United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-10-23

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, 23 October 1997

HEADLINES

• individuals forfuture restrictions if Iraq fails in its obligations to the UN Special Commission.
• Brazzaville reports urgent needs in the country.
• sexual violence during Rwanda's 1994 genocide.
• establishment of a third Trial Chamber.
• betweenthe Angola Government and UNITA is reported.
• respondto the worsening ecological threat of El Nino.
• toscreen foreigners subject to deportation.
• Business Council on HIV/AIDS.
• Committee hold video teleconference.
• UN's disarmament committee is told.

Á fiveabstentions (China, Egypt, France, Kenya and the Russian Federation), theCouncil condemned the repeated refusal of Iraqi authorities to allowaccess to sites designated by the United Nations Special Commission(UNSCOM), especially Iraqi actions "endangering the safety of SpecialCommission personnel, the removal and destruction of documents ofinterest to the Special Commission, and interference with the freedom ofmovement of Special Commission personnel".

Á whichprovides for enforcement, the Council demanded that Iraq cooperate fullywith the Special Commission in accordance with its relevant resolutions,"which constitute the governing standard of Iraqi compliance".

Á toprevent without delay the entry into or transit through their territoriesof all Iraqi officials and members of the Iraqi armed forces who areresponsible for or participate in instances of non©compliance, if theÔ not in compliance with itsobligations under resolution 1115 (1997), or if the Executive Chairmanof the Special Commission does not advise the Council in his report dueon 11 April 1998, that Iraq is in compliance.

Á cooperatefully with the Special Commission and that the Government of Iraq allowthe Special Commission inspection teams immediate, unconditional andunrestricted access to any and all areas, facilities, equipment, recordsand means of transportation which they wish to inspect in accordance withthe mandate of the Special Commission. The Council also demanded thatthe Government of Iraq give immediate, unconditional and unrestrictedaccess to officials and other persons under the authority of the IraqiGovernment whom the Special Commission wishes to interview.

Á thoserequirements had been particularly acute since the rains started. "Themission reported that the two hospitals, Talangai in the north andMakerele in the south of Brazzaville, are in poor condition with noadministration and only a few personnel." The mission also reportedcritical shortages of medical equipment and medicines in the hospitalscaring for mainly war©related injuries.

Á thesouth of Brazzaville. "Although malnutrition was not reported, somecases of measles, chicken pox and malaria have been identified", Mr.Eckhard said.

Á inBrazzaville, which was reported by the local media, prompted many peopleto return to the town, which is slowly resuming its activities, reªopening its markets and commencing other activities on the streets.

Á theUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Food andAgriculture Organization, (FAO) the United Nations Children's Fund(UNICEF) and the United Nations Information Centre have all been lootedand heavily damaged, but there have been no security incidents so far.

Á thecommission of sexual violence, beatings and murders of mostly Tutsi womenwho sought refugee at Taba bureau commune between April and June 1994.

Á Arboursays that these "acts of violence were generally accompanied by explicitthreats of death or bodily harm. The female displaced civilians livedin constant fear and their physical and psychological health deterioratedas a result of sexual violence, beatings and killings".

Á ofher ordeal from the time her house was razed by Hutu youths to thetorture she underwent at the Taba bureau commune where she and her babysought refuge. She said she lost her young sister who was killed bymilitiamen. She identified Akayesu as the former Burgomaster of Taba anddescribed how Interahamwe youths frequented the commune offices wherethey selected some of the women, took them to the bush and raped them. Ô too was once taken to the bushes by a young man who put her babyaside and raped her twice.

Á notguilty to 12 counts charging him with Genocide, Crimes Against Humanityand Violations of Article 3 Common to the Geneva Conventions. His trial,which began on 9 January 1997 was postponed on 24 May after 22 witnesseshad testified for the Prosecution.

Á SouthAfrican President Nelson Mandela as its Honourary President and SirRichard Sykes, the Chief Executive Director of GlaxoWelcome, asChairman.

Á keyrole in the creation of the Council and will be working closely with it, but the Council will remain a separate and independent entity.

Á companiescommitted to HIV/AIDS causes, will act as a catalyst to promote anexpanded global response from the business sector to the pandemic. Member companies of the Council agreed to take visible, positive actionto help their customers, employees and the communities where they areworking to face the challenges of the HIV/AIDS; to cooperate with eachother on projects involving national and local response to HIV/AIDS; andto advise UNAIDS on business interests and policy concerns.

Á The Financial Times, GlaxoWellcome, Industrias Villares,Levi Strauss, London International Group, MTV and Telepar.

Á theTrade and Development Board of the United Nations Conference on Trade andDevelopment (UNCTAD), in Geneva, and the General Assembly's Economic andFinancial Committee (Second Committee), in New York.

Á andIndustry of South Africa, Alec Erwin, warned that developing countriesfaced the greatest danger of marginalization if they were unable toutilize modern development systems, such as electronic commerce, toimprove their trade and development.

Á electroniccommerce could provide a way of allowing developing countries tocommunicate and to enter into trade operations. The problem ofconnectivity was especially acute for the least developed countries,which had no access to modern technology. He stressed that UNCTAD couldmake contributions in the field of electronic commerce by assistingcountries in using information technology to conduct business and innegotiations.

