United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-02-27

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, 27 February 1997

HEADLINES

• Security Council calls upon all Somali factions to cease all hostilities immediately.
• Security Council extends mandate of United Nations Verification Mission to Angola until 31 March 1997.
• UN Secretary-General says learning lessons from humanitarian and peace- keeping experiences is essential to improve effectiveness and accountability of United Nations.
• UN Secretary-General learns with concern of decision of Government of Israel to proceed with construction at Har Homa.
• United Nations Member States collectively support reforms that enhance Organisation's efficiency and performance, General Assembly President says.
• UN Secretary-General announces appointment of new Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq.
• Lack of employment is a problem affecting all regions, Social Development Commission hears.
• Need for strong Population Division emphasised in Commission on Population and Development.

In a Presidential statement, Thursday, Council President Ambassador Njuguna M. Mahugu of Kenya said the Council expressed its full support for the efforts of regional and other interested States, as well as those of international and regional organisations to promote a direct political dialogue and facilitate a broad-based political settlement in Somalia.

"The Security Council reaffirms its commitment to comprehensive and lasting settlement of the situation in Somalia, bearing in mind respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia, in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations," the Council President said.

He said the Council called upon the Somali factions to ensure the safety and freedom of movement of all humanitarian personnel and to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian relief to the Somali people, including through the opening of the airport and harbour of Mogadishu.

Unanimously adopting resolution 1098 (1997), Thursday, the Council said it was deeply concerned at the second delay in the formation of the Government of Unity and National Reconciliation, as a result of the failure of the Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) to meet the timetable established in the context of the Lusaka Protocol.

The Council said it was concerned at the continued delay in the implementation of the remaining political and military aspects of the peace process, including the selection and incorporation of UNITA soldiers into the Angolan Armed Forces.

Urging the Government of Angola and in particular UNITA to solve the remaining military and other issues and to establish, without further delay the Government of Unity and National Reconciliation, the Council requested the Secretary-General to report by 20 March 1997 on the status of the formation of that Government.

In a message to the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)/Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) Conference on Humanitarian Action and Peace-keeping Operations held in Singapore earlier this week, Mr. Annan said it was not always easy to discern just what the lessons were, or how best to translate them into action.

"From a political and military point of view, some of the lessons have been quite clear. One is that even a credible military presence, with a clear mandate, is insufficient by itself to resolve conflicts", he said, adding that real peace could not be achieved through a show of force or even through its use.

He told the conference that humanitarian assistance must not be used as a tool to achieve political goals. "The challenge, therefore, is to acknowledge the differences of the political-military and of the humanitarian perspectives and to work together towards common goals," he said.

The Spokesman said the Secretary-General considered unhelpful any action which might impede the final status of negotiations scheduled to begin next month between Israel and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). "No objective is more important than for the parties to find mutually agreeable solutions to the sensitive issues involved, including Jerusalem", the Spokesman said.

The Assembly President was speaking at a panel discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington D.C. Wednesday.

Focussing on a wide range of issues including United States leadership, the need for better communication and United Nations reform, the Assembly President said that whereas the substance of the United States demands for reforms have in most cases been reasonable and even welcomed, the methodology employed so far was flawed, to the point that distrust of United States motives had provoked a backlash, and undermined United States leadership and the UN reform agenda as a whole.

"It is unfortunate that United States-United Nations relations are inevitably seen in the context of the reform of the United Nations, and that of United States non-payment", he said, adding that an honest and courageous appraisal was required on both sides to repair the relationship.

During the discussion with panelists, some delegations pointed out the obstacles to the informal sector and to employment, especially in the developing and transitional economies, inquiring about ideas and proposals.

Other subjects of interest included the impact of globalisation on domestic labour markets and the technological requirements of the informal sector.

Earlier, the Commission heard, during a dialogue with chairpersons of the inter-agency task forces of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), that whatever the efforts made by countries to achieve objectives set by major United Nations Conferences on development, there could be no progress in the absence of resources.

The dialogue's moderator, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), James Gustave Speth, said the primary responsibility that had fallen to his agency had been development of anti- poverty strategies called for at the 1995 World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen. Currently, the UNDP was helping over 70 countries in that respect.

During the dialogue, delegations expressed general satisfaction with the task forces' work and requested them to indicate to the Commission areas where additional guidelines might be required. Several speakers expressed concern over declining levels of development assistance.

Others stressed the need for a common framework when it came to macroeconomic indicators and statistics. The inter-agency forces of the Administrative Committee on Coordination were set up to coordinate efforts of the United Nations system to monitor follow-up to those conferences.

The Director of the Population Division of the Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis, Joseph Chamie, introducing reports on programme questions, said the research and publications of the Division often served as the foundation for reports, statements, meetings, conferences and databases prepared by other United Nations bodies, the private sector and non-governmental organisations.

Introducing world populations projections, Nancy Yu-Ping Chen, of the Population Estimates and Projections Section, Population Division, stressed that the Division had continued to improve its technology to produce databases and had answered an increased number of requests to provide data. However, in order to improve, respond to new circumstance and meet increasing demands, it would require resources.

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

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article