United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-03-11

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Wednesday, 11 March 1998

HEADLINES

• In Washington, Secretary-General meets with United States President to discuss the country's arrears, Iraq developments.
• Security Council members call on all sides in Kosovo to "exercise utmost restraint".
• United Nations mission in Tajikistan conduct air operations using the Dushanbe airport.
• Identification process resumes in Western Sahara after temporary suspension.
• United Nations commission awards more than $40 million to Kuwaiti claims arising from Iraq's 1990 invasion.
• Chief of United Nations Drug Control Programme outlines strategy to eliminate illegal coca and opium in 10 years.
• President of General Assembly, on an official visit in Tokyo, meets Japanese Prime Minister.
• Secretary-General appoints new head of United Nations military observers in India and Pakistan.
• United Nations appeals for $23 million to meet emergency rehabilitation needs of Republic of Congo.
• International Court of Justice begins deliberating its jurisdiction in Cameroon's boundary case against Nigeria.

In brief remarks to the press, United States President Bill Clinton said he was pleased at the agreement recently brokered by the Secretary- General between the United Nations and Iraq. Responding to a suggestion that the agreement was a "sellout", President Clinton said he didn't believe that. "The agreement on its own terms is clearly not a sellout," the President said, adding that it preserved the integrity of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) which is carrying out weapons inspections in Iraq.

On the use of force against Iraq if Baghdad failed to honour the agreement, Mr. Clinton said that the United States had been and would continue to consult with the international community.

For his part, the Secretary-General reiterated the view that there must be consultations before any military action, and that this was an ongoing practice and part of the way of doing business in the international community. He pointed out that it was not only the United States President who was on the phone consulting with the members of the Security Council but other United States leaders, including Secretaries of State and Defense.

In the afternoon, the Secretary-General met with Senators Jesse Helms and Joseph Biden of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which had drafted the compromise legislation on the payment of United States arrears to the United Nations that was not adopted due to an unrelated controversy over abortion.

On Thursday, the Secretary-General is scheduled to meet with 10 Senators from the Democratic party: Tom Daschle, Wendell Ford, Barbara McCulsky, Robert Kerrey, John Kerry, Robert Torricelli, Jack Reed, John "Jay" Rockefeller, John Breaux and Byron Dorgan.

In a statement to the press on behalf of the members, Council President Abdoulie Momodou Sallah of the Gambia said, "concerns were expressed at the situation in Kosovo in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia." Members of the Council reaffirmed the principles of the United Nations Charter and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, he said.

"Members of the Council call upon all sides to exercise utmost restraint and to enter into a serious political dialogue on how to settle their differences through peaceful means," Ambassador Sallah said.

According to a United Nations Spokesman, UNMOT carried out a helicopter flight and was expecting a fixed-wing aircraft to land at Dushanbe airport on Thursday.

On Monday, UNMOT announced that it was withdrawing three United Nations teams from remote areas to their base in Dushanbe because they were isolated due to heavy snow and avalanches, and because the Tajik authorities were not allowing the United Nations mission to use the Dushanbe airport.

United Nations Spokesman Fred Eckhard said that the authorities of the Dushanbe airport have finally given the "green light" for the United Nations mission to carry out its air operations.

Two teams had already been withdrawn using helicopters of the Russian border forces, according to the Spokesman. He said that those teams would be re-deployed as soon as the United Nations "air assets are operating freely."

Announcing the resumption of the process, which had been suspended since 27 February, United Nations Spokesman Fred Eckhard said that some differences between the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el- Hamra and Rio de Oro (POLISARIO Front) and Morocco over the "contested tribes" had prevented the adoption of the March programme for the identification.

A total of 1,500 out of the 4,000 people from the "contested tribes" were identified in February, he said. The remaining people were yet to be identified, the spokesman added.

The United Nations Identification Commission will identify the non- contested applicants for the time being.

The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) is preparing for a referendum to enable the people of Western Sahara to choose between independence and integration with Morocco which claims the territory.

The Geneva-based Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission awarded some $19.7 million to cover the Kuwaiti Government's loss of a collection of Islamic art, a collection of rare books and other personal property, as well as damage to property.

The Council also awarded some $20.8 million in response to two other claims by the Government of Kuwait, one concerning the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and one related to the University of Kuwait.

The Council met under the Presidency of Ambassador Gon‡alo de Santa Clara Gomes of Portugal. Representatives of both Kuwait and Iraq addressed the 15- member Governing Council during its session.

