DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19990211
The following is a near verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Fred Eckhard:
**Secretary-General Briefs Security Council:
Good afternoon. This morning shortly after 11, the Secretary-General started his tour d'horizon briefing of the Security Council. The briefing will focus on Sierra Leone, Angola, Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic and Kosovo.
Following that meeting, the Council members and the Secretary-General will have their monthly working luncheon.
**Other Council Matters:
Western Sahara
The mandate of the UN mission for the referendum in Western Sahara expires today, so at 4 this afternoon the Council will hold consultations on the mandate extension and then is expected to go into a formal meeting right after that.
Ethiopia-Eritrea
Yesterday, after consultations on the Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict when the Council was briefed by Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun, the Council adopted a resolution demanding an immediate halt to hostilities, and that both countries resume diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Among other points, the Council also strongly urged all States to immediately end all sales of arms and munitions to Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Morocco
This morning, Morocco signed the Status of Forces Agreement with the United Nations, concerning Western Sahara, which defines the legal status of United Nations personnel working towards a referendum in that territory.
The Security Council had been calling for Algeria, Mauritania and Morocco to sign such an agreement since United Nations military units from Sweden and Pakistan were deployed in Western Sahara in the spring of last year. Algeria and Mauritania signed similar agreements with the United Nations last November.
Ambassador Ahmed Snoussi signed on behalf of Morocco; Bernard Miyet, the head of the Peacekeeping Department, signed on behalf of the United Nations.
**East Timor:
The Secretary-General welcomes the transfer of Xanana Gusmao from prison to residential detention. He hopes that this will enable Mr. Gusmao to participate actively in the discussions about the future of East Timor.
**Sierra Leone:
Sierra Leone is among the situations the Secretary-General is briefing the Council on this morning, as we mentioned. He will be bringing to the Council's attention the findings of a human rights mission fielded to Freetown last week by the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL).
The report says that the rebels have inflicted "devastating human rights violations" on Freetown. Many of the 5,000 people estimated to have been killed during the fighting are feared to have been civilians, and hundreds of civilians have been mutilated. The rebels, many of whom appear to be child soldiers, also committed mass rapes.
In the city centre, up to 20 per cent of the housing is estimated to have been destroyed by fire and, in some areas, such as Calaba in the eastern part of the city, up to 90 per cent may have been destroyed. At least 150,000 people have been displaced, and more than 1,000 men, women and children are known to have been forcibly abducted by the rebels.
While ultimate responsibility for the fighting, most civilian casualties and the related humanitarian emergency in Freetown rests with the rebels, the human rights team also reported that ECOMOG (Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group) and the Civil Defence Forces have also been accused by eyewitnesses of committing summary executions of suspected rebels, and otherwise mistreating civilians, including children.
During the fighting, ECOMOG jets bombed parts of Freetown, causing civilian casualties.
**Afghanistan:
The United Nations has facilitated a meeting between two Afghan factions, which concluded today in Ashkabad, Turkmenistan. We are pleased to confirm, as indicated in various press reports, that indeed some progress was tentatively made on various important issues.
We are not in a position to provide further details of the agreements reached at Ashkabad at this time, because they still need to be fleshed out and confirmed by higher levels on both sides.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 11 February 1999
**The Hague Forum:
Today, at The Hague, where governments are meeting to review the implementation of the Programme of Action adopted in 1994 at the International Conference on Population and Development, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) hailed the announcement by Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, that they are going to donate $2.2 billion to a family foundation specializing in supporting population and health projects worldwide.
UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Nafis Sadik, said news of Bill Gates' extraordinarily generous gift has "electrified" The Hague Forum. It is worth noting that Bill Gates gave UNFPA $1.7 million in April of 1998, including $200,000 for the review of the Programme of Action.
We have a press release with more details in our Office.
**Other Press Releases:
We also have a press release on this morning's meeting at The Hague, which highlights the views of a number of developing countries who say they are taking steps to implement the Programme of Action, but they need assistance from richer nations.
**UN Global Video Conference
This morning, the United Nations held a global video conference as part of its commemoration of the 1999 International Year of Older Persons. Participants were linked up from six countries around the world, in a panel discussion moderated by Barbara Crosette of The New York Times.
In his opening remarks, the Secretary-General said "the event offered a chance to celebrate ageing itself, and we celebrate diversity," he said, "young and old alike working towards the United Nations goal of a society for all ages".
**Announcements/Press Conferences/Awards/Press Releases:
This afternoon at 1:15, the New Jersey Inter-generational Orchestra will perform in the General Assembly lobby. We have a flyer in my office with more information on that.
Also, tomorrow, here in room S-226 at 11 a.m., there'll be a press briefing on the impact of ageing populations on housing. Among the speakers will be Aile Celik, the head of HABITAT here in New York. There's a flyer on that event in our Office, as well.
Tonight, the Secretary-General will receive the fourth Jesse Owens Global Award. He'll be honoured along with the winner of the 1999 Jesse Owens
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 11 February 1999
International Trophy Award. The Global Award is presented to individuals who have made a significant and lasting contribution of enduring quality to peace, from a background of sports. By the way, Mr. Annan was a star sprinter and soccer player at Macalaster College, where he did his undergraduate work.
Previous recipients of this award include President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Ted Turner, and Juan Antonio Samaranch of the Olympic Committee. We have copies of his speech under embargo, that he'll give tonight. You can pick them up in my office.
Out on the racks today is a press release from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) about a decision taken yesterday by the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. The Committee decided to allow Namibia and Zimbabwe to go forward with a single shipment of existing ivory stocks to Japan. The money from the sales will go to support conservation and community development projects in the two States.
**International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia:
You'll recall that about two months ago, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia gave the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia a 60-day deadline to defer proceedings under way at a military court, involving three suspects who had previously been indicted by the Tribunal. Those three -- Mike Mrksic, Miroslav Radic and Veselin Sljivancanin -- are expected to be called as witnesses in the Belgrade Military Court, but since they've been indicted by the Tribunal, they must, under international law, be arrested and transferred to The Hague.
As recently as last November, the Security Council demanded their immediate and unconditional arrest and transfer to the Tribunal's custody. The 60 days are up on this Friday -- tomorrow -- and Belgrade still has not transferred the suspects. In the absence of cooperation, the Trial Chamber can request the Tribunal President, Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, to report Belgrade's non-compliance to the Security Council. We'll keep you posted on developments.
Available upstairs is the latest United Nations humanitarian update from Kosovo on population movements and relief distribution operations. Pick that up if you're interested.
**Signatures:
Signatures -- this morning at 11 a.m., Bulgaria became the seventy-fifth country to sign the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which now has one ratification, as we announced to you, by Senegal. Sixty ratifications are needed to bring the Tribunal into existence.
Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 11 February 1999
**UNCA Announcement:
And finally, on behalf of UNCA (United Nations Correspondents' Association), I've been asked to tell you about a briefing today in the UNCA Club at 2:30 p.m., when Joseph Dioguardi, President of the Albanian American Civic League and a former member of the U.S. Congress, will brief you on Kosovo.
**Question-and-Answer Session:
Question: The mandate of the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (UNPREDEP) expires on 20 February. Do you have any news whether the Security Council will meet to renew or change the mandate, and when?
Spokesman: The Council would naturally meet to discuss the renewal of the mandate. This time around, there's the added political complication of the decision by the former Yugoslav Republic to open diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which has drawn a protest from China. We don't know yet if this will play out in the Council's deliberations, but we'll just have to wait and see.
Thank you very much.
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