DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19990714
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General:
**East Timor
Good afternoon. There will be another round of senior officials' talks on the issue of East Timor. The meetings will start tomorrow morning and will go until Friday afternoon here at Headquarters. The Chairman will be Ambassador Jamsheed Marker, the Personal Representative of the Secretary- General for East Timor.
The Indonesian side will be led by Ambassador Nugroho Wisnumurti, Director-General of Political Affairs of the Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs. The Portuguese team will be led by Ambassador Fernando Neves, Director-General for Special Political Questions at the Portuguese Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Both Ambassadors are well known to you. They have been leading both teams in the previous rounds of talks.
They are expected to review developments related to the popular consultation process, including security aspects. They will also go over peace and reconciliation efforts, as well as discuss post ballot issues.
I would also like to inform you that we are expecting the Secretary- General to send a letter to the Security Council later today -- perhaps in the evening -- with his determination on conditions for the registration of voters to start or not this coming Friday.
We have available in the Spokesman's Office, as we have every day, the transcript of the daily press briefing which happened in Dili.
**Kosovo
The United Nations took a series of initiatives today aimed at convening on Friday the Kosovo Transitional Council, the highest consultative body in the province which is designed to bring together representatives of the various communities and political groups for the first time.
The acting Special Representative for Kosovo Sergio Vieira de Mello was scheduled to meet today with two Kosovo Serb leaders Bishop Artemije and Momcilo Trajkovic and brief them on the actions taken by the United Nations mission to help protect Serbs in the province.
The KFOR, at the United Nations request, attempted to find five sites where the UCK are allegedly detaining prisoners. Three of the sites could not be found, but two were. At one site, bodies were found that were believed to
be two weeks old. A fifth site was found where three Serbs and four Roma were found. They were set loose.
Mr. de Mello was expected to inform the Serbian leaders, in response to their request that occupied homes be returned to their Serb owners, that a military-civilian police force will conduct house searches in Pristina to determine if the occupants can prove ownership.
Amid increasing reports of attacks against Serbs and Romas, de Mello issued a statement on behalf of all components of the United Nations mission -- the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the European Union -- strongly appealing for an end to attacks and harassment of minorities. "Everyone who wishes to see his or her children to enjoy a prosperous and secure life in a new and democratic Kosovo has a duty to help end this violence now", he said.
Copies of the statement are available in the Spokesman's Office.
Meanwhile on the Albanian side, Mr. de Mello has scheduled to meet on Thursday with Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova, who is expected to return to Kosovo earlier in the day. Mr. Rugova and the two Kosovo Serb leaders are invited to attend the scheduled Kosovo Transitional Council meeting which is to be jointly chaired by de Mello and the incoming Special Representative Bernard Kouchner, who begins work in Kosovo on Thursday. The first item on the agenda is the issue of security.
Meanwhile, information on mine and unexploded ordnance-related injuries and deaths in Kosovo between 13 June and 12 July has been released by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Pristina. According the WHO, mines and unexploded ordnances caused an estimated 130 to 170 casualties during the 30-day period covered. The estimate is based on 97 confirmed cases. Mines were responsible for 58 per cent of the casualties, while unexploded ordnances, including unexploded North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) cluster bombs, accounted for 40 per cent.
There is a handout in our office with more details on this.
Next week the Geneva-based joint United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/Habitat Balkans Task Force will send a stream of experts to the region. The first group set to leave from Geneva this coming weekend will concentrate on an environmental assessment of the worst damaged industrial sites, primarily in Serbia, including the Pancevo industrial complex. The Task Force's report will be issued in October.
We also have available a weekly brief on the World Food Programme's (WFP) operations in the Balkans.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 14 July 1999
**Secretary-General in Algiers
This morning in Algiers, the Secretary-General had a breakfast meeting with the Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Salim Salim, as part of the routine consultations between the two organizations. As you know, the two Secretaries-General meet at least twice a year. Once, at the OAU summit and here at Headquarters during the General Assembly. They discussed implementation of the peace agreement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, efforts to end the Eritrea/Ethiopia war, the ongoing conflict in Angola, and the peace process in Sierra Leone.
The Secretary-General then met with Rwandan President, Pasteur Bizimungu, to review the Democratic Republic of the Congo peace accord, the situation in Rwanda and the functioning of the International Tribunal for Rwanda. He was also able to see the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), K.Y. Amoako, and then the President of Togo, Ngassinbe Eyadema, who briefed him further on the Sierra Leone peace agreement, which was concluded in Togo last week.
At mid-morning, Algiers time, the Secretary-General left for Bratislava to begin an official visit to Slovakia and he has already arrived there.
**Security Council Consultations
This morning the Security Council is carrying over the discussion on Iraq which started last Monday. Council members are discussing the texts they have before them on disarmament arrangements in Iraq.
After that, they are expected to take up a draft resolution extending the mandate of the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP), which is likely to be adopted later today in a formal meeting.
**Democratic Republic of Congo
The Secretary-General is dispatching tomorrow a three-person team to Lusaka to liaise with President Chiluba of Zambia who is working out the completion of the signing by the rebels of the ceasefire agreement for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Secretary-General is still prepared to send a full-fledged technical survey team to the Democratic Republic of the Congo upon the full signing of the agreement.
**Outer Space Meeting in Vienna
The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space started a three-day session in Vienna today. This meeting is critical, because it comes right before UNISPACE III - the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, which starts next Monday.
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 14 July 1999
The Committee will finalize preparations for that Conference, tackling issues like space debris and international space law. The aim is to develop a blueprint for the peaceful uses of outer space in the next century.
We have a press release in our office with more details.
**Payments
Pakistan made a budget payment today fulfilling its obligations of over $600,000 and making it the eighty-third Member State to pay in full for 1999.
Question-and-Answer Session
Question: You said Mr. Kouchner is undertaking his duties on Thursday, what about Mr. Klein?
Deputy Spokesman: That was announced yesterday. The date is 2 August.
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