|
|
|
United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-09-10
DAILY HIGHLIGHTS
Friday, 10 September, 1999
This daily news round-up is prepared by the Central News Section of the
Department of Public Information. The latest update is posted at
approximately 6:00 PM New York time.
HEADLINES
Latest Developments
- Secretary-General urges Indonesia to accept international help to restore
order in East Timor at a moment of "great crisis."
- UN and Kosovars begin consultations on legal framework for territory's
economy.
- Sharp drop in food production in Kosovo brings nutritional and economic
tolls, UN food agencies report.
- UN drug control programme reports 60 per cent increase in global opium
production.
Saying that East Timor was in a moment of "great crisis" as it descended
into anarchy, Secretary-General Kofi Annan stressed the time has clearly
come for Indonesia to seek the help of the international community to bring
order and security to the territory. In a statement on Friday at United
Nations Headquarters in New York, the Secretary-General urged the
Indonesian Government to accept the offer of assistance from several
governments, including Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Malaysia,
"without further delay." _Secretary-General Kofi Annan at UN news
conference on Friday_ If the Indonesian government refuses to do so, Mr.
Annan told a packed press conference room, it cannot escape the
responsibility "for what could amount, according to reports reaching us, to
crimes against humanity." The Secretary-General emphatically denied that
the United Nations was abandoning the people of East Timor. "The situation
has clearly got far beyond what a small mission, which was sent to organize
the popular vote and never equipped or mandated to enforce law and order,
can possibly be expected to cope with," he said. The 5 May Agreements that
paved the way for last month's autonomy vote called for Indonesian forces
to maintain law and order in East Timor during and after the ballot and
until the results have been accepted by the new Indonesian parliament.
"Regrettably, Indonesia has failed to fulfil that responsibility, even with
the introduction of martial law," the Secretary-General said. As proof of
ongoing lawlessness, the Secretary-General cited last night's incident when
militia members fired weapons in the air and threatened to invade the UN
mission's compound as the Indonesian military assigned to protect the
headquarters did nothing. "So far, they have been either unable or
unwilling to take effective steps to restore security," he added. "I am
ready to take any decision necessary to ensure the safety of UN personnel."
In the past week, hundreds of thousands of East Timorese have abandoned
their homes and many others have been forcibly relocated to West Timor and
other parts of Indonesia, the Secretary-General said. The UN Mission in
East Timor (UNAMET) has also been forced, on security grounds, to evacuate
12 of its 13 regional centres and to concentrate its remaining presence in
the capital Dili, where it has been subjected to repeated threats. Mr.
Annan said he authorized his Special Representative, Ian Martin, to move
about 480 people, including 350 local staff members and their immediate
dependants, from the compound to Darwin, Australia. A skeleton crew of
about 100 international UN staff remains inside. In response to a
reporter's question, the Secretary-General said that in negotiating the 5
May Agreements, it was necessary to trust in the Indonesian Government's
ability to uphold its guarantees of security. The UN was not naïve about
the history of violence in East Timor during the past 24 years, he said.
"Nobody in his wildest dreams thought what we are witnessing could have
happened," Mr. Annan stressed. "We knew there were security problems but
not the carnage and the chaos we have seen." The Secretary-General said he
was "shocked" by what had happened and felt great sympathy for the people
of East Timor "who for the first time in 24 years get the chance to express
themselves and speak eloquently and loudly as to what they want their
destiny to be." "Suddenly they are in a sea of violence in a very chaotic
situation," he said.
United Nations and Kosovar financial experts have begun consultations on
drafting a legal framework for Kosovo's economy, a UN spokeswoman said
today.
Holding its first meeting on Thursday in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, the
Kosovo Economic Policy Advisory Board established working groups that will
consider the financial sector, financial policy, economic enterprises and
property, Daniela Rozgonova told the press in Pristina.
The Advisory Board was established earlier in the week by the UN Interim
Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to recommend economic legislation
that will form the legal base of Kosovo's economy once signed into law by
UNMIK chief, Dr. Bernard Kouchner.
"The Advisory Board will guide UNMIK on building the Kosovo economy so that
ultimately UNMIK can transfer a functioning system to meet Kosovo's
requirements," Ms. Rozgonova said.
The Board, which includes local experts in economic and financial affairs,
met under the co-chairmanship of Arji Begu, an eminent Kosovar economist,
and an UNMIK representative for economic reconstruction.
The rural population of Kosovo faces serious nutritional and economic
consequences in coming months, since recent conflict and mass displacement
have caused a sharp drop in local food production, United Nations food
agencies said Friday.
In a joint statement released in Rome, the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) say that Kosovo's
agricultural and livestock output will fall this year by an estimated 65
per cent.
FAO and WFP report that Kosovo's wheat production this year, forecast at
113,000 tons, will meet only 30 per cent of its requirements. Also,
Kosovo's cattle have been reduced by half and the small stock by roughly 25
per cent.
Even with 143,000 tons of emergency food aid planned for this year, Kosovo
will still face an uncovered food import gap of 85,000 tons, the agencies
say.
The already greatly disrupted local economy will be adversely affected by a
reduction in income from agricultural activities. The rural population,
which before hostilities derived 60 per cent of its incomes from the sale
of agricultural products, will now be left heavily reliant on remittances
from abroad, the UN agencies said.
The agencies also warn that future harvests of maize may prove difficult,
due to the persistent civil unrest and the recent exodus of a large part of
the rural Serb population.
Global production of illicit opium increased 60 per cent in 1999, to about
6,000 metric tonnes, with three-quarters of the world-wide total being
manufactured in Afghanistan, according to an annual survey released Friday
by the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP).
Raw opium production in Afghanistan more than doubled to a record 4,600
metric tonnes, UNDCP says. The total amount of land used to grow the poppy
plant increased 43 per cent as virtually all opium cultivation occurred in
Taliban-controlled areas.
Opium production in Myanmar -- the only other major illicit producer -- was
estimated at 1,200 metric tonnes while an additional 300 tonnes was
produced in Laos, Thailand, Pakistan and Colombia.
"The dramatic increase in the global production of opium and the record
output in Afghanistan are cause for great concern," says UNDCP Executive
Director Pino Arlacchi.
For information purposes only - - not an official record
|
