United Nations Daily Highlights, 00-07-31

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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 MANOEL DE ALMEIDA E SILVA
DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

• This morning the Security Council unanimously approved a resolution establishing a UN mission along the Ethiopian/Eritrean border for an initial period of six months.

• Prior to the vote, the Security Council met in closed consultations to receive a briefing by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations H&eacute;di Annabi on the proposed concept of operations for a UN role in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

• Annabi explained the need for a UN Mission consisting of up to 100 military observers and necessary civilian support.

• He described proposals for deploying military observers and infantry battalions in a temporary security zone along the Ethiopia-Eritrea border.

• The Secretary-General's report on Ethiopia-Eritrea is being finalized, and is expected to be circulated in the Security Council within the next few days.

• The Sanctions Committee on Sierra Leone is holding exploratory hearings in the Trusteeship Council Chamber today and tomorrow to assess the role of diamonds in that country’s conflict.

• Among the issues to be examined is the link between trade in Sierra Leone diamonds and trade in arms and related material.

• The hearings are being held in a "Town Hall Meeting" style, with the chairman calling on the participants who request the floor.

• Speakers at this session is set to include representatives from members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), other interested states, regional organizations and representatives of the diamond industry as well as individual experts in diamonds and arms.

• Ambassador Karim Chowdury of Bangladesh, chairman of the sanctions committee, is scheduled to speak to journalists Tuesday at the end of the session.

• The redeployment of United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) resumed on Sunday with four more positions being occupied along the "Line of Withdrawal."

• On Friday two positions were manned by UN troops before the deployment was halted temporarily.

• As of now, more than 200 UN soldiers are deployed at six observation posts along the line.

• This morning the UNIFIL Force Commander, Gen. Seth Kofi Obeng met with officials of the Lebanese Defense Ministry to discuss the next phase of the redeployment, which is expected this week.

• Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Accra, Ghana on Saturday evening where he was met by President Jerry Rawlings and Mrs. Rawlings.

• In answer to questions from journalists on conflict prevention who were at the airport, the Secretary-General, after reiterating that "prevention is always better than cure (…) and that it is very much an essential part of our work," said that the "sad part is when conflicts are prevented the press don't get to write about it. How do you ascertain whether there would have been a conflict or not? "

• The Secretary-General added: "this is the problem we have, but when it blows up and the blood begins to spill, the cameras are there and everybody is there."

• The official part of his visit to Ghana, his native country, will conclude on Wednesday.

• Benon Sevan, Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, left New York on Saturday for Baghdad, Iraq.

• On Tuesday he begins a two-week working visit to Iraq -- his fourth visit since his appointment as Executive Director in October 1997.

• During this trip, Sevan is scheduled to meet senior representatives of the Iraqi government, as well as the head of the UN agencies involved in the implementation of the programme.

• Issued today as a document is the distribution plan for Phase Eight of the Oil-for-Food programme submitted by the Government of Iraq and approved by the Secretary-General. During Phase Eight, which runs from June to December 2000, the plan calls for total spending of $7.1 billion, including $6.5 billion for a wide spectrum of humanitarian needs and $600 million for the oil sector. The plan also targets an increase in spending in health sector and an increase in calories in the daily food rations.

• The Secretary-General today appointed Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka as the new Executive Director of the United Nations Center for Human Settlements (HABITAT). She will take up her new responsibilities at the Nairobi-based agency in the next three months.

• Tibaijuka, a Tanzanian national, is currently an official of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), where she is responsible for strengthening developing countries’ capacity to negotiate trade agreements within the World Trade Organization.

• She was recently designated Executive Secretary of the Third United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries, scheduled to be held in Brussels next year.

• Tibaijuka holds a Doctorate in Agricultural Economics from the University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden, and has taught at the University of Dar es Salaam. She also has written extensively on development issues and has been active in promoting women’s rights in Tanzania, particularly the right to education, land and inheritance.

• Today in East Timor, Xanana Gusmao, President of the National Council of Timorese Resistance, introduced 50 East Timorese who have been selected for the first diplomatic training course, in which they will participate in a one-month intensive course at the Civil Service Academy, which starts today.

• Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello said that, for 25 years, the East Timorese had used diplomacy to win their independence, and that diplomatic efforts had kept alive "the flame that forced the international community out of its indifference."

• After finishing the program, the candidates will be placed in internships in the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of various countries, potentially to serve in any future East Timorese Ministry of Foreign Affairs or embassies.

• Further details are available in the daily briefing notes from the United Nations Transitional Administration for East Timor.

• A staff member from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) serving in Mitrovica with the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) was robbed and assaulted by masked men over the weekend. The staff member, a French national, will be leaving Kosovo for her own safety.

• The UN Disarmament Yearbook for 1999 was released for distribution today. The Yearbook includes information on steps that Member States have taken to deal with the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, and guidelines agreed to by Member States on the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones.

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