UN Assembly opens under shadow of E. Timor crisis<\/p>\n
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters): The UN General Assembly opened its
\nannual three-month talkfest on Tuesday (2 a.m. on Wednesday
\nJakarta time), overshadowed by the East Timor crisis.<\/p>\n
The agenda of more than 160 items runs the gamut from
\ndisarmament and economic development to human rights and the
\nenvironment.<\/p>\n
Representatives will discuss a host of world trouble spots.
\nBut the 15-nation Security Council, now wrestling with the
\nproblem of sending peacekeepers to violence-stricken East Timor,
\nremains the main operating arm of the United Nations, charged
\nwith the task of coping with immediate crises.<\/p>\n
The General Assembly began its annual meeting at 3 p.m. EDT.
\nIt was scheduled to admit three new members at the opening
\nsession, the tiny Pacific island nations of Kiribati, Nauru and
\nTonga, raising the UN roll-call to 188.<\/p>\n
Tonga, with about 100,000 inhabitants, has the biggest
\npopulation among the three, while Nauru, with fewer than 11,000,
\nwill become the UN member with the tiniest population.<\/p>\n
All the new members will have exactly the same vote in the
\nassembly as such giants as China, India, the United States and
\nRussia.<\/p>\n
Also at the opening session, the assembly's new president will
\nbe appointed by acclamation.<\/p>\n
The post rotates annually among the organization's five
\nregional groups. This year being Africa's turn, the unopposed
\nnominee is Namibian Foreign Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab.<\/p>\n
Gurirab, 60, represented the South West Africa People's
\nOrganization (SWAPO) at the United Nations from 1972 to 1986 and
\nbecame foreign minister when his country gained independence from
\nSouth Africa under UN auspices in 1990.<\/p>\n
After dealing with such chores as organizing the agenda, the
\nassembly session begins in earnest on Monday, Sept. 20, when the
\nannual general debate gets under way.<\/p>\n
The debate, which lasts for about two weeks, brings many heads
\nof state and government and scores of foreign ministers to New
\nYork.<\/p>\n
Much of their time will be spent in bilateral and group
\nmeetings on the sidelines of the assembly in what is usually one
\nof the busiest spells on the diplomatic calendar.<\/p>\n
U.S. President Bill Clinton, as head of state of the UN's host
\ncountry, normally speaks on the first day of the general debate.<\/p>\n
But after the United States failed to get the start of the
\ndebate postponed by one day, in deference to the Jewish holy day
\nof Yom Kippur, Clinton will this year speak on the second day,
\nTuesday, Sept. 21.<\/p>\n
The general debate will be interrupted on Sept. 27 and 28 for
\na special session of the assembly on the problems of small island
\ndeveloping states.<\/p>\n
In arranging the assembly's work, its steering committee will,
\nfor the seventh year in a row, almost certainly reject a bid by
\nabout a dozen African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to get the
\nissue of UN membership for Taiwan inscribed on the agenda.<\/p>\n
Beijing has held China's UN seat since 1971 when Taiwan, to
\nwhich the Nationalist Chinese government fled in 1949 after
\ndefeat by the communists in a civil war, was expelled from the
\nUnited Nations.<\/p>\n
Taiwan's supporters argue that the 22 million inhabitants of
\nthe economically dynamic island remain unrepresented in world
\nbodies. China considers Taiwan a renegade province and fiercely
\nresists any move to seat it as a challenge to its own
\nsovereignty.<\/p>",
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