DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
19990225
The following is a near verbatim transcript of today's noon press briefing by the Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Manoel de Almeida e Silva.
Good afternoon.
**Secretary-General in Washington:
The Secretary-General concluded his two-day visit to Washington. In addition to the appointments which I briefed you on yesterday, he had meetings yesterday afternoon, and I will give you some information on them now.
At the State Department, the Secretary-General joined Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for a one-on-one working lunch that lasted one hour and 40 minutes. The session was substantive and friendly, and touched on a wide range of issues from Libya, Myanmar, East Timor and Iraq, to Nigeria, Western Sahara and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They agreed to hold similar meetings more often.
The Secretary-General then went to the White House to meet with National Security Adviser Sandy Berger. Mr. Berger explained the Administration's strategy on the payment of arrears. They also discussed Libya, Iraq, the Ethiopia/Eritrea border conflict and the Nigerian elections.
Back at his hotel, the Secretary-General received Dr. Ashton Calvert, Secretary of Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who briefed him on East Timor.
The Secretary-General then returned to the Capitol Hill to see House Minority leader Richard Gephardt, who said he was a strong supporter of the payment of arrears to the United Nations. They primarily discussed United Nations reform and repayment of back dues.
The Secretary-General concluded his programme at the White House, with his wife Nane, where they were guests at a dinner hosted by President Clinton for Ghana's President Jerry Rawlings.
The Secretary-General is happy with these two full days of meetings. He is encouraged with the attention given to United Nations funding during his talks with congressional leaders and the United States Administration. He hopes it will be possible for the funding issue to be settled in the course of the year.
The Secretary-General returned to New York this morning, and he is now in his office.
**East Timor:
The Secretary-General is very disturbed by the reports of violence in East Timor. He continues to urge peace and calm, especially at a time when the political process is advancing in a positive direction. He believes that continued violence would be disruptive to that progress.
**Security Council Today and Tomorrow:
The Security Council is holding consultations this morning. They started with the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and they are now taking up Iraq.
Benon Sevan, the Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, introduced the Secretary-General's 90-day report on the implementation of the current phase of the "oil-for-food" programme, touching on limited funding and implications of the shortfall on programme implementation.
Following the consultations, the Council is expected to hold a formal meeting to act on the draft resolution on the extension of the UNPREDEP mandate.
Tomorrow, the Council is expected to meet at 9:30 a.m. to hear a progress report on the Iraq Panels from Ambassador Celso Amorim of Brazil, who is the Chairman of the these Panels as you know.
The Council is then expected to hold consultations at 10 a.m. to review Libya sanctions, and then move on to two formal meetings on the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) and on the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINURCA).
**Haiti: Secretary-General's Report:
The Secretary-General has submitted to the Security Council a progress report on the United Nations Civilian Police Mission in Haiti.
Noting the increasing polarization in the country and new risks to constitutional government and the consolidation of democracy created by the absence of a functioning Parliament, the Secretary-General urges all political actors to pursue constructive and meaningful negotiations aimed at resolving the crisis.
The Secretary-General also points out that the performance of the Haitian National Police, especially since 11 January this year, has been highly professional, and adds that it is of vital importance that the police maintain their political neutrality.
At the moment, we have 282 United Nations civilian police in Haiti from 12 countries.
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**Guatemala: Launch of Historical Clarification Commission Report:
As we said yesterday, Assistant Secretary-General Alvaro de Soto is in Guatemala today where he accepted the report of the Historical Clarification Commission on human rights abuses during the armed conflict in that country.
Speaking on behalf of the Secretary-General, he said that the report could not substitute for justice, but its widespread dissemination would allow for public debate of the chain of events that brought such tragedy to the country.
He stressed that in order to ensure that those events are never repeated, they must become part of Guatemala's history and culture.
We have, in our office, copies of both the speech, in English and in Spanish, as well as a background note prepared by the mission in Guatemala contextualizing a little bit what the Commission is, how it worked and what the report is.
**UNHCR Update from Great Lakes Region:
We have available for you an update from the Great Lakes region of Central Africa prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). According to the report, fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to unleash refugee outflows to the United Republic of Tanzania, alarming rates of malnutrition were found among Angolan refugees in camps in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and refugees are still fleeing conflicts in Angola and the Republic of the Congo.
