Wednesday, 18 February 2004
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Time for Hard Decisions Needed for a United Cyprus: Annan

Talks on the reunification of Cyprus resume in Nicosia Thursday. And UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says "this is a great chance for both peoples of Cyprus to work hard to come together, and a united Cyprus." The Secretary-General appealed to the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders "to seize the moment… and work in good faith, in a give and take spirit to make it a win-win situation for everybody." Mr. Annan acknowledges that there is still a lot of work, but he says the UN knows the issues and has ideas what the solution should be. He says it is now time to move forward and take the hard decisions necessary to make it happen.

New UN Chief in Afghanistan Says It's Too Early to Set Date for Elections

The senior United Nations official in Afghanistan on Wednesday announced an accelerated plan to register new voters. But Special Representative Jean Arnault says it's too early yet to set a date in June for elections. He says the United Nations would do all it could to stick to the June election date mandated in the Bonn peace process in Germany two years ago, but warns that concerns over security would make it "silly" to set a date for the polls.
He expressed concern over the availability of domestic and international forces on a scale large enough to cover the more than 4-thousand polling stations around the country.

Mid-East Parties Have Another Chance for Peace: Roed-Larsen

The window of opportunity for resuming the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority still remains open. That, according to the Special coordinator for the Middle east Peace Process, Terje Roed-Larsen. He told the UN Security Council Wednesday that the recent announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw the Israeli military and settlements from the Gaza Strip has set the stage for a number of scenarios.

"One is the resumption of a vigorous peace process with re-engagement between Israel and many of its Arab partners. The second is unilateral Israeli disengagement from parts of the occupied Palestinian territory, starting in Gaza, but not as part of a process or re-engagement."

Mr. Roed-Larsen says a third scenario centres on the inability of the parties to enact the withdrawal which would maintain the status quo with all the violence and misery that goes with it. He warns that the parties have another chance for peace and the international community an opportunity to make the Road Map process work.

Agreement Reached on Deployment of UN Peacekeepers in Cote d'Ivoire

Plans for a UN peacekeeping force in Cote d'Ivoire are about to move forward. United States ambassador, John Negroponte, says Washington has agreed to the deployment of more than 6,000 UN peacekeepers for the West African country. Ambassador Negroponte said the request for authorization from the United States Congress was submitted last week. Although the United States won't contribute any troops to the force, congressional approval is needed for payment of the American contribution to UN peacekeeping costs. UN Security Council President Ambassador Wang Guangya is quoted as saying he expects the UN force to be approved by the end of this month. Last month, France circulated a draft resolution calling for a UN force of more than 6,000 troops and 150 civilian police to replace the West African forces now in Cote d'Ivoire.

Annan Travels to Japan for Discussions on Iraq, Afghanistan, UN Reform

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan travels to Japan later this week for what he describes as "a series of discussions with Japanese authorities on issues of interest" to both Japan and the UN. Mr. Annan told reporters Wednesday that the talks would focus on developments in Iraq, Afghanistan, UN reform and Japan's involvement in UN activities.

Brazil Urged to do More to Tackle Child Prostitution

A new report has urged Brazilian authorities to do more to tackle child prostitution, clamp down on sex tourism and improve implementation of laws meant to help youngsters. UN expert, Juan Miguel Petit, said the political commitment of the government and the policy framework to fight child sexual exploitation is strong and tangible, but there is major difficulty in filtering policies and programmes from the central, federal level down to the grass-roots level. Petit, who reports to the UN Human Rights Commission, said sex tourism is one of the most widespread forms of child exploitation in Brazil.