United Nations Daily Highlights, 01-07-17

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

BY FRED ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK Tuesday, July 17, 2001

ANNAN MEETS UN AGENCY HEADS IN GENEVA

Secretary-General Kofi Annan spent much of today in Geneva meeting with UN agency heads.

He began his day with a planning meeting for the Group of Eight (G-8) Summit, which he will attend at the end of this week in Genoa, Italy. For that, he met with K.Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Dr. Andrew Cassels, a Director of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Carlo Lamprecht, President of the Council of State of the Republic and Canton of Geneva, then paid a courtesy call on the Secretary-General.

The Secretary-General then discussed global trade issues with Mike Moore, Director-General of the World Trade Organization.

He then met with Yoshio Utsumi, the head of the International Telecommunications Union. They discussed the framework for the World Summit on the Information Society, which is planned for 2003.

The Secretary-General and his wife Nane had lunch with Prof. Klaus Schwab, the founder of the annual World Economic Forum that is held in Davos, Switzerland, and with his wife.

This afternoon, the Secretary-General visited the headquarters of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), where he was met by High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers. Hundreds of staff members gathered in the lobby and on the balconies and greeted him warmly.

He then discussed with the UNHCR staff a number of global issues that have an impact on refugees, from globalization and HIV/AIDS to poverty and the environment, after which he met with Lubbers.

He was then introduced to the award-winning US film actress Angelina Jolie, who stars in the current film "Tomb Raider", who was visiting UNHCR to learn about humanitarian work on behalf of refugees. She had already visited a number of refugee camps in Africa, she told the Secretary-General, and had posted her impressions on the web site of the US Association for UNHCR.

On Wednesday, the Secretary-General will continue working in Geneva.

SECRETARY-GENERAL ENCOURAGES INDO-PAKISTANI DIALOGUE

Following the summit meeting in Agra between Prime Minister Vajpayee and General Musharraf, the Secretary-General, in a statement, encouraged both leaders to regard the meeting as the first step in a process, and to persevere with their efforts to establish a sustainable bilateral dialogue so as to resolve their differences.

A sustained Indo-Pakistani dialogue, especially at the highest level, is sorely needed, and the summit should be seen as an important step towards this. It would have been too much, the statement continued, to expect major breakthroughs on the difficult issues of substance from a first meeting. The fact that the two leaders are talking can contribute to an easing of tensions, especially on the question of Kashmir.

Asked what role the Secretary-General had played in contributing to the dialogue, the Spokesman noted that the Secretary-General had visited both India and Pakistan earlier this year, and had urged both leaders to talk to resolve their differences, including those over Kashmir. Both Governments had been receptive to that plea.

SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES BURUNDI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

The Security Council held informal consultations this morning on Burundi, on which it was briefed by Kieran Prendergast, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, on recent political developments. Among them was the meeting held on July 8 in Lusaka, Zambia, between the Burundi Peace Process Facilitator, former South African President Nelson Mandela, and regional leaders, when he presented his proposal for a transitional arrangement in Burundi.

When the Secretary-General was in Lusaka last week, he and President Mandela held a private meeting on this issue and later, at Mandelas invitation, the Secretary-General attended the meeting with the regional leaders.

After regional leaders agreed with Mandelas proposal, the Facilitator organized another meeting two days later in Johannesburg, with the Burundi signatories of the Arusha Agreement, and Prendergast discussed that development with Council members. He also briefed them on efforts to reach a cessation of hostilities agreement in the country and on the humanitarian situation in Burundi.

Council members then discussed a presidential statement on the Central African Republic, which they adopted in a formal meeting following the consultations. In it, the Council condemned the recent coup attempt in that country and called on the Government to take urgent steps to end all acts of violence. It asked the Secretary-General to report to the Council by September 30 on how the United Nations could further contribute to the recovery of the Central African Republic.

ANNAN SAYS MIDDLE EAST CEASE-FIRE MUST BE CONSOLIDATED

Today in Madrid, a two-day UN International Meeting dealing with the question of Palestine, and specifically the theme "The Road to Israeli-Palestinian Peace," began, and UN Special Coordinator Terje Roed Larsen delivered a message on the Secretary-General's behalf urging all parties to make a determined effort to prevent the unraveling of the peace process.

