United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-11-05

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, 5 November, 1998

HEADLINES

• Security Council demands Iraq's "immediate, complete and unconditional" cooperation with UN weapons inspectors.
• Members of Security Council call for peaceful solution to conflict in Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Security Council members, concerned over fighting in Tajikistan, hope parties will renounce use of force.
• Secretary-General says human rights situation in Kosovo remains cause for grave concern.
• United Nations food agency protests disappearance of its food stocks in Afghanistan.
• World Food Programme deploys food stocks from around world for victims of hurricane Mitch.
• Head of UNESCO calls for new investment priorities to counter pollution and global warming.
• International Narcotics Control Board opens meeting in Vienna.
• United Nations-sponsored meeting in Bangkok calls for more aid to control crime in Asia-Pacific region.
• UN-organized relief operation in Sudan withdraws personnel from southern region following attacks.

In resolution 1205 (1998) unanimously adopted on Thursday, the Council condemned the Iraqi decision of 31 October to cease cooperation with the Special Commission (UNSCOM) as a flagrant violation of resolution 687 (1991) and other relevant resolutions. The Security Council demanded that Iraq rescind that decision and its decision of 5 August to suspend cooperation with UNSCOM and to maintain restrictions on the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The Council reaffirmed its full support for UNSCOM and the IAEA in their efforts to ensure full implementation of their mandates. It also expressed full support for the Secretary-General in his efforts to seek full implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by him and the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq on 23 February.

The Council reaffirmed its readiness to conduct a comprehensive review of Iraq's compliance with its obligations once Iraq had rescinded its decisions to cease cooperation and demonstrated its preparedness to fulfill all its obligations, including in particular, on disarmament issues.

The Council noted that by its failure so far to comply with its obligations, Iraq had delayed the moment when the Council could act in accordance with resolution 687 (1991) on the duration of the prohibitions imposed on Iraq.

In a statement to the press on behalf of the members, Council President A. Peter Burleigh of the United States emphasized that no sustainable solution can be achieved through military means.

"Council members welcomed regional efforts to seek a peaceful solution to this conflict, including the important steps taken in Lusaka to involve all parties in the mediation talks," said Ambassador Burleigh.

Foreign Ministers met on 26 October in Lusaka, Zambia, for talks on a ceasefire and withdrawal of foreign troops from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

According to the Council President, the members urged all parties to intensify efforts resolve those issues which have prevented agreement on a ceasefire so far. "Council members look forward to continued dialogue with the Secretary-General on ways to contribute to a peaceful solution to the conflict," Ambassador Burleigh said. They also reiterated their concern regarding the need for respect for human rights, humanitarian law, and access for humanitarian agencies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he added.

Following consultations, the Council President told the press that the members had expressed concern over reports of fighting in Tajikistan's northern province of Leninabad.

"The Council hopes that the hostilities will cease quickly," said Council President A. Peter Burleigh of the United States. "The Council reaffirmed its commitment to the implementation of the Inter-Tajikistan agreement on a peaceful settlement," he added.

The United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) is charged with assisting in the implementation of the peace agreements signed by the Government and the Tajik opposition. It also reports on ceasefire violations and helps to facilitate the delivery of international humanitarian assistance. The Mission's mandate will expire on 15 November.

The report notes that since April, the scope and intensity of the conflict in Kosovo grew dramatically while the human rights situation deteriorated. Prospects for improvement arose following the agreement reached in mid- October between President Slobodan Milosevic and United States envoy Richard Holbrooke. "Serious human rights abuses were being reported on a daily basis throughout the summer and early autumn," the Secretary-General observes.

The period since August has been marked by more discoveries of concentrations of corpses and evidence of massacres, including the massacre of Serb and Albanian civilians, according to the report, which details evidence of the killings.

Under the Milosevic-Holbrooke accord, up to 2000 monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will be stationed in Kosovo, comprising the Kosovo Verification Mission. Meanwhile, the United Nations Special Rapporteur and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights are active throughout the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. "The need for an expanded international human rights presence, linked to the establishment of office premises of the Office of the High Commissioner in Kosovo and undertaken in consultation with OSCE, remains urgent as the human rights situation in the region continues to be grave cause for concern," the Secretary-General concludes.

Meanwhile, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Jiri Dienstbier, addressed the General Assembly's Social, Humanitarian and Cultural (Third) Committee on Thursday. He said that the danger for an enormous human catastrophe in Kosovo was over for the time being, but added that "Kosovo remains an open wound." He stressed the need to monitor all individual cases of human rights violations and to "do everything to help every individual."

The World Food Programme (WFP) said in Islamabad on Thursday that 1,500 metric tonnes of food aid had disappeared from its warehouses in Bamyan and Yakawlang. The agency added that three pick-up trucks and three other trucks stored in its Bamyan compound were also missing. According to WFP, a fourth truck was cannibalized for its parts. The agency's offices in Bamyan had also been occupied by Taliban authorities.

WFP said that the losses were confirmed following the recent fighting in the area, during which the Taliban military forces took control of Bamyan and Yakawlang in the Hazarajat region west of Kabul.

