United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-10-06

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Monday, 6 October 1997

HEADLINES

• Ten Croats suspected of war crimes surrender to International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.
• Following attack on World Health Organization in Iraq, UN Humanitarian Coordinator meets Deputy Foreign Minister.
• United Nations refugee agency denounces expulsion of Rwandans from Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• In World Habitat Day message, UN Secretary-General discusses challenge of making cities fit to live in.
• Closures in Gaza impede work of United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Commissioner-General says.
• President of Cyprus calls for more active international involvement in talks on situation in his country.
• Foreign Minister of San Marino says Member States must solve Organization's financial crisis for reform to work.
• Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister supports Secretary-General's reforms, especially in area of peacebuilding.
• Foreign Minister of Barbados says restructuring is an imperative, not an option.
• Djibouti's Ambassador expresses his country's full support for Secretary- General's reform package.
• Mongolia's Foreign Minister says Security Council should be more transparent to give access to smaller States.
• Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the Gambia says United Nations must urgently be democratized.
• Foreign Minister of Guinea-Bissau says Africa should have two permanent seats on reformed Security Council.
• Foreign Minister of Bhutan says any reform of United Nations must take account of small developing States.
• Suriname's Foreign Minister says Security Council reform should make it more representative and more transparent.
• Foreign Minister of Botswana says United Nations reform "should not and must not be apocalyptic".
• Grenada's Foreign Minister advocates expansion of both permanent and non- permanent Security Council members.

The 10 Bosnian Croats are former members of the political and military bodies of the then-Croatian community of Herceg-Bosna.

Christian Chartier, the Spokesman for the Tribunal which is based in The Hague explained what, in his view, might have prompted the suspects to surrender. "They want to clear their names and to defend their reputation. We have always from the very first indictment said that any indictment should be seen as an open invitation to join the Tribunal on a voluntary basis in order to plead their case".

Mr. Chartier said that the 10 accused were charged with various crimes, including the ethnic cleansing of the Bosnian Muslim civilian population in central Bosnia. He said that one suspect, Dario Kordic, was charged with crimes against humanity because he had "the overall leadership on the attacks on the Bosnian Muslim civilians in the area".

The next step, according to the Spokesman, would be the initial appearance of each of the accused before a trial chamber on Wednesday to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty on each of the counts on the indictments in which he is named.

According to United Nations Spokesman Fred Eckhard, assailants exploded three hand grenades causing extensive breakage of glass and windows in the office. There were also bullet holes in the lobby hall, he added. One vehicle was entirely destroyed. "Luckily there were no injuries among the United Nations guards", he said. One of the assailants was injured by the explosion of a the grenades.

The Government of Congo-Kinshasa had announced that it had "repatriated" more than 4,000 Rwandans from its frontier in Goma. Most of the refugees were reported to have fled the recent upsurge of violence in Rwanda.

The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo also said that it was closing its border with Rwanda. Expressing alarm at these developments, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, said, "we were forced to suspend our operations for Rwandan refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after our efforts to help these people had been frustrated at every turn. This is just another stage in the deteriorating condition of refugees in the country".

In a message on the occasion of World Habitat Day, observed on Monday, 6 October, the Secretary-General said that half of the world's population now lived in urban areas. Projections for the year 2025 showed that two thirds of the world's population would be urban dwellers. Already straining under the pressures of meeting their people's needs for housing, jobs and basic services, the Secretary-General pointed out, cities must also address the environmental and social consequences of rapid urbanization. These concerns transcend the borders of developed and developing countries, the Secretary- General added.

Recalling last year's United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) held in Istanbul, the Secretary-General said that World Habitat Day this year should be an opportunity for people everywhere to continue looking at how they can contribute to the implementation of the Habitat Agenda adopted by the Conference.