Á Franceand Member of the European Parliament, Andre Soulier, officially invitedUNCTAD to hold the first meeting of the "Partners for Development"initiative in Lyon in November 1998. He noted that Lyon was a cradle ofinternational commerce, and it owed its prosperity to immigrants.

Á an endeavour to bring about the rebirth of UNCTAD. "PartnersÔ Development" would be the first international meeting at whichdocuments would not be discussed. Instead, specific projects would beproposed that could change peoples lives in developing countries.

Á NitinDesai, reading out a statement of Secretary©General Kofi Annan, said the"Partners for Development" initiative was fully compatible with thereform process now modernizing the United Nations system because itfocused on concrete and practical solutions and tapped the human, technological and financial resources which had been beyond the reach ofthe United Nations.

Á informationon the effects of El Nino, evaluate the world©wide impact of El Nino inthe poorest countries, prioritize and coordinate response strategies, andmobilize resources from donor countries.

Á worldis facing an ecological disaster that could affect millions of people. "Already there are signs of drought of varying intensity in CentralAmerica, China and Papua New Guinea. And it looks as if the problem willboth widen and worsen", she said.

Á Lesotho, Swaziland, much of Mozambique, all of Zimbabwe, most of easternand southern Botswana, southern Malawi and southern Zambia from December1996 to March 1997.

Á aregional office in Mozambique which is working on contingency planningto analyze the socio©economic impact of drought, the resultant foodneeds, logistical structures, current food stocks, market systems andsupply routes, and the areas where populations are likely to beaffected.

Á foremergency food aid for families affected by drought©related El Ninophenomenon in Nicaragua, Panama and Honduras. Relief efforts in theregion will focus on providing food for work on irrigation systems, soiland water conservation projects, reforestation and infrastructureimprovement.

Á thatthe committee will screen persons found outside their camps in an armycrackdown against illegal immigrants and refugees.

Á reportsthat during the crackdown Rwandan refugees who may have had a valid claimto refugee status were among those being sent back to Rwanda. TheTanzanian government agreed to screen an unspecified number of Rwandanswho have refused to go back to Rwanda following the return of some500,000 Rwandans to their country.

Á theTanzanian army's "uprooting" of Rwandans who had stayed in the countryfor decades, including those who had arrived long before the 1994 civilwar in Rwanda, but had failed to take advantage of the government offersÔ concern were Rwandans who had marriedTanzanians, as well as those who had been born and raised in thecountry.

Á LaityKama says that it will take at least 88 months to conclude the trials ofthe 20 persons currently detained in Arusha. This calculation, accordingto Judge Laity, is based on an average trial length not exceeding fourmonths per person, although experience has shown that proceedings beforean international criminal court require more time "as we have noted inthe three ongoing trials in Arusha and in the case of the InternationalTribunal for the former Yugoslavia, where the Tadic trial took more thanone year."

Á ifnot impossible to judge the people detained in Arusha between now and theend of the mandate in May 1999 if the Tribunal continues with only sixjudges.

Á increasethe number of judges in order to compose a third Trial Chamber, asprovided in Security Council resolution 955 (1994). By that resolution, the Council decided to consider increasing the number of judges and TrialChambers if it becomes necessary.

Á JudgeLaity's letter to the presidents of the General Assembly and the SecurityCouncil.

Á SecretaryªGeneral, noting that Judge Kama said it might require considerable timeto complete all the trials, says that "such a development wouldnegatively affect the right of the accused to be tried without delay andcertainly disappoint the expectations of the Rwandan people and theinternational community".

Á Tribunalestimated the costs of establishing a third Trial Chamber at $5,582, 000for 1998.

Á tensionbetween the Government and UNITA, mainly due to allegations and counterªallegations of troop movements and concentration of troops with theintention of attacking each other's positions in some parts of thecountry.

Á troopsmoved on 10 October into Cuango ©© one of the five strategicallyimportant areas which UNITA placed under the Government's control.

Á UNconcurrence in some provinces and movement of troops and equipment intoCabinda for the war in Congo©Brazzaville have added to the tension", Mr.Eckhard said. He pointed out that efforts were under way between theÔ meeting of President Jose EduardoDos Santos and Dr. Jonas Savimbi inside Angola. The date and venue havenot yet been determined, he added.

Á hasaccepted the resignation with regret.

Á December1997, he announced on Thursday.

Ô
contribute to endingthe qualitative arms race and encourage much deeper cuts in nucleararsenals, according to the Executive Secretary of the PreparatoryCommission for the Comprehensive©Nuclear©Test Ban Treaty Organization(CTBTO) ©© responsible for setting up the Treaty's global verificationregime.

Á (First) Committee on Thursday, Wolfgang Hoffman, said that theTreaty was one of the most economical ways to make the world a saferplace. It would help to halt the development of new nuclear weapons byimposing a global ban on nuclear explosions, he said. With verificationat the core of the work, its international monitoring system wasprogressing towards setting up a worldwide network of 321 seismic,infrasound, hydroacoustic and radionuclide stations.

Á statusof a universal treaty, he said. Additional countries had expressed theirinterest in the Treaty and he invited all countries that had not yet doneso to sign it. He noted that even countries that had not yet signed theTreaty had offered to place technical installations on their territories. Seven States had so far ratified the CTBT, and the ratification processseemed to be well under way in numerous countries.