DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19990715
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General:
**Kosovo
Good afternoon. The Secretary-General's Special Representative for Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, arrived in Pristina today.
The acting Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello, meanwhile, met with Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova, who returned to Kosovo earlier today. A crowd of 3,000 to 4,000 Kosovars gathered around the United Nations mission headquarters upon his arrival chanting, "Rugova, Rugova".
The two met for more than 45 minutes during which they discussed steps the United Nations was taking to put the civil administration in place and talked about the planned first meeting of the Kosovo Transitional Council to take place tomorrow. As expected, Mr. de Mello had a lengthy meeting late yesterday with Kosovo Serb leaders Bishop Artemije and Momcilo Trajkovic, urging them to participate in the Council meeting. The two said they would convene an emergency meeting of their national assembly on the matter.
The Secretary-General, in an address to the oldest university in Slovakia today, said that "a key challenge will be engaging the various political groupings in Kosovo in a process of rehabilitation and reconciliation, which will improve as a sense of security takes root". The Secretary-General also said that "for Kosovo to really succeed, the region as a whole must also be brought back to health".
We have copies of his address available in the Spokesman's Office.
In Kosovo, the recruitment of applicants into the police training academy being set up by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will begin Friday, when forms for the future Kosovo Police Service will be distributed throughout the territory. Applications will be screened in Pristina. The plan is for the training to begin in August.
Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), will travel to Kosovo for a two-day review of the agency's food operations there. She will be in Kosovo next Monday and Tuesday. The WFP is assisting 2.5 million people throughout the region.
In New York, the Security Council is discussing the just released report of the Secretary-General on Kosovo.
**Security Council Consultations
After a short consultation session during which the Russian Federation introduced a draft resolution on the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP), the Security Council had a formal meeting and adopted the resolution extending the Mission's mandate for six months until 15 January 2000. The number of the resolution is 1252 (1999) and it was adopted unanimously.
Under other matters (in this short consultations sessions), the delegates from the United Kingdom and from Argentina briefed Council members on the agreement reached yesterday in London on the Falkland Islands/Malvinas issue.
**Secretary-General in Slovakia
The Secretary-General, as you know, arrived in Bratislava. It is the first visit by a Secretary-General to Slovakia since it became independent in 1993. His first official meeting was with Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan, who is also his Special Envoy for the Balkans. They reviewed the situation in Kosovo and the Foreign Minister also said his country would consider participating in new United Nations peacekeeping forces in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo if they are confirmed.
The Secretary-General then visited with United Nations staff. In a subsequent session, the Speaker of the Parliament, Jozef Migas, told the Secretary-General that he would participate in an upcoming Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting to prepare for the United Nations Millennium Assembly in the year 2000.
The Secretary-General then met with Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, who announced that his country would donate premises for the United Nations House in Bratislava. This was followed by a luncheon hosted by the Prime Minister, which included a briefing by Pino Arlacchi, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention. This was followed by a press conference, after which the Secretary-General addressed Comenius University, where he received an honorary doctorate.
This evening, he is scheduled to meet with the President of Slovakia and attend a reception hosted by the Foreign Minister. Tomorrow, he will fly to Prague to begin an official visit to the Czech Republic.
**Baghdad Investigation
The team of five experts, four from the OPCW and one independent, arrived yesterday in Baghdad and held meetings with the Secretary-General's Special Envoy in Baghdad, Prakash Shah, and Iraqi authorities and diplomatic observers. They have also done a preliminary inspection of the biological
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room and chemical laboratory. They are now preparing for the main task of the destruction of the conventional laboratory chemicals and chemical standards.
I have two statements attributable to the Spokesman.
**Statement on Falklands/Malvinas
I have mentioned to you the Falklands/Malvinas issue which was raised in the Council and the statement on that attributable to the Spokesman says: "The Secretary-General welcomes, as a sign of growing goodwill and cooperation, the agreement just signed between Argentina and the United Kingdom which, among other things, provides for the resumption of air links between Argentina and the Falklands/Malvinas."
**Statement on Pakistan
The second statement is on Pakistan.
"The Secretary-General has learned of the death of Abdul Ahad Karzai in Quetta, Pakistan on 14 July. The Secretary-General deeply regrets this reported killing. In this connection, he is concerned about repeated attempts in recent months on the lives of exiled Afghan leaders, such as Mr. Karzai, who are living in Pakistan.
