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 afternoon. First, I would like to mention that we have a visitor, the Chief Press Officer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Argentine Air Force. Welcome. Our guest at the noon briefing today is Bruce Rashkow, who is the Director of the General Legal Division of the Office of Legal Affairs.

**Kosovo

The newly appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, is completing his round of briefings at United Nations Headquarters today. He is expected to be in Pristina by the middle of next week after attending a high-level meeting on reconstruction in Kosovo to be held on Tuesday in Brussels.

Meanwhile, in Kosovo, the acting Special Representative, Sergio Vieira de Mello, is meeting today with the United Nations Police Commissioner and a representative of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is charged with institution-building as part of the United Nations mission in Kosovo, to work out details for the recruitment of local police for training. The OSCE is responsible for setting up the police academy.

Mr. de Mello also met with a United States delegation led by United States Assistant Secretary of State Julia Taft. When asked whether the United Nations was ready to receive police in Kosovo, Mr. de Mello responded "yes", and that he was keen to receive them.

Mr. de Mello also spoke today with Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova and encouraged him to return to Kosovo to attend a scheduled meeting Tuesday of the Kosovo Transitional Council, the highest level consultative body representing a broad spectrum of opinion in Kosovo.

Up to 80 Albanians and 60 Serbs were expected to resume work on Monday in Pristina's municipal building in the first step towards the re-creation of the municipal authority in the war-torn city.

Meanwhile, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) flagged the critical situation of minorities in Kosovo (Serbs and Roma, in particular) and reported that the situation of some 100,000 Serbs who have fled from Kosovo to Serbia proper is grim. Deprived of any official status, they have become second class citizens. Local press reports in Serbia say the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia sent an instruction to

all directors of the primary and secondary schools in the territory of Serbia to reject enrolment of pupils from Kosovo. Various other bureaucratic pressures are reportedly being applied on the internally displaced to return to Kosovo.

For more details on that, see the UNHCR update, which is available in the Spokesman's Office.

On another front, we also have available a press release from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia that says that two more States have signed formal agreements with the United Nations in order to make national experts available to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The agreements follow a request by the Prosecutor, Justice Louise Arbour, which was approved by the Secretary-General. Denmark signed on 24 June to provide three experts, followed by Sweden signing on 6 July to provide 13 experts.

Discussions are continuing with a number of other States prepared to assist the Office of the Prosecutor's operations in Kosovo. Similar agreements have already been signed with France, Canada, United Kingdom and Switzerland.

**Secretary-General in Guinea

The Secretary-General arrived in Guinea from Liberia Thursday evening, and began his official programme Friday morning, with a meeting with Guinean Foreign Minister Zainoul Abidine Sanoussi. The Foreign Minister said that Guinea had absorbed 2 million refugees during 10 years of instability in West Africa. At least 700,000, mostly from Sierra Leone, were still in Guinea. A donor's conference was scheduled for Brussels in October seeking funds for Guinea for development. The Secretary-General said he would support this effort.

After that meeting, he then met with Prime Minister Lamine Sidime. They discussed the economic and ecological impact of the large number of refugees in the country. They also discussed the security situation in Africa, the recent peace agreement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone. The Secretary-General's last official meeting in Guinea was with President Lansana Conte, and they discussed regional issues and the dangers of the arms trade.

After a lunch hosted by the Prime Minister, the Secretary-General and his party were to travel by helicopter to two refugee camps comprising mostly Sierra Leoneans. On his return to Conakry, the Secretary-General was to give a press conference and then proceed to Abuja, Nigeria.

**Security Council Consultations

Here in New York, the Security Council met this morning on a draft presidential statement on Libya. They are now working on it at the expert

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 9 July 1999

level. We understand that they would like to take action on it later today. If the experts reach an agreement, they could come back to consultations as early as 12:30 p.m. Under other matters, the Secretariat requested an extension for the report of the Secretary-General on Kosovo originally due today. The new date is Tuesday, 13 July.

**Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

More than 1 million people in Afghanistan will need assistance because of a sharp reduction in cereal production there, according to a report released today by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

The agencies predict that cereal production will fall because of bad climate conditions, increased pest infestations and a trend among farmers to favour more lucrative cash crops over wheat.

We have more information in a press release available upstairs.

**World Food Programme (WFP)

Also available upstairs is a press release from the World Food Programme on the Sudan. It is about 150,000 persons trapped by renewed fighting in the Sudan's Western Upper Nile region.

**Treaties

Tunisia today ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which now has 38 parties and 152 signatories.

**Payments

Jamaica made a full payment yesterday afternoon in the amount of over $62,000. With this payment, we now have 81 Member States paid in full for this year.

**Week Ahead

The Week Ahead feature with the activities for next week is already available in the Spokesman's Office. Here are some of the highlights.

The Secretary-General will be in Nigeria Saturday and will be there throughout Sunday.

Sunday, 11 July, is World Population Day.

The Secretary General is expected to be in Algiers from Monday to Wednesday for the summit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 9 July 1999

Also, Monday, Iraq is on the agenda of Security Council informal consultations.

On Tuesday, 13 July, or shortly before, the Secretary-General is expected to make his determination on the conditions for the popular consultation in East Timor.

**Question-and-Answer Session

Question: There was a report from Iraqi television this morning that President Hussein viciously attacked United Nations staff members calling them thieves and spies. In light of the recent incident with the New Zealander, what is the United Nations response to this report?

Deputy Spokesman: I saw the wires reporting on that as well. You would recall that the Government of Iraq recently made two allegations related to this alleged planting of locust eggs saying those were acts of people working for the demining programme in the northern governorate. So, twice they made allegations, and twice we have investigated, and we have not been able to find any evidence which supported any aspect of the allegations made against the two individuals.

We very much regret the repetition of such allegations when the United Nations is trying to deal with the matter in a positive way. We hope that Iraq will also have a constructive approach.

Question: What is your response to critics who feel that the United Nations is too soft on Iraq in terms of Iraq deciding which United Nations staff member could go there? Is there not a more forceful reaction to these very strong comments by the Iraqi President -- about the United Nations, in general, not just these specific cases?

Deputy Spokesman: I don't think we're giving in. In the case of nationalities, we have made it very clear that it is the responsibility of the United Nations to determine and select who are the people going in any operation. There was a case in Iraq where they had said that they could not guarantee security of certain nationalities, and we very clearly and very forcefully reminded them of their responsibility as host country to guarantee the safety of staff. But there's one point where you cannot play with individuals' safety. They did not meet their responsibility to provide security to staff.

Question: The United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) on the disposal of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and its reincarnation were on different terms with Iraq on visas. Whereas other United Nations staff members needed visas, UNSCOM did not need these. Is that case the way you see it?

Deputy Spokesman: I do not know. I'll have to check.

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 9 July 1999

Question: In connection with the report that Serb children are being refused education in Serbia, is this an official Milosevic government policy or does it relate to school availability in individual localities?

Deputy Spokesman: All I can say is that this is what the press is saying in Serbia. We have not received an official note on that. The Serbian press has reported that the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia sent an instruction to all directors of the primary and secondary schools in the territory of Serbia to reject enrolment of pupils from Kosovo.

Question: Regarding the children, is it not United Nations policy that they wish the Serbs to stay in Kosovo? However, this policy seems designed to prevent the Serbs from settling in Kosovo. Does the United Nations want that?

Deputy Spokesman: That is evidently not the best way to handle the situation. We would like people from Kosovo to go back and feel secure in a multi-ethnic society. Obviously, this method is not appropriate.

* *** *