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United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-05-07United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgDAILY HIGHLIGHTSWednesday, 7 May 1997This 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
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Beijing today on his first official visit to China. Upon his arrival in Beijing, the Secretary- General was quoted as saying that he was looking forward to having a very constructive and useful dialogue with the Chinese authorities and to being able to discuss UN reforms and other issues. Today, the Secretary-General had a meeting with UN staff and was the guest of honour at a dinner hosted by the UN Resident Coordinator. Tomorrow, he is scheduled to meet President Jiang Zemin, Vice Premier Qian Qichen and Vice Premier Zhu Rongji. In a landmark decision on Wednesday, The International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague handed down a judgement on Dusko Tadic, a Bosnian Serb who had been charged with 31 counts of crimes during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. According to the verdict of a three- judge Trial Chamber II, Tadic was found guilty of 11 counts of persecution and beatings committed in 1992 in several camps in the northwestern part of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In handing down its judgment, the Chamber said that it marked the first determination of individual guilt or innocence in connection with serious violations of international humanitarian law by an international tribunal. "This verdict represents the first ever judicial condemnation of the policy known as 'ethnic cleansing'", said the Tribunal's spokesman, Christian Chartier, in an interview with UN Radio. At the same time Dusko Tadic was found not guilty on 9 murder counts because of insufficient evidence and 11 other counts which were declared inapplicable. The verdict was a result of a thorough consideration of a voluminous quantity of testimonial and written evidence. In the course of the trial 125 witnesses were called and 473 exhibits were tendered by the Prosecution and the Defense. The verdict reflects a detailed exploration of legal issues raised for the first time before the International Tribunal. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has issued 14 indictments involving 21 individuals. A United Nations spokesman announced on Wednesday that 13 of those accused were now in custody; 11 in Arusha, Tanzania, one in Switzerland, and another one in the United States. Since the beginning of 1997, three trials have begun at the Tribunal which is based in Arusha, Tanzania. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was established on 8 November 1994 by a decision of the Security Council. It has the mandate to prosecute persons responsible for genocide and other serious violations committed in the territory of Rwanda and Rwandan citizens responsible for such violations committed in the territory of neighbouring States in 1994. In another tragic incident involving the staff of international agencies deployed in world's hot-spots, an employee working for the United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA) died in Sierra Leone today, following an attack by unidentified gunmen yesterday afternoon. According to a United Nations Spokesman, a DHA vehicle on its way back to Freetown following a one-day assessment at the village of Magurbaka, about 10 kilometres southeast of Makeni, was ambushed by unidentified gunmen. As a result of the attack, a locally recruited driver was killed and two passengers were slightly injured. Upon learning of the incident, Secretary- General Kofi Annan offered his condolences to the family of the victim. The United Nations was investigating the incident. The Secretary-General expressed regrets that there had been no further action by the responsible authorities to implement the demands of the Security Council following an incident in Mostar on 10 February, in which one person died and others were wounded in a violent assault against a group of Moslems visiting a cemetery. Local Croat police were alleged to have been involved in that attack. The Security Council asked the Secretary- General to keep it informed about the follow-up to the incident. Meanwhile in a letter to the Security Council, the Secretary- General reported that the situation in Mostar had improved in the past six weeks. Evictions from west Mostar had stopped and a hundred police officers were jointly patrolling the town. A high-level UN committee focusing on cooperation among developing countries concluded its general debate at UN Headquarters today after hearing calls for greater efforts to increase awareness and cost effectiveness of the body as a forum for development cooperation. Speaking at the tenth session of the High-Level Committee on the Review of Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC), the representative of Jamaica, Winston Anderson, said that his Government endorsed the principles of TCDC as a strategic and indispensable modality for promoting international cooperation for development and felt that greater efforts were needed to highlight the cost-effective nature of that type of development cooperation. "The strengthening of TCDC and ultimately South- South cooperation is of great importance to developing countries", he said. "South-South cooperation is an essential mechanism for promoting accelerated economic growth, development and self- reliance". Meanwhile Japan told the session that South-South cooperation, based on global partnership was one of the most appropriate means to concretely realise the new framework for development. In his statement to the High- Level Committee, the representative of Japan, Nobuhito Hobo, said that by extending support to South-South cooperation and TCDC, developed countries could contribute to the consolidation of the global partnership. A United Nations food agency reported on Wednesday that under existing conditions, banana supplies are likely to exceed demand by the end of the decade. The projections for global banana exports for 1999 released today by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) show a surplus of 650,000 tons over the expected import demand of 12.22 million tons. The agency suggested, however, that the entry of China into the market could combine with emerging markets in Central and Eastern Europe to absorb some of the projected surplus. The FAO projections are contained in a study prepared for the 15th session of the Intergovernmental Group (IGG) on Bananas currently under way in Rome. The IGG session brought together government representatives, including banana exporters and importers, traders and consumers, to discuss complex market and trade policy issues and to develop measures to improve banana production and trade. According to FAO, bananas are the most important tropical fruit in world trade, and rank among the top half-dozen crops as a food resource in most developing countries. Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), are among the participants in a one-week conference aimed at forging a stepped-up drug control strategy for the subregion. A subregional action plan for drug control, which is being considered for adoption by the conference, would encourage the countries of the subregion to integrate drug control concerns into their national development plans and harmonize drug control policies at the subregional level. The plan was drawn up in consultation with the UN International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), which is supporting the event, and will help countries carry out the terms of the plan. The conference, being held in Cape Verde, is the third in a series of meetings of ministers directly responsible for drug control matters in West African countries. 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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