United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-04-28

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Tuesday, 28 April, 1998

HEADLINES

• Security Council President says there is no consensus in Council for modifying sanctions against Iraq.
• Iraq says United States and United Kingdom block lifting of Security Council sanctions.
• Head of UNSCOM says Iraq needs to provide full accounting of weapons of mass destruction.
• Security Council discusses political developments and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.
• UN humanitarian team visits Afghanistan.
• Secretary-General begins 8-country visit to Africa.
• Disarmament Commission concludes annual session.
• UN sponsors conference on regional approach to refugees in former Yugoslavia.
• UN international conference on women in Africa begins in Addis Ababa.
• UNESCO head condemns assassination of Church leader in Guatemala.

Speaking to correspondents on Monday night following Council consultations, Ambassador Owada, said that Members had extensive discussion on wide- ranging issues concerning Iraq. They had been briefed by Richard Butler, the Executive Chairman of the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM); Jayantha Dhanapala, who is Chairman of the Special Group to Investigate the Presidential Sites; and by Garry Dillon of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Council members would continue to consult on the possibility of further Council action in relation to the IAEA report, Ambassador Owada said. The Members wanted to know more about the technical details of the UNSCOM report. Ambassador Butler agreed to give, in a separate meeting, additional technical information including on implementation 687.

Finally, Ambassador Owada said, Council members expressed grave concern on the question of the repatriation of all Kuwaiti nationals and the return of all Kuwaiti property, seized by Iraq, including national archives.

In reply to a reporter's question, the Council President said there was a "general sense of urgency" regarding action on the IAEA report, but there had been no discussion on how soon the Council would act on the matter. It was much too early to say what concrete action would be taken, he added.

Speaking at a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Mohammed Al-Sahaf, described as "very disappointing" the Council decision on Monday night not to lift the sanctions imposed against his country in 1991, following the Persian Gulf War. He said the United States had threatened to use its veto power in the Council to block the lifting of sanctions.

The Iraqi Foreign Minister said since the sanctions were imposed Iraq had fulfilled the requirements for lifting them by destroying all weapons and related equipment. The Iraqi people and leadership had made major sacrifices and expected the sanctions to be lifted long ago.

Regardless of the injustice to which it had been subjected, he said, Iraq had cooperated with the Security Council and with the Special Commission. During the crises in November 1997 and February this year, Iraq had responded positively to initiatives by the Russian Federation and by the Secretary-General. It understood that implementation of those initiatives including the Memorandum of Understanding would lead to the lifting of sanctions.

Given the positive report by the Special Group which had inspected Iraq's presidential sites, he said, Iraq had hoped that the Council's discussions would focus on the main issues and lead to the lifting of sanctions. Fair minded people in the Security Council and the international community wanted Iraq's relations with the Council and the Special Commission to be based on equity and a proper legal interpretation of Council resolution 687 which was adopted in 1991, he added.

Speaking at a UN press conference, UNSCOM Executive Chairman Richard Butler, said there was a real possibility, that if Iraq produced the materials, documents and evidence needed to verify its claim that it no longer had weapons of mass destruction, "we might be able to get the disarmament part of our work done in a relatively short space of time".

Mr. Butler briefed the Security Council on Monday on the latest report on UNSCOM's work. Since the report covered the six month period from October 1997 to April 1998, he said, it included the "intense crisis" before the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Iraq in February. Since Secretary- General Kofi Annan's visit to Baghdad, there was "an entirely new spirit of cooperation," Mr. Butler added.

The Executive Chairman said he had informed the Council that, in recent weeks, there had been some progress in the field of work UNSCOM was carrying out with Iraq. The Commission was attempting to get an account of special missile warheads that Iraq had in the past, had filled with chemical or biological warfare agents and had unilaterally destroyed. "We are seeking an account of these so we can help move closer to the end of the missile file," Ambassador Butler said.

The Chairman told correspondents the same was also true in the field of chemical emissions, he said. UNSCOM had discovered an amount of chemical emissions with "perfectly good chemical agents in them" and would be bringing those to account.

Iraq's promise to give UNSCOM full cooperation was now needed to bring the disarmament to full account, Ambassador Butler said. UNSCOM had also promised that if Iraq gave full cooperation and gave the remaining materials, documents and evidence "we need to verify their claim that they had no more weapons of mass destruction", then UNSCOM would do the verification honestly, at a very high level of competence and as quickly as possible.

Speaking to correspondents after the discussions, Ambassador Owada said the Council had been briefed on the latest situation in the country by both Lakhdar Brahimi, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Afghanistan, and by Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN Under-Secretary- General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

On behalf of the Council, Ambassador Owada thanked Mr. Brahimi for his peace efforts in Afghanistan and the Permanent Representative of the United States, Bill Richardson, for his good offices in bringing about progress in the peace process.

The Council had emphasized the importance of the UN's central and leading role in the peace process, Ambassador Owada said. It had also expressed satisfaction with the initiation of dialogue between the Northern Alliance and Taliban and strongly hoped that substantial negotiations would be held on key issues during the current talks.

The Council appealed to the parties to the conflict not to extend offensive actions. Further, it expressed serious concern over the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and urged the Afghan authorities to cooperate with humanitarian activities and respect humanitarian laws and human rights. Council Members said they would follow the situation in the country very closely.

United Nations Spokesman Juan Carlos Brandt said on Tuesday that the team is due to arrive in Islamabad over the weekend to discuss the humanitarian situation in the country.

The United Nations remained very concerned about the security and safety of the staff on the ground, as well as about the lack of access to certain areas and groups of people in Afghanistan, Mr. Brandt added.

A UN spokesman said the Secretary-General planned to visit Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Eritrea. He was scheduled to return to New York on 11 May.

While in Addis Ababa, the Secretary-General would meet with the Prime Minister and President of Ethiopia. He would also attend the fortieth anniversary of the Economic Commission for Africa, which was organizing a conference on African women.

On Thursday, the Secretary-General would deliver a key-note address on a panel discussion on the United Nations and the advancement of African Women.

The Commission, which has been meeting since 6 April, mostly in working groups, addressed three key issues: the establishment of nuclear weapons free zones; the development of guidelines on conventional arms control, limitation and disarmament; and preparations for the fourth Special Session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament.

The conference, which will be held in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been jointly organized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and an organization which is supervising the Dayton Peace Agreement.

A UNHCR spokesman said there were Serb refugees from Croatia in Serbia or in Kosovo, Croat refugees from Bosnia in Croatia, Muslims from Bosnia in Croatia and in different parts of Bosnia. The idea of the conference was to look at all the regional implications and try to approach the return issue from a regional perspective, he said.

Although Africa is experiencing a renaissance in various sectors of the society, human development statistics on the continent's women lag far behind those in the rest of the non-industrialized world.

The four-day conference is entitled "African Women and Economic Development: Investing in Our Future". It will stress women's pivotal economic role, including the fact that the majority of women work in the informal sector and produce 70 per cent of the Africa's food. However, they are not properly compensated and they are not sufficiently represented in all aspects of decision-making. The Conference will also focus on measures to bring women through informative technology, the kind of knowledge that will improve their lives. Finally, it will focus on Africa's next generation, particularly the girl child.

UNESCO's Director-General, Federico Mayor, expressed his sorrow at the murder of the Monsignor and said that he was horrified by this "odious" crime against a man of peace. Since the peace accord of 1996, Monsignor Gerardi Conedera had continued his work as head of the archdiocese's human rights office, Mr. Mayor said. Some people, he added, could not tolerate Bishop Gerardi's steadfastness and his devotion to serving the people of Guatemala.

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

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