United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-07-14

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Wednesday, 14 July, 1999

HEADLINES

• UN Kosovo Mission appeals for end to attacks on minorities.
• UNHCR urges aid agencies to begin construction of homes and damaged infrastructure in Kosovo.
• Need for preventive measures stressed as UN Economic and Social Council debates response to emergencies.
• Senior Indonesian and Portuguese officials to discuss issues related to autonomy vote in East Timor.
• Committee on peaceful uses of outer space to hold session in Vienna.

Killings, kidnappings, forced expulsions, house burnings and looting are a daily occurrence, said Mr. Vieria de Mello. "These are criminal acts. They cannot be excused by the suffering that has been inflicted in the past. Kosovo's future must be built on justice, not vengeance."

Mr. Vieira de Mello said KFOR soldiers and international police officers could not impose peace and tolerance without the cooperation of the local population. Statements by Kosovo's political leaders against the violence had not had an impact and they must take urgent and effective action to establish calm, he stressed.

Later on Wednesday, Mr. Vieira de Mello briefed Kosovo Serb leaders, Bishop Artemije and Momcilo Trajkovic, on actions by the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to help protect Serbs. At the UN's request, KFOR troops searched for sites where the Kosovo Liberation Army were allegedly detaining prisoners. Bodies were found at one site and three Serbs and four Roma were freed from another site.

Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that Serb houses were being torched every day in the Prizren area. The town's Orthodox Church, which is caring for 167 displaced Serbs and Roma, also known as gypsies, has received threats and KFOR has stepped up patrols in the area.

In the provincial capital Pristina, KFOR evacuated 28 Serb refugees from a collective accommodation facility after two ethnic Serbs -- one from Bosnia and one from Croatia -- were reportedly kidnapped. Approximately 500 Roma are now seeking shelter near the cemetery in Brekovac with new arrivals from the Coloni neighbourhood east of Djakovica, said UNHCR.

Since resuming operations in Kosovo on 13 June, UNHCR has put together a distribution infrastructure and is now focusing on its shelter programme before winter sets in.

According to initial surveys, 40,000 to 50,000 homes across Kosovo are uninhabitable. UNHCR is helping Kosovars start emergency repairs by supplying basic shelter kits of plastic sheeting, wood strips, nails and tools. Later, the focus will be on making homes winter-proof.

In other developments, the Geneva-based United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and its Habitat Balkans Task Force is sending experts to the region to conduct an environmental assessment of the worst damaged industrial sites, primarily in Serbia. Later missions will assess environmental damage to the Danube river as well as the longer term impact of weapons used in the conflict on human health.

The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinators -- who manage United Nations aid and development programmes in cooperation with local Governments -- on Wednesday described specific emergency situations, international responses and lessons learned.

The UN experts focused on two main problems -- natural calamities such as floods and hurricanes and "complex" disasters involving internal conflicts with massive population displacement. The officials, who came from seven countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America stressed that poverty and lack of basic health facilities exacerbated matters during disasters.

The debate on international responses to natural disasters and conflicts is part of a three-day consideration by the UN Economic and Social Council of a wide range of humanitarian issues.

The discussions will cover security, peace and reconciliation efforts and post ballot issues, said a UN spokesman.

Ambassador Jamsheed Marker, the Personal Representative of the Secretary- General for East Timor will chair the meetings which will continue until Friday. The Indonesian side will be led by Ambassador Nugroho Wisnumurti, Director-General of Political Affairs at the country's Department of Foreign Affairs. The Portuguese team will be headed by Ambassador Fernando Neves, Director-General for Special Political Questions at Portugal's Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

The UN spokesman said Secretary-General Kofi Annan was expected to send a letter to the Security Council late Wednesday with his assessment of whether the registration of voters for the referendum should start on Friday.

"Space debris" is a priority item on the Committee's agenda. An estimated 8, 500 objects classified as space debris are in the geostationary orbit and low-Earth atmosphere, and that number is steadily rising. It is therefore crucial to minimize its impact on space missions, especially in the case of objects with nuclear power sources aboard.

The five international legal instruments governing outer space are being reviewed by the Committee. As these treaties have not yet been universally accepted, the Committee is expected to adopt a set of measures to achieve full adherence to these documents. The first of them, the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, dates back to 1966 while the most recent is the 1979 Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, known as the "Moon Agreement".

The Committee is also expected to finalize preparations for the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploitation and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III), to be held immediately afterwards also in Vienna. UNISPACE III will bring together the leading players in space exploration and the practical use of space applications, including the private sector. It is expected to adopt the Vienna Declaration and Action Plan, which sets out a blueprint for the peaceful uses of space in the next century.

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

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