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:

**Security Council Consultations

The members of the Council held a formal meeting this morning on the application of Tonga for membership to the Organization, to formally refer the application to its Committee on New Members, which will then make a recommendation to the Council. The Committee will meet on Monday, 26 July, at 3:30 pm.

They are now in informal consultations and will discuss two topics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Iraq. They will first hear a briefing by Elisabeth Rehn, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Bosnia and Herzegovina. As you know, this is her last briefing in this capacity. As we announced some weeks ago, she is going back to her country and will be replaced by Jacques Klein, who is expected to take office on 2 August.

When they move on to the second topic, members of the Security Council will be briefed by Benon Sevan, Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme.

As you know, yesterday Council consultations were on Ethiopia and Eritrea. They were scheduled for the morning, but consultations went on too long with other issues in the morning, so for the record, in the afternoon members were briefed by Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun on the initial positive responses by Eritrea and Ethiopia to the modalities endorsed by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) summit in Algiers for implementing the framework agreement to help resolve the conflict between the two countries. Ambassador Sahnoun told Council members that "today, we may have the best opportunity ever to stop this conflict".

In a statement to the press following consultations, the President of the Security Council expressed its readiness to support the OAU in the implementation of the agreement once formal signing has taken place, hopefully in the next few days.

**Statement on Democratic Republic of Congo

The following statement on the Democratic Republic of the Congo is attributable to the Spokesman:

"The Secretary-General urges all parties concerned in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to cease hostilities throughout the country before and

during the first polio vaccination round which will take place between 8 and 20 August 1999. He trusts that a peaceful and secure environment will be provided to give all Congolese children under the age of five protection from the crippling disease of polio.

"The Secretary-General reiterates his statement of 9 March 1999 in which he called for "days of tranquillity" in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to allow for the polio immunization campaign to cover some 10 million children under the age of five. He recalls Security Council resolution 1234 of 9 April 1999 urging all parties to respect a truce and support the vaccination campaign.

"The Secretary-General also recalls President Kabila's commitment to support the vaccination campaign and the willingness expressed by the leadership of the Congolese Rally for Democracy to his Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict to facilitate the campaign. He is concerned that the overall goal to eradicate polio worldwide by 2000 may be threatened by the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its effects on neighbouring countries.

"United Nations agencies, in particular the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), along with other humanitarian partners, are proceeding with preparations for the vaccination campaign in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The first round is scheduled to start on 13 August 1999. Two more rounds are scheduled for September and October.

"The Secretary-General is grateful for the practical assistance to the campaign preparations provided by local authorities. Thanks to a concerted effort by United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations and provincial health personnel, 16,000 vaccination sites have been identified for the campaign. Logistical and security constraints, however, remain in many areas."

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

**Kosovo

The Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Balkans, Carl Bildt, is back in New York for two days of consultations with the Secretary-General, Deputy Secretary-General and other senior officials. Mr. Bildt will be heading to Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia next week before attending the Stability Pact Summit scheduled in Sarajevo at the end of next week.

On the ground, we are slowly seeing the situation turn around at the municipal building in Pristina. Today, 46 Serbs, 110 Albanians and 10 others returned to work at the municipal building after suspension of work last week.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 22 July 1999

As follow-up to the first Kosovo Transitional Council, yesterday afternoon Special Representative for the Secretary-General Bernard Kouchner, together with Kosovo Albanian leader Hashin Thaci and Serbian leader Momcilo Trajkovic, visited several apartments in Pristina that had been occupied by Albanians. They visited a Serb woman badly beaten by assailants in her apartment. In each case, Mr. Kouchner emphasized that the problem that led the Albanians to occupy the Serb apartment had also to be resolved. That is, to restore their housing. At the same time, Serbs had the right to return to their own homes. He emphasized repeatedly that democracy had to be based on tolerance and a willingness to live together. His thoughts were echoed by Mr. Thaci and Mr. Trajkovic.

Today, Mr. Kouchner was meeting with the LDK presidency as part of a continuing dialogue with all parties and urged them to take part in future sessions of the Kosovo Transitional Council, which is scheduled to meet again on Monday.

Meanwhile, recruitment for the Kosovo Police Service is going extremely well. There are very long lines for applications at sites in Pristina where they are being handed out. There is obviously a great deal of interest. A number of women have also been part of the applicant pool.

The World Food Programme (WFP) reports that Pristina airport is currently receiving an average of 10 to 12 humanitarian flights daily, and that this figure was due to increase to 20 flights every day.

As you know, we put out a fact sheet yesterday after the briefing which is available on the Web site.

**Appeal for More Funds for Humanitarian Operations

Today, the United Nations presented the revised mid-term appeal to donors to increase funding to reach the $2.3 billion needed to fund humanitarian operations to help some 26 million people at risk around the world this year.

At a press conference today in Geneva, Ross Mountain, Assistant Emergency Relief Coordinator, said that the rate of funding for the consolidated appeal for complex emergencies had been 75 per cent in 1996, going down to 66 per cent in 1997, and dropping further to 54 per cent last year.

As far as this year is concerned, he said that the rate of coverage has reached about 33 per cent for complex emergencies –- that is 50 per cent for the Balkans and 29 per cent for the rest of the world. He called this response "globally inadequate".

Ross Mountain was also asked about figures for specific emergencies and he said that, for example, the appeal for Guinea-Bissau received only 19 per cent

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 22 July 1999

of contributions; Angola, less than 30 per cent; and Sierra Leone, just 27 per cent. He said that the situation was not much better outside of Africa, with Tajikistan receiving only 34 per cent, and Afghanistan only 28 per cent.

The transcript of his press conference, as well as a press release on the consolidated appeal issued in Geneva, are both available in the Spokesman's Office.

**UNICEF Annual Report Launched

The Progress of Nations 1999, UNICEF's annual country-by-country report on the status of the world's most vulnerable children and women, was launched today at UNICEF House and other spots around the world. The report highlights efforts to eradicate polio. It also concentrates on the growing challenges posed by HIV/AIDS in the developing world, the burden of debt on the world's poorest nations and the potential disparities facing the world's six billionth baby.

A special feature of the report is a new child-risk measure which uses such criteria as armed conflict and HIV/AIDS to arrive at an estimation of comparative risk to children from nation to nation. The countries where children are most at risk, according to the report, are Angola, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Somalia.

Correspondents are expected to receive copies of the report directly from UNICEF.

**East Timor

At the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) daily briefing in Dili, East Timor, today, Jeff Fischer, Chief Electoral Officer, updated correspondents on the status of the voter registration process. He said that the response on the part of the Timorese voters is robust. "We are pleased with the turnout, as it has manifested itself over the last few days", he added.

For more information, there is a full transcript of the briefing available in the Spokesman's Office.

Finally, tomorrow the guest at the noon briefing will be Elisabeth Rehn, now briefing the Security Council, and she will be here to answer your questions.

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