United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-10-31

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Friday, 31 October 1997

HEADLINES

• Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission decides to resume work in Iraq.
• Intense negotiations continue on recommendations for the reform of the United Nations.
• General Assembly fills seventeen vacancies on the Economic and Social Council.
• Director of the Organization to Prohibit Chemical Weapons welcomes Russia's vote in favour of Convention.
• Parties to the conflict in Abkhazia Georgia agree to resume their meeting in Geneva on 17 November 1997.
• National reconciliation in Central African Republic enters most delicate second phase of disarmament.
• United Nations Secretary-General welcomes the resumption of peace talks on the Sudan.
• Spokeswoman for High Commissioner for Refugees' says the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina is "worrying".
• Tribunal for Rwanda hears motion to quash certain counts in the indictment of doctor accused of genocide.
• International Court of Justice continues to grapple with bombing of Pan- Am 103 which blew up in Scotland.

Following a briefing of the United Nations Security Council on Friday, Ambassador Richard Butler said that he had taken an administrative decision to end the suspension of UNSCOM and to resume its activities in Iraq on Monday. "I will issue instructions now for the suspension of UNSCOM activities to end with resumption of all normal work in Iraq, including in the field beginning Monday morning." He said that all the members of UNSCOM of all nationalities will resume their work and remain in Iraq.

Ambassador Butler said that another part of the Council's "informal decision" was that the weekend will see the beginning of "the full range of diplomatic activity at all levels and from any interested participants to try to deal with some of the larger problems that have been raised by Iraq's policy decision of 29 October."

Other members of the Council expressed their full support for the decision of the Executive Chairman to resume the work of UNSCOM on Monday. The representative of the United Kingdom, Ambassador John Weston said it was clear that "there is unanimous support for the Special Commission and for Ambassador Butler, as also for the IAEA."

The Security Council had also heard a briefing by Garry Dillon, Leader of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Action Team in Iraq.

Alex Taukatch, the Spokesman of the President of the General Assembly, told the press on Friday that the Group of 77 developing countries "is taking a very active role in the consideration of the item, thoroughly examining all the actions, and recommendations, and reviews, and contributing new ideas."

The Group on Friday scheduled two meetings to discuss this issue.

In the words of the Spokesman, the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko of the Ukraine, "has persisted in his own efforts to move the process along" and has been building "gradually, patiently, but with determination" a consensus for action to be taken by the General Assembly on this "crucial matter" for the United Nations.

According to the Spokesman, the President of the General Assembly "feels that time is ripe for a General Assembly decision on the actions contained in the report of the Secretary-General."

The President on Friday morning met with United Nations Secretary- General, Kofi Annan on the progress made by the General Assembly on this matter. The President also met with the chairmen of the European Union, the Group of 77 developing countries and China, and the Non-Aligned Movement, Mr Taukatch said.

In two rounds of balloting on Thursday morning, the Assembly elected 14 members who will begin their three year terms on 1 January 1998. The Assembly elected Algeria, Belgium, Comoros, Italy, Lesotho, Mauritius, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Vietnam, and Brazil.

In the afternoon the Assembly had another two rounds of voting and elected India, Oman and Poland to fill three of four remaining vacancies.

No candidate from the Latin American and Caribbean States received two thirds of the vote. The Assembly therefore, decided to hold another election on Monday 3 November, to fill the remaining seat.

Each year, a third of the Council's 54 members retire. Candidates are elected on a geographical distribution with 14 coming from Africa, 11 from Asia, six from Eastern Europe, 10 from Latin America and the Caribbean , and 13 from Western Europe and Other States.

Jose Bustani has said that the 31 October vote by a large majority of the members of the State Duma of the Russian Federation in favour of ratification of the Convention banning chemical weapons would give a boost to the ratification process underway in several other States which have not yet ratified the Convention.

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (CWC) which was opened for signature in Paris in 1993, entered into force on 29 April 1997. So far, 102 instruments of ratification or accession to the Convention have been deposited.