The food, which consisted of mostly wheat and two tonnes of high- energy biscuits, had been prepared for an anticipated emergency situation in the region this winter, WFP said. It pointed out that getting the food to the Bamyan and Yakawlang warehouses had been one of its most taxing operations in recent years. "Every grain delivered was an achievement. Every truck which arrived was a victory," said WFP Regional Manager Bronek Szyanalski.

WFP on Wednesday delivered a strong protest to the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan. The agency also urged the Taliban to take action on requested road and air clearances allowing WFP to deploy assessment teams to examine the food supply and security situation in Bamyan and Hazarajat. The United Nations agency estimates that up to 160,000 people in the area will need some 5,300 tonnes of food to avert hunger during the coming winter.

Officials of the Rome-based United Nations agency said that it would divert ships carrying its food donations from their current destinations to the crisis zone where more than one million victims are struggling to survive.

According to WFP, Honduras and Nicaragua are the worst affected; the hurricane destroyed food supplies and cut off drinking water in almost every part of the two countries. Hurricane Mitch, which packed winds of 180 mph at its peak, killed nearly 7,000 people and wiped out houses, roads, bridges and entire villages across Central America.

"We are looking at one of the worst natural disasters to strike Central America in the twentieth century," said Francisco Roque, the WFP Regional Director for Central America and the Caribbean. He said that there were thousands of people who had nothing but "the shirt on their backs," adding that a lot of the people had no way to cook and they must be supplied with ready-to-eat food for the next several weeks.

The first emergency food supplies from WFP began arriving in Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala over the weekend, the agency said. It added that its regional officials were currently using trucks to take food to hurricane victims sheltering in houses, schools and make-shift homes, and using helicopters to the areas cut off by floods and mudslides.

Meanwhile, WFP logistics teams were assessing the specific food shortages and needs of the four countries in advance of a major emergency food supply operation, according to WFP.

Federico Mayor, the Director-General of UNESCO, made his call as the fourth session of the Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change continued in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He said that countries could not continue investing billions of dollars in armaments while devoting just a fraction of their national budgets to key areas such as scientific research and the development of new, cleaner sources of energy, including renewable ones.

Mr. Mayor said that if the very serious problem of climate change was to be dealt with and sustainable development given a chance, there had to be a shift of emphasis from crisis management to a strategy of crisis prevention to reduce the impact of global climate change. "The only responsible option left open to us to act now," he said.

According to UNESCO, data collected so far this year confirms that temperatures around the globe are rising. The United Nations agency says that the frequency and intensity of floods and droughts are increasing year by year as events in China, Bangladesh and Texas, United States had demonstrated during the past six weeks. The frequency and intensity of tropical hurricanes were also on the rise as Hurricane Mitch, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes ever to hit Central America, had confirmed this week.

The head of UNESCO called for a broad alliance among all the actors concerned, including individual citizens, to prevent the dire effect of global warming from occurring in the next century. He urged national governments and parliaments to face up to their present and future responsibilities.

After reviewing events of this century in the field of drug control, the Board is expected to identify challenges for the future of international drug control and give recommendations on how to meet them in its next annual report. Special attention will be paid to the misuse of emerging technologies, such as the World Wide Web, in spreading drug abuse. In addition, experts will focus on ensuring that the prescription of mind- altering medicines, especially those containing internationally controlled substances, are in line with sound medical practices.

The forthcoming report will also review world drug abuse and trafficking as well as measures taken by governments throughout the world to combat these problems.

The Board is an independent body established by the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs to monitor governments' compliance with international drug control treaties. Its 13 members are elected by the United Nations Economic and Social Council to serve in their individual capacities.

The three-day meeting, hosted by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, drew up a set of regional recommendations to be considered at the tenth United Nations Congress for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, to be held in Vienna in April, 2000.

The meeting stressed that concerted action by a wide variety of partners from all areas of society was needed to promote the rule of law worldwide. It called on governments to assist countries in the region that needed technical or financial aid to improve their criminal justice systems.

Participants also urged all States to speed up efforts to adopt a treaty against transnational organized crime. It was particularly crucial to find appropriate ways to fight financial and economic crimes, computer-related crimes and escalating rates of substance abuse, they agreed.

The Bangkok meeting, which concluded on Wednesday, was the first in a series of four regional meetings that aim to collect input for the upcoming tenth United Nations Congress on crime prevention. Three other meetings will be held before the end of February -- in Beirut for the Western Asian region, in Kampala for Africa and in San Jose for Latin America.

OLS, which is a consortium of United Nations agencies and non- governmental organizations providing emergency relief for an estimated 3.4 million civilians affected by war in southern Sudan, said that the staff had been withdrawn on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Operation Lifeline Sudan said that the thefts and attacks on staff occurred between 28 October and 2 November and that in the first incident, armed men held up a vehicle belonging to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The following day a clinic serving some 15,000 people was looted of drugs and medical equipment.

"The outbreak of insecurity in Western Equatoria is extremely unsettling considering it has enjoyed relative stability compared to other parts of southern Sudan," said David Fletcher, acting OLS Coordinator in the Southern Sector.

The humanitarian operation said that it was maintaining basic programme activities, such as those in health, nutrition, food distribution, water and education, with some 20 essential staff who remained in Western Equatoria.

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

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