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Gold/Mining/Energy : A Bottom in perishable commodities?/war stocks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (32)	10/24/1998 2:12:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 178

NATO Delegation Heads to Yugoslavia Saturday, 24 October 1998 B E L G R A D E , Y U G O S L A V I A (AP) WITH TIME running out for Yugoslavia to comply with its peace promises, NATO dispatched its top generals to Belgrade to demand that the government step up troop withdrawals from embattled Kosovo province. NATO says its jets could still attack Serbian military targets if Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic doesn't back up all his pledges from an Oct. 12 agreement by Tuesday. Gen. Wesley Clark, the alliance's supreme military commander, and German Gen. Klaus Naumann were traveling to the Yugoslav capital today seeking more pullbacks of police units and equipment from the separatist province, where scattered skirmishes between Serb forces and ethnic Albanian rebels continue. In a statement published today in Kosovo's Albanian-language daily Koha Ditore, the rebels said they would take no "offensive action" against government forces which are leaving the province under terms of the agreement. "But any movement towards (Albanian-populated) villages or our positions will force us to self-defend ourselves," the rebels said. With Western nations only beginning to organize a 2,000-strong group of unarmed monitors to verify Yugoslavia's actions in Kosovo, the deadline is widely expected to be pushed back for a second time. But no official action by NATO is expected until Monday. A NATO official, briefing reporters in Brussels, Belgium, on condition of anonymity, said Friday that "we have seen great progress but we are far from adequate compliance." The Serb-led Yugoslav government reiterated claims that it has fulfilled its terms of the agreement with U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke and that ethnic Albanian rebels are responsible for continuing violence. Serbian Premier Mirko Marjanovic said it was time the West realized that the crisis in Kosovo was caused by "terrorism of Albanian separatists." While fighting in Kosovo effectively halted in late September, there is sporadic gunfire and almost nightly shelling in different locations - evidence the conflict has not ended. Under the agreement, Milosevic pledged to withdraw special police and army units sent to the province after he launched his crackdown on the KLA Feb. 28. Hundreds of people have been killed and an estimated 300,000 driven from their homes. Milosevic also agreed to allow refugees to return home safely and enable international relief agencies to bring them aid. He also pledged to negotiate with ethnic Albanian leaders on the future of Kosovo, a province of the main Yugoslav republic Serbia. Ethnic Albanians make up about 90 percent of the province's 2 million inhabitants, and most favor independence or self-rule. The KLA issued a statement Friday reiterating that it is keeping to a general cease-fire but saying it would respond and defend villages if Serb and Yugoslav forces move on them. U.S. envoy Christopher Hill traveled to neighboring Albania on Friday to brief government officials and urge them to support the U.S.-led peace effort. Albania had permitted rebels to set up sanctuaries in the north. "We are looking for full compliance," Hill told reporters. "We'd like to see full compliance. I don't want to predict when exactly we'll see it but we are working very hard to ensure it." At the United Nations, the Security Council was planning to vote this afternoon on a resolution endorsing the Kosovo peace accord, despite potential opposition from China and Russia over language that would allow NATO to "take appropriate steps." to enforce the agreement. The council is under pressure to adopt a resolution enshrining the accord so the verifiers can begin Kosovo. The American head of the Kosovo ground verification mission, William Walker, arrived in Kosovo after meeting Milosevic on Friday, vowing to improve conditions for refugees and help guarantee success of the peace agreement.

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (32)	10/24/1998 9:21:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 178

HIRD-WORLD EXPORT SLUMP Trouble with commodities The world's least-developed countries (LDCs) house most of the people who are living below the poverty line - roughly 25% of the global population. But their share of world production and trade is declining. In 1996 LDCs (which don't include SA) contributed only 0,9% to world output and attracted 0,5% of foreign direct investment. Their 1995 share of exports and imports was about 0,5%. Things can only get worse. Commodity prices are expected to fall, partly as a result of lower demand since the Asian crisis. Other factors, according to the United Nations' Least Developed Countries 1998 Report, include increased supply capacity (as in the case of nonferrous metals); the absence of speculative buying of commodities; and a strong US dollar. The exception will be commodities such as tea and coffee that have been affected by bad weather. That should be positive for Uganda, which derives about 83% of its export earnings from coffee, Rwanda (70%), Ethiopia (64%) and Burundi (57%.) Worst-affected will be the countries most reliant on other commodity exports: Angola derives 94% of its export earnings from petroleum; Zambia: 58% from copper; Liberia and Democratic Republic of Congo: 55% and 51% from diamonds; Malawi: 66% from tobacco; Sao Tome, Principe: 63% from cocoa; Solomon Islands and Cambodia: 70% from timber; and Mali: 17% from gold. Though not classified as an LCD, SA's commodity dependence is relatively high. By August, of a total R94bn exports, it had sold R13bn in minerals, R21bn in precious stones and metals and R15bn in base metals. Admittedly not all were sold in their raw state, but SA's commodity dependence is still too high. fm.co.za