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. Our guest today at the noon briefing will be Oluyemi Adeniji, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Central African Republic. He is now concluding his briefing to the Security Council, and we're hoping that he will be finished early enough so that he will be able to join us.

**Secretary-General Ends Mission to Africa and Europe

With the end of his visit to Austria today, the Secretary-General also concluded a tour of 10 countries in Africa and in Europe. He started the day with a breakfast meeting with a dozen women ambassadors to the United Nations in Vienna. The Secretary-General enlisted their help in maintaining the roster of qualified women candidates for United Nations jobs. They also discussed women in post-conflict situations, trafficking in women and children, and violence against women.

Later in the morning, he went to the headquarters of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), where he met with the organization's Secretary-General, Jan Kubis, who had been the Secretary- General's Special Representative for Tajikistan. They reviewed the institution-building role the OSCE will play in the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). The Secretary-General then attended a luncheon hosted by Pino Arlacchi, the Director-General of the United Nations Office in Vienna, which also included 10 astronauts and cosmonauts. As you know, today marks the thirtieth anniversary of the landing on the moon. The United Nations marked that milestone by gathering astronauts and cosmonauts from 10 different countries for a special event in Vienna.

There is a press release available in the Spokesman's Office with the details, as well as a list of the astronauts and cosmonauts.

His last official meeting was with Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schussel. They discussed the post-conflict situation in south-eastern Europe, East Timor, and Middle East peace prospects. They also reviewed the situation in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, countries from which the Foreign Minister has just returned. At the end of the meeting, the Secretary-General and the Foreign Minister had a press encounter.

The transcript is available in the Spokesman's Office. Also available is the full text of the press encounter he had yesterday in Vienna following his meeting with the Austrian Chancellor.

The Secretary-General is scheduled to arrive in New York tonight. He will be working out of the residence tomorrow and is expected at Headquarters on Thursday.

**Kosovo

In Vienna today, the Secretary-General, while visiting the OSCE, said in his speech to the OSCE Permanent Council that regarding Kosovo "our aim is clear, to help create a secure, multi-ethnic, prosperous and democratically governed society for all Kosovars, regardless of ethnicity". He appealed to the OSCE to work closely with the United Nations to achieve this goal, saying, "we are in this together".

The full text of that statement is still on its way here. We'll make an announcement when we receive it.

In Pristina, the United Nations Special Representative, Bernard Kouchner, met today with Wesley Clark, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Supreme Allied Commander. Tomorrow, Mr. Kouchner is scheduled to meet with World Bank President James Wolfensohn and discuss the pressing needs for reconstructing the province.

Meanwhile, with the campaign against the minority Serbs and Roma continuing inside Kosovo, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) -- the lead agency in charge of refugee return and humanitarian assistance -- is organizing a reconciliation meeting in Prizren between the Albanian and the Roma communities.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), which is focusing its efforts on education, immunization and mine-awareness activities inside Kosovo, says it plans to launch a measles immunization campaign targeting 30,000 children between one and two years of age, as part of its operation to re-establish and re-invigorate Kosovo's child immunization programmes, which had been badly disrupted over the past year.

As we mentioned to you last week, a United Nations environmental assessment mission arrived in Pancevo, where an oil refinery and a petrochemical plant were hit during the NATO air campaign. They will stay in Pancevo until Sunday and continue to visit other war-damaged industrial sites primarily in Serbia.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) is meeting this morning to discuss the financing of UNMIK. United Nations Controller Jean-Pierre Halbwachs introduced the report of the Secretary-General, which is requesting an initial $200 million for the operation until a detailed budget can be submitted later this year.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 20 July 1999

**Afghanistan

In Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, held a series of bilateral meetings with delegations participating in the two-day meeting of the "Six-plus-Two" group. Mr. Brahimi also met with the two warring Afghan sides -- Taliban and the Northern Alliance -- who also met with each other for about an hour. The two parties did so at the request of the United Nations. Their discussion was expected to focus on a possible ceasefire and exchange of prisoners. The two sides said they would have to revert to their respective group's leadership following the meeting. Mr. Brahimi told them that he expected to be informed about the outcome of the meeting following the reaction from their leaders.

The Secretary-General's envoy will stay in the region to continue to pursue efforts aimed at bringing the two warring parties together for direct negotiations under United Nations auspices.

**Security Council Consultations

This morning, Security Council members discussed the report of the Secretary-General on the Central African Republic. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Central African Republic, Oluyemi Adeniji, briefed the Council. The Security Council then took up the report of the Secretary-General on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a briefing by Bernard Miyet, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping.

**Statement on South Lebanon Attack

This statement is attributable to the Spokesman:

"Yesterday, a United Nations position in south Lebanon was shelled by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF)/de facto forces (DFF). It was hit directly by two artillery rounds, while three rounds impacted between 4 and 22 metres from the position. It was only because of the quick reaction of the Finnish troops manning the position and a great deal of luck that there were no casualties.

