DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

The following is a near verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Fred Eckhard:

Good afternoon. Kosovo again tops the agenda.

**Crisis in Kosovo

The major border crossings from Kosovo into Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia remain closed for the second day in a row. Only a trickle of people have managed to leave the province. Many Kosovars were turned back by Serbian authorities.

Following a day of confusion surrounding the fate of tens of thousands of refugees at the Blace open-air camp on the Kosovo-former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia border, we now know that a fleet of 350 buses, each carrying about 80 people, transferred an estimated 28,000 people to two transit camp sites near the border. Another 9,500 were reportedly taken in a convoy of 103 buses to southern Albania. A humanitarian mission was on its way to the region.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, is in Kukes, Albania, on the border with Kosovo today, where she expressed her strong concern over the people still in Kosovo where no international organizations are operating.

Asked about missing refugees, she told a televised news conference about 30 minutes ago, "we don't know what has happened to them, and I'm very, very worried".

Asked about reports of systematic rape, she said "there's been a lot of atrocities, no doubt -- rape, beating, burning of houses". She said she had raised the issue with President Milosevic, adding "the facts should be known so that we will be in a position to deal with them". She also said, "people are collecting information on war crimes".

Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in a letter released today in The Hague, urged all Foreign Ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to make available, without delay, information that would help the Tribunal investigate, prosecute, and conduct trials against suspected war criminals. She called for the active assistance by the international community. The letter is available in my Office.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that humanitarian aid flowed into the region today, but also said that bottlenecks in the aid supply line remain. Tirana airport in Albania is totally clogged each day with large numbers of incoming aircraft and inadequate off-loading facilities, and airspace in the region is highly congested. Thursday, for instance, 15 humanitarian flights requested flight clearance, but only eight could be granted.

On United Nations assistance efforts inside the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the UNHCR said that the total caseload in Montenegro is estimated at 60,000. The UNHCR, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the World Food Programme, as well as other international agencies are delivering relief to the victims. Some relief items are now reaching Montenegro via Dubrovnik in Croatia.

Inside Serbia, four reception centres have been opened to receive civilians affected by the NATO air strikes. The UNHCR, the Red Cross Movement and other international agencies, in cooperation with a newly formed government crisis committee, are establishing the extent of the displacement and organizing emergency relief to internally displaced persons.

We have the latest updates and statistics available for you upstairs.

**Security Council

Up to a few minutes ago, the Security Council was still discussing the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ibrahima Fall, the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, briefed members on the military, diplomatic, political, humanitarian and human rights situations in that country.

All members welcomed the appointment of Moustapha Niasse, the new Special Envoy for the peace process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and expressed the desire to come to agreement on a draft resolution on the Democratic Republic of the Congo before Mr. Niasse departs to the region this weekend. So, we might expect a formal meeting on that subject between now and Friday.

Council members were also scheduled to discuss possible further action to acknowledge the suspension of sanctions against Libya following the surrender of the two Lockerbie suspects. The Kosovo crisis may come up under other matters.

**Secretary-General's Trip

The Secretary-General has internal appointments only in Geneva today.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 8 April 1999

Tomorrow begins the semi-annual meeting of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), which he chairs and which gathers around one table the heads of all United Nations agencies, funds and programmes. ACC members will then go on retreat tomorrow evening through Saturday.

The theme of tomorrow's discussions will be the United Nations' relations with the private sector. During the retreat, they will focus on the contributions that they can make to the Millennium Assembly, which will take place in the fall of next year. John Ruggie, of the Secretary-General's staff, briefed correspondents in Geneva on these two ACC events, and we have a summary of his briefing available for you in my Office.

**Spokesman's Statement on East Timor

The senior officials' meeting on East Timor, which had been scheduled from 13 to 14 April, has been postponed to 21 April at the request of the Indonesian Government, which is finalizing the text of the autonomy proposal.

The date for the meeting of the Secretary-General and the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia and Portugal remains unchanged -- that's, the 22nd of April.

With regard to the killings that are said to have taken place in the town of Liquica in the last few days, the Secretary-General has spoken to President Jorge Sampaio of Portugal and to his Personal Representative, Jamsheed Marker. Mr. Marker has, in turn, been in touch with both Foreign Ministers, Jaime Gama of Portugal and Ali Alatas of Indonesia.

