United Nations Daily Highlights, 00-08-11

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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

ANNAN EXPRESSES CONDOLENCES FOR SOLDIER KILLED IN EAST TIMOR

• This morning the Security Council was briefed on two clashes between unidentified armed personnel and United Nations patrols in East Timor. They occurred Thursday afternoon near the village of Holibo, in Sector West. Four Nepalese soldiers and one civilian were wounded. Regrettably, one of the soldiers died.

• Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a statement read by the Spokesman, extended his condolences to the family of the killed soldier and to the Kingdom of Nepal.

• This is the latest in a series of incidents which include the killing of New Zealand soldier on July 24, and clashes at the beginning of this month between United Nations patrols and armed groups in the Western Sector, which is next to the border with West Timor. In addition, reports of armed groups operating in that sector have increased in the past two weeks.

• The Secretary-General is following the situation closely and is concerned over the increase in activities by armed personnel. He expects the Government of Indonesia to take effective measures to prevent any infiltration into East Timor.

• The Nepalese soldier died after a patrol of 15 Nepalese soldiers was attacked, approximately 14 km. northeast of Suai. The Nepalese patrol was initially fired upon by militia, and called for assistance. A group of 15 more Nepalese soldiers came to their aid, but were also fired upon.

• Private Devi Ram Jaishi died while being evacuated to Dili for treatment. He was 26 years old.

• Two other soldiers and a civilian bystander underwent surgery and are in stable condition. A fourth Nepalese soldier was slightly injured and returned to his unit today.

• Today, peacekeeping forces conducted follow-up operations to find the responsible militia group, believed to comprise some 30 members.

EAST TIMOR REPRESENTATIVE URGES INDONESIA TO DETAIN EXTREMISTS

• During a memorial service for the Nepalese soldier in Dili today, Special Representative of the Secretary-General Sergio Vieira de Mello said that a few groups of well-trained and well-coordinated militia appeared to be operating in Suai and Cova Lima in East Timor.

• He said that the solution to the militia problem would be for the Indonesian Government to identify, disarm and detain extremist elements operating from within refugee camps.

• The Office of the UN High Coordinator for Refugees (UNHCR) said tensions remain high along the West Timor border, making a resumption of repatriation operations unlikely in the next several days. Today, several dozen former militia members gathered in front of the UNHCR office at Atambua, taunting staff members and threatening to attack the premises.

SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES ATTACKS NEAR AGENCIES IN SUDAN

• The Security Council today began its work with closed consultations on Sudan. Kevin Kennedy, Chief of the Emergency Liaison Branch of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, briefed the Council on the recent bombings in southern Sudan near UN humanitarian facilities.

• The Secretary-General, in a statement issued earlier this week, voiced concern at those bombings, and said that relief flights would be suspended to the area pending a security assessment.

• Kennedy told the Council that, "should the suspension remain in place for long, the impact will be serious and life threatening. Easily a million people will be at risk, especially in war-affected areas such as Bahr-e-Ghazal, Western Upper Nile and Upper Nile."

• He also noted that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has confirmed his Government's support for Operation Lifeline Sudan and pledged to take all measures to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian personnel, including an end to aerial attacks on sites cleared for humanitarian delivery.

• After that briefing, Joachim Hutter, Director of the Asia and Middle East Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, informed the Council on the July 24 killing in East Timor of a UN peacekeeper from New Zealand.

• Once its consultations concluded, the Council held a formal meetings, in which it unanimously approved a resolution on children and armed conflict

• The Council's open meeting on Ethiopia and Eritrea, planned earlier for today, has been postponed until Monday, to give Council members more time to study the report of the Secretary-General on that topic. It also intends to vote Monday on a resolution on the trial of Sierra Leonean nationals suspected of egregious crimes.

UNHCR SAYS REFUGEES FLEEING FROM SIERRA LEONE DIAMOND ZONE

• The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) notes that, in a four-day period over the past week, some 2,500 refugees from Sierra Leone fled from intense fighting in the diamond-mining areas to Guinea. Among the new refugees were 15 child soldiers and women and girls who had been held by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).

• Many of the women and girls said that they were held against their will, sometimes for years, by RUF forces who only recently decided to let them go. They had been serving as domestic workers or camp guards, and some of the women said they had been abused. All of the 15 child soldiers said that they had been heavily drugged with cocaine after being captured by the rebels and forced to fight.

• The rate of arrivals in Guinea has picked up pace since the end of July, with more than 4,000 refugees coming from Sierra Leone in the last two weeks alone, according to UNHCR.

• The security situation throughout most of Sierra Leone is still reported by the UN Mission as calm.

ANNAN APPOINTS TWO OIL OVERSEERS FOR IRAQ SANCTIONS COMMITTEE

• The Secretrary-General, in a letter to the President of the Security Council Thursday, appointed two additional oil overseers to assist the Iraq Sanctions Committee. They are Michel Tellings of the Netherlands and Morten Buur-Jensen of Denmark.

• In Resolution 1302 of this year, the Security Council had asked the Secretary-General to appoint additional overseers. There had been four overseers when the program began in 1996, but every year since then, one overseer had left without being replaced. For the past year, there was just one overseer, from Russia.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Asked about the peace process in Burundi, the Spokesman noted that the Arusha talks being mediated by former South African President Nelson Mandela are an ongoing process. He said that Mandela had proposed an agreement, which has not yet been accepted by all parties, although work is continuing.

• The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says that the last camp of Rwandan and Burundi refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be closed today with the departure of 400 refugees from Mbuji-Mayi. Almost 1,500 Rwandans and Burundi are being settled on farmland allocated by local authorities and traditional chiefs, in an effort supported by UNHCR and the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

• On Saturday, Bernard Kouchner, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Kosovo, will hold a town hall meeting in Vucitrn, which will provide an opportunity for a wide-ranging discussion on Kosovo's development; another town meeting is also planned on Monday, in Suva Reka. We have some details in today's briefing notes from Pristina, available upstairs.

• A new book, "Millennium Summit Multilateral Treaty Framework: An Invitation to Universal Participation," was made available today, which provides procedural information for the September 6-8 Millennium Summit, for which the Secretary-General called on Governments to express support for the framework of multilateral treaties. The book also contains an introduction to each one of 25 core treaties that make up that framework and the status of signatories and ratifications as of June 15.

• Panama has become the 107^th Member State to pay its dues in full to the UN regular budget for this year by paying some $136,000.

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS

This is International Youth Day, which is intended to promote better awareness of the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond, adopted by the General Assembly in 1995.

Robert Garreton, the Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, will being a visit to that country, including stops in Kinshasa, Goma, Bukavu, Kisangani and Mbuji-Mayi. The visit is to last through August 26.

The Security Council has scheduled an open meeting to discuss the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The Committee on Energy and National Resources for Development will meet through August 25.

The Security Council will hold an open briefing on Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In Geneva, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination will begin a two-day thematic discussion on discrimination against the Roma.

The Security Council expects to hold consultations on Somalia.

The Security Council has scheduled consultations on Iraq, to hear a briefing on missing Kuwaiti and third-country nationals.

The Security Council will hold consultations on the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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