United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-04-02

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From: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: [email protected]

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, 2 April, 1998

HEADLINES

• Secretary-General encouraged by Israel's decision to withdraw from Lebanon.
• Security Council members concerned about impasse in Middle East peace process.
• In Beijing, Secretary-General holds discussions with Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
• Fulfilling an obligation under Lusaka Protocol, UNITA stops its Radio Vorgan broadcasts.
• Secretary-General of Disarmament Conference calls for step-by- step approach to disarmament issues.
• Head of United Nations International Drug Control Programme heads for Iran, where he will tour borders.
• UN Communications Officer Pedro Ruz dies from injuries sustained in March helicopter crash in Guatemala.

The Secretary-General and the Prime Minister of Israel spoke by telephone on Wednesday night after the formal decision by the Government of Israel to pull its forces out of southern Lebanon, according to his Spokesman, Fred Eckhard. "The Secretary-General had raised the issue of Israel's compliance with Security Council resolution 425 (1978) in his meetings with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence of Israel, as well as other concerned parties, during his recent visit to the region," Mr. Eckhard said.

The Secretary-General noted that the implementation of the withdrawal would require discussions with all concerned in order to be fully effective, and he urged all parties to cooperate in this process.

"The Secretary-General expresses his satisfaction that a Security Council resolution adopted more than twenty years ago is at last on the verge of implementation," Mr. Eckhard added.

Ambassador Owada addressed the press on Thursday after the Council was briefed in closed session by the United Nations Under-Secretary- General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, about the recent visit by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the Middle East.

According to the Council President, the briefing was followed by a discussion among the members on the situation in the Middle East. "The general sense of the meeting was that there was a widely shared recognition that the impasse which seems to prevail in the Middle East process is a source of concern," he said. Council members felt that "further efforts on the part of the parties will be very much required," he added.

The Secretary-General, who is visiting the capitals of all five permanent members of the Security Council to discuss the recent memorandum he concluded with Iraq, thanked the President for China's support in finding a diplomatic solution to the recent crisis, according to a United Nations spokesman. President Zemin emphasized the importance of unity among the five permanent members of the Security Council.

During discussions on the Asian economic crisis, the Secretary- General said that China's policies were contributing to economic stability in the region. He added that view was shared by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

Other topics discussed were Taiwan, Macao, and China's relations with the United Nations, the spokesman said. Following the meeting, the Chinese President and the Secretary-General went into the President's garden to view two magnolia trees in full bloom. Noting that this meeting marked their fourth in 15 months, the spokesman said it was a very relaxed, warm and friendly encounter.

According to a United Nations spokesman, the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) radio monitoring service had confirmed that Radio Vorgan had indeed gone off the air.

Meanwhile, a senior UNITA delegation arrived in Luanda on Wednesday. The delegation was led by UNITA Vice-President Antonio Dembo and included Alcides Sakala, UNITA Secretary for Foreign Affairs; Artur Vinama, a recently demobilized UNITA General; and Franco Marcolino, another senior member of the UNITA leadership.

Vladimir Petrovsky, who is also the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, told reporters on Thursday that Member States should stay away from the stereotypes of the cold war. Treaty-making, he said, was the highest stage of negotiation, which included as a first stage exploratory talks, as a second stage, definition of issues to be discussed, and as a third stage, treaty-making.

Mr. Petrovsky said the Disarmament Conference had taken a modest step forward by adopting its work programme last month. When it resumes its work on 14 May, he said, the Conference will begin "negotiations on negotiations".

The Director-General was the guest of honour at the annual luncheon of the United Nations Correspondents Association. He told its members that the media was more important for the United Nations than ever before, especially in the wake of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's successful mission to Baghdad.

Geneva was a major United Nations centre where operational activities of tremendous importance for the well-being of people were being carried out, Mr. Petrovsky observed. He noted that Geneva was also a major conference centre, with some 7,500 meetings every year, as compared to 5,000 in New York. Over the past three years, there had been more visits to Geneva by heads of State and government than in the entire preceding decade, he added.

On Wednesday, the General Assembly accepted the offer of the Swiss authorities for office accommodation at the Palais Wilson in Geneva. Mr. Petrovsky told correspondents on Thursday that the inauguration of the lakeside Palais Wilson as the new headquarters of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights would take place on 5 June, with the participation of the President of Switzerland, Flavio Cotti.

During his trip, Mr. Arlacchi will meet Iran's President, its Foreign Minister, and the country's Deputy Minister of the Interior.

Mr. Arlacchi will also travel with Iranian officials on a flight to the Iran-Pakistan border for a first-hand look at new structures built by the Iranians to stop drug trafficking from neighbouring countries. In addition, he is scheduled to visit Iran's border with Afghanistan, and to meet the governors of Baluchestan and Khorassan provinces.

Pedro Ruz, a national of Chile, was the Chief Communications Officer for the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA), a position he held for one and a half years. He suffered very serious injuries and burns during the crash and he passed away as a result of those injuries. Mr. Ruz was survived by three children.

"We extend our deep condolences to his family," said United Nations Spokesman Juan Carlos Brandt.

Funeral services were scheduled for Sunday, 5 April, in Orlando, Florida, where the family lives. A MINUGUA delegation, headed by Chief of Mission Jean Arnault, planned to attend.

Pedro Ruz was the sixth person to die from the crash. Other crash victims were from Australia, Bolivia, Spain, Uruguay and Guatemala. There were three survivors, one of whom was in very serious condition and was being treated in the a hospital in the United States.

From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: [email protected]

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