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 Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General:

Good morning everyone. I see all this audience here today... Mr. Kukan is coming. I'm glad you're all here for him. As I already mentioned, Mr. Eduard Kukan, one of the Secretary-General's Special Envoys for the Balkans, will be here during the briefing as our guest today. We're very pleased he opened up time in his agenda for that.

**Secretary-General

The Secretary-General, this morning in The Hague, in a statement to the Centennial of the first International Peace Conference, made several references to the Kosovo crisis as it related to "The effectiveness of the international rule of law in maintaining international peace and security", which was the theme of his address.

The Secretary-General said that "unless the Security Council is restored to its pre-eminent position as the sole source of legitimacy on the use of force, we are on a dangerous path to anarchy".

He continued by saying, the choice must not be between Council unity and inaction in the face of genocide, as in the case of Rwanda, on the one hand; or Council division and regional action, as in the case of Kosovo, on the other. Member States, he argued, should be able to find unity in their "defence of our common humanity".

"On the eve of a new millennium, it is this United Nations we seek -- responsive to a dynamic and changing world, respectful of the sovereignty of States, and resilient in its determination to advance the rights and freedoms of the peoples of the world."

Following that speech, at midday, he visited the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, where he met with the Tribunal's President, Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, Prosecutor Louise Arbour and other officials and judges.

The Registrar of the Rwanda Tribunal, Agwu Okali, joined a second meeting of Secretariat and Tribunal officials at which issues affecting the Rwanda Tribunal were discussed.

In the afternoon, the Secretary-General met with the Netherlands Foreign Minister, Jozias van Aartsen. Later he visited the Houses of Parliament, where he met with the speakers of the Lower and Upper Houses and then with the

Joint Standing Committees on Foreign Affairs of both Houses. Parliamentarians questioned him about rapid reaction in peacekeeping, justification for humanitarian intervention, international tribunals, United Nations reform, approaches to peace in Kosovo and African development.

The Secretary-General was then to meet with the Foreign Minister of Belgium, Eric Derycke, and then to attend a reception hosted by Queen Beatrix.

Tomorrow, he is scheduled to fly to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and the following day he will go to Albania. He is expected to arrive in Skopje in the late morning. After meeting with senior government officials and United Nations and non-governmental organization personnel there, he will travel to Stenkovec refugee camp at the Blace border with Kosovo in the early afternoon. Upon returning to Skopje later in the afternoon and meeting with President Gligorov, the Secretary-General has scheduled a press conference.

On Thursday, he will travel to Tirana and following a briefing by United Nations agencies, the Secretary-General will travel to Kukes. He will return to Tirana later in the day for meetings with Albanian government officials.

**Kosovo

On the United Nations humanitarian needs assessment, which began its work in Belgrade yesterday, we have the following information. One of the vehicles in the convoy proceeding to Novi Sad slipped off the road and rolled into a ditch. Two of the four occupants of the vehicle were injured. Preliminary reports show that the representative from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) suffered a broken leg and a senior staff member from the Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs appeared to be bruised. They were both taken to a hospital in Belgrade. The mission proceeded to Novi Sad as planned.

In Geneva, the High Commissioner for Human Rights announced this morning that, following extended efforts by the United Nations and other international agencies, including a direct appeal by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, around 100 Kosovar Albanian men of military age, taken last Saturday by the Yugoslav Army from buses as they were about to cross the Montenegrin border into Albania, were released yesterday afternoon. At least one, perhaps more, remain missing, however. Human Rights Officers are on site in Montenegro to collect more information on this case.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported a train from Kosovo with an estimated 1,000 refugees on board arrived at the border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia this morning and, unlike yesterday, all the passengers were allowed to disembark. No major refugee crossings into Albania had been reported as of midday Albania time.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 18 May 1999

**Sudan

In another incident, in another part of the world, involving humanitarian workers today, a World Food Programme (WFP) barge returning from delivering aid in Juba was attacked by unknown armed men at 6 a.m. local time in the Sudan. The barge convoy, which was clearly marked with United Nations/WFP flags, was intensively fired upon with heavy arms. The WFP had obtained all necessary security clearances from all warring parties concerned.

An employee of Sudan River Transport Company was killed and three persons were injured, including two WFP staff members -- one international and one national staff. The barge convoy had three WFP personnel on board, three UNICEF personnel, 14 crew members and one cook. Everybody on board, taking the dead body with them, jumped onto the vessel that was pulling the barge convoy and the barges were detached. The pusher headed northwards up the river.

WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini condemned the attack on the barge, saying, "This senseless and violent attack not only harms WFP, but threatens the vital lifeline for tens of thousands of people who depend on WFP relief supplies through the barge operation. This tragedy should never have happened".

Today's incident comes a day after WFP teams reported hearing bombs fall in three locations in the Bahr-el-Ghazal region of Sudan and the Secretary-General called on both parties to respect fully the ceasefire agreed to and ensure the safe delivery of humanitarian assistance to extremely vulnerable populations in the region.