The Secretary-General appeals to the Government of Pakistan and others concerned to do their utmost to investigate this matter with a view to bringing the perpetrators to justice and to ensure the safety of Afghans residing in Pakistan."
**Small Arms Report
Out on the racks today is a note by the Secretary-General transmitting a report by experts on the feasibility of carrying out a study on restricting the manufacture and trade of small arms. The experts concluded that such a study is both feasible and desirable as part of efforts to address the proliferation of light weapons and small arms.
**ICTY Judgement on Tadic Case
This morning in The Hague, the appeal Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia issued its first-ever judgement from the appeal lodged on the Tadic case.
Dusko Tadic was indicted for his participation in the attack, seizure, murder and maltreatment of Bosnian Muslims and Croats in the Prijedor municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He had been originally acquitted on several counts of his indictment by the Judges who had decided that the victims were not "protected persons" under the 1949 Geneva Convention. This
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has now been overturned by the Appeals Chamber who ruled that there was indeed an international armed conflict at the time the crimes were committed and therefore, the Geneva Convention applied and the victims were "protected persons" under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The Trial Chamber will issue its sentence on 30 August.
**United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)
The United Nations Office for Projects Services (UNOPS) has just agreed jointly with the Winchester Group, a United Kingdom based publisher, to organize a two-day event on United Nations business collaboration. Called "Aid and Trade", the event will take place at the Jacob Javitts Center here in New York at the end of next May.
In addition to exhibitions by corporations that work with multilateral organizations, there will be an international conference on partnerships between the United Nations and the private sector.
A press release is available in the Spokesman's Office with more details.
**United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Also available on the racks is a Media Advisory by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and this is related to their Human Development Report, where they say as a matter of policy they neither advocate nor support any so-called global tax. This is related to some references in the Human Development Report to the Internet and a suggestion mentioning taxes.
The statement says the UNDP, as a matter of policy, neither advocates nor supports any so-called global tax nor any form of international levy as a means of funding development aid. The UNDP and the United Nations are not engaged, and have no plans to engage in any activity to impose any tax on anyone. Neither the United Nations nor the UNDP has a mandate or power to create or administer any global taxation system.
The Human Development Report, the media advisory says, is an independent publication which is separate from the UNDP. Its recommendations do not reflect the policies or views of the UNDP or its Member States. And the Report's recommendations are certainly not binding.
**Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)
Hungary has just ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which now has 39 parties and 152 signatories.
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**Payments
There are now 84 Member States who have paid their contributions in full. Slovenia completed payment today with a payment on its dues of over 600 thousand dollars.
**Question-and-Answer Session
Question: Could you elaborate on the post-ballot issues that will be discussed today in the East Timor talks?
Deputy Spokesman: No, I don't have that information. The Secretariat has prepared a paper to be shared with the two delegations and I am sure they will have to go back to their capitals to discuss that.
Question: Could you tell us what the OPCW team in Baghdad have found?
Deputy Spokesman: I don't think we have that information now. They will certainly be issuing a report and I hope that will become available.
Question: Will they be destroying the chemicals on premises?
Deputy Spokesman: They will be destroying the chemicals, but I don't know how they will be doing that.
Question: Did you get feedback from the delegation that has gone to Lusaka as to how talks are going with President Chiluba? How long are they staying?
Deputy Spokesman: They have just left -- I don't think they have even arrived there as yet. They were due to leave today. They are there to talk with President Chiluba on how his talks go with the rebel sides regarding the signing of the ceasefire and they will stay as long as required to be able to report comprehensively.
Question: Could you tell us what the main topics are in the talks on East Timor?
Deputy Spokesman: The three main topics for today's and tomorrow's talks are the popular consultation process as it is now, and that includes security; the efforts for peace and reconciliation; and post-ballot issues.
Question: What prompted the UNDP statement on tax?
Deputy Spokesman: I know there were several stories in the media on the Human Development Report and some of them mentioned a suggestion or idea of some sort of tax on e-mails so I think UNDP felt that they should clarify that
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the report does not reflect the views of UNDP and that UNDP specifically does not have any mandate or power on taxation.
Question: Do you have tomorrow's schedule for the talks on East Timor as yet and are you expecting a joint briefing at the end of those talks tomorrow?
Deputy Spokesman: There will be a morning trilateral session at 10 a.m. and another trilateral session at 3 p.m. At the end of the afternoon session Ambassador Marker has agreed to talk to the press at the stakeout area on the second floor. This is tentative and we may have a better idea by the briefing tomorrow.
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