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United Nations Daily Highlights, 96-12-17United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgDAILY HIGHLIGHTSTuesday, 17 December 1996This document is prepared by the Central News Section of the Department of Public Information and is updated every week-day at approximately 6:00 PM. HEADLINES
The General-Assembly on Tuesday appointed Mr. Kofi Annan of Ghana as Secretary-General of the United Nations for a five-year term of office effective 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2001. The appointment follows the unanimous recommendation of the Security Council last week that Mr. Kofi Annan be appointed Secretary-General to succeed Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali whose four-year term ends on 31 December 1996. Welcoming the new Secretary-General, the President of the General Assembly, Ambassador Razali Ismail of Malaysia said good leadership and consummate management skills were needed to inspire a dedicated staff to work with unquestioned integrity and creativity. He said that although finance and finite resources might facts of life, the Secretary-General should not have to pose as mendicant, petitioning governments and legislatures alike, at the expense of all else. "Despite possessing little power in traditional terms, the Secretary- General nevertheless retains the power of persuasion, knowing the message will be heard no matter how unpopular or inconvenient," he said. After taking the oath of office from the Assembly President, Mr. Annan, in a statement to the Assembly, said the United Nations was now at the centre of an era of change and with the passing of the Cold War, the Member States, as they redefined their relationships with each other, should agree on what kind of United Nations they were prepared to support. He said there was no lack of blueprints for a new, post-Cold-War United Nations. "There is no lack of ideas or debate. What we need is consensus and commitment. Our task now is to find common ground, to shape together the changes that will move this organisation forward," he said. Calling for the emergence of a new understanding of peace and security, he said the world was beginning to recognise the many roots of conflict, the economic base of stability, and the grim truth that intolerance, injustice and oppression respected no national frontiers. In his farewell message to the Assembly on Tuesday, Secretary- General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said the holder of the office of UN Secretary-General should never be seen as acting out of fear, or in an attempt to curry favour with one state or group of States. Dr. Boutros- Ghali said the Secretary-General's loyalty must be international. He said there was a new recognition that reform was not an end in itself. "Reform which seeks to turn the United Nations away from its fundamental responsibilities under the Charter can be legitimately opposed," he said. Dr. Boutros-Ghali said the test of true reform would be whether it would improve the capacity of the United Nations to meet those responsibilities and to advance the common objectives of the peoples of the United Nations and its Member States. Following a standing ovation to the outgoing Secretary-General, several speakers, representing regional groups, welcomed the election of the seventh Secretary-General of the UN, expressing support and cooperation during the next five years. Ambassador Madeleine K. Albright of the United States called on the Assembly to join efforts with those of the new Secretary-General to make the UN increasingly effective as a force for peace, a voice for human rights and an instrument of law. UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has expressed shock at the attack on seven members of the International Committee of the Red Cross who were working near Grozny, Republik of Chechnya of the Russian Federation, the Spokesman for the Secretary-General Sylvana Foa said. She said the Secretary-General condemned "this act of violence upon people who sought only to alleviate suffering and protect the vulnerable". He offered his condolences to the families and governments of those who were killed and wounded in this savage attack, she said. The General Assembly has endorsed the outcome of the ninth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD IX) (Midrand, South Africa, May 1996), as it adopted 28 proposals recommended by its Second Committee (Economic and Financial). In a three-part text, the Assembly welcomed the fact that UNCTAD has adopted far-reaching reforms encompassing its programme of work, its inter- governmental machinery and its secretariat, adapting itself to new economic and institutional situations created by the process of globalisation, the conclusion of the Uruguay Round and the creation of the World Trade Organisation. The role of UNCTAD as the focal point within the United Nations for the integrated treatment of development and interrelated issues in the areas of trade, finance, technology, investment and sustainable development was recognised. Acting on the recommendation of the Economic and Social Council, the Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration against Corruption and Bribery in International Commercial Transactions, by which States pledged to deny the tax deductibility of bribes paid by any private or public corporation or individual of a Member State to any public official or elected representative of another country. The General Assembly has appropriated $75.6 million to finance the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) from 1 July 1996 to 30 June 1997 by one of six texts adopted on the recommendation of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) on the financing of United Nations operations. Appropriations are made subject to decisions by the Security Council to continue the missions. The Assembly also appropriated $140.5 million for the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES), for the period from 1 July 1996 to 30 June 1997. It also appropriated $25.4 million for the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP), for the period from 1 July 1996 to 30 June 1997. The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) has adopted an oral decision, without a vote, to inform the General Assembly that additional appropriations of $3.4 million would arise in the 1996 -1997 budget section on peace-keeping and special missions, if it extends the mandate of the International Civilian Mission to Haiti (MICIVIH) until 31 July 1997. The sum would be considered in the context of the revision of the 1996 - 1997 appropriations. In another action, the Committee adopted a draft resolution which would have the General Assembly appropriate and apportion about $138 million for the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III) for the first half of 1997. By the terms of the draft, the Assembly would apportion the sum at a monthly rate of about $23 million beginning 1 January 1997, should the Security Council extend UNAVEM's mandate beyond 28 February 1997. The World Food Programme (WFP) Tuesday reiterated its urgent request for assistance for Iraq to help the neediest people until the oil-for- food agreement between Baghdad and United Nations becomes fully operational. In October, WFP, the United Nations food aid agency, asked donors for $54 million to feed hungry Iraqis - especially in the hardest-hit centre and south of that country - until March 1997. The donations requested were for the purchase and transport of 122,000 metric tons of food. The agency said contributions so far only covered 19 per cent of the minimum food aid requirements needed to sustain the most vulnerable people in the centre and south of Iraq during the harsh winter months. The operation for the north of the country was fully met, however, WFP reported. The Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission met in Geneva Monday to discuss a comprehensive report from the Commission's Executive Secretary on the processing of the claims filed with the Commission. More than six years after an embargo was imposed on Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait, Iraqi oil can be imported again. The United Nations Compensation Commission would receive 30 per cent of oil export revenues, no less that $100 million a month over a period of six months, within the framework of Security Council resolution 986 (1995), which contains the oil- for-food formula. Consequently, the essential needs of the civilian population in Iraq will be met at the same time as funds will be made available for the benefit of the victims of the invasion. The Compensation Commission, which until now had been able to pay only $13.45 million to nearly 4,000 persons who suffered serious personal injury or the death of a relative, would thus be in a position to meet its humanitarian goals in bringing actual relief to hundreds of thousands of victims. For information purposes only - - not an official record From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgUnited Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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