United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-05-27

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Tuesday, 27 May 1997

HEADLINES

• UN Security Council, Secretary-General, express deep concern about the military coup d'etat in Sierra Leone.
• UN Secretary-General releases negative-growth budget proposal.
• CARICOM begins a two-day meeting with the UN system in New York.
• International Women's Forum meets at UN Headquarters.
• First session of the Conference of States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention ends work in the Hague.
• UN mission in Tajikistan welcomes progress in inter-Tajik talks.
• UNESCO Director General calls for urgent action in favour of the Palestinians.
• United Kingdom's rejoining of UNESCO is hailed at the meeting of the Organization's Executive Board in Paris.
• Nuclear energy may soon be used to desalinate drinking water -- IAEA.
• Experts in public administration explore ways to better governance.

In a Presidential statement, the Council strongly deplored the coup d'etat as an attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government and underlined the imperative necessity of implementing the Abidjan Agreement which continued to serve as a viable framework for peace, stability and reconciliation in Sierra Leone.

Noting that the coup d'etat was especially troubling since the United Nations was assisting the process of reconciliation in Sierra Leone, the Council strongly condemned the violence which had been inflicted on both local and expatriate communities, in particular United Nations and other international personnel serving in the country. It also called for an end to the looting of premises and equipment belonging to the United Nations and international aid agencies.

In a statement issued on Tuesday through his Spokesman, the Secretary- General expressed distress that "there had been a coup against the duly elected Government of Sierra Leone, especially when the United Nations is engaged in the effort to consolidate the peace process in the country".

In a related development, the Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations Ambassador James Jonah told United Nations correspondents that the duly elected president and all Sierra Leonians were profoundly gratified that so many governments had denounced the coup d'etat.

At today's opening meeting, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the Agreement on Cooperation signed between the United Nations and the CARICOM Secretariat represented the United Nations commitment to the translation of its intentions into deeds. "Ultimately, the prosperity of the people of the Caribbean will be the measure of our cooperation and effectiveness", the Secretary-General said.

CARICOM Secretary-General Edwin Carrington said the countries of the Caribbean community, like many other small developing countries, must adopt rapidly to the processes of globalisation and technology and information revolution. He said CARICOM was pleased with its cooperation with the United Nations, not only at the global, but also at the sub- regional levels.

The CARICOM Secretary-General expressed confidence that "this first General meeting between the United Nations and Caricom Secretariats will lead to an intensification of relations between the two Organizations and contribute significantly to the execution of their respective mandates for the social and economic development of mankind".

While ensuring the full delivery of mandated programmes, the proposal totalling $2,479.3 million represents a reduction of $124 million in appropriations when compared to the present budget, at the same prices. Even with inflation factored in, the proposed figures are still 20.3 million below the current budget. With regard to staff reductions, the proposal contains 1,182 fewer posts that the previous one (8,839, down from 10,021).

Briefing the press on Tuesday on the details of the proposal, Under- Secretary-General for Administration and Management Joseph Connor, stressed that in a departure from past practices, the submitted document is not the final budget submission by the Secretary-General.

The proposal will be revised following the tabling of the Secretary- General's reform plan in July, said Mr. Connor, and at that time there will be further budgetary changes growing out of the consolidation of departments and reassessment of programmes.

"We expect that there will be additional vacancies created through the reform exercise and at the end of the presentation of the reform package in July the Controller will revise this document, both as the dollars and as the posts, and both of them will be down", noted Mr. Connor.

He stressed that the reduced budgetary figures reflected the product of the rationalization of the work programmes and continuous and sustained efforts to improve working methods and to increase effectiveness within the Secretariat.

In a statement to the meeting of the International Women's Forum in New York, Mr. Annan outlined the partnerships between civil society and the United Nations and stressed that contribution of civil groups was vital to the life of the United Nations.

"The Charter of the United Nations is the property, not only of States, but also of the Peoples of the world. We have to find ways of building into our system a more systematic recognition of that fact", Mr. Annan said.

Absa Claude Diallo of Senegal, will succeed Mr. Berdennikov at the rotating presidency of the Conference, which is the single global disarmament negotiating forum of the international community. The next plenary meeting of the Conference is scheduled for Thursday, 29 May.

In a meeting with the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Yasser Arafat, the UNESCO chief declared that "the peace process must progress" and that the agreements of Oslo and Washington must be implemented.

Following his meeting with the Palestinian leader, Mr. Mayor visited schools rebuilt by UNESCO in the Gaza Strip and also signed an agreement establishing a UNESCO office in Ramallah, in the West Bank. In the present biennium, UNESCO, with the support of Italy and Saudi Arabia, has implemented various projects related to information, communications and teaching, to the tune of US$8,000,000.

During the three weeks of its work, the session took important decisions which successfully launched the newly-formed Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and which would ensure a smooth start to its operations with regard to the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Participating in the first session of the Conference were 80 States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, 3 contracting States which ratified the Convention after its entry into force on 29 April, and 34 signatory States. Also attending the session were representatives from several United Nations agencies, a number of international organizations, as well as 24 non- governmental organizations and research institutes.

The conclusion of the Protocol completed the nearly two-year process of inter-Tajik negotiations. A UN spokesman announced on Tuesday that the official signing ceremony of the Protocol was scheduled for 28 May in Tehran.

During its deliberations, scheduled until June 11, the Executive Board will focus on UNESCO's 1998 - 1999 Draft Programme and Budget. Opening the 151st session of the Organisation's decision-making body Chairman Tidjani-Serpos said that involving youth in UNESCO's ideals would be a priority area for the debates of the Board.

Speaking in Taejon, Republic of Korea, at the opening of a Symposium on Desalination of Seawater with Nuclear Energy, Mr. Blix said some of the reasons for tapping nuclear energy to produce electricity in the past could be equally valid for desalination in the future.

The head of the UN agency that is charged with fostering the development of peaceful uses of atomic energy, said that economic development and population growth, coupled with pollution, were stretching supplies of drinking water to the limit in many parts of the world. Hence governments were seeking realistic technology options for desalinating seawater in order to boost supplies.

The IAEA Director General expressed the hope that the Symposium in Taejon would serve to highlight how energy could have an important role to play when governments have to confront the question of producing drinking water supplies through desalination.

The Thirteenth Meeting of Experts on the United Nations Programme in Public Administration and Finance, that began in New York on Tuesday and will run through 4 June, brought together experts, public administrators, academics and representatives of non-governmental organizations from 38 countries.

The participants, selected by UN Secretary-General in their individual capacities, will address a challenging agenda aimed at advancing socio- economic development and change through better governance and public services.

The meeting's theme echoes a recent action by the United Nations General Assembly which reaffirmed, in a 1996 resolution, that democracy, good governance and efficiently performing public services are essential for the economic, social, environmental and political health of countries. The expert meeting was organized by the UN Department for Development Support and Management Services.

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

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