United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-11-05

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Wednesday, 5 November 1997

HEADLINES

• Secretary-General's envoys confer with Iraqi officials to convey his message.
• General Assembly again calls for repeal of extraterritorial measures like United States Helms-Burton Act against Cuba.
• General Assembly schedules resumed emergency special session on Illegal Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem and rest of Occupied Palestinian Territory.
• Arab Group drafting resolution to give Palestine many of the same rights as other Member States in General Assembly.
• United Nations Secretary-General receives the Order of Merit of Chile.
• UN Secretary-General deplores decision by Anjouan island to proclaim its independence from Comoros.
• Mercenaries continue to have an impact on life and peace in several African countries, says Special Rapporteur.
• Libya rejects latest moves by United Kingdom on Lockerbie as an "attempt to destroy" efforts to resolve crisis.
• Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia requests that UN Preventive Deployment Force remain in place.
• Indonesia and Portugal resume talks on East Timor at United Nations Headquarters.
• Some $944 million pledged for United Nations development funds at two-day Conference.
• UNAIDS launches programme to provide developing countries with access to HIV/AIDS drugs.
• Russian Federation charges New York City Police with flagrant violations of international law and demands apology.
• Iran ratifies Chemical Weapons Convention.
• United Nations Forum in Midrand discusses strategies to deal with poverty in Southern Africa.

The envoys had been sent to the country to convey the Secretary- General's message that Iraq must comply with Security Council resolutions, and to allow the Iraqi officials to express their grievances.

The United Nations delegation later held a two-hour meeting with other members of the Iraqi delegation. Asked by a reporter why the meeting lasted for two hours if there were no negotiations with the Iraqi delegation, United Nations Spokesman Fred Eckhard said "We made it very clear that there is nothing to negotiate. They delivered a letter in the first meeting from the Secretary-General to President Saddam Hussein."

The dispatch of the envoys followed Iraq's objection to the presence of United States nationals on the inspection teams overseeing the elimination of the country's weapons of mass destruction.

Meanwhile, three weapons inspection teams of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) tried for a third time to conduct inspections at three different inspection sites, UN Spokesman Fred Eckhard told the press on Wednesday. He said that on arrival at one site, "they were challenged by Iraqi officials who protested the presence of American inspectors on the teams".

Following instructions of the UNSCOM Executive Chairman, Ambassador Richard Butler, "the Chief Inspectors told their Iraqi counterparts that the inspection would not proceed on this basis".

In a related development, Ambassador Butler on Tuesday issued a statement saying that in response to a request by the Secretary-General, he has decided to postpone the U2 flight that had been scheduled for this week while the Secretary-General's envoys are in Iraq.

In a resolution adopted by a vote of 143 in favour to 3 against (Israel, United States, Uzbekistan), with 17 abstentions, the Assembly called on States to refrain from promulgating and applying such laws, in conformity with their obligations under the United Nations Charter and international law.

The action marked the sixth year in a row that the General Assembly has adopted a resolution on the necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba. Last year, the voting was 137 in favour to 3 against -- Israel, United States, Uzbekistan -- with 25 abstentions.

The President of the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba, Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada, said the Helms-Burton Act denied Cuba's independence and overtly proclaimed the intention of dominating Cuba totally, reviving the annexation plans of almost two decades ago. Only a few weeks ago, President Clinton admitted that his Government's policy was the responsibility of the most extremist elements in Miami. The United States was doing nothing to honour its April understanding with the European Union to make minor modifications to the Act.

"The Cuban people shall continue to resist and shall never yield to the barbarous forces which try to annihilate it. We are facing a big challenge, but even greater than this is and shall be our will to preserve the independence and justice conquered through many years of struggle and the immense sacrifice of successive Cuban generations", said Mr. Alarc¢n. "The executioners and exploiters, definitely and forever defeated, shall never return. Cuba is not and shall never be a colonial possession of the United States."