"This incident recalls others in May and June, in which United Nations positions were targeted by IDF/DFF. On 31 May, an Irish soldier was killed by such shelling. This further incident, which occurred despite Israeli assurances, is deeply unsettling.

"The Secretary-General condemns this attack against United Nations personnel and calls on the Government of Israel to take all necessary measures to ensure that IDF/DFF respect the non-combatant status of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)."

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 20 July 1999

**Statement on Angola

The following statement is also attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General:

"The Secretary-General is deeply distressed by press reports concerning the discovery of two mass graves in the Chipeta village in Cuito province of Angola. Due to the deterioration of the security situation, the United Nations does not have any presence in the area and it cannot, at this stage, confirm these reports. The Secretariat is attempting to obtain further information or confirmation before making any other comment.

**Weapon Destruction in Liberia

Next week, on 26 July, the weapons and ammunition collected in Liberia by the United Nations and ECOMOG (Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group), after the seven-year civil war, will be destroyed in a symbolic pyre. The ceremony, which will take place on Liberia Independence Day, will be attended by several heads of State of neighbouring countries. The bulk of the weapons will be burned a couple of days before. This represents the largest weapon destruction in Africa in recent years -- some 8,000 serviceable and 1,800 unserviceable arms that were collected, and over 1.2 million rounds of ammunition that had been turned in.

Yesterday, representatives of the United Nations, ECOMOG and the Government of Liberia had a ceremonial opening of the 30 containers storing arms and ammunition collected during the 1996-1997 disarmament process.

A background note on this issue will be available later in the Spokesman's Office, and for coverage arrangements please contact Myriam Dessables, ext. 3-2932, in the Spokesman's Office.

**Justice Arbour in Croatia

Justice Louise Arbour, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, was in Croatia today where she met with officials and asked for an explanation of the Government's position on cooperation with the Tribunal. She also raised the issue of delays in transferring indicted accused to The Hague.

The full text of her statement is available in the Spokesman's Office.

**East Timor

This morning in Dili, East Timor, the Spokesman for the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) confirmed that all registration centres were open today and the rate of voter registration continued yesterday at the same steady pace as it has been for the last three days. He said there appeared to

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 20 July 1999

be increasing confidence from people in the registration process which was going well.

Copies of the statement are available in the Spokesman's Office.

**Press Releases: UNICEF, UNHCR

I have here a number of press releases which are available upstairs. From UNICEF, there is a press release on the conflict in the Sudan preventing the vaccination of 50,000 children against measles.

Also, UNICEF will launch the 1999 Progress of Nations report at a press conference taking place at 10 a.m. at UNICEF House on Thursday, 22 July. This year's report highlights the birth of the 6 billionth baby and examines the myriad threats and disparities this child will face, including the continued existence of polio, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the debt burden.

The UNHCR has its briefing note on Congo-Brazzaville,

Also available is a press release announcing that the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol on Protecting the Ozone Layer approved 155 projects totalling $67 million to assist 36 developing countries in their efforts to phase out ozone-depleting substances.

**Symposium on Disarmament and Development

This afternoon, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Jayantha Dhanapala will open a symposium at Headquarters on disarmament and development. The featured speaker will be Nobel Laureate in Economics Professor Lawrence R. Klein.

The event will be held in Conference Room 8 at 3 p.m., and you're all invited to attend. Mr. Dhanapala's speech is available in the Spokesman's Office under embargo.

**Small Arms Exhibition

Also available is an embargoed statement that Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette will be making this afternoon when she opens an exhibit on raising awareness of the problem of small arms. She will be joined by screen artist Michael Douglas, also a Messenger of Peace. This exhibit is co- sponsored by the Department for Disarmament Affairs and UNICEF. It is called "Taking Aim at Small Arms: Defending Children's Rights". The opening will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Visitor's Lobby, and you are all invited to attend.

Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 20 July 1999

**Economic and Social Council Concludes Session on Africa

The Economic and Social Council today wraps up its three-day coordination segment devoted to United Nations initiatives on African development. There will be a panel meeting today featuring Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), as well as high-level representatives of the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

In a report to the session, the Secretary-General quotes estimates that 44 per cent of all Africans live in absolute poverty and stresses the importance of financing the continent's development.

Yesterday, the Deputy Secretary-General addressed the meeting in Geneva by video-conference and she noted that, while Africa receives about 50 per cent of all United Nations assistance, a large proportion of this goes to humanitarian operations with the result that critical investments in development are postponed.

Both the Deputy Secretary-General's speech and the Secretary-General's report are available at the documents counter.

**Question-and-Answer Session

Question: Yesterday, you mentioned the ECOSOC advisory group on Haiti and the organization of elections there. Mr. Paschke had mentioned sometime ago in his report a discrepancy of about $600,000 from the last electoral council. Was an investigation conducted? If yes, what was the result? If no, why not?

Deputy Spokesman: I would have to follow up on that.

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