This paper reviews the impact of trade embargoes on health, health services and food security, drawing on data available from Cuba, Haiti and Iraq. It reviews:

- Political motivations of increased use of sanctions in the 1990s
- Current impact measurement attempts
- Weaknesses in the choice of indicators and the measurement methodology

Aiming to protect the most vulnerable and speed recovery, the report argues better targeting by sanctioning states and for improved monitoring, expanded humanitarian action, and the modification

Questioning the validity of sanctions against Iraq, this report provides a wide range of accounts relating to their effects, reflecting both private and professional experiences. Covering a variety of relevant issues, discussions include examinations of the following:

- Health
- NGO opportunities, options and constraints regarding Iraq
- Society and Culture
- Weapons of mass destruction
- Depleted uranium
- International politics

The speeches included in this report were given at a conference entitled 'Sanctions on Iraq: Background, Consequences,

In the context of the goals set by the World Food Summit of 1996, this report considers developments in world food security, providing statistics and discussion on related issues. For this purpose, the following aspects are explored:

- Regional and global estimates of under-nourishment
- International financial crisis and global agriculture
- Recent agricultural production performances
- Food shortages
- Supply and demand situation for major commodities
- Trends in official development assistance to agriculture
- Food aid

Sub-Saharan Africa, the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic, is threatened by such reversals of long-term development efforts as sharply reduced life expectancy and increased infant mortality rates. More than 80% of AIDS deaths have occurred in Africa since the pandemic began, threatening the survival of already impoverished households. Increasing numbers of families and communities affected by AIDS face hunger and destitution as a result of a vicious cycle: adults with AIDS become less and less productive; other family members must care for them instead of working; thus households

UNITED NATIONS
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network
for Central and Eastern Africa
Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Four "operational zones" established by JMC

The Joint Military Commission (JMC), established under the Lusaka peace deal, on Sunday divided the country into four operational zones covering territory controlled by both the government and rebels, the independent Ugandan 'Monitor' newspaper reported on Monday.

KIGALI, Nov 1 (AFP) - Belgian non-governmental organisation Memisa has delivered 12 tonnes of medical supplies to a rebel zone in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a rebel leader said Monday.
"A batch of 12 tonnes of pharmaceutical products was dispatched by the Belgians, under the control of the United Nations, to Gemena," Jean-Pierre Bemba, president of the Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC), said in a statement.

Bemba said the delivery marked the first shipment of 48 tonnes of supplies -- worth around 50 million Belgian francs

LUANDA (Nov. 1) XINHUA - China on Monday delivered 600,000 U.S. dollar worth of relief to the Angolan government to help the displaced people.

"This assistance shows the friendship and solidarity between China and Angola," said the Chinese Ambassador to Angola Jiang Yuande at a ceremony held in the Luanda Port.

"I hope it will help alleviate the crisis and the suffering of the Angolans," he added.

The assistance includes 150 tons of rice, 150 tons of flour, 150 tons of corn in powder, 48 tons of bean, 36 tons

by Joseph Gouala

POINTE-NOIRE, Congo, Nov 1 (AFP) - More than 300 people sheltering in a disused hangar here after fleeing fighting in Congo have been left to their own devices, like some 20,000 others caught without a home or resources.

"Every day, we live off charity," Boumba Boukinda said. "You have to wander around the city looking for help from friends or family."

Boukinda fled to oil-rich Pointe-Noire, in the southwest, early this year from fighting between forces backing strongman Denis Sassou Nguesso and militias supporting former president

Press Release - GM/SM/119 - 19991101
Following is the statement of the President of the General Assembly, Theo Ben-Gurirab (Namibia), concerning the cyclone that hit Orissa state on India's east coast on Friday, 29 October:

Thousands of people died, 1.5 million were left homeless and more than a third of the state's 35 million population have been left in a state of anguish and devastation following a powerful cyclone which hit the Indian state of Orissa, in the Bay of Bengal, over the weekend.

Reports describe a grim picture of death,