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:

Sorry for the slight delay.

**Secretary-General

The Secretary-General, as you know, is in Skopje, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. He arrived there this morning and I want to report, first, on his visit to the refugee camp known as Stenkovec, just outside Skopje. He spoke to refugees and answered a few questions from the press. He told the journalists that the Government had reassured him they would keep their borders open, and that they had 20,000 to 30,000 new places for additional refugees, should they arrive. "We hope that will not happen", he said.

From Stenkovec, he drove to the official border crossing from Kosovo at Blace, where nearly 2,500 refugees had crossed over yesterday, and another 1,500 today. He and his wife, Nane, who is also there, were able to have more leisurely exchanges with refugees. It was a calmer situation. They spoke to a 100-year-old woman and with the mother of a one-day-old child born in the woods yesterday.

Talking about the movement of refugees into the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, we have information from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that about 3,000 crossed in -- the 1,500 I already mentioned, which came in their own vehicles, and another 1,500 refugees who arrived by train later in the day.

The first activity of the Secretary-General in Skopje, this morning, was to meet Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, who was accompanied by the Foreign Minister, the Defence Minister and the Interior Minister. They discussed current efforts to provide for the 228,000 refugees in the country, the economic and social impact of the crisis, and how the international community can help.

He then met with representatives of United Nations agencies and non- governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the country. He informed them that the Government had agreed to rent the former headquarters premises of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, so that United Nations agencies could base themselves there, facilitating communication and cooperation.

He acknowledged some criticism of United Nations performance and urged all to work together for maximum efficiency and effectiveness. The NGO representatives pledged to continue to follow the lead of the UNHCR and

welcomed the appointment of Martin Griffiths to coordinate broader and longer- term planning.

He is expected to have, in about five minutes, a press conference in Skopje. **Secretary-General's Special Envoys to Balkans

Here, closer to us, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Balkans, Eduard Kukan, travelled to Washington, D.C., where he was scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to discuss the United Nations role in peace negotiations on the future of Kosovo. He has said he will also meet Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov on Thursday, in Moscow, as part of these consultations.

The Secretary-General's other Special Envoy for the Balkans, Carl Bildt, was in Europe, where he continued to establish and maintain contacts with all parties concerned as part of his mandate to facilitate a lasting political solution to the crisis. He was in Brussels today.

**Needs Assessment Mission

The United Nations needs assessment mission visited Novi Sad and Pancevo, two towns north of Belgrade, yesterday, following a slight delay as a result of one of their vehicles being involved in a road accident. Today, the mission is proceeding as scheduled to Nis, in the southern part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, before heading to Kosovo, where they will spend three days beginning Thursday.

**Security Council

The Security Council is meeting today to discuss the conflict involving Eritrea and Ethiopia. The Secretary-General's Special Envoy, Mohamed Sahnoun, is briefing Council members on his recent mission to the region.

Council members will also discuss the extension of mandate for one of the judges of the International Tribunal for Rwanda.

A Secretariat briefing on the ceasefire agreement signed between Sierra Leone's President Kabbah and rebel leader Foday Sankoh has also been added to today's Council agenda.

There has also been a request for a Secretariat briefing on a plane crash involving Russian crew members last week in Angola.

**Sierra Leone

On Sierra Leone, I have an announcement, attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, which says, yesterday, 18 May, President Kabbah of

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 19 May 1999

Sierra Leone and Corporal Foday Sankoh, leader of the Revolutionary United Front, signed a ceasefire agreement in Lomé, Togo. The agreement commits both sides to observe a ceasefire from 24 May.

The Secretary-General welcomes the signing of the ceasefire agreement, which will help create an atmosphere conducive to the success of the peace talks, to begin on 25 May. He calls on the Revolutionary United Front, the Civil Defence Forces, the Government and the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG) to adhere strictly to its terms.

The Secretary-General goes on to say that he now intends to initiate immediate measures to strengthen the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL) to play its role in implementing the agreement. The Secretariat is sending a military assessment team to Sierra Leone to draw up plans for an expanded presence, which will then be submitted to the Security Council. The full statement is available in our Office upstairs.

**Iraq

This morning, the Secretary-General's report on the implementation of Phase V of the "oil-for-food" programme was distributed to Council members. The document is expected to become available on the racks at about 12:30 p.m. -- in about 15 minutes.

Already on the racks, still on Iraq, is a letter from Iraq with the Government's view on the oil-for-food programme.

As you know, Phase V of the Programme ends on 24 May, and the Security Council is expected to hold consultations on this matter, this coming Friday.