Commissioner-General Peter Hansen of the United Nations Relief and works Agency for Palestinian refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) says that Israeli closures are creating a difficult operating environment. "When Gaza is closed off for periods, the unemployment soars, the needs of the population become greater, the need for UNRWA's services becomes greater and we do face problems with having our staff pass in and out of Gaza", the Director- General said, adding, "We face big problems for our staff on the West Bank, where there are internal closures between towns, between towns and villages and it is just extremely difficult".

Ninety-nine point five per cent of UNRWA's staff are Palestinians who are being subjected to closures, Director-General Hansen told United Nations Radio. International staff also have difficulty travelling freely on occasion, he said.

With a cash budget $312 million, the UNRWA recently faced a serious shortfall in resources that nearly forced it to take drastic measures earlier this year. Director-General Hansen said the possibility of such measures, "demonstrated how difficult, indeed how dangerous from the point of the view of the refugees, it is if we cannot deliver what we have to deliver to them".

"I fully share the disappointment of the Security Council for the absence of progress during the Glion talks, despite the interest shown by the international community and, more particularly, by those countries which had their representatives in the wings observing the talks", President Glafcos Clerides told the General Assembly. "The clear conclusion, to be blunt, is that more active involvement of the international community, and in particular those who are in the wings of the talks, is needed if the talks are to produce results."

President Clerides told the Assembly that during the Glion talks, he had proposed "that both leaders should make a declaration denouncing the use of force as a means to solve the Cyprus problem, to agree to work for a specific programme of reduction of military forces and equipment, and a programme of demilitarization of the island, and for the limitation of importation of arms". He added that the question of Cyprus had been on the agenda of the United Nations for too long, said that a momentum had recently been created for achieving a solution as a result of renewed efforts by the United Nations.

Gabriele Gatti told the General Assembly that in order to achieve the aims of reforms, Member States must first of all solve the financial crisis. To do so, he said, it would be necessary to re-adjust the scale of assessments by which the dues of Member Stats are determined. "Small countries are particularly sensitive to this issue, since it is increasingly difficult for them to guarantee their participation and contribution, not only in financial terms".

Concerning reform of the Security Council, he stressed that the restructuring process must not be confined to larger States. "The future arrangement of the United Nations should reflect a community of 185 countries, each and every one of them being independent and sovereign according to the principles of universality and equality. San Marino supported an increase in the number of non-permanent Council members, he said.

Stating that the issue of peace and security throughout the world was the "main mission" of the United Nations, he expressed support for the Secretary-General's proposals concerning the Organization's work in post- conflict peacebuilding. "This matter is integrally linked with the issue of advancing the disarmament agenda. Therefore, the idea of establishment of a department for disarmament and arms regulation that will address reduction of armaments and weapons of mass destruction and regulation of armaments, deserves every support", he added.

Foreign Minister Hassanov said that the enlargement of the Security Council was a pressing issue. He expressed support for the idea including Japan and Germany as new permanent members. The number of non- paramount members, he said, should be increased to serve the principle of equitable geographic allocation of seats. Azerbaijan supported an increase in the number of non- permanent members from the Eastern European Group.

In her statement to the General Assembly on Monday, Billie Miller, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism and International Transport, expressed her country's concern that the issue of how to finance development in the future had not been resolved. This had heightened uncertainty about the international commitment to development cooperation through which the United Nations system had played an important and supportive role in developing countries.

On the restructuring of the Security Council, she said Barbados attached particular importance to the principles of openness and transparency in the Council's work, and welcomed the steps already taken in that direction through regular briefings and monthly assessments by the Council Presidents. "Difficult negotiations remain on key issues, including the size of the Council, the nature of its enlargement, and the use of the veto", she said, and called for stepped-up consultations on the matter.

In his statement to the General Assembly on Monday, Roble Olhaye said that while there seemed to be near consensus agreement on the need to reform the United Nations, "much of the impetus is dictated by the Organization's acute financial situation". He stressed that Member States must honour their financial obligations in full, on time and without conditions.

