DATE=3/15/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N ANGOLA SANCTIONS DEBATE (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-260231
BYLINE=BRECK ARDERY
DATELINE=UNITED NATIONS
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Accusation and denial marked a day-long debate
in the United Nations Security Council today
(Wednesday) as the Council received a report on
violations of sanctions against UNITA, the rebel group
in Angola. VOA Correspondent Breck Ardery reports from
the United Nations.
TEXT: The report was remarkable in that it named
nations and heads of state who allegedly violated U-N
sanctions against UNITA, which has been fighting a
guerilla war in Angola for more than 20 years.
The report claims UNITA used the proceeds from illegal
diamond sales to obtain favors from the leaders
Burkina Faso and Togo. The governments of Belgium and
Bulgaria are also mentioned, Belgium for not enforcing
sanctions against UNITA's diamond sales and Bulgaria
for facilitating arms sales to UNITA. Rwanda and some
other nations are also accused in the report of being
lax in enforcing the sanctions.
Representatives of those nations vigorously denied
allegations in the report. Burkina Faso and Togo both
said the allegations were the result of claims by
UNITA defectors, claims that are not substantiated by
convincing evidence.
But the controversy in the Security Council over how
best to enforce sanctions against UNITRA may just be
beginning. Canada's ambassador Robert Fowler, who
heads the Security Council's UNITA sanctions
committee, noted that the report calls for sanctions
against some of the countries named in the report. He
conceded that recommendation will be controversial.
///Fowler act///
Among the most challenging (of the
recommendations) for us will be those
recommendations that would have the Council
apply sanctions against leaders and governments
found to have been deliberately and methodically
violating the sanctions against UNITA. One way
this might be done is through an embargo on arms
sales to named countries for a period of three
years.
///end act///
Britain joined Canada in calling for sanctions against
those nations accused of violating the sanctions
against UNITA. But France urged caution, indicating
that some of the evidence in the report is incomplete
and unconvincing.
The United States made no specific commitment on new
sanctions but said it will work with the Council to
turn the report into a "re-invigorated plan of
action."
Canada is expected to press the issue of new sanctions
when it assumes the presidency of the Security Council
next month.(Signed)
NEB/UN/BA/LSF/PT
15-Mar-2000 18:06 PM EDT (15-Mar-2000 2306 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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