It is expected that the Russian Federation will deposit the instrument of ratification with the United Nations Secretary-General in the coming days, subject to further necessary procedures. That development would mean that the two States possessing the largest stockpiles of chemical weapons, the other being the United States, will be party to the Convention.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), based in The Hague, is responsible for the implementation of the Convention.

In the sixth and final report to the Security Council on the situation in Abkhazia, as of 27 October 1997, Secretary-General Kofi Annan recalls that on 21 July 1997 he met in New York with Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze to discuss all aspects of the peace process in that region, including the role of the United Nations in the political and peace-keeping fields.

The Secretary-General also recalls that a high-level meeting on the conflict was held from 23 to 25 July 1997 in order to map out areas where political progress could be made, under the chairmanship of his Special Representative Liviu Bota. Mr. Bota had intended to resume the adjourned meeting on 13 October 1997 but was informed by Abkhaz leader, Vladislav Ardzinba, that the Abkhaz side needed more time for preparation on substantive issues.

Regarding the draft Protocol which the two parties had agreed in September 1997 to sign in Moscow in the near future, "Mr. Ardzinba stated that the text, as agreed by him, could not be subject to further discussion and that it should simply be signed." At the same time, the Secretary-General says in his report, the Russian Federation preferred the postponement of the Geneva meeting since it had scheduled negotiations with the two sides in Moscow on the text of the draft Protocol during that period.

The conflict in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia broke out in 1992 when the local authorities in Abkhazia attempted to separate from Georgia amidst social unrest. Following an agreement reached on 3 September in Moscow by the Republic of Georgia, the leadership of Abkhazia, and the Russian Federation, the United Nations was requested to assist in implementing the agreement. Under the agreement which was to ensure the territorial integrity of Georgia, a ceasefire was to go into effect on 5 September. The ceasefire collapsed, fighting resumed, and an estimated 30, 000 civilians fled to the Russian Federation.

A ceasefire was finally established on 28 July 1993. The United Nations Security Council established the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG). The current mandate of the mission ends on 31 January 1998 and is subject to a review by the Council.

In the sixth and final report to the Security Council, describing developments in the country from 16 to 29 October 1997, the Inter-African Mission to Monitor the Implementation of the Bangui Agreements (MISAB) says that the voluntary participation phase of the disarmament ended on 3 October 1997. "The investigations, intervention, and implementation-of- the- law phase began immediately after the first phase. It involves collaborating with informers compensated according to the quality of their information."

During this phase, "anyone found to be illegally in possession of a weapon is to be handed over to the authorities. In addition, MISAB will conduct searches, together with he national defence and security forces other than the presidential security force."

"Activities during the second phase of disarmament have halted temporarily owing to the bereavement suffered by the International Monitoring Committee and MISAB with the sudden and tragic death of General Augustin Mombo- Moukagni, the Force Commander."

In its report, MISAB says that it has adopted a plan of action "which reflects the gist of the main provisions of the Bangui Agreements" within a timetable. According to the plan, there will be formation of a government of national union; adoption of an amnesty law covering those who committed offenses in the context of the third rebellion; Disarmament (surrender of weapons by the former rebels in honour and dignity, and recovery of weapons by MISAB from militias and civilian populations); implementation of the recommendations of the General Meeting on National Defence; suspension of the parliamentary audit; and the final phase of national reconciliation through a number of actions to consolidate peace and security.

In a statement issued by his Spokesman on Friday, the Secretary- General expressed the hope that the participants in the talks would find a political solution to "this long-standing conflict" in the Sudan.

Representatives of the military junta of the Sudan and of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), which is battling government forces in the south of the country, started their talks at an undisclosed venue in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Thursday.

During her briefing of the press in Geneva, Pam O'Toole said that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was "concerned that this week has seen the killing of another Croat returnee" in Canton 6. She said this was the fifth such killing since March this year.

UNHCR has strongly condemned such killings which it fears could have a detrimental effect on plans to begin returning thousands of Bosnian Muslims and Croats to 11 municipalities within Central Bosnia.

No one has been arrested in connection with the earlier killings. However, the UNHCR Spokeswoman said, the joint Muslim-Croat police, which took over in the area in September, say they are currently questioning three suspects in connection with the latest murder. Ms. O'Toole said her agency "welcomes such a move."