**Security Council

Closer to home, there are no Security Council consultations scheduled for today. Tomorrow, the Council has scheduled consultations on the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which will feature a briefing by the Secretary- General's Special Envoy, Mohamed Sahnoun.

**Iraq Programme

The regular weekly update from the Office of the Iraq Programme is out today. It shows that, as of last Friday, the revenues so far in the six-month phase is $3.52 billion. Phase V, which is the current one, ends next Monday, 24 May.

We expect the Secretary-General's 180-day report on the implementation of the Programme to go to the Council tomorrow. This will follow the Secretary-General's two-year review and assessment report published two weeks

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ago. On Friday morning, the Security Council is scheduled to hold consultations on Iraq.

**Liberia

The fact-finding mission, requested by the Government of Liberia, to look into the shooting incident last September in Monrovia that had resulted in the killing and wounding of scores of people, arrived yesterday in Monrovia. They are starting their work today interviewing a whole range of people, including non-governmental organizations, Government officials, people who had been affected by the fighting or who know what happened at that time. They will probably stay there until the end of the week or beginning of next.

They arrived from Nigeria, where they met with Roosevelt Johnson, the former faction leader who has been in refuge in Nigeria since the shooting incident, one of his supporters and two former commanders in the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG) in Monrovia at that time. They also met with the Foreign Minister of Nigeria

Meanwhile, here in New York and still on Liberia, the sanctions committee on Liberia will meet today at 3:30 this afternoon. They are scheduled to discuss possible contraventions of the arms embargo imposed on Liberia by Security Council resolution 985.

**World Bank

Tomorrow in Washington, D.C., the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) and the World Bank launch a new initiative, the "Cities Alliance", a multi-donor coalition, which will work in partnership with cities to produce strategies for urban development and action to upgrade low-income settlements. We have a press release upstairs on this with more details.

We also have a press release from the World Bank, where there are details of a major study just released by the World Bank on the economics of tobacco control. It contains a number of recommendations for reducing the demand for tobacco in order to prevent death and disease. For example, the study suggests that governments raise cigarette taxes, ban tobacco advertising and provide information on the health risks of smoking. According to the World Bank, these measures are not likely to harm economies. Research has shown that higher cigarette taxes do not erode revenues or cause permanent job losses.

**United Nations Environment Programme Awards

We also have details upstairs, with a press release by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), where they announce the 17 winners of this year's Global 500 Awards. Among them are a successful businesswoman, a

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 18 May 1999

multinational automobile corporation and a 13-year-old illusionist. As you know, the ceremony will be held on 5 June, World Environment Day, in Tokyo.

**World Chronicle

And we have today in the World Chronicle at 2:30 p.m., on in-house channel 6 or 38, Mehri Madarshahi, President of the United Nations Staff Council.

Any questions before we go to Mr. Kukan?

**Question-and-Answer Session

Question: You said a 13-year-old illusionist? What is that?

Deputy Spokesman: The details are in the press release, but I can try to get it here for you. Let's see... Ms. Kruti Parekh, 13-year-old illusionist from India, who uses magic to pass on the environmental message.

Question: There were some press reports that the needs assessment vehicle might have been hit by a Serbian vehicle. Do you know if that ...?

Deputy Spokesman: We don't have any of that. In fact, in the reports we have, it was just a plain accident.

Question: Does the Secretary-General have any plans after Albania? Is he possibly going back to Europe to attend any of these G8 meetings or meet bilaterally with any of the governments there on Kosovo?

Deputy Spokesman: He'll be going to Sweden. He has a scheduled official visit to Sweden and that's where he'll be going after visiting Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Question: Does the Secretary-General have plans to go to Belgrade?

Deputy Spokesman: The Secretary-General has no plans to go to Belgrade at this time.

Question: Anything on these Libyan talks with the Secretary-General, the United States, the United Kingdom and Libya?

Deputy Spokesman: I don't have anything at this time.

Question: Have they met yet?

Deputy Spokesman: No, it has not yet happened.

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Question: Is it going to remain confidential, these discussions? Are you going to let us know?

Deputy Spokesman: I will let you know when I have something.

Question: Did Mr. Annan discuss, with Ms. Arbour, her future?

Deputy Spokesman: I don't have a read-out of their meeting.

Question: If there are no other questions, I would like to raise one question, also. The Information Committee has asked the United Nations to open the press briefings for the delegates. The United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) Executive Committee would like to know if the United Nations press corps will be allowed to attend briefings for delegates on a reciprocal basis?

Deputy Spokesman: You have put this on the record now and those who have the responsibility to answer your question will have to take that into consideration.

Question: [inaudible] ... So you very much come into the picture, there is no illusion about it. So what's your opinion on that?

Deputy Spokesman: Okay, can we talk about this after the briefing? We have a special guest today, who has a very busy agenda and was very kind to open up space to come and talk to you and answer your questions. But, we will give all the time that you want for that and I think that's an important issue.

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