Awards are paid through a fund set up by the Security Council which channels a portion of Iraq's oil revenues to pay compensation for damages arising from its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The next session of the Council is scheduled to be held from 29 June to 1 July.

UNDCP Executive Director Pino Arlacchi briefed the Vienna-based Commission on Narcotic Drugs on the new effort, called SCOPE, or the Strategy for Coca and Opium Poppy Elimination. SCOPE is based on a participatory approach, involving local communities and the appropriate balance between law enforcement, alternative development and demand reduction.

"There are times when I feel like we are in a fight with one hand tied behind our back," Mr. Arlacchi said. He noted that there has been an increase in UNDCP's resources, reversing a six year downward trend, and concluded with the words of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, "Give us the tools and we will do the job."

The former Italian Senator and Professor of Sociology was appointed by the Secretary-General to head United Nations Drug Control and Crime Prevention Programmes in September, 1997. Wednesday's meeting was his first opportunity to address the annual gathering of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

On Wednesday, Assembly President Hennadiy Udovenko of Ukraine met with Japan's Prime Minister, Ryutaro Hashimoto. Their discussions in part focused on the situations in Iraq and Kosovo as well as the reform of the United Nations, including its Security Council, according to Mr. Udovenko's Spokesman, Alex Taukatch.

At a press conference later that day, Mr. Udovenko stressed that he was doing his best to ensure progress in efforts to reform the Security Council, Mr. Taukatch said.

Meanwhile in New York, a working group of the General Assembly dealing with the issue of Security Council reform held its seventeenth meeting on Wednesday. In the absence of Mr. Udovenko, the group's Chairman, the meetings were chaired by its two co-chairmen, the representatives of Thailand and Finland.

Brigadier-General Espinosa Davies will replace Major-General Ahn Choung-Jun of the Republic of Korea who has been the Chief Military Observer in UNMOGIP since 14 March 1997. The new Chief Military Observer will assume his duties on 21 March 1998.

The Secretary-Genera paid tribute to Major-General Ahn for the professional and effective manner in which he provided leadership to UNMOGIP.

UNMOGIP was set up under a 1948 resolution of the Security Council which established the United Nations Commission to mediate in the conflict between India and Pakistan over Jammu and Kashmir.

UNMOGIP observers are deployed along both sides of the cease-fire line established under a 1972 agreement between the two countries.

Funding is being sought for immediate humanitarian assistance, as well as for urgent rehabilitation projects to help the population return to a state of normalcy. Assistance is urgently needed to restore vital social services and to support economic activities, which were severely disrupted after fighting destroyed entire sections of the capital, Brazzaville.

In the early stages of reconstruction, direct support will be provided to the internally displaced, refugees and locally affected people, with particular emphasis on children in difficult circumstances and women. The appeal is designed to help consolidate peace and to assist victims of the conflict in moving from dependency on relief assistance to self- sufficiency.

Priority attention will be given to emergency rehabilitation of health centres, schools and private houses and child vaccination and preventive health programmes. Special attention will also be given to those traumatized by the civil war, particularly women and children. Support will be provided to the reconciliation efforts, peace education and human rights programmes.

The appeal also promotes efforts to revitalize the agricultural economy, enhance food security, improve access to clean water and adequate shelter, and ensure reasonable health services for all people in need.

On Wednesday, the public hearings phase of the case was concluded, enabling judges to begin their deliberations. The Court must decide whether Cameroon's claims are admissible. Nigeria contends that the Court has no jurisdiction in the matter.

Cameroon's case, filed in 1994, concerns the sovereignty of the Bakassi Peninsula, which it claimed was partly occupied by Nigeria's military. Subsequently, Cameroon extended the case to a further dispute with Nigeria over "a part of the territory of Cameroon in the area of Lake Chad", which it also claimed was occupied by Nigeria. Cameroon asked the Court to specify the frontier between itself and Nigeria from Lake Chad to the sea; to enjoin the withdrawal of Nigerian troops from Cameroonian territory; and to determine reparation for the damage inflicted.

In February, 1996, Cameroon requested that Court respond to "serious armed incidents" between forces of the two countries in the Bakassi Peninsula. One month later, the Court held hearings on the matter. It then issued an order calling on the parties to ensure that no action of any kind, particularly by their armed forces, be taken that would prejudice the rights of the other in respect of whatever judgement the Court might render in the case. The order also called on the parties to ensure that no action be taken which might aggravate the dispute.

Judges are expected to rule on Nigeria's objections to the admissibility of Cameroon's case in three to four months.

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

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