**Louise Arbour

In the weekly briefing at The Hague today, the spokesman for the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia informed correspondents that Justice Louise Arbour would leave The Hague today for Canada, where she would receive an honorary award from the University of New Brunswick. She would be back in the Netherlands on Friday.

In answer to a question about the rumour of her possible departure from the Tribunal to take a seat on the Canadian Supreme Court, the Spokesman replied that the Prosecutor had made no public comment apart from indicating that she had not received an offer and, if she received an offer, she would consider it. The text of the briefing in the Tribunal is available in the Spokesman's Office.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 19 May 1999

**Address to African/African-American Summit

Today, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahima Fall delivered a speech on behalf of the Secretary-General to the Fifth African/ African-American Summit, which is being held in Accra.

He praised the African-American community in the United States for helping to renew international interest in Africa and increase the profile of African issues in the United States. He also noted that in the past 50 years Americans have contributed to the development of Europe and Asia, and he expressed hope that Africa would now benefit from a similar commitment. "In an era of fundamental change in Africa and the world, it is time to seize the moment and bring about the Africa that Africans deserve", he said.

Copies of the speech are available in our Office.

**New Turner Grants

The United Nations Foundation, which oversees the disbursement of Ted Turner's billion-dollar gift in support of United Nations causes, has just announced a new round of grants.

Included in the package is support for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to help pregnant women in the Kosovo region, where over 1,000 births per month are expected among the refugees.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) will also benefit –- it will receive $1.8 million to prevent the spread of HIV in Botswana and Zimbabwe, two of the hardest-hit countries in the world. A press release is available in our Office.

**Statement on Sudan

Also available in our Office is a statement by Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Sergio Vieira de Mello on the Sudan. You recall, yesterday we announced to you the attack on the World Food Programme (WFP) barge in the Sudan. It's about that.

**Payments

Colombia today became the sixty-fourth country to pay its regular budget dues for this year, totalling over $1 million.

**Announcement

And finally, an announcement. Tomorrow, Thursday, a press conference here in room S-226 on the release of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines' first "Landmine Monitor Report 1999 -- Towards a Mine-Free World".

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 19 May 1999

The press conference will be chaired by Jody Williams, Ambassador and Nobel Laureate, and Stephen Goose, Director of Human Rights Watch. The conference is sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Austria, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom.

Any questions?

**Question-and-Answer Session

Question: When is the press conference?

Deputy-Spokesman: Sorry, ... 11 o'clock.

Question: Can you shed some light as to why the needs assessment mission started its work in Novi Sad? It was supposed to start its work in Kosovo.

Deputy-Spokesman: We are told it's for logistical reasons, because they are going north and coming down south and doing a circle.

Question: Is there a way of having any phone news conference with the entourage travelling there, Mr. Vieira de Mello's party?

Deputy-Spokesman: It's possible. We have a phone for them. We can definitely try.

Follow-up Question: Any idea when he'll be back in New York? The people upstairs weren't sure yet.

Deputy-Spokesman: No. The full mission is supposed to last between 10 to 12 days there. He may go to Geneva before coming here.

Question: Also, a logistical thing. Is there any way that we can get a readout from Mohamed Sahnoun on what he told the Council?

Deputy-Spokesman: We are trying to get that for you.

Question: Regarding the extension of the mandate of the judge in Rwanda, since this judge has been elected ... do we have any legal precedent here, where a judge has been elected and the Secretary-General is asking that his mandate be extended?

Deputy-Spokesman: The reason the Secretary-General is requesting that is because his mandate expires on the twenty-fourth. However, two trials on which he sits would have to be started all the way from the beginning, if he were to be replaced by another judge, which would violate the rights of the accused to due process of law.

Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 19 May 1999

Therefore, the Secretary-General has asked the Security Council, as the parent organ of the Tribunal, and the General Assembly, which is responsible for electing the judges, to allow Judge Aspergren to stay until the cases he sits on are completed.

Follow-up Question: If a judge dies in the process, what would happen?

Deputy-Spokesman: Well, nobody has control over that. This is a controllable situation.

Question: In-house, but in a way, out-of-house. If your Office faces the front of the Building -- I don't expect you to know the answers to this, but hopefully, you can get them. Why are they drilling again in the pool? They were drilling last year. How much is this costing? Why were they using slippers in the pool to not damage any of the stones just six days ago, and now on the very spot, they're jackhammering? What is leaking? I understand somebody made a decision about throwing out historic stones, old stones, that are in the pool. Something's happening there. We'd like to know.

Deputy-Spokesman: I don't know the answer. I'll look into it.

Any other questions? On the house or not on the house. Thank you. Have a nice afternoon.

* *** *