United Nations Daily Highlights, 01-10-30

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

THE NOON BRIEFING

BY FRED ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Tuesday, October 30, 2001

PAKISTANI PRESIDENT SAYS UN ROLE IS CENTRAL TO AFGHAN PEOPLE

The Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, met for nearly an hour this morning with the President of Pakistan, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Francesc Vendrell, the Secretary-Generals Personal Representative for Afghanistan, participated in that meeting.

The President reaffirmed that the United Nations has a central role to play in the urgent effort to assist the Afghan people.

The President and Brahimi agreed on the principles that must guide the resolution of the conflict. This includes the fact that the unity of Afghanistan and its territorial integrity must be preserved. They also agreed that a broad-based, multi-ethnic and fully representative Government must come into power, and the political dispensation must be home-grown and fully owned by the people of Afghanistan.

Brahimi also met today with various Afghan leaders, including Pir Gailani and members of his National Islamic Front of Afghanistan. He was to meet with Gen. Rahim Wardak, a former chief of the staff of the Afghan Army.

In the evening, Brahimi had a working dinner with the Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Lieutenant-General Ehsan ul-Haq, during which they discussed the future of Afghanistan, and it was an opportunity to reaffirm the atmosphere of cooperation and support encountered earlier in the day with the President.

One of the key aspects at present is that we dont see a formula emerging yet where those who are holding the gun will stop holding the rest of the country hostage, Brahimi said today.

In response to a question posed by CNN upon arrival this morning at headquarters as to whether members of the Taliban should be part of any new government, the Secretary-General said the composition is a decision for the Afghans to make.

Asked if the role of women in the future of Afghanistan was being considered, the Spokesman said there had been a considerable amount of discussion on that subject. He added Brahimi, before he left for the region, had met with a group of women Ambassadors to discuss this issue and that there was regular discussion in the Secretary-Generals daily meeting on Afghanistan on the need to keep womens issues at the forefront of any broad-based, fully representational government in that country.

Asked if women would be given the right to vote in Afghanistan and if protection by UN observers would be granted to them in polling stations, the Spokesman said the question was slightly ahead of current status of discussions. However, he added that the United Nations would like Afghans to agree on a government and that the United Nations would advise them on international standards for such a government. It would be safe to assume, the Spokesman went on to say, the universal suffrage would be one of those standards the United Nations would urge them to adopt.

THOUSANDS OF AFGHANS CONTINUE TO CROSS INTO PAKISTAN

In Islamabad today, the High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers, met with President Musharraf and was scheduled to meet with the Taliban representative in Pakistan.

In meetings with Pakistani officials to date the High Commissioner has repeatedly urged Afghanistans neighbours to open their borders to fleeing Afghans, particularly vulnerable people and those fleeing forced conscription.

UNHCR also reported today that thousands of refugees are crossing into Pakistan, mostly through unofficial border crossings since only the sick, the wounded and the frail are allowed to cross officially.

According to UNHCR, the overall figure of Afghans who have fled to Pakistan since September 11th remains unknown but various estimates put it at more than 100,000.

The refugee agency also reports that Afghan refugees arriving in Pakistan say health situation in the make-shift Taliban-controlled camp at Spin Boldak inside Afghanistan is deteriorating rapidly. Those interviewed by UNHCR allege that the Taliban are preventing people from leaving Afghanistan, including those in need of urgent medical attention.

UNICEF ORGANIZES COLLECTION FOR AFGHAN CHILDREN FOR HALLOWEEN

On the eve of Halloween, the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) said that children in the United States, Canada and Ireland would collect donations to help save the lives of children in Afghanistan.

For more than 50 years, children collect change in little cardboard boxes provided by UNICEF.

ANNAN DEPARTS FOR GENEVA TODAY

Secretary-General Kofi Annan is leaving for Geneva tonight, where he will address the Global Employment Forum of the International Labour Organization on Thursday morning.

On Friday, he will meet with UN staff in Geneva and will return to New York on Saturday.

HEADS OF PRINCIPLE UN ORGANS MEET TO DISCUSS NOBEL PRIZE

Today, the Secretary-General met with the heads of the principles Organs of the UN -- the General Assembly, the Security Council, The Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council and the International Court of Justice.

The Secretary-General represented the Secretariat.

The main focus of the meeting is to be an exchange of ideas on the UN organizations half of the Nobel Peace Prize, especially on how the United Nations is to be represented at the awards ceremony in Oslo in December.

This is the third such meeting of its kind. The first ever occurred in 1998 and another one followed in 1999.

WOMEN ACTIVISTS SPEAK TO SECURITY COUNCIL ON WOMEN AND CONFLICT

The Security Council held this morning an Arria Formula meeting to mark the first anniversary of resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.

Ambassador Patricia Durrant of Jamaica organized the meeting for Council Members to hear from a group of women peace leaders on violations committed against women during and after conflicts.

The group, which included women from Afghanistan, East Timor and Kosovo, also spoke about the role of women in peace negotiations and peacekeeping efforts. International experts Elisabeth Rehn, former UN Under-Secretary General and Maha Muna, from the NGO Working Group on Women, International Peace and Security also participated in the debate.

Also on the programme for the Security Council is a private meeting on Georgia. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Georgia, Dieter Boden, will brief. In addition to Council members, the representatives of Georgia and the European Union are expected to take the floor.

