United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-09-09

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, 9 September, 1999

Latest Developments

HEADLINES

• Secretary-General's annual report on UN work urges shift to prevention to tackle "unprecedented" humanitarian challenges.
• Appalled at growing humanitarian crisis in East Timor, Security Council members lend support to beleaguered UN mission.
• Skeleton UN staff to stay on in East Timor as violence appears to diminish.
• Citing positive indications by both sides in Western Sahara, Secretary- General recommends three-month extension for UN mission.

In the report's introductory essay, "Facing the Humanitarian Challenge," the Secretary-General says that after several years of decline, 1998 saw a significant increase in the number of wars and was the worst year on record for weather-related natural disasters.

The challenge in addressing global emergencies is heightened by the inconsistent response of the international community and the media, the Secretary-General says. While the Kosovo crisis received "saturation coverage," the protracted and deadly war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and the resumption of Angola's savage civil war, received very little. Partly for that reason, Mr. Annan says, responses to appeals for humanitarian and security assistance have been "similarly skewed."

The Secretary-General says taking prevention more seriously will help to ensure that there are fewer wars and less consequential disasters to cope with in the first place. Arguing that there is clear financial incentive for doing so, Mr. Annan cites a Carnegie Commission estimate that the seven major wars this decade, not including the conflict in Kosovo, have cost the international community $199 billion on top of the cost to the countries at war.

Better prevention strategies, however, require clear understanding of the conflicts' and disasters' underlying causes, the Secretary-General says, noting that most conflicts are marked by inequalities among ethnic, religious and other social groups. Meanwhile, a steady accumulation of carbon emissions and global warming contribute to the increase in weather- related disasters, which exact a rising cost because of poverty, population pressures and unsustainable development practices.

The report describes the past year as a difficult one for the United Nations, as it sought to fulfil its collective security mandate. The Organization now faces major new challenges in peacekeeping, with its complex operation in Kosovo, preparations for a new mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, expansion of the mission in Sierra Leone and possible new operations in Ethiopia, Eritrea and East Timor.

Describing UN's worldwide efforts to reduce poverty and enhance economic and social development, Mr. Annan says that the UN is placing new emphasis on cooperation and coordination with the Bretton Woods institutions, such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

The Secretary-General also draws attention to the benefits as well as the "dark side" of globalization, pointing out the dangers posed by global "uncivil society," the international drug trade and money laundering. The same Internet that has facilitated the spread of human rights, the report notes, has also been a conduit for propagating intolerance and has diffused information necessary for building weapons of terror.

Council members highlighted the need for UNAMET to maintain a presence in East Timor and emphasized that the Mission should resume its work in all the regions of the territory "as soon as secure conditions have been established", Council President Ambassador Peter van Walsum of the Netherlands said in a press statement.

Ambassador van Walsum added that Council members were "appalled" by the growing humanitarian crisis and they emphasized the need for urgent assistance for the East Timorese. "Recognizing that this could only be done in safe conditions," he said, "they called on the Indonesian authorities to assist the deployment of international humanitarian staff and to provide security for their work."

While noting the efforts of the Indonesian Government to reassert control over East Timor, Ambassador van Walsum said Council members reiterated their willingness to consider further action to help the authorities if the situation does not improve "within a very short period of time."

The Council members also said they would take into account the views of its high-level mission to Jakarta, which announced that it would visit East Timor on Saturday after talks with President B.J. Habibie today failed to convince the Indonesian leader to accept a multinational force to help restore law and order in the embattled territory.

The delegation also met with East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmao, who made an emotional appeal for international intervention with or without Indonesia's consent.

Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, also announced that she would travel to East Timor this weekend for a first-hand assessment of the situation. Earlier this week, Mrs. Robinson had urged the UN Commission on Human Rights to consider holding a special session to deal with the ongoing situation.

The Secretary-General told reporters upon entering UN Headquarters in New York that "we will maintain our premises" in East Timor and that the UN will begin to "thin out" the numbers of its staff tomorrow morning.

The Secretary-General's spokesman, Fred Eckhard, said later at a press briefing that roughly half of the 200 staff still at the compound of the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) will stay behind with Special Representative Ian Martin.

UNAMET reported that the situation around the compound last night was "the quietest yet" and that things had marginally improved today, said Mr. Eckhard. However, attempts to reach the Mission's warehouse were thwarted by militia, who fired over the heads of UN staff despite the presence of an Indonesian military escort.

Supplies did arrive by air from Australia, replenishing stocks of food, fuel and water, Mr. Eckhard said. Water, electricity and communications in the compound were also restored today.

Meanwhile, the UN Emergency Coordinator, Sergio Vieria de Mello, has dispatched an emergency response team to Jakarta to support UN efforts there and to ensure the provision of relief assistance to displaced populations. The UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) are among the agencies participating in the effort.

In his report to the Security Council on the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), the Secretary-General says although there have been some delays, it is a good sign that the voter identification process has recently resumed and the appeals process has continued.

The Secretary-General reports that the Identification Commission foresees completing by the end of December the identification of the remaining members of several tribes. Meanwhile, MINURSO will keep open some of its appeals centres until 18 September and hearings will be held after that to complete the appeals process.

The Secretary-General says that he will not be in a position to submit to the Council a revised timetable and financial implications, including recommendations that the Council authorize preparations for the full deployment of MINURSO, until early December. The Secretary-General therefore recommended extending the Mission's mandate until 14 December.

For their part, members of the Security Council, after a briefing by the Secretary-General's Special Representative, William Eagleton, issued a statement saying that they generally agreed with the Secretary-General's recommendations and expressed hope that the parties would continue to cooperate with MINURSO and the Identification Commission.

Under the Settlement Plan of August 1988, MINURSO was established the monitor a ceasefire and identify and register qualified voters for the referendum on whether the former Spanish colony will gain full independence or become a part of Morocco.

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

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