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United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-05-30United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgDAILY HIGHLIGHTSFriday, 30 May 1997This 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 UN Security Council on Friday voiced concern over the continuing instability in Burundi, despite recent positive developments. In a presidential statement, the Council recalled its August 1996 resolution demanding that all sides in Burundi declare a unilateral cessation of hostilities and initiate unconditional negotiations with a view to reaching a comprehensive political settlement. Noting that talks were being held in Rome complementary to efforts in Arusha, Tanzania, the Council welcomed the commitment of the Government of Burundi to the comprehensive political dialogue among all the parties within the framework of the Arusha process. The Council urged all the parties in Burundi to continue to pursue a negotiated settlement and to refrain from actions which are detrimental to such dialogue. At the same time, the Security Council expressed deep concern at the involuntary resettlement of rural populations and called upon the Government of Burundi to allow people to return to their homes without hindrance. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has appealed for some U$17 million to finance the repatriation and reintegration of refugees returning to Mali and Niger. The UN refugee agency said in a statement on Friday that the funds in part will be used to finance a $3 million drinking water supply project which is vital in the arid Saharan region. Other projects include income-generating activities, preservation of the natural environment, and important agricultural and medical programmes. According to the UNHCR, some 150 000 people had fled armed conflict in Mali during early 1990s, and found refuge in Mauritania, Algeria, Niger and Burkina Faso. During the same period, political turmoil and armed rebellion in northern Niger, led to the exodus of some 20, 000 people who fled to Algeria and Burkina Faso. A UN delegation responsible for investigating the human rights situation in the occupied territories began on Friday an 11-day field mission to Egypt, Jordan and Syria. The Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting Human Rights of the Palestinian and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories went on the tour of the three neighbouring countries, in part, because the Committee has been consistently denied cooperation of the Government of Israel. Since its establishment in 1968, the Special Committee has not been able to gain access to the occupied territories. In order to collect information, the three-member Special Committee, composed of Sri Lanka, Senegal and Malaysia, has thus benefited from the cooperation of the Governments of Egypt, Jordan and Syria. During the current mission, the Special Committee will hold hearings to gather testimony from persons having first-hand and recent experience of the human rights situation in the occupied territories. During the visit to Jordan, for instance, the Committee plans to interview persons from the West Bank at the King Hussein Bridge. Two Austrian peacekeepers from the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights were killed inside the area of separation that is patrolled by the Force, a UN Spokesman said on Friday. The Spokesman for the Secretary-General Fred Eckhard told the press that the two peacekeepers were on a foot patrol near the Syrian town of Hadar at the time of the incident. UNDOF suspected that the action against the peacekeepers was criminal rather than political. However, it was investigating the incident in cooperation with the Syrian authorities, the Spokesman said. Meanwhile, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has reported a pattern of harassment of United Nations peacekeepers by the Hezbollah. According to the UN Spokesman there were incidents on Thursday in which five Hezbollah gunmen harassed three Irish soldiers in a UNIFIL truck and demanded to see their identities. On Friday, two vehicles of the Irish battalion were forced to stop by seven Hezbollah gunmen near the southern port city of Tyre. China has expressed its willingness to participate in the UN standby arrangements for peacekeeping operations. With China's participation, there are now 66 countries which have been committed to the arrangements. So far, eight countries have signed the Memorandum of Understanding. The standby arrangements are designed to help fill the time gap between authorization of a peacekeeping mission by the Security Council and full deployment by standard recruitment methods. According to a UN spokesman, China's contribution would be particularly useful as it was planning to contribute in the areas where the United Nations needed more support, particularly logistics, engineers, medical personnel, military observers and civilian police. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on the international community and the world leaders to rally their ranks in fighting the global tobacco epidemic. The appeal came in connection with World No- Tobacco Day, which is traditionally observed on 31 May each year. Echoing the theme of this year's observance, "United for a tobacco- free world", the Director General of the UN health organization, Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, urged governments, organisations and individuals around the globe to work together to protect present and future generations from the scourge of smoking. The WHO chief told a press conference in Moscow that the world has reached the point where the excuses used to justify inaction were no longer acceptable. According to WHO estimates, the tobacco epidemic kills 750 people every single day. "We do not have the luxury of time. Every day of inaction that passes means that millions of young people around the world begin using tobacco, often precipitating a lifetime of addiction and an untimely death," said Dr. Nakajima. The United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services on Friday said it will send auditors and investigators to Arusha and Kigali in September to check improvements in operations at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Addressing the Administrative and Budgetary Committee of the General Assembly (Fifth Committee), the head of the Internal Oversight Services, Karl Theodor Paschke, said that some of the major problems found in the Rwanda Tribunal had been addressed and remedial action taken in a number of areas. 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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