United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-10-17

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Friday, 17 October 1997

HEADLINES

• In letter to UN Secretary-General, Angola denies that its armed forces are in Republic of the Congo.
• Inter-African Mission monitoring Central African Republic asks Security Council for two to three-month extension.
• UN refugee agency denies that scores of Tajik refugees have left Afghanistan camp for Turkmenistan.
• In UN's Legal Committee, Cuba says United States embargo breaks international law; United States rejects charge.
• Pakistan and India join others calling for total nuclear disarmament in UN's Disarmament Committee.
• On International Day for Poverty Eradication, Secretary-General says world must recognize needs of have-nots.

In identical letters dated 16 October sent to the Secretary-General and to the President of the General Assembly, Ambassador Afonso Van- Dunem Mbinda says in view of the serious deterioration of the situation in the Congo, his Government has taken "some special military measures" along the border between the Angolan Cabinda province and Congo- Brazzaville.

Saying that the situation in Congo-Brazzaville is serious, he adds that "third countries cannot and should not be blamed for it". He says that Angola has unequivocally and fully supported the efforts of the international mediation led by President El Haj Omar Bongo of Gabon, and the Special Representative of the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity in the Great Lakes Region, Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun, to find a political and negotiated settlement of the Congolese dispute.

The representative of Angola says that for many years, his country has been destabilized by a secessionist group known as FLEC in Cabinda and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) with the backing of the then Republic of Zaire and the Republic of Congo- Brazzaville.

He says that on 13 October 1997 a unit of the Angolan Armed Forces pursued armed groups of FLEC and UNITA following attacks on border areas in Cabinda province from the Republic of the Congo. Denying that the Angolan forces launched any attacks against localities in Congo- Brazzaville, Ambassador Van Dunem Mbinda, says that the "Angolan forces returned immediately to their base in Cabinda".

The report also recommends that the Security Council consider changes in the size of the Inter-African Mission to Monitor the Implementation of the Bangui Agreements (MISAB) "and the possibility of giving it a new status as a United Nations observer mission". The current mandate will expire on 6 November.

"Bangui has entered a new era with determination, an era marked by a gradual rebuilding of confidence and the resumption of activities in numerous spheres, which is a sign that peace has been restored", the report states. In order for MISAB to succeed, contributions from States are essential. In particular, the report calls for special one-time assistance to help the Central African Republic pay off its arrears owed to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Responding to queries about the refugees heading across the border to Turkmenistan, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said its staffers visited the camp on Friday and found 7,000 refugees still there. UNHCR Spokeswoman Pam O'Toole said that camp leaders told her agency that there had been no movement from the camps in the past five or six days, and no movement to Turkmenistan at all. "We are mystified as to the origins of such reports", she said.

According to Ms. O'Toole, the refugees are in better shape than they were a few weeks ago. "As you will remember, they were completely cut off by fighting, a number of refugees were even killed or wounded when a shell landed in the camp." She said that the refugees have received fuel supplies from her agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Such assistance solved the water crisis by enabling the refugees to operate water pumps.

The UNHCR said that there was a possibility of evacuating the refugees since the fighting appeared to have died down in Mazar i Sharif. "We are talking to the Uzbek Government about the possibility of taking these people home via Uzbekistan", Ms. O'Toole stated.

Bruno Rodriguez of Cuba condemned and denounced the "brutal blockade" imposed against the country by the United States, saying that it constituted flagrant violation of international law. The blockade had found new interpretation in the Helms-Burton Act, which, he charged, was one of the most flagrant violations of international customary law. It was being applied extra-territorially against other countries in violation of their domestic laws, he added.

The representative of the United States, Carolyn Wilson, said it was regrettable that the representative of Cuba had sought to politicize the Committee's debate, which was focused on the Decade of International Law. The remarks of the Cuban representative, she said, were unfounded and meant to score political points.

Replying on behalf of Cuba, Yamira Cueto said there was no lack of examples to show that Cuba had maintained a consistent position on the Decade. Cuba had consistently denounced the blockade and had every right to make use of the forum of the Sixth Committee or any other body to refer to a unilateral policy that contravened the principles of international law, she said.

India's representative told the Committee on Friday that the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) "is all set to start a new technology race in the quest for more innovative and lethal nuclear weapons".

Bharati Ray said that loopholes in the Treaty were being exploited by some countries "even before the ink has dried". She said that the unequal nuclear regime provided a sense of security to those possessing nuclear weapons, "but the continued retention of nuclear weapons by a few who insist that they are essential to their security and that of their allies, while denying the same right to others is an inherently unstable situation".

She said the elimination of nuclear weapons was a goal shared by all. "The only way we can achieve this is through a programme of action for elimination within a time-bound framework".

Speaking for Pakistan, Muhammad Siddique Khan Kanju said nuclear weapons must be banned in the same manner as chemical and biological weapons. He added that "Pakistan cannot agree that nuclear disarmament is the exclusive concern of two, four or five nuclear weapon States". He urged that negotiations begin immediately in the Conference on Disarmament -- which includes all countries -- towards the complete elimination of all nuclear weapons.

The Secretary-General noted that about 1.3 billion people -- a third of the developing world's population -- live on less than $1 a day. "There is no shortage of strategies and plans, analyses and statistics, approaches and measures. What we need is a renewed determination and willingness to bring all actors together in one unstinting effort."

At a press conference held in conjunction with the Day, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said, "With modest resources and modest outside help, the poor can lift themselves out of poverty." He introduced four guests: Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer, actor Danny Glover, social activist and comedian Dick Gregory, and jazz musician Jonathan Butler.

"Our hope is that we will get people in the world to realize that poverty is everybody's problem", Ms. Gordimer told reporters. "The fact that you have a full stomach and a job does not mean that you don't have a problem." She added that "it is not only the stomach that goes without, it is also the mind". Literacy, she said, the key to addressing that problem.

Danny Glover discussed the role that artists can play in tackling the scourge of poverty. "We can in some way draw attention to issues and by so doing move people perhaps to some sort of action", he said.

"Nobody comes here with a hidden agenda -- we are here to talk about eradicating poverty", said Dick Gregory. "We want to say to the whole world that we can wipe out poverty."

Jonathan Butler recalled growing up as the youngest of 17 in a shantytown in South Africa, when his family often had to go without food. "I care a lot for people that are poor because I know exactly what that means."

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

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