The United Nations has also been in touch with church leaders and other East Timorese figures. The Indonesian Government has responded positively to the United Nations' suggestion that an impartial inquiry be undertaken to establish the facts surrounding these killings.

In New York tomorrow, 9 April, Mr. Marker will meet with Jose Ramos-Horta, Vice-President of the National Council of Timorese Resistance and the 1996 Nobel Prize co-winner. That meeting will take place at 6 p.m.

**Afghanistan Envoy

Lakhdar Brahimi, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Afghanistan, is expected at United Nations Headquarters today, and he will brief the Security Council in the latter part of next week.

**WHO Addresses Problem of Child Abuse

Child abuse is becoming a major public health problem worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which estimates that, globally, some 40 million children suffer from abuse and neglect.

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The WHO recently convened a meeting of experts from various regions to discuss the problem. They came up with a series of recommendations, including a call for the development of national programmes for the prevention of child abuse. We have a press release in our Office with more details.

**WFP Braces for Congolese Refugees in Zambia

Growing numbers of refugees are crossing the border from the Democratic Republic of the Congo into Zambia, according to the World Food Programme (WFP), which estimates that at least 20,000 people have left since early March.

The WFP is bracing for new arrivals, and warning that food aid must be quickly mobilized since current supplies are rapidly becoming exhausted.

We have a press release in my Office with more details.

**UNAIDS Expansion

The Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS), which brings together six different agencies in the United Nations system, has just added a seventh: the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP).

The UNDCP will work with UNAIDS in preventing the spread of HIV through intravenous drug use.

We have a press release from UNAIDS in our Office with more on that subject.

**Press Conference

Finally, there will be a press conference tomorrow in this room at 11:15 a.m. on the conclusion of the sixty-fifth session of the Human Rights Committee.

The speakers will be: Cecilia Medina Quiroga of Chile, the Chairman of the Committee; and Prafullachandra Bhagwati of India, the Vice-Chairman; and Elizabeth Evatt of Australia, the other Vice-Chairman.

There's a media advisory available on the racks.

That's all I have for you.

**Question-and-Answer Session

Question: I have two questions, please. First, the date of the senior official's meeting. The Indonesians say it will be the 20th and the 21st of April, and you're saying just the 21st.

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 8 April 1999

Spokesman: I will double check for you. What's your other question? (The Spokesman later announced that the date he had reported earlier, 21 April, was correct.)

Question: On Libya, can you confirm that there will be talks between the Secretary-General, Libya, the United States and Britain in the context of 90-day report on Libya's sanctions?

Spokesman: No, I can't. I have no information on that at this time.

Question: On Kosovo, does the United Nations fear the spread of the conflict, getting further into the Balkans? And, if so, are there any preparations being made to deal with this and the problem of refugees, and so on?

Spokesman: I think everyone has been concerned about the situation in the former Yugoslavia because of its potential to spread throughout the region. And, it's as true today as it was when the war in Bosnia broke out in 1992.

So, in terms of strategic thinking, I think governments, as well as United Nations officials, have a wary eye on the destabilizing effect that this crisis could have on the region.

On the humanitarian side, you've seen in the last several days, our sense of being overwhelmed at the size of the crisis, the number of refugees that suddenly surged to the border. I think the UNHCR is a little bit more confident today that it's slowly getting on top of that problem.

It's had, since last weekend, the support of member States of NATO to move people around and move relief supplies in. So, I think we're gradually coming to grips with what was an overwhelming problem a short time ago.

Question: Concerning the missing refugees, do you have any account for them, and who is responsible for their safety at this moment, and how come they disappeared just suddenly overnight?

Spokesman: I don't think you were here at the beginning of the briefing, and I'll be happy to give you a copy of the account. We have reconstructed what happened to those 20,000 to 30,000 people who yesterday were described as having disappeared.

Who is responsible? All nations that are parties to the refugee Conventions agree to provide refuge and safety for refugees, and UNHCR's main function is to provide protection for refugees.

Question: I want to make sure I understood something that you said: Mrs. Ogata has spoken to Milosevic about rapes and other atrocities?

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Spokesman: That's what she said. She gave a press conference in Kukes about 45 minutes ago.

Follow-up question: Did she speak to him on the phone -- do you know when she spoke to him?

Spokesman: No, she said she had raised it with Milosevic. We don't have any details. You'd have to ask her Office if they can give you any more details.

Thank you very much.

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