United Nations Daily Highlights, 02-12-26

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

OF THE NOON BRIEFING

UN

HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Instead of Noon Briefings, highlights of daily developments in the UN system will be provided on this page; Briefings resume on Thursday, January 2, 2003.

Thursday, December 26, 2002

IAEA CHIEF CITES NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR BRINKMANSHIP

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed Elbaradei, today said that the recent actions of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) towards restarting its reprocessing facility raise serious non-proliferation concerns and are tantamount to "nuclear brinkmanship.

"The reprocessing facility at Nyongbyong was irrelevant to the DPRKs ability to produce electricity. The DPRK has no current legitimate peaceful use for plutonium, given the status of its nuclear fuel cycle, he said in a press release.

To date, the DPRK has cut seals and impeded surveillance equipment at a total of three facilities at Nyongbyong. DPRK technicians have also begun preparatory work to restart one of the reactors by moving 1,000 fresh fuel rods into it.

ElBaradei said that the IAEA was about to issue a report on recent developments in the DPRK to the IAEA Board of Governors, which is expected to meet in the first week of January to consider these developments.

UN INSPECTORS HOLD TECHNICAL TALKS WITH IRAQI EXPERTS

The UN inspection team in Baghdad reports that a group of inspectors from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) visited the al Rasheed headquarters where they held technical talks with the Iraqi experts future plans and current status of solid propellant missile programmes.

Meanwhile, other UNMOVIC teams visited food plants, pharmaceutical operations as well as Baghdad Technology University. While at the university the UN team queried the Dean on activities at the university.

Teams from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) met with senior members of Iraqs National Monitoring Directorate at the Tho Al Fekar factory of the Al Rashid company to compare inventories generated by Iraq and IAEA independently. The material being inventoried is very large stocks of high-strength aluminum that has dual-use purposes.

The IAEA team then made an unannounced inspection of a private trading company that represents companies outside of Iraq. The team reviewed records of purchases facilitated by this company on behalf of Iraqi military programmes. The company has been involved in recent attempts by Iraq to purchase high-strength aluminium.

On Christmas day, IAEA and UNMOVIC teams continued their work. Teams visited various sites, including liquid propane gas company, a missile plant and an explosive manufacturing site.

CAMBODIA ACCEPTS ANNANS PROPOSAL FOR TALKS ON TRIALS

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been informed by the Cambodian Mission to the United Nations that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has accepted the Secretary-Generals proposal that exploratory talks on trials for Khmer Rouge leaders take place in New York beginning January 6.

The Secretary-General had made the proposal in a letter to the Prime Minister following adoption by the General Assembly last week of a resolution concerning the creation of extraordinary chambers for such trials.

COTE DIVOIRE: UN HUMAN RIGHTS MISSION TO TRAVEL WEST AND NORTH

A UN human rights mission requested by the Secretary-General and led by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bertrand Ramcharan, today had meetings in Abidjan with representatives of civil society organizations, women's organizations, human rights experts and the diplomatic corps. They were also to meet with President Laurent Gbagbo.

Since its arrival in Abidjan at the start of the week, the mission met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, acting Minister of Human Rights and Minister of Commerce, UN country teams and human rights organizations. On Christmas Day, the mission met with Ministers of Interior, Defense and other human rights organizations.

Friday, the mission is planning to travel to Yamoussoukro and the west of the country.

Saturday, the mission is scheduled to travel to the north.

Sunday, before leaving, the mission will meet with leaders of political parties it has not yet been able to meet.

Ramcharan said, The mission will thus have met with a full cross-section ranging from government, political leaders, human rights organizations, womens organizations, rebel leaders and the diplomatic community.

The mission includes a forensic expert, and is planning to visit such mass grave sites as it can.

The mission plans to be back in Geneva on Monday.

THE YEAR 2002 A MIXED BAG FOR REFUGEES

In a year in review, UN High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers described 2002 as a 'mixed bag.'

The number of persons cared for by UNHCR had dropped by nearly 2 million the previous year, to just under 20 million. At the same time, an estimated 25 million people twice the number of refugees were forced from their homes within their own countries.

UNHCR noted that the return to Afghanistan of two million people was the largest repatriation of refugees for three decades.

Progress was reported from some of the world's worst trouble spots situations described in official parlance as 'protracted situations.' Angola, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, East Timor and the Balkans were cited.

Parts of Africa continued to burn as long-time conflicts remained unresolved. The war in Liberia showed no signs of ending. Neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire, once the most stable of regional countries, plunged into its own civil conflict, threatening to destabilize Africa's entire western seaboard.

In Colombia, the worst humanitarian situation in the Western Hemisphere continued to deteriorate.

The review concluded by saying. And there was THE big unknown, whether there would be a conflict in Iraq which would most likely trigger a fresh exodus of civilians in the region. If 2002 was a 'mixed bag', 2003 promises to be more of the same.

NEW INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF PEACEKEEPING TO VISIT TIMOR LESTE

The first assignment of the newly created Inspectorate-General in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations will be undertaken by Gen. Maurice Baril, of Canada, who is expected to visit the UN Mission of Support in East Timor in January.

The position of Inspector-General, which was created with the agreement of the Secretary-General, is not a permanent post, but one that will be filled on an as-needed basis by experts such as Baril for specific assignments to peacekeeping missions.

The mission of the Inspector General is to provide the Under Secretary-General for Peacekeeping with an internal inspection capacity, reporting to him on the efficiency and effectiveness of the military and civilian police components in peacekeeping missions.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black; There are no meetings or consultations of the Security Council planned for today.

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