DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19990412
The following is a near verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Fred Eckhard:
Good afternoon.
**Kosovo
The Secretary-General has accepted an invitation by the presidency of the Council of the European Union to attend a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday on the situation in Kosovo. It will be attended by 15 heads of State or government members of the Council.
At a news conference today, following the meeting with the Spanish Prime Minister, the Secretary-General confirmed he had written to President Milosevic, conveying the contents of the five-point statement he issued last Friday in Geneva. The Secretary-General said he had not heard back yet from the Yugoslav leader. When asked if it would be useful for him to meet with President Milosevic, the Secretary-General said his good offices were always available in any situation where he could be helpful.
The Secretary-General also said his proposal was an attempt to put an end to the suffering in the region, and that he hoped Milosevic will respond.
Meanwhile, refugee flows from Kosovo to the neighbouring areas, as well as the evacuation of refugees outside the immediate region, continued.
There were nearly 4,300 new arrivals crossing one of the main border crossings at Morini into Albania, Saturday and Sunday. During the same period, around 3,600 arrived in Montenegro and 300 in The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
Also over the weekend, around 3,200 refugees were evacuated from FYROM by air to Germany, Norway, Poland and Turkey, bringing the total moved out of FYROM by air to nearly 8,000.
The refugees arriving in Albania from the villages west of Pristina said they were told to leave by the Serbian security forces. They were allowed to take their vehicles with them and, though they had to pass through many checkpoints, no violence was used against them during their journey. As with previous groups, their identification papers and car number plates were taken away, but medical agencies working with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at the border reported the refugees were in relatively good physical condition on arrival.
Today, the refugee outflow was slower, with a group of 29 and another group of 75 reported crossing into Kukes, Albania, and there had been no new arrivals reported on the FYROM side as of late Monday afternoon. The border situation remained unclear. Both borders appeared to be closed on the Yugoslav side, and opened sporadically only when groups came through.
The estimated total number of refugees in Albania is now over 309,500. Of this figure, the UNHCR estimates that no more than 80,000 remain in the Kukes area, as the Albanian authorities continue to move refugees out of Kukes to other parts of the country, with the help of aid agencies.
With several cases of measles having been confirmed among refugee children in Kukes, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), with the support of non-governmental agencies, will launch a vaccination campaign starting tomorrow.
The UNHCR reported that the food situation for refugees in the Kukes area is improving, with humanitarian rations and other supplies arriving on trucks and on helicopters made available to the UNHCR and other agencies by various governments, for ferrying supplies from Tirana to the north of the country.
World Food Programme Executive Director Catherine Bertini is currently conducting an assessment of the food situation facing the refugees in Albania. Today, she is meeting with local government authorities, relief workers and donors. Tomorrow, she will be travelling to Kukes to witness first hand the refugee-feeding operations there.
In Montenegro, the border town of Rozaje is increasingly packed with displaced people. Over 14,000 new arrivals are staying there, placing a severe strain on accommodation facilities and raising concerns about sanitation. Industrial sites providing temporary shelter are full to capacity.
**ACC Statement on Kosovo
Friday, in Geneva, the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), the highest level coordination body in the United Nations system, protested the brutal treatment of Kosovar civilians for which there is a substantial and mounting body of evidence. In the statement, the ACC members said they were profoundly disturbed by the humanitarian and human rights tragedy unfolding in Kosovo and were deeply concerned by the massive displacement of people within Kosovo and deportations beyond its borders.
The complete text of the statement is available on the racks.
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**Secretary-General in Spain
Before leaving Geneva for Madrid yesterday, the Secretary-General met with Sadako Ogata, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, who briefed him on her recent visit to the Kosovo region.
In Madrid today, the Secretary-General met with the Prime Minster of Spain, Jose Marie Aznar, with whom he discussed Kosovo, Iraq and other issues.
At a press conference afterward, the Prime Minister expressed support for the Secretary-General's initiative on Kosovo, taken on Friday. A summary of that press conference will be available in my Office in the course of the afternoon.
After a private lunch with the President, the Secretary-General laid a wreath in tribute to Spanish soldiers who died in United Nations peacekeeping missions. Nearly 10,000 Spanish soldiers have served as United Nations peacekeepers; 19 of them lost their lives.
He then met with Spanish Defence Minister Eduardo Serra.
In the evening, he was to receive an award from the International Press Club. An embargoed copy of his remarks on that occasion is available in my Office. Then, he is to address a conference at the Diplomatic School on the "Struggle for a Lasting Peace", and we have an embargoed text of his speech in my Office.
The Secretary-General began his day with a visit to the United Nations Information Centre in Madrid, where he met with the staff and surfed their new website.