"It is vital that the killings be halted and the perpetrators punished if the momentum of this plan -- regarded as a breakthrough in Bosnia -- is to be maintained."

The plan provides for the return of 86,000 Bosnian and Croat displaced persons. The first phase would involve the return of 2,000 families by the end of this year.

With Judge William Sekule presiding, the Chamber which includes Judge Yakov Ostrovsky and Judge Lennart Aspegren is hearing a preliminary motion by the Defence for an order to quash certain counts in the indictment of Gerard Ntakirutimana who was a physician at Mugonero hospital in the Kibuye Prefecture during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

The hearing, scheduled for the morning of Friday, is considering the motion to quash four counts of the indictment against Mr. Ntakirutimana, in which the Prosecutor charged the accused with genocide, complicity in genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, and crimes against humanity.

The Defence is arguing that in three counts of the indictment "the accused person is charged with the commission of two of the specified specific acts (constituting genocide) in one count, and that each specific act can only be charged in one count of the indictment".

The Defence is further arguing the fourth count, which is charging the accused with crimes against humanity, should be rejected on the ground that for "other inhumane acts" to constitute a crime, it is imperative for the Prosecutor to specifically mention the act, in accordance with a relevant article of the Statute of the Tribunal. The Defence also contends that the crime alleged against the accused "is both vague and inaccurate".

According to the Defence, all the four counts should be quashed because the "other inhumane acts" mentioned in one count had been charged against the accused in the said four counts and that the only permissible mode of charging the accused was for the Prosecution to prefer alternative counts and not otherwise.

Earlier the Prosecution had requested the Court to dismiss the Defence motion on the grounds that: none of the counts in the indictment are duplicitous; that the four counts questioned by the Defence are different offenses; the counts of the crime against humanity and other inhumane acts are not vague and provide sufficient information to the accused to prepare for his defence; and that if the count of serious violations of and article of the Geneva Conventions and its additional protocol is defective, it should be amended, not quashed.

Justice Stephen Schwebel said that in 1992 Libya brought a case against the United States and the United Kingdom claiming that the matter should be disposed of pursuant to the 1971 Montreal Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation. He said that Libya maintained the Convention entitled that State to try the accused in Libyan courts or extradite them."

Libya said it was a matter of its the choice and it chose to try the accused who are currently detained in that country. Libya requested the cooperation of the authorities of the United Kingdom and the United States.

The United States and the United Kingdom which had put the issue before the Security Council, did not agree, and demanded that Libya surrender the two suspects.

"So Libya sought to interdict action in the Security Council by the United States and the United Kingdom, in particular the seeking of sanctions to oblige Libya to surrender the accused for trial either in Scotland or the United States."

The Court in 1992 declined to issue an order or provisional measures on the grounds that by the time its decision was to be made, the Security Council had adopted resolution 748 which obliged Libya to comply with a previous resolution which had requested the transfer of the defendants either to the United Kingdom or the United States.

"Article 103 of the Charter provides that in case of a conflict between the obligations of a Member State under the UN Charter and under any other treaty, the obligations of the Charter prevail", Justice Schwebel said.

He said that "was a state of things for a considerable time during which Libya, the United States and the United Kingdom began the process of exchanging written pleadings on the merits of the case."

Before the merits have come to be heard, the President of ICJ, "the US and the UK have put in what is called a preliminary objection, an objection to the jurisdiction of the Court, claiming that there is no dispute between the parties under the Montreal Convention." They further argued that the matter is now before the Security Council and the Court "would not be entitled to substitute its view for that of the Security Council on what constitutes a threat to the peace."

On its part, Libya "maintains that there is a dispute under the Montreal Convention, under the long established criteria of the Court for finding whether there is or there is not a dispute, and that the Court is entitled to review resolutions of the Security Council which it maintains are ultra vires, beyond the powers of the Council." According to Libya, the Security Council cannot legislate to override the treaty rights of a State party to a treaty.

The President of the International Court of Justice characterized this dispute as "a very important case in the constitutional history of the United Nations."

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

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