The Secretary-General, in his message, said that the time has come to consolidate the fragile cease-fire and move swiftly to the implementation of the recommendations of the report issued by the commission headed by former US Senator George Mitchell. He added, "Personally, I will continue to do whatever it takes to contribute to these peace efforts."

He also warned that nine months of violence and closures have had a severe impact on the Palestinian economy, and urged donors to assist the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

On Monday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen addressed the foreign ministers of the European Union in Brussels, and asked for their help in funding the agency's $311-million budget for this year, which currently faces a shortfall in donor pledges of $58 million dollars.

SMALL ARMS CONFERENCE REVIEWS PROGRAMME OF ACTION

The United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons went into its first night session Monday evening, with delegates beginning a paragraph-by-paragraph review of the revised Programme of Action and finishing its first review of the Programme's Preamble.

The Conference has taken up the first operative part of the Programme this morning, which deals with the main theme of preventing, combating and eradicating the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons. The Conference is likely to spend the whole day on this part.

REFUGEES TRAVEL BETWEEN FYROM AND KOSOVO, SAYS UNHCR

Refugees continue to trickle both ways across the border crossings between the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Kosovo, with a total of 309 people returning to FYROM from Kosovo on Monday even as more than 180 left in the other direction, entering Kosovo.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported 1,000 new arrivals in Kosovo over the weekend, with many coming from the FYROM capital, Skopje, in what they called a precautionary measure. In all, about 62,000 FYROM refugees remain in Kosovo, while some 12,000 have returned to their home country.

Today's briefing notes from UNHCR also mentions that some 3,000 people have returned to Sierra Leone from the troubled Parrot's Beak region of Guinea since the beginning of this month, with the returnees not reporting any harassment on their way back home.

IRAQ RESUMES OIL EXPORTS UNDER UN PLAN

The Office of the Iraq Programme reports that, following Iraqs resumption of oil exports under the UN "oil-for-food" program on July 10, a total of 6.8 million barrels of oil were lifted through three loadings at the authorized terminals of Mina al-Bakr, in southern Iraq, and Ceyhan, in Turkey. These were the first exports in the current Phase X of the program, which began on July 4 and runs through November 30.

The value of contracts placed on hold by the Security Councils 661 sanctions committee remained almost constant at $3.4 billion.

EAST TIMOR COURT SENTENCES MURDERER OF UN STAFF MEMBER

A Serious Crimes Panel in Dili, East Timor, on Monday sentenced a former militia member to 15 years imprisonment for the murder of a UN official in Ermera district following the August 30, 1999, popular consultation. The official, a local staff member of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), was seized by a militia group on August 31, 1999, and was subsequently beaten and stabbed to death.

This is the first case in which a person has been convicted of killing a UNAMET official. Nine UNAMET local personnel were killed during the violence surrounding the 1999 Popular Consultation. UNAMET was in East Timor between July and September 1999.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

In response to questions, the Spokesman said that Under-Secretary-General for Management Joseph Connor, who has been charged with investigating the handling of a videotape made of the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon, expects to finish his work in a couple of weeks. Connor has formed a seven-member internal team for the investigation, some of whom will leave for the Middle East today; Connor also expects to travel to the region.

Asked whether Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer, who had planned to meet the Secretary-General next week, had cancelled his trip, the Spokesman said he could not confirm the cancellation but noted reports that Ben Eliezer was putting off his entire visit to the United States.

This morning, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) signed both Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. FYROM was the 74th country to sign the Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and the 81st to sign the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.

This afternoon, the Netherlands will become the 37th country to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) endorsed a report by the Group of Eight (G-8) Renewable Energy Task Force. Toepfer applauded the Task Forces goal of delivering renewable energy to over one billion people across the globe, which they said could be met in the next decade. An estimated 100 million people currently are served by renewable energy sources worldwide, ranging from wind power to solar cells.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have signed a memorandum of understanding to alleviate the impact of HIV/AIDS on rural populations. The effect of AIDS on rural communities can be devastating. In the 25 worst-hit African countries, some seven million agricultural workers have died of AIDS since 1985.

Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

United Nations, S-378

New York, NY 10017

Tel. 212-963-7162

Fax. 212-963-7055

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