The Security Council must be enlarged in order to reflect the pressing need for equitable representation, he said. New permanent members should be admitted from all regions of the world, "wielding the same power as existing ones". Djibouti fully endorsed the position of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the Non-Aligned Movement on the issue.

Mongolia supported expansion of the Security Council by increasing the number of both permanent and non-permanent members, in order to make it more representative, he said. The Council's activities should be rendered more transparent, because even if the membership is enlarged, "the overwhelming majority of the United Nations Member States will still remain unrepresented directly on the Council". Therefore, he said, States which were not Council members should have greater opportunities to participate in its meetings.

Omar Yusupha Njie told the General Assembly that there was a "need to curb the use of the veto by some powers in the Security Council against the wishes of the vast majority of the members of our Organization". He added that the geopolitical and historical considerations that were at the heart of the present composition and mandate of the Security Council should be reflective of the realities of the present, and the powers of the individual Member States concerned.

The Gambian Foreign Minister also proposed that the United Nations and the international community make a solemn pledge to ensure that all conflicts find a peaceful solution by the year 2000. "In order to achieve this noble aim, we want to propose that one, 1998 be declared a year for the resolution of all conflicts between Member States; and that two, 1999 be declared a year devoid of conflicts and misunderstanding to become the year of reconciliation", he said.

Fernando Delfim da Silva told the General Assembly that the Security Council should be expanded to reflect equitable geographical representation. In addition to permanent seats for Africa, he said Guinea- Bissau supported the granting of permanent seats to Japan, Germany and Brazil. The work of the Security Council should be rendered more transparent, he added.

The Foreign Minister also expressed Guinea-Bissau's support for the Secretary-General's reform package.

Foreign Minister Dawa Tsering told the General Assembly that the Secretary- General must be allowed to move forward with his reform package. He also stressed that reform efforts would succeed only if the Organization were on a sound financial footing. All Member States must pay their assessed contributions in full, on time and without conditions. "The United Nations must also institute more dynamic means of fund management, including utilization of the financial market in a prudent manner", he added.

Concerning reform of the Security Council, he said that any expansion must include both developed and developing countries as permanent members, as well as additional non-permanent seats. Japan should attain permanent membership, he stated, adding that India also merited consideration for that category.

Errol Glenn Snijders also stressed that the countries of the Caribbean and Latin America should also be included in any agreed expansion of the Council, in accordance with the principles of equitable geographical distribution. "The reform should not result in a discriminatory treatment between the developed and the developing countries." He added that the veto power should be restricted to resolutions adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter, which invokes the power of enforcement.

The Government of Suriname supported the Secretary-General's reform package, he said. "These reform proposals as a whole represent a timely and welcome initiative, given the fact that in today's world the need has progressively increased for global common action on a number of pressing problems." A stronger United Nations was needed to promote a renewed multilateral cooperation based on common interests and shared responsibilities. One of the best ways to re-establish trust in the United Nations was to enhance the impact of the United Nations development activities at the country level, he said, offering Suriname's support for the Secretary-General's proposal to create "UN houses" in the field.

Stating that Member States were serious about reforming the United Nations, Foreign Minister Mompati Merafhe told the General Assembly that "now is the time to approve and implement those reform proposals on which there is general consensus".

Botswana was a member of the Security Council last year, he noted, and "we are convinced now more than ever before that the composition of the membership of the Council as well as its working methods and procedures need reform". The debate on Security Council reform must be brought to a conclusion so that all geographical regions could be equitably represented on that body.

In his statement to the General Assembly, Raphael Fletcher said both such increases should be characterized by a significant presence of developing countries. "For, in Grenada's view, what is required in the reformed Security Council is not more of the same kind of distribution of perception, but more equity among the component parts", he said.

The Foreign Minister praised the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, but said that more must be done to combat the scourge of illicit substances. "It cannot but be admitted that this Programme does not offer, far less provide, the protection which is needed for our people -- particularly our youth -- against the ravishment of drug use", he said.

From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

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