United Nations Daily Highlights, 00-07-07

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

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE NOON BRIEFING
BY THE DEPUTY SPOKESMAN OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
MANOEL DE ALMEIDA E SILVA
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

• In Beirut today, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General, Terje Roed Larsen, held a three-hour discussion with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and Prime Minister Selim el-Hoss.

• Larsen was accompanied by the Chief of the UN Cartographic Section, Miklos Pinther, and presented the Lebanese Government with detailed maps of the withdrawal line identified for the purpose of confirming Israeli compliance with Security Council Resolution 425 (1978).

• Larsen described the meeting as "very warm and cordial" and added that there will be a follow-up meeting held toward the end of next week.

• Prior to his meeting with the President and Prime Minister, Larsen also met with the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri.

• In response to questions in recent days about the withdrawal line, the Special Envoy said that the United Nations announced the line on June 6 and that it has not been changed at all since then.

• The Security Council today heard two briefings on the work of UN Peace-Building Support Offices in two African nations, first discussing the Office in the Central African Republic and then the one in Guinea-Bissau. Both briefings were given by Youssef Mahmoud, Director of the Africa II Division of the Department of Political Affairs.

• The Secretary-General's recent report to the Council on the Central African Republic said that the transition from a UN peacekeeping mission to the present Peace-Building Support Office has been accomplished successfully, but notes that security remains a concern in the country.

• The Secretary-General's latest report on Guinea-Bissau, meanwhile, stressed the importance of restructuring the country's armed forces and helping to strengthen Guinea-Bissau's institutional capacity.

• The Secretary-General, in his latest report on the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP), available today, noted as positive developments Croatia’s invitation to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to attend a fifth round of negotiations, and the Yugoslav side’s acceptance.

• While he hoped that the parties would find common ground for restarting talks, the Secretary-General added that, because of the unsettled political situation, expectations for substantive progress in the near future were limited.

• The Secretary-General also recommended that the UN Mission's mandate be extended for a further six months, until January 15, 2001.

• In Geneva, Alvaro de Soto, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary General for Cyprus announced that Cyprus proximity talks currently underway in Geneva will adjourn on July 12 and resume on July 24. They will proceed until early August and resume once again in New York on September 12.

• Secretary-General Kofi Annan and President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, today opened an exhibit on UN peacekeeping in Accra, Ghana. During the ceremony, the Secretary-General presented three plaques to the Ghanaian Government: one to the fallen Ghanaian peacekeepers, another to Ghana's Armed Forces and the third to the Ghanaian police.

• He also donated 50 plaques that he had received to the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center, which is part of the Ghana Armed Forces and trains military personnel from Ghana and other African countries to participate in peacekeeping operations.

• The Secretary-General also had a private meeting with President Rawlings and with Vice President John Atta Mills.

• The Secretary-General will remain in Accra until Sunday, when he travels to Lom&eacute;, Togo, to attend the Organization of African Unity's summit.

• The Secretary-General, in a statement issued through his Spokesman, welcomed the report prepared by the International Panel of Eminent Personalities to investigate the 1994 genocide and surrounding events in Rwanda, which was appointed by the Organization of African Unity.

• The report is another important contribution to efforts to shed more light on the tragedy that unfolded in Rwanda, and the Secretary-General hopes that the report will make an effective contribution to the success of the international community's ongoing efforts to grapple with the prevention of genocide, the statement said.

• The Secretariat is attentively studying the report, which came out today.

• Asked about follow-up by the United Nations on Rwanda, the Spokesman noted that the Secretary-General had appointed a panel, led by Lakhdar Brahimi, to study the effectiveness of UN peace operations. That panel will issue its findings later this summer, he said, and was created after the issuance at the end of last year of reports finding fault with UN actions during the Rwanda genocide and the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The report will be discussed at the Millennium Assembly this September.

• The 13^th International Conference on AIDS is opens in Durban, South Africa this Sunday and will continue until July 14.

• Peter Piot, the Executive Director of UNAIDS will address the gathering on its opening day. Dr. Piot will call for on the international community to break the silence and end the ignorance that surrounds the issue of HIV/AIDS. He will also call for more resources for the fight against the epidemic, which, in Africa alone, is estimated to require $3 billion dollars a year.

• UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director, Carol Bellamy, will also be in Durban, and is scheduled to address the conference on Tuesday. She will present UNICEF’s Progress of Nations 2000 Report on Wednesday.

• Today is the final day of the Economic and Social Council’s (ECOSOC's) High-Level Segment on the role of information technology in the global economy. This morning the Council held five simultaneous round tables on connectivity and infrastructure, tele-medicine, intellectual property, human capital investment and the environmental dimension.

• This afternoon, the High-Level Segment is expected to conclude with the adoption of a Ministerial Declaration on information and communications technology. The President of ECOSOC, Ambassador Makarim Wibisono of Indonesia, will hold a press briefing at 3 p.m. to report on the outcome of the High-Level Segment.

• ECOSOC’s substantive session for 2000 continues next week with its Coordination Segment, focusing on implementation by the UN system of the Habitat Agenda and assessment of progress made within the UN system on implementation and follow-up to major UN conferences and summits.

• Asked about the UN role in the second round of Haitian elections on July 9, the Spokesman noted that the United Nations continues to have an International Civilian Mission in Haiti, but does not have a monitoring role for the elections.

• In a statement to reporters this morning prior to his departure from Phnom Penh, UN Legal Counsel Hans Corell said that the United Nations had fulfilled its tasks of drafting and negotiating a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Cambodia on the trial of Khmer Rouge leaders.

• Today's briefing by the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) flagged an upsurge in violence against Bosnian minorities returning to eastern Republika Srpska over the past two weeks. It also reported that, four days after the resumption of aid activities, relief workers today stayed away from camps in West Timor's Kupang area amid continuing tensions between East Timorese refugees and local residents.

• In today's briefing in Pristina, the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) mentioned ongoing power and water shortages amid an unusually hot summer, and also gave an update on reconstruction efforts underway in Kosovo.

• The UN humanitarian office for Afghanistan announced today that Japan has donated a new de-mining machine which would speed up the process of eliminating mines by 300 to 500 percent in a country where more than 700 square kilometers of land remains contaminated by mines.

• This morning, Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy deposited his country’s instruments of ratification to both the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. In doing so, Canada becomes the 14^th State to ratify the Rome Statute and the first to ratify the Optional Protocol.

• Swaziland has become the 98^th Member State to pay in full its regular budget dues for the year 2000, with a payment of over $21,000.

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