DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19990429
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:
**Secretary-General's Mission to Moscow
Good afternoon. The Secretary-General arrived late last night in Moscow and had his one-day working visit today. At 1 p.m., he met with President Yeltsin's Special Envoy, Victor Chernomyrdin. They had an extensive and substantive exchange on Kosovo.
Following that, the Foreign Minister of Greece, Georgios Papandreou, called on the Secretary-General. They also discussed the Kosovo issue, the prospect for peace and the humanitarian situation in the subregion. The Secretary-General then met with President Boris Yeltsin, and they also exchanged views on the situation in Kosovo. The discussion then continued with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who outlined the Russian Federation's approach to a peaceful settlement. The Secretary-General and the Foreign Minister had similar talks with Prime Minister Primakov. In a second meeting with the Foreign Minister, the discussion expanded to include Iraq and the Middle East.
The Secretary-General and the Foreign Minister then held a quadrilateral session on Kosovo with Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy of Canada and Mr. Papandreou, the Foreign Minister of Greece. Following that, the four leaders had a press encounter. After that, the Secretary-General left Moscow for London, and he is expected in New York tomorrow morning.
We do not yet have the transcript for the press encounter, but we are expecting to have that in the next few hours and, of course, we'll make it available to you.
**Refugees
Meanwhile, the refugee outflow from Kosovo continues. By mid-afternoon today, one long train and 10 buses carried another estimated 5,000 new refugees to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, according to information provided by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The new arrivals were being sent to an unfinished refugee campsite at Cegrane, which the UNHCR, private relief groups and the German contingent of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are working round the clock to make ready.
Earlier today, the UNHCR said it was vacating office space to make room for more refugees to cope with the refugee overflow in the camps in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Based on updated figures released by authorities of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the UNHCR reported that the number living outside of camps in the Republic is now at more than 90,000, while the number of persons in camps as of Wednesday night was more than 64,000, increasing the total refugee population to over 154,000. Albania is host to more than 370,000 refugees.
The World Food Programme (WFP) reported that refugees who have crossed the border in recent days show signs of severe hunger, the result, they say, of several days without food during the journey to the border and dwindling food supplies inside Kosovo.
The WFP also said it was gravely concerned for the health and nutritional status of Kosovars inside Kosovo's borders. Market places and farming in Kosovo have more or less ceased, according to refugees, many livestock have been killed, and crops and food reserves destroyed. As food stocks diminish and people become hungrier, their ability to resist disease decreases. Children are especially vulnerable to a lack of food, which can cause lasting damage to their health.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), meanwhile, said more counsellors are urgently needed to work with traumatized children. The UNICEF reported that training for an additional 60 care providers to help children deal with the psychosocial stress of the crisis will begin on Saturday. The UNICEF is supporting psychosocial activities for children and other refugees in more than a dozen refugee camps.
The UNICEF also reported that most refugee children in Albania who became separated from their families have been reunited, but in the former Yugoslav Republic, 300 children are still registered as unaccompanied, and more than 500 families are still trying to locate their children.
Immunization of children in the Kukes camp in Albania is now complete, while the campaign is continuing in refugee camps in the former Yugoslav Republic, according to UNICEF.
In the highest daily total to date, almost 1,600 refugees were evacuated from the former Yugoslav Republic on Wednesday to seven European countries, but the rate still fell short of UNHCR's immediate daily target of 2,000 departures. Flights to Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom were scheduled today.
We mentioned to you that the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Louise Arbour, is in Washington, D.C., to ask United States officials for help in war crimes investigations. We are trying to get her to talk to you when she comes to United Nations Headquarters tomorrow.
DPI Daily Briefing - 3 - 29 April 1999
**Security Council
The Security Council has scheduled consultations today on the report of the Secretary-General on the situation concerning Western Sahara. Under- Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Bernard Miyet is briefing the Council. The mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum on Western Sahara (MINURSO) expires tomorrow.
In his report on the Mission, the Secretary-General said that he believed that there is now a good foundation for the completion of this phase of the settlement plan, provided that the full and unequivocal cooperation and support of both parties is maintained throughout. He recommended an extension of the mandate of MINURSO for a period of six months until 30 October 1999.
Council members have received two letters of application for admission to membership in the United Nations -- one from the Republic of Nauru and the other from the Republic of Kiribati. The Council was expected to discuss how to proceed with the applications today.
**International Court of Justice
You may have seen some reports in the media today that the International Court of Justice decided in an Advisory Opinion that the Convention of Privileges and Immunities was applicable in the case concerning the immunity from legal process of Param Cumaraswamy, the Malaysian Jurist, who has been Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers since 1994. The question was that he gave an interview to a publication and was considered by some persons there to have used defamatory language. The view of the Secretary-General was that Mr. Cumaraswamy spoke in his capacity as Special Rapporteur and was thus immune from legal process by virtue of the Convention of Privileges and Immunities.