Explaining his country's vote, Ambassador Victor Marrero of the United States said economic sanctions were an essential foreign policy tool. He rejected the accusation that the United States policy denied necessary medicine or medical supplies and equipment to the Cuban people. "The Cuban Democracy Act explicitly permits the exports of medicine, medical supplies and equipment to Cuba by American companies and their subsidiaries, provided appropriate end-use monitoring arrangements are in place", he said.

Abstaining on the vote were Estonia, Georgia, Kuwait, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Morocco, Nepal, Oman, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Tajikistan and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The decision to resume the emergency special session followed a request by the Arab Group which was supported by the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement.

At its tenth emergency special session held in July, the Assembly recommended that the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War convene a conference on measures to enforce the Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem, and to ensure its respect. The Assembly also requested the Secretary-General to report on the matter within three months.

The Secretary-General wrote to the Government of Switzerland in its capacity as depositary of the Geneva Convention, requesting the necessary information. In response, the Government of Switzerland sought the views of the 188 States parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention. The report summarizes the replies of the 53 States parties to the Convention which responded to a request for their views.

Nasser Al-Kidwa told the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People that the draft resolution would soon be circulated among members of the Committee. The aim was not to seek full membership in the United Nations or even achieve official United Nations recognition of a Palestinian State, he said, but it would enhance greatly the work of the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine and make it more efficient.

Mr. Al-Kidwa also announced that his delegation intended to present a draft amendment to the General Assembly resolution on the Report of the Credentials Committee, indicating that the credentials of Israel did not cover the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, or the Syrian Arab Golan. He said the proposed amendment did not represent a rejection of Israel's credentials. It was motivated by the ongoing increase in Israeli confiscation of Palestinian land, the increase in settlement activities and continuing illegal Israeli claims to the occupied territory.

Earlier, the Secretary-General, who is on a six-day visit to Chile and Venezuela, attended an event with officials of the city of Santiago. He thanked the officials for making Santiago "a comfortable, rewarding host city for the United Nations and the many international staff who work" there.

Noting that the Mayor of Santiago, Jaime Ravinet, was very active during and "especially, since last year's United Nations Conference on Human Settlements -- Habitat II -- which was held in Istanbul", the Secretary- General said the challenges of the world's cities transcend borders.

"In terms of problems they face, the world's cities are becoming more alike than not. This means that cities are also the places where answers to some of the world's most complex and pressing questions are being devised."

The Secretary-General said that cities and municipal governments are in the vanguard of change and innovation.

"The Secretary-General deplores the unilateral decision which the Anjouan island has taken, at a time when the Organization of African Unity, the League of Arab States and the international community are dedicating ceaseless efforts to finding a just and durable solution to the Comorian crisis."

In the statement, the Secretary-General renews his appeal to the Comorians, in particular to the Anjouanese, to participate without reservations in the Conference on the Comoros which the OAU is planning to organize in Addis Ababa. He exhorts all Comorian parties to abstain from all acts aimed at putting in question the territorial integrity, the sovereignty and national unity of the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros.

According to the report, prepared by Enrique Bernales Ballesteros, since the 1970s various African countries have suffered from the presence of mercenaries. These mercenaries have interfered in internal affairs and have had a considerable impact on the self-determination of the peoples of the States where they were active.

The report says that recurrent elements which could be observed in those countries include political instability, the weak institutional structure of the armed forces, the development of segregationist policies in the days of apartheid, the existence of many internal conflicts, the lucrative business for organizations which hire and supply mercenaries, the insecurity of rulers who organize militias around themselves, the poverty, insecurity and lack of prospects which engender violence among young people, and the existence of modern private companies which provide different kinds of service, including economic advice and sophisticated military training.

Two cases in point are those of Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the report points out. In the former, the Government of the democratically elected President, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, after four years of armed clashes retained the services of mercenary activities of a South African company known as the Executive Outcomes. "It was probably the widespread insecurity which caused the elected Government to decide not to cancel the contract of the Executive Outcomes" but "to reformulate the contract, making the mercenaries principally responsible for the protection of the region of Kovo against the attacks of the rebel forces." However, according to an agreement signed by the Government and the rebel forces, the Executive Outcomes was supposed to have left Sierra Leone.

