Annan Intends to Disband UN Jenin Fact-finding Team on Thursday

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, May 02, 2002

Annan Intends to Disband UN Jenin Fact-finding Team on Thursday

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday that he intends to disband a UN fact- finding team directed to investigate allegations of excessive killing and destruction in a Palestinian refugee camp.

In a letter to the UN Security Council, Annan said, "It is my intention to disband the fact-finding team tomorrow."

Annan made the decision after Israel decided it would not allow investigators to launch its inquiry in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.

Annan, who made telephone conversations with high-level Israeli officials over the past two days, said, "With the situation in the Jenin refugee camp changing by the day, it will become more and more difficult to establish with any confidence or accuracy the ' recent events' that took place there."

Israel has raised a series of objections on the mandate and composition of the UN fact-finding panel, now stalled in Geneva. Annan assembled the team nearly two weeks ago following Palestinian charges, denied by Israel, that a massacre had taken place there.

The Israeli cabinet decided Tuesday not to cooperate with the UN inquiry until its six demands were met concerning the team's mandate and composition, despite days of negotiations between the United Nations and Israel on those issues.

Annan, in turn, made it clear that he was not willing to tolerate further discussion with Israel over the fact-finding team.

"Throughout this process, the UN has made every effort to accommodate the concerns of the government of Israel, within the mandate given to me by the Security Council," Annan said in the letter.

Questions?Comments? Click here

2 Palestinian Prisoners Handed Over to US, British Custody

No Link Between Delaying U.N. Team and Lifting Siege on Arafat: PNA Official

>> Full Coverage

China's First Magnetic Suspension Test Track Built ( 4 Messages)

"Washington Times" at Anti-China Tricks Again ( 5 Messages)

Know Who to Love, Who to Hate ( 65 Messages)

Jiang Calls for Joint Efforts Towards Growth of Sino-US Ties ( 13 Messages)

Protests Prompt Retailer to Pull T-shirts Mocking Chinese-Americans ( 149 Messages)