document is prepared by the Central News Section of the Department of Public Information and is updated every week-day at approximately 6:00 PM. HEADLINES
The Security Council has welcomed the Peace Agreement signed by the Government of Sierra Leone and the Revolutionary United Front in Abidjan on 30 November 1996. In a Presidential statement, Wednesday, the President of the Council, Ambassador Francesco Paolo Fulci of Italy expressed the hope that the Agreement would provide encouragement to those working for peace in other parts of Africa. He said the Council commended, in particular, the role played by the Government of Cote d'Ivoire, whose commitment and determination in the chairmanship of the negotiations between the parties had been crucial to the successful outcome. The peace Agreement, he said, was an essential first step towards national reconciliation and reconstruction. Ambassador Fulci said the Council would continue to support the development of peace and democracy in Sierra Leone. "It noted in particular the need for a successful process of demobilisation and reintegration of former combatants," he said, adding that the Council stands ready to assist in that process. The Government of Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) , Wednesday signed an "Agreement on the Definitive Ceasefire" in Oslo, Norway. The Agreement establishes procedures for the operation of forces between the Guatemalan Army and the units of the URNG, and the demobilisation and disarming of the latter. The two parties requested the United Nations to deploy military personnel to verify implementation of the Agreement. The Agreement will enter into force together with the final peace agreement scheduled to be signed on 29 December 1996 in Guatemala City, whereafter the ceasefire process would begin with the deployment of the UN Verification Mission. The General Assembly would stress the urgent need for developed countries to support and implement flexibly the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), by the terms of a draft resolution approved by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial). Under the terms of the draft, the Assembly would stress the importance of flexible implementation of the Initiative's eligibility criteria with the full involvement of debtor countries and significant creditors. The Assembly would also stress the full implementation of the results of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations and the Marrakesh ministerial decisions in favour of the least developed countries and the net food-importing developing countries. The policies of the new Israeli Government came into focus in the General Assembly as several countries called for cooperation from parties concerned to put the Middle East process back on track. The representative of Israel said efforts to achieve a comprehensive peace in the Middle East would fail without the participation of Syria and Lebanon. He called for the resumption of negotiations with Syria, adding that both nations would benefit from the greater political and economic cooperation that normalisation would usher in. The representative of the Republic of Korea said it was for all to transcend their short-term, myopic interests, extinguish their distrust and look towards the even greater and nobler goals of reconciliation and common prosperity. Urging the parties to make efforts to move the Middle East peace process forward, the representative of Australia asked the parties to honour the obligations and commitments they had made, including redeployment of Israeli troops from Hebron and the commencement of substantive talks on the final status. He said that direct dialogue between the parties must resume, and Israel, Syria and Lebanon must redouble their efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement based on the implementation of Security Council resolutions. The UN Department of Public Information has announced the publication of the third edition of The Blue Helmets: A Review of United Nations Peace- keeping. The new edition traces the course of UN peace-keeping from 1948, when the first military observer group was deployed in the Middle East, through early 1996. The publication reviews the most intensive period in the history of peace- keeping and assembles, under one cover, the main facts of 41 United Nations peace-keeping operations, along with deployment maps and organisational charts. An "AIDS clock", which ticks off the increasing global number of HIV/AIDS cases and features a constantly changing collage of images of a world living with the disease, will be on display at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 3 - 22 December. The display emphasises responsible sexual behaviour as a means of preventing HIV transmission, but it reminds viewers of the need to care for people living with HIV/AIDS, comfort the bereaved, work for prevention and seek a cure. Low-income countries are among the hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the display points out, and the least able to cope with its ravages. For information purposes only - - not an official record From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgUnited Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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