Europe

Harri Holkeri, UN envoy for Kosovo

As violence continues in Kosovo, top UN envoy issues new appeal for calm

18 March 2004
The top United Nations envoy in Kosovo issued a new appeal today for an immediate halt to violence that has already killed 22 people and injured 500 more in the worst unrest to hit the ethnically divided province since the world body took over its administration nearly five years ago.

UN war crimes tribunal to hold hearing on substitute judge for Miloševic trial

18 March 2004
The United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia announced today that it will hold a hearing next week on whether the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Miloševic should continue with a substitute judge.

UN war crimes tribunal issues seven-year jail term over shelling of Dubrovnik

18 March 2004
The United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia today sentenced a former Yugoslav admiral to seven years' jail for his role in the 1991 shelling of the Croatian city of Dubrovnik's historic Old Town.
Kofi Annan

Annan invites Greece and Turkey to help in Cyprus talks

18 March 2004
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has invited Greece and Turkey to join in meetings next week in Switzerland to help the Greek and Turkish Cypriots finalize a plan to reunify Cyprus before its entry into the European Union on 1 May.
Council President Amb. de La Sablière

Condemning violence in Kosovo, Security Council demands return to rule of law

18 March 2004
Peace and Security

Denouncing "the large-scale inter-ethnic violence" that has led to the deaths of at least 31 people in Kosovo since yesterday, the United Nations Security Council today called for the province's authorities to ensure that the rule of law is maintained, all ethnic communities feel properly secure and the perpetrators of crimes are brought to justice.

Ruud Lubbers

World must seek lasting social, economic solutions for refugees - UN

17 March 2004
The global community must look beyond the immediate humanitarian dimension of refugee problems to the economic, social and political aspects in order to prevent protracted crises where too many displaced persons become child soldiers or victims of human traffickers, according to the top United Nations refugee official.
Kofi Annan

Annan calls for immediate halt to deadly Albanian-Serb violence in Kosovo

17 March 2004
Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called for an immediate halt to the violence between ethnic Albanians and Serbs in United Nations-administered Kosovo, which has reportedly left at least seven people dead and hundreds injured amid repeated bursts of automatic gunfire and explosions.

UN health agency calls for urgent action to fight drug-resistant TB surge

16 March 2004
With multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) striking parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia 10 times more heavily than elsewhere in the world, the United Nations health agency today called for increased action and resources to control the disease, which kills one quarter of the 8 million people infected globally each year.
Amb. Arias of Spain

Spain explains reference to ETA in Security Council resolution after Madrid attacks

16 March 2004
Spain's Ambassador to the United Nations has written to the Security Council explaining the Government's insistence on blaming the Basque separatist group ETA for last week's terrorist bombing in Madrid in a resolution adopted shortly after the atrocity.

UN refugee envoy pays visit to Srebrenica massacre memorial in Bosnia

16 March 2004
The United Nations Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees laid a wreath today at a memorial outside the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, the scene of the worst massacre of the Bosnia war during the early 1990s.