Following the private meeting, Council members will hold closed consultations on Somalia to review a draft presidential statement on the situation in that country.

INDEPENDENT EXPERTS RECOMMEND EXTENSION OF LIBERIA SANCTIONS

The Security Council has received the report by the independent five-member panel dealing with Liberia sanctions, which recommends extending the arms embargo and rough diamond sanctions on Liberia and further recommends that the United Nations impose a ban on all round log exports from Liberia, starting from July 2002.

The panel, chaired by Martin Chungong Ayafor (Cameroon), adds that, given progress by Liberia in addressing irregularities among its registered aircraft, the Security Council may consider lifting its order, in Resolution 1343 (2001) to ground Liberian aircraft.

Yet the panel finds that despite some progress, a steady flow of new weapons has continued to enter into Liberia in violation of UN sanctions.

The report says that timber production, an important source of revenue for the Government, has also been a source of revenue for sanctions-busting.

It adds that Liberias maritime registry has generated funds for opaque off-budget expenditures, including sanctions-busting.

Consequently, the panel suggests that the Security Councils Sanctions Committee for Liberia set up an escrow account as the ultimate destination for all revenues generated from the countrys shipping and corporate registry.

661 SANCTIONS COMMITTEES APPROVES IRAQ OIL PRICES FOR US MARKET

According to the weekly update from the Office of the Iraq Programme (OIP) , the Security Councils 661 Iraq sanctions committee last week approved, retroactively, the Iraqi oil pricing mechanisms for deliveries to the United States market for the month of October.

In terms of Iraqs weekly oil exports under the United Nations oil-for-food programme, at an average rate of just over 2.1 million barrels a day, the exports totaled 14.9 million barrels.

The mission of Norway, which chairs the 661 committee informs us that the next the committees next formal will take place on November 6th. During which the committee will be briefed by US Navy Admiral Charles Moore who heads the Multinational Interception Force which operates in the Gulf.

At that meeting, members will also discuss the alleged violations of the embargo committed by the tanker TT Essex in May and August this year, as reported to the committee by the Executive Director of OIP in a letter dated 24 October.

UN CONGRATULATES ETHIOPIA & ERITREA FOR RELATIVE STABILITY

Yesterday in Djibouti, the Force Commander of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert, chaired the ninth meeting of the Military Coordination Commission, which brings together senior military officials from those two countries.

He congratulated Ethiopia and Eritrea on 16 months of relative stability in their common border area, and appealed to both sides to continue to ensure that their armed forces do not patrol forward to the southern boundary of the Temporary Security Zone, the buffer zone monitored by the UN Mission.

The commission noted the challenges the UN Mission has faced, including restrictions on the peacekeepers freedom of movement, particularly during their monitoring of the Eritrean Defense Forces where they are redeployed.

UN COMMANDER IN SIERRA LEONE OVERSEES DISARMAMENT OF REBELS

The UN Force Commander for the UN Mission in Sierra Leone, Lt. Gen. Daniel Opande, yesterday witnessed the disarmament of Revolutionary United Front (RUF) combatants in the town of Kamakwie, a longtime RUF-held zone in the district of Bombali.

More than 100 RUF fighters turned in their weapons to UN peacekeepers, and Opande, in an address to the local community, reminded them that he had fulfilled his promise to deploy UN troops to Kamakwie so that they could provide security during and after the disarmament exercise.

HAGUE TRIBUNAL SET FEBRUARY DATE FOR MILOSEVIC KOSOVO TRIAL

Today at The Hague, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia held a conference on the status of the case involving former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and determined that his trial on charges of crimes allegedly committed in Kosovo in 1999 will begin on 12 February 2002.

The former President appeared before the Tribunal yesterday to hear new charges against him involving crimes allegedly committed in Croatia.

ANNAN CALLS FOR HIGH-LEVEL POST FOR STAFF SECURITY

On the racks today is the Secretary-Generals report on inter-organizational security matters, which calls for the establishment of a post at the Assistant Secretary-General level for the coordination of United Nations security. The reports also suggests that the estimates for the Office of the United Nations Security Coordinator for the biennium 2002-2003, which stands at more than $53 million, be shared among participating organizations.

Asked to elaborate on the report, the Spokesman said that the creation of such a post was a long-standing recommendation of the Secretary-Generals.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

The United Nations Inter-agency Taskforce on Women, Security and Peace held a panel discussion this afternoon. On the panel are Brian Cowan, Irish Foreign Minister and President of the Security Council, Angela King, Special Adviser on Gender Issues, Kieran Prendergast, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, Jayantha Dhanapala, Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for East Timor.

The International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism will be signed this afternoon by Japan and Colombia, bringing the number of signatories to 69.

The United Nations Environment Programme announced today in a press release that the Global Forum for Sport and Environment will be held in Tokyo on the 1st and 2nd November. A global movement to encourage those involved in all areas of sport, from fans to sponsors, to support and participate in environmental programs will be launched during the Forum.

Asked about the Secretary-Generals reaction to the conclusions of the Special Rapporteur for the Question of the violation of Human Rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine, that a monitoring peacekeeping force be deployed in the region, the Spokesman said the Secretary-General is continuing to work quietly behind the scenes on the Middle East situation but that he had not specific reactions to this report.

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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