Tuesday, 17 February 2004
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UNDP Study Says AIDS Threatens Development of Eastern Europe

One out of every 100 adults walking down the streets of a city in Eastern Europe or the Commonwealth of Independent States carries the HIV virus that causes AIDS. That alarming statistic comes from a study released in Moscow Tuesday by the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The UN agency warned that Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics are suffering from some of the fastest rates of HIV/AIDS growth in the world. In the study the UNDP said the region's development was coming under threat as a result. The report concluded that Russia, Ukraine and Estonia had some of the highest growth rates of HIV infection. Head of the UNDP Mark Malloch Brown says AIDS is threatening the economic development of the region;

"This is a region where some of the populations are already falling. So when you combine this epidemic with already falling birth rates, you're going to find that the number of people who are workers, who are in the economically active portion of the population is going to get very much smaller."

The study is the first AIDS report focused on the region since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

UNHCR Urges Haiti's Neighbours to Take in Refugees

Caribbean governments are being urged to take in Haitian refugees fleeing their homeland which is in the grip of civil conflict. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR), says it's reviewing its contingency planning throughout the region. Spokesman Ron Redmond says a newly- appointed emergency coordinator for the Haiti situation is now inWashington DC:

"And he and our representative there are meeting with various Caribbean governments. In any outflow, we would certainly hope that governments will receive asylum seekers who are fleeing."

Redmond says UNHCR has a team in Cuba that's looking at the contingency plans along with the Cubans. Most Caribbean governments have signed a 1951 accord that lays out ground rules for refugee protection. Meanwhile, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday the UN is extremely concerned about the situation in Haiti and is reassessing how it should become more actively engaged in the situation.

UN Envoy Warns There's No Plan"B" for Cyprus Plan

There is no second option on which to fall back if the UN's plan for the reunification of Cyrus is rejected by Greek or Turkish Cypriots. That's what UN special envoy Alvaro de Soto told reporters in Brussels Tuesday. He said "We do not have a plan B, nor are we thinking about scenarios about what will happen." Mr. De Soto said he is fairly confident if the talks led to a referendum, political leaders would encourage a yes vote. The UN plan calls for Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders to begin talks on Thursday, and for both sides to hold referendums on any deal in April.

Significant Progress Made in Normalising Relations between DRC and its Neighbours: UN

Significant progress has been made in normalising relations between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its neighbours. And according to Assistant Secretary-General Tuliameni Kalomoh, the pace of disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and resettlement or repatriation of Rwandan, Ugandan and Burundian armed elements has accelerated beyond expectation. In a report to an open meeting of the Security Council Tuesday, Mr. Kalomoh said the UN mission (MONUC), has assumed responsibility for the Interim Emergency Force in the Ituri region:

"In Bunia, MONUC has been enforcing a weapons-free policy, and the first phase of the mission's military expansion outside Bunia is now underway."

Assistant Secretary-General Kalomoh recalled that the UN mission's military deployments in Ituri are intended to stabilize the region and facilitate its integration into the national transitional process.

UN Mounts Aid Airlift for Refugees in Chad

The UN refuge agency (UNHCR) is mounting an emergency airlift to bring relief supplies to more than 100- thousand people in Chad who have fled fighting in Sudan's Darfur region. The initial flight, containing plastic sheeting, transportable warehouses and four-wheel drive vehicles were flown in from stockpiles in Copenhagen. UNHCR Spokesman Ron Redmond:

"The airlift coincides with an urgent refugee relocation operation aimed at moving tens of thousands of refugees away from that insecure Chad/Sudan border to safer camps further inland and we have to do that before the start of the rainy season in May at which time those left behind will be extremely difficult to reach.

Redmond says the refugees are spread along a 370-mile stretch of border territory.