The Secretary-General expresses great satisfaction with the Opinion, which has emphasized the importance of respect for the privileges and immunities of United Nations agents who are called upon to perform tasks for the Organization worldwide. The Opinion ensures that those called upon to perform those tasks will be protected in the performance of their mandate.
The Secretary-General hopes that the difference between the Government of Malaysia and the Organization will now be settled in accordance with the Opinion.
We will have this issued as a press release which would be available later today.
DPI Daily Briefing - 4 - 29 April 1999
**UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Condemns Abuses in Sierra Leone
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, today condemned ongoing abuses in Sierra Leone, particularly by rebel forces. A press release, issued by her Office in Geneva and available in the Spokesman's Office, said Mrs. Robinson was in touch with Sierra Leone's Government and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Francis Okelo. It also said she expressed her strong support for the ongoing peace process in Lomé, Togo.
Mrs. Robinson has accepted an invitation to visit Freetown in June, according to the press release.
Mr. Okelo has also welcomed the internal consultations of the Revolutionary United Front in Lomé, which he said will allow the rebel movement to prepare an agenda for the subsequent dialogue with the Sierra Leone Government expected to start in two weeks.
The United Nations, which has been closely involved with efforts to end the conflict, is facilitating the dialogue process through the work of the United Nations mission in Sierra Leone.
**Economic and Social Council/Bretton Woods Meeting
This morning, addressing the joint meeting of the Economic and Social Council with the Bretton Woods institutions, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette warned that now is not the time for complacency. The effects of last year's financial crisis are still with us, she said, and it would be a grave mistake to return to business as usual.
Mrs. Fréchette went on to underline five urgent priorities for the world economy:
1. Reverse the decline in the rate of growth of global gross domestic product;
2. Establish a new global financial architecture reflecting views and interests of all countries;
3. Help developing countries build the capacity to engage in the global economy on a sustainable basis, especially by providing economic security and social welfare for their populations;
4. Ensure sufficient resources are available by increasing official development assistance and reducing the debt burden on poor countries; and
5. Reinforce cooperation and coordination among all stakeholders in development.
DPI Daily Briefing - 5 - 29 April 1999
The full text of Mrs. Fréchette's speech is available in the Spokesman's Office.
Also on this topic, I would like to inform you that this afternoon, after the end of these talks at 3 o'clock, there will be a press conference in room S-226 with Ambassador Francesco Paolo Fulci, President of the Economic and Social Council, and Nitin Desai, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.
**UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
You may have seen wire reports in the past two days about the financial problems that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is experiencing. A meeting with major donors and host governments concluded yesterday in Amman, Jordan.
A press release is available in the Spokesman's Office with details about of the meeting.
**Announcements
The Department of Public Information (DPI) has prepared a set of background materials relating to the Maputo conference of States parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti- Personnel Mines and Their Destruction. This conference will be held from 3 to 7 May in Maputo, Mozambique.
The materials are now available at the documents counter on the third floor.
Tomorrow, there will be two press conferences. In the morning, the chair of the Commission on Sustainable Development, Simon Upton of New Zealand, will brief the press on the outcome of the series of meetings held during the last few days by the Commission on Sustainable Development. It will be held in room S-226 at 11:15 a.m.
Prior to that, at 10:45 a.m., a group of non-governmental organizations will also give a briefing, from their perspective, on how the Commission on Sustainable Development meeting went.
**Question-and-Answer Session
Question: Has the Secretary-General's mission produced any signs of diplomatic breakthrough?
Deputy Spokesman: No, I don't think we are in any position to announce any major breakthrough. It is a long process that is starting. The Secretary- General is talking to many leaders, and he will continue with that effort.
DPI Daily Briefing - 6 - 29 April 1999
Question: Where does the Secretary-General go now and who will he talk to next?
Deputy Spokesman: He will be briefing Council members in New York.
Question: When will he brief the Council?
Deputy Spokesman: We expect that to happen early next week.
Question: What about the envoy for Kosovo?
Deputy Spokesman: The Secretary-General is continuing his talks, and there is no announcement as yet.
Question: Is Mr. Cotti more advanced in the running? Is the Secretary- General waiting for his reply?
Deputy Spokesman: There is no race. It is a complex job that would require a lot of time for the individuals involved. They have their own personal commitments and, as you may have seen in one of the transcripts from one of the press conferences the Secretary-General had yesterday in Berlin, he referred to people's own lives and the consultations required. It's a long process.
Question: Why is Mr. Cotti back in picture after he had said last Friday that he did not want the job?
Deputy Spokesman: He also said last Friday that he wanted to take some time-off for reflection, but that he would be prepared eventually to provide his cooperation. I do not have details on the negotiations, but I would remind you that that statement left the door open for cooperation.
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