"The thesis which the Special Rapporteur advances is that the presence of the private company which was partly responsible for the security of Sierra Leone created an illusion of governability but left intact some substantive problems which could never be solved by a service company." The Special Rapporteur says that retaining the company was a mistake.

On the Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaire), the Special Rapporteur says that the ousted Government of Mobutu Seseko hired mercenaries principally to prevent the city of Kisangani from falling into the hands of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo- Zaire, led by Laurent Kabila.

The mercenaries came mainly from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), Bosnia and Herzegovina and France. Others were Angolans and South Africans. "There were also, but in small numbers, Belgians, English and Mozambicans."

Governments of the several countries mentioned repudiated the reports and stated that they had no involvement whatsoever in the alleged hiring of mercenaries.

On 28 October, the United Kingdom invited the Secretary-General of the United Nations, as well as the secretaries-general of the Organization of African Unity and of the Arab League, to send high-level representatives to Scotland to examine the judicial system there and to discuss arrangements for the trial.

But in a recent letter to the President of the Security Council, Libya conveyed a statement by its General People's Committee for External Communication and International Cooperation rejecting the British move as "merely an attempt to dilute the serious initiatives that have been made in this connection, and to destroy, trivialize or cripple all attempts to resolve this long-standing crisis".

According to the statement, biased publicity campaigns have loaded the social and psychological climate against the two suspects. "This means that there is no possibility that they would be given a fair and impartial trial in Scotland", the statement asserts, adding that, "Moreover, there are serious grounds for regarding the accusation against the suspects... as unsound".

Libya reiterates its support for the joint League of Arab States/Organization of African Unity proposal that the suspects be tried either in a third and neutral country to be determined by the Security Council, or at the International Court of Justice in accordance with Scottish law, or at a special tribunal set up for the trial at The Hague.

Meanwhile, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is working to determine its competence to deal with a case brought by Libya on the matter. Libya argues that the alleged acts were covered by the 1971 Montreal Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation.

Instead of being dealt with in the framework of the Montreal Convention, the matter fell to the Security Council, which in January 1992 adopted a resolution urging Libya to "immediately provide a full and effective response to those requests". The Council imposed sanctions against Libya pending cooperation.

In a letter to the Secretary-General, Foreign Minister Blagoj Handziski says the Force must remain in light of a variety of conditions, including tensions in Montenegro, the slow implementation of the Dayton Accords in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the "still unresolved Kosovo issue". Problems on the border with Albania have been complicated by the activities of gangs and criminals. "This has caused a number of heavy incidents with our military border units and police forces, but also incidents with the representatives of UNPREDEP, at some of the observation points along that border."

The Foreign Minister states that "these sources of instability require a longer period to be resolved", and adds that the presence of UNPREDEP would be instrumental for that purpose.

This is the third round of talks at the level of senior officials, according to a United Nations spokesman. Earlier meetings were held from 4 to 7 August and from 1 to 3 October. The current round is scheduled to conclude on 7 November.

A total of 59 countries and observers addressed the event, with 47 announcing pledges and 12 making provisional pledges for the Organization's funds and programmes during the 1997 Pledging Conference for Development Activities.

Including estimates of the pledges yet to be announced, a total of $800 million was pledged to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and approximately $40 million for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Pledges worth approximately $68 million were received by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and approximately $36 million was pledged to other United Nations trust funds and programmes.

Under the pilot phase of the initiative, pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies will subsidize the purchase of the drugs for four developing countries: Chile, C“te d'Ivoire, Uganda and Vietnam. For their part, those States will work to adapt their health infrastructures to ensure the effective distribution of the drugs.