Tomorrow, he concludes his official visit to Spain.
**Statement on Afghanistan
The following statement is attributable to the Spokesman:
"The Secretary-General deeply regrets that the Taliban leadership decided, over the weekend, that they would not resume the negotiations which had started in Ashkabad, Turkmenistan, under United Nations auspices.
"The Secretary-General is concerned that this development will lead to the intensification of fighting between the Taliban and the United Front, thus inflicting more suffering on the people of Afghanistan and more destruction in an already devastated country.
"The United Nations will resume consultations with the two sides, as well as with other Afghans, interested Member States and the Organization of
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the Islamic Conference, to explore the scope for agreement on confidence- building measures which might help to contain the current level of fighting and might hopefully draw the two sides back to peaceful discussions."
**Security Council
The Security Council is having consultations this morning, continuing their review of the three panel reports on Iraq. There was a possibility they would discuss Kosovo under "other matters" and be briefed by Sergio Vieira de Mello, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, but I understand that has been moved to Wednesday.
**Eritrea/Ethiopia
On Eritrea/Ethiopia, Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General in Africa, is expected in New York early this week for consultations prior to his departure to Asmera, Eritrea. Meanwhile, the Security Council has scheduled consultations on the Ethiopia/Eritrea conflict tomorrow.
**Human Rights Rapporteur Speaking on Northern Ireland
Today, in Geneva, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Dato Param Cumaraswamy, presented his report to the Commission on Human Rights. In his presentation, he talked about the murder, last month, of Rosemary Nelson, a lawyer from Northern Ireland, and the "chilling" effect this murder leaves on the independence of defence lawyers and other human rights defenders in Northern Ireland.
You can get the complete text of his statement in my Office.
**Western Sahara
Revised texts of the identification and appeal protocols, together with a revised timetable, are being finalized by the United Nations on the subject of the peace process in Western Sahara. The documents are expected to be presented to the Moroccan and POLISARIO representatives. On Tuesday, Bernard Miyet, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, will meet with POLISARIO representatives and then on Wednesday with Moroccan officials, with a view to resuming the identification process and initiating the appeals procedures in June-July of this year.
**Human Rights Conference in Mauritius
Bacre Waly N'Diaye, the New York representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, is in Mauritius today, representing Mary Robinson at the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Ministerial Conference on Human Rights, being held for five days. The objectives of this Conference are to evaluate
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the situation of human rights in Africa and to develop a strategy for improving implementation of human rights instruments. The Ministerial Conference is attended by African Ministers of Justice and/or Human Rights.
**UNISPACE
Finally, a background paper on the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III), as well as the accreditation form, are available at the Documents Counter. The Conference will take place in Vienna in July of this year.
**Question-and-Answer Session
Question: Is the Secretary-General waiting for an endorsement of his statement on Kosovo by the members of the Security Council? Will he meet with President Milosevic then?
Spokesman: This is an initiative he has taken on his own, but I would emphasize that he has had consultations with virtually all the concerned governments. It is his initiative, but I think he feels he is taking it with the support of everyone concerned. He has sent a letter to President Milosevic, but he has not responded, so that is perhaps the one exception.
Question: Has any element of the United Nations side confirmed the discovery of mass burial grounds?
Spokesman: In Kosovo?
Question: Yes.
Spokesman: No, we would not have any means to confirm that apart from some onsite inspection, but we are not in Kosovo, so we cannot do that.
Question: What about the whereabouts of Michel Moussali [the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Rwanda]?
Spokesman: He was supposed to go the region. We have to check for you whether he actually left, but I think he was supposed to go either over last weekend or early this week.
Question: Following Ms. Albright's comments today in Brussels, what is the UNHCR doing about Albanians starving inside Kosovo?
Spokesman: The UNHCR is in the lead, trying to coordinate the humanitarian effort. The most recent reports indicate that they are gradually getting on top of the problem. Initially, going back a week or so or more, international agencies were overwhelmed by the huge number of refugees. I do not know what the remaining feeding problem might be. In my report, I
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indicated that a substantial amount of food has been coming in for the refugees. I did not hear her statement.
Question: She was talking about the Albanians inside Kosovo.
Spokesman: We can't get inside Kosovo; I'm not sure that any aid agencies can get inside Kosovo. We don't know what is happening there. Anything is possible.
Question: What are you trying to do?
Spokesman: We can't get in. We can't get in. I'm sorry.
Question: Do you have any comment on the Indian intermediate- and long- range missile testing over the weekend?
Spokesman: No, I do not have any specific guidance on that subject, except to say that it underscores the need for progress in disarmament, which the Secretary-General is anxious to see.
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