In progress at UNHQ

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

24 February 1999



Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

19990224

The following is a near verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by the Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Manoel de Almeida e Silva.

Hello. I am slightly late today -- four minutes -- because I've been trying to get the latest from Washington.

**Angola Memorial For Crash Victims:

Before we get to Washington, I want to inform you that this morning in Luanda, Angola, a memorial service was held for the victims of the two United Nations plane crashes you recall late December and early January this year. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Issa Diallo, read a message from the Secretary-General. It said "My outrage at these events has not subsided, nor have my sympathies with the victims' loved ones, nor has my determination to ensure that their sacrifice will not have been in vain".

Copies of the Secretary-General's message are available in our office upstairs. The service was held at the headquarters of the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA). Families of the victims, representatives of the diplomatic corps and United Nations staff in Angola were all present.

**Secretary-General in Washington:

The Secretary-General continued his two-day visit to Washington today. This morning, the day started with a working breakfast with Senator John Warner, who as you know is the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee of the Senate. They discussed the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and of the United Nations. On specific trouble spots in the world, they discussed Iraq and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Then at 10:30 a.m. he met with the new Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert. Their discussion touched on Kosovo, Iraq and peacekeeping. And of course they also talked about the congressional budget process and the obstacles to United States payments. The two had not met until today. It was a friendly, get-acquainted type meeting.

A bit after 11 a.m. he met with Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. The Senator was very supportive of the United Nations and they exchanged views on a range of international issues including Iraq, Kosovo and the future role of the United Nations. They also explored ways Senator Daschle could help on the funding issue. The Secretary-General thanked the Senator for his last pitch effort on United Nations funding last year and Daschle said he could count on his support.

The programme continues this afternoon with a luncheon with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and, as we had announced yesterday, meetings with the

National Security Advisor Sandy Berger and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt.

Also, added to the programme, there is a meeting today, this afternoon, with an Australian Government delegation headed by Ashton Calvert, Secretary of the Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade. This meeting will be about East Timor.

In the evening, as you know, the Secretary-General and Mrs. Annan will attend the White House State Dinner for President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana.

The Secretary-General will take an early morning shuttle tomorrow from Washington, D.C. to New York.

**Security Council Today:

The Security Council is meeting this morning to hear briefings by Under- Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, on Somalia and on Eritrea/Ethiopia. The Council is then scheduled to take up the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) in The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. A draft resolution on the United Nations force is expected to be tabled today. Under other matters, the Council may receive a draft resolution on Angola.

**Kosovo:

For the record, we issued a statement yesterday on Kosovo which is attributable to the Secretary-General's Spokesman. It came out late yesterday. That's why we are bringing it to your attention.

Today, we have available for you the weekly humanitarian update on Kosovo compiled by United Nations agencies, which reports that the murder of Albanian and Serbian civilians has continued over the past week with bodies killed by gunshot wounds being found daily.

For more details, you can obtain the update in our office upstairs.

Today, at the weekly news briefing of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, in The Hague, the Deputy Prosecutor said that the members of the Contact Group on Kosovo remained supportive of the Tribunal's role in Kosovo. He added Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald had talked to the French Ambassador. He said that assurances had been given and he expected that the final agreement would explicitly acknowledge the Tribunal's role.

More details of this briefing are available in a note upstairs in Room S-378.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 24 February 1999

**Deputy Secretary-General to travel to Tunisia, Lebanon, Kenya:

The Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, will depart today for United Nations-related meetings in Tunisia, Lebanon and Kenya. In Tunis, Tunisia, between 25 and 27 February she will attend a meeting of senior World Food Programme (WFP) officials. Her address will focus on United Nations- reform and coordination.

In Lebanon and Kenya, between 27 February and 2 March, she will chair regional coordination meetings of United Nations agencies, similar to the one she chaired at United Nations Office at Geneva last week. Madame Fréchette is also expected to meet with government officials in these countries.

**Guatemala Historical Clarification Commission report:

Alvaro de Soto, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, is travelling to Guatemala today, in order to represent the Secretary-General at the presentation of the report of the Historical Clarification Commission. He will read a message from the Secretary-General and receive the report on his behalf. President Alvaro Arzu and the leadership of the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) will also be present to formally receive the report. The text of the Secretary-General's statement will be available to you tomorrow in English and in Spanish.

I would also like to add, on this, this Commission is composed of three Commissioners, and the three Commissioners will be in New York on Monday to see the Secretary-General. We are arranging for a press conference with you following their meeting with the Secretary-General. We will confirm the exact time, in the course of this week.

**Iraq: Oil-for-Food Programme:

The Secretary-General's 90-day report on the oil-for-food programme in Iraq came out late yesterday. It is on the racks this morning. In this report, the Secretary-General welcomes the establishment of the humanitarian panel chaired by Ambassador Celso Amorim and notes also the wide-ranging review and assessment of the programme which is under way by the Office of the Iraq Programme.

Details are available in the report itself on the racks.

**Rwanda International Criminal Tribunal:

Casimir Bizimungu, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Health of Rwanda, and suspected of genocide-related crimes, was transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda detention facilities in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania yesterday.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 24 February 1999

Details of how this happened are available in a press release which we have upstairs.

**Treaties:

This morning, Ukraine signed the anti-landmine convention. The treaty has 132 signatories and 65 States parties. It will officially enter into force this coming Monday.

**Payments:

Belgium today paid its regular budget dues of over $11 million. So far, 47 Member States have paid in full, as compared with 34 on this date last year.

**World Chronicle Television Programme:

The World Chronicle TV programme today will be with Noeleen Heyzer, Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). It will be shown on channels 6 or 38 at 2:30 p.m. this afternoon.

**UNCA Announcements:

I have here two announcements by the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA). The first is that today at 1 p.m. in the UNCA Club there will be a discussion on the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court -- developments and news from the first session. The participants will be senior members of the NGO Coalition for an International Criminal Court. This will happen today in the UNCA Club between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. in the afternoon.

Tomorrow, UNCA has as guest, Naminov Burchinov, activist and writer; adviser to the President of Kalmykia (Russian Federation). It will be the presentation of his book, titled "The Struggle for Civil Rights of the Kalmyk People". It will be tomorrow, Thursday, at 4 p.m. in the UNCA Club. Copies of the book will be distributed to journalists and will be signed by the author.

**Special Representative's Rwanda Mission:

I have also just received a note that Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, has concluded his mission to Rwanda, and a statement will be issued in the course of the day. So let's see what we get and we will announce it to you once we have it.

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 24 February 1999

Question-and-Answer Session:

Question: The Secretary-General is in Washington. He is meeting with Madeleine Albright and Sandy Berger. Do you think that finally the question of Haiti will be discussed?

Deputy Spokesman: I don't know what the topics of discussion are of the meetings the Secretary-General will have this afternoon.

Question: I heard that Mrs. Albright herself is going to Haiti to solve this question. Obviously, some discussion will have to be done with the Secretary-General about Haiti. Since he is going to be meeting with Sandy Berger, who is supposed to be in charge of Security at the White House, I wonder if perhaps the Secretary-General will raise this question.

Deputy Spokesman: I don't have in advance the agenda of what will be discussed in these meetings. Usually, we are able to get a readout. If we have a readout of these two meetings we will certainly let you know. If it is Haiti, we will obviously let you know.

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For information media. Not an official record.