The Coordinator of the initiative, Dr. Joseph Saba, told United Nations Radio on Wednesday that AIDS is a complex, serious, and important problem. Dr. Saba said it is not enough to reduce the cost of the drugs; there is need to put in place mechanisms for delivering them to the AIDS patients. Even at low cost, these drugs may not be delivered to the countries if there is no appropriate infrastructure on the ground. "We don't want to bring drugs that expire on the shelf or to have patients going to the pharmacy and not finding the drugs and the pharmacists asking them to come back two weeks later."

Dr. Saba said the initiative will hopefully last as long as it is needed. "However we have designed the pilot phase for the first two years to evaluate what is really happening and whether the systems that we put in place are really working." In a country like Uganda where there are 1.6 million people living with HIV, there are only five or six clinics -- not enough for the administration of drugs to the affected people, he said.

Over 20 million people with HIV/AIDS now live in developing countries, where resources can be severely limited, according to UNAIDS. As potent drugs to control HIV infection and new sophisticated drugs to treat and prevent AIDS-related illness are helping to improve lives in the industrialized world -- where fewer than 10 per cent of people with HIV live -- the gap in access to medical care continues to grow.

Addressing the United Nations Committee on Relations with the Host Country on Wednesday, Alexandre Zmeevski said that on Friday, 31 October, Ambassador Sergey Lavrov had been in his car on his way to an important meeting of the Security Council when his progress was blocked by a New York police patrol car, which was parked while its driver was casually talking to someone on the street. The driver of the Ambassador's car had then honked, in response to which one of the police officers approached the Ambassador's car and said, "We are New York police, nobody honks at the New York police."

According to Mr. Zmeevski, the Ambassador's car had then proceeded on its way, but at a stop light on Lexington Avenue, it had been blocked by the same patrol car, and its keys had been forcibly removed by an officer. The officer had then addressed the Ambassador and his driver offensively, and had told them that only the Ambassador possessed diplomatic immunity. The matter had taken half an hour to clear up and the Ambassador had been very late for an important meeting of the Security Council.

These acts were a violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention, which stated that host countries must treat diplomatic missions with absolute respect, said Mr. Zmeevski. The Russian Federation had demanded that the United States issue an apology and punish those responsible for the incident.

United States representative Robert Moller said the New York City Chief of Police would convene a meeting of senior police commanders on 6 November to discuss the matter and related issues. At the meeting, the United States Mission would remind the Police Department that diplomatic inviolability must be respected as a matter of United States and international law, Mr. Moller said.

So far, 103 instruments of ratification or accession have been deposited and sixty-five States have signed the Convention but not yet deposited instruments of ratification.

Under the terms of the Convention, each State party undertakes to destroy chemical weapons and production facilities. The Convention establishes a comprehensive verification system within the framework of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague. It was the first disarmament agreement negotiated within a multilateral framework that provides for the elimination of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction.

The Regional Forum on Poverty Eradication in Southern Africa held in Midrand, South Africa, has been hearing about the situation of poverty in many rural areas of the subregion from the deprived people who formed the majority at the forum.

The meeting which opened on Monday and ends on Thursday includes, the media, non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, government officials, and academics. It is focusing on actual problem solving and going beyond the traditional problem analysis.

The Forum is continuing in four working groups on poverty, employment creation, social disintegration, and special problems of rural women.

The meeting is the second in a series being organized in southern Africa; the first phase took place in Windhoek, Namibia last May.

The purpose of the Regional Forum is to follow up and promote concrete action on the recommendations and decisions made at United Nations international conferences, especially the 1995 World Summit on Social Development held in Copenhagen, aimed at eradicating poverty, creating employment opportunities and enhancing social integration.

Opening the Forum on behalf of South African Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, Deputy Minister Essop Pahad, commended the Forum for inviting rural people as participants and for paying timely attention to rural women. He said that the next century must be a century of African renaissance. However, African renaissance would be impossible within the context of poverty.

In his message read out on his behalf by UNIC Director for Namibia, Finjap Njinga, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Public Information Samir Sanbar paid special tribute to the media practitioners and members of civil society participating in the Forum. He recalled the courageous and indispensable role they played in exposing the injustices of apartheid and colonialism in southern Africa.

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

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