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14 October 1999

As we meet, the General Assembly is in the voting process to elect five non-permanent members of the Security Council. The candidates are: Bangladesh, Mali and Tunisia, endorsed for three African and Asian seats; Jamaica, endorsed for one Latin American and Caribbean seat; and Slovakia and Ukraine, neither of whom was endorsed, for one Eastern European seat. The election is by secret ballot, and a two-thirds majority of members present and voting is required to win a seat. Those elected will fill the seats that will be vacated on 1 January 2000 by Bahrain, Brazil, Gabon, Gambia and Slovenia.

As soon as the elections are concluded, the Spokesman’s Office will have a handout listing the membership of the Council for 2000-2001.

Apart from the five permanent members, the Security Council will also include, in 2000, Argentina, Canada, Malaysia, Namibia and the Netherlands.

At the start of the meeting, the President of the Assembly, Theo-Ben Gurirab, and the Deputy Secretary-General, Mme. Louise Frechette, paid tribute to the memory of former President of Tanzania, Julius K. Nyerere, who died overnight in London, and to the memory of the three UN staff members who were killed this week in Kosovo and Burundi.

Speaking about President Nyerere, the Assembly President described him as a venerable world leader and one of Africa’s most charismatic and respected elder statesmen. He said the Tanzanian people had lost the father of the nation, the courageous leader of their independence struggle and the architect of the United Republic of Tanzania. The African people as a whole had lost an ardent pan-Africanist, a man of high principles, a man of self-abnegation and the champion of Africa’s self-determination, liberation and independence. Copies of the President’s statement are available in room 378.

Concerning the deaths of three UN staff members, the President said that, once again, United Nations staff members had paid the ultimate price in the line of duty, sacrificing their lives while serving the cause of peace. The deaths of Valentin Krumov in Kosovo, and Luis Zuniga and Saska von Meijenfeldt in Burundi underscored the often difficult and dangerous conditions under which United Nations personnel served. The President strongly condemned these wanton acts of brutality against peacemakers and peaceworkers, and called on the international community to assist the United Nations to further intensify public education with a view to putting an end to the loss of innocent lives. On behalf of the General Assembly, he extended deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved families and friends of those who lost their lives in the cause of peace. Copies of the President’s statement are available in room 378.

Manoel will report to you on the statement by Deputy Secretary-General Frechette.

Following the statements, the Assembly observed a minute of silence in memory of those who lost their lives in the line of duty.

In Committee action, at two meetings today, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) is continuing its general debate on all disarmament and international security agenda items, hearing a total of 15 speakers.

This afternoon, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) is concluding its general discussion of the items on advancement of women, and implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women. Under the item on social development, the Committee will take action on a draft resolution entitled "policies and programmes for youth" (A/C.3/54/L.2), recommended for Assembly adoption by the Economic and Social Council, as orally amended by Portugal. Under the text, the Assembly would take note of the Youth Forum held in Portugal in 1998, and would recommend that the Second World Conference of Ministers responsible for Youth be organized under the aegis of the United Nations. Tomorrow, the Committee begins discussing crime prevention and criminal justice, and international drug control. Pino Arlacchi, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna and Executive Director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, will address the Committee.

The Sixth Committee (Legal) is this morning continuing its consideration of the report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization (A/54/33). It also has before it a report of the Secretary-General on implementing Charter provisions dealing with assistance to third States affected by the application of sanctions (A/54/383).

Copies of the Assembly President’s appointments for today are available in room 378 and on the Internet. This evening he will attend a dinner in his honour, hosted by the Permanent Representative of Algeria, Abdallah Baali.