**Oversight Office Report:
Out on the racks today you will find a report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services on a past scandal at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). It involved an official who perpetrated a series of thefts by requesting cheques to pay fictitious "experts" and then cashing them in for himself.
As you will see from the report, this individual has been brought to justice: a Swiss court convicted him, ordering 18 months imprisonment and 10 years exclusion from the country. As a result of the joint criminal and civil action undertaken by the United Nations, the Organization was able to recover most of the money that had been stolen, including by liquidating his entire pension benefit. The Swiss court also ordered the individual to repay the rest of the stolen funds to the United Nations.
We consider this a positive example of how our oversight system is working. At the same time, the report contains recommendations to prevent future occurrences of this kind.
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The report has the following symbol: A/53/811. Seven hundred thirty thousand Swiss francs had been stolen. We have been able, so far, to recover 68 per cent of that amount.
**Transnational Organized Crime Symposium:
Close to 20 Ministers of Justice and other government officials are expected in Rome, on 26 and 27 February, at a symposium organized by the United Nations Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention, in cooperation with the Italian Senate, to foster political support for the United Nations Convention against Organized Transnational Crime. The Convention, which should be signed in the year 2000, will provide the international community with an effective and concrete tool in its fight against transnational organized crime, including through three additional protocols, on Trafficking of Human Beings, Illicit Manufacturing and Trafficking of Firearms, and Trafficking in Women and Children.
**Washington Visit of UN Drug Control and Crime Prevention Chief:
Pino Arlacchi, whom you will recall briefed you last week and who is the head of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, was on a three-day mission to Washington where he met with congressional leaders and members of the United States Administration, including the United States official responsible for drugs, General Barry McCaffrey. On Tuesday, he spoke at a breakfast organized by Empower America, and yesterday he addressed Vice- President Gore's global forum on corruption.
Mr. Arlacchi left Washington yesterday, heading for Rome, where he will co-chair with the Italian Senate the ministerial symposium on organized crime.
**Conference on Youth Addressed by UNICEF Head:
Carol Bellamy, the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), is delivering the keynote address tonight to a conference on youth sponsored by the Johann Jacobs Foundation of Switzerland and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. In her address, Ms. Bellamy notes that there are more than 1 billion adolescents worldwide, and that how effectively they cope with the perils of growing up will be a crucial element in whether humanity can surmount the challenges of the next century. A press release on the event is on the racks, and advance copies of Ms. Bellamy's speech will be available later in the day.
**New UNAIDS Campaign:
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has just launched a new campaign aimed at reducing the transmission of HIV among young people. The head of UNAIDS, Dr. Peter Piot, is in Brazil, where he said that
Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 25 February 1999
"Men themselves have to take the lead in rejecting machismo." He added that "In a world with AIDS, responsible sex protects men too."
We have two press releases in our office with more details on the campaign.
**Geneva Meeting on Mine Action:
More than 70 mine-action specialists from 14 different countries have just concluded a meeting in Geneva aimed at improving the effectiveness of the global fight against landmines. We have a press release in the Spokesman's Office with details on that.
**Treaties:
Honduras this morning became the seventy-fifth country to sign the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Protocol has, so far, six ratifications.
**Payments:
One more payment today, from the Republic of Korea, which became the forty-eighth Member State to pay its dues in full, with a cheque for over $10 million.
**ICC Prepcom Chair Will Be guest at Tomorrow's Briefing:
And finally, an announcement. Tomorrow, we will have, as our guest, Philip Kirsch, Chairman of the Preparatory Commission of the International Criminal Court.
Question-and-Answer Session
Question: Have there been any new requests for clarification or demands by the Libyan Government regarding the Secretary-General's letter?
Deputy-Spokesman: Not to my knowledge. There was the one that I believe we mentioned to you earlier in the week, that came over the weekend, and the Secretary-General is studying that ... examining that ... to determine how he will proceed.
Question: Is the Secretary-General planning to brief the Security Council on the results of his talks on Libya tomorrow for the review?
Deputy Spokesman: That is possible. That indeed may happen tomorrow. There may be a Secretariat briefing of the Council. I am waiting for confirmation on that.
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Question: You said that Ambassador Amorim will be briefing the Security Council tomorrow morning on the Panels. Will he also, do you think, address the press afterwards?
Deputy Spokesman: That's a good question. I suggest that you contact the Brazilian Mission. They have a very pleasant press officer who will be able to tell you.
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