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This morning, the plenary first adopted without a vote three reports of the Fifth Committee regarding the financing of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, UN Mission of Observers in Tajikistan and the UN Preventive Deployment Force. It then took up the Question of Falkland Islands/Malvinas and decided to postpone the consideration of this item to the fifty-fourth session of the Assembly.The Assembly also adopted without a vote draft resolution introduced by Honduras and contained in document A/53/L.17, entitled Emergency assistance to Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. The Assembly then began consideration of the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which was introduced by its Director-General, Mohamed El-Baradei. Draft resolution A/53/L/18 was introduced by the representative of Slovenia, and an amendment, contained in document A/53/L.19, by Iraq. There are 21 other speakers inscribed so far to address the Assembly on this item, so the debate will continue this afternoon.

Tomorrow morning, the Assembly will hold elections for nine judges of the International Tribunal for Rwanda, for the two existing Trial Chambers, for which the terms of office will expire on 24 May 1999 and for the Third Chamber, with the term of office to begin as soon as possible.There is a list of 18 candidates established by the Security Council, for the nine vacancies on the Tribunal.

Regarding the work of the main committees, the First Committee is expected to conclude this afternoon its thematic discussion of agenda items 63 through 80 and all relevant draft resolutions. It is scheduled to begin taking action on all 49 drafts tomorrow. The Special Political and Decolonization Committee is continuing this morning the general debate on the comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping in all their aspects. It also has before it a draft resolution on this issue (A/C.4/53/L.8). The Second Committee has concluded this morning the general discussion of the Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s and began consideration of the Implementation of the First UN Decade for the Eradication of Poverty. This afternoon, it will first hear the address by the President of ECOSOC, Juan Somavia, and then conclude the general discussion of the Decade for the Eradication of Poverty. Under the auspices of the Committee the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Catherine Bertini, will give a briefing today from 1:15 to 2:45 in the Trusteeship Council Chamber on "Eradicating Hunger".The Third Committee continued this morning the consideration of the Comprehensive implementation and follow-up to the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action on human rights and heard a statement and held a dialogue with the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson. The debate of this item will continue in the afternoon, and also two draft resolutions will be introduced, concerning the programme of activities of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People and on the rights of peoples to self-determination. This morning, the Fifth Committee is holding informal consultations on the scale of assessments. This afternoon, it is scheduled to complete the general discussion of the thematic reports of the Office of Internal Oversight Services and of the Joint Inspection Unit, and begin the general discussion of the UN common system and of the UN pension system. At the end of the afternoon, it will continue informal consultations on programme planning. On Friday, the Fifth Committee will hold elections for ACABQ. And finally, the Sixth Committee is continuing today the discussion of the report of the International Law Commission on the work of its fiftieth session.