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.

**East Timor

Good afternoon. Welcome back to those of you who have already been having the benefits of the summer in the northern hemisphere.

Let me start with East Timor. The Secretary-General, after having consultations with Indonesia and Portugal, has proposed a change in the East Timor popular consultation ballot date to 30 August. Still on East Timor, I would like to tell you that yesterday, the Indonesian Task Force, the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) and delegates from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as well as representatives from the Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs, Army and Police, met in Dili. And they met to review the situation of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in three areas. Some 1,000 IDPs are expected to return to the Maliana region, in the Bobonaro regency, this weekend. This will happen with the support of UNHCR. UNHCR, by the way, is deploying more staff in East Timor, and West Timor, at the request of the Indonesian Government. UNAMET, the United Nations mission, and the Indonesian authorities, are looking into arrangements to register IDPs who are in Atambua, West Timor.

The meeting also reviewed the situation in Liquica, in particular, the estimated 3,500 IDPs in Faularan. Many are sick and weak, suffering with malaria, tuberculosis, stomach ailments and malnutrition. The IDPs told a UNAMET visiting team that 100 of them died since January when they started moving to that settlement. Apparently the deaths were caused by malnutrition and sickness. More details you may find in the transcript of the daily press briefing in Dili.

**Iraq

As a result of Security Council consultations yesterday, the samples of VX in the Baghdad laboratory of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) were destroyed in the presence of international observers and the Secretary- General's Special Envoy, Prakash Shah. The experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have departed Iraq. The OPCW team will arrive in the Netherlands tomorrow. They will be submitting a report to the Secretary-General based on their findings. We have a media advisory from the OPCW in our office with details of the team's arrival tomorrow in the Netherlands, where there will be a press encounter.

**Cyprus

I have a statement attributable to the Spokesman:

Ann Hercus, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Cyprus and Chief of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), has submitted her resignation to the Secretary-General for family reasons. The Secretary-General respects the reasons that have compelled Ms. Hercus to take this step and he has accepted this resignation with deep regret. The Secretary-General wishes to place on record his appreciation for Ann Hercus' skilful and untiring efforts over the past 12 months in the conduct of his mission of good offices and of UNFICYP. He considers that Ms. Hercus has served with distinction in a difficult assignment. Ms. Hercus is currently with her family in New Zealand. In order to allow the work of UNFICYP to continue without a significant break, the Secretary-General and Ms. Hercus have agreed that she'll remain in her post until the end of September. Ms. Hercus took up her post as Deputy Special Representative to the Secretary- General on 1 July 1998 and was recently appointed Special Representative.

**Kosovo

Now on Kosovo. The United Nations is represented by the heads of the humanitarian and reconstruction pillars of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) today at the first donors' conference in Brussels convened by the European Union and the World Bank. Dennis McNamara of the UNHCR, which leads the humanitarian effort, was to stress that initial surveys indicate up to 500,000 Kosovars need proper accommodation before the onset of winter. UNHCR says it can only extend very basic emergency shelter assistance, and its programme is intended to complement longer-term reconstruction to be done by other agencies. Joly Dixon, who heads the European Union (EU)-led reconstruction pillar in UNMIK, was to present a complementary analysis of the province, focusing on housing and essential services such as power, water supplies, sanitation and health.

The latest figures show that 734,000 refugees have returned to Kosovo, which includes about 25,000 coming from third countries outside the region. Yesterday, 275 refugees returned from the United States. They are the first to return from the United States. We have summaries of both the UNHCR and EU damage assessment studies in the Spokesman's Office.

In Kosovo, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Bernard Kouchner, today paid his condolences to the families of the 14 Serbs found shot dead in a field in Kosovo last Friday. Kouchner attended a funeral service for the Serbs at the village of Gracko, south of the capital, Pristina. Several hundred Serbs attended the funeral, which was officiated by the Serbian Orthodox Church leader, Patriarch Pavle. "We are facing a very difficult challenge in keeping the people united together. We don't want them to forget the past but to look to the future", Kouchner told Bishop Artemije,

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 28 July 1999

with whom he met earlier in the day. Kouchner told reporters, "We have to find a way to stop the cycle of violence."

In Pristina, UNMIK reported that some 18,000 applications have been distributed in the United Nations effort to recruit for the Kosovo Police Service. Nearly 6,000 have been returned and are now being entered into a database for the selection of the first class of trainees who are to enter the police academy in August. Preparations for opening the academy are going well. This is another initiative that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is responsible for within UNMIK. We remain extremely concerned about the attacks on minorities, which seem to be taking on a systematic pattern and are very discriminate in nature. UNHCR says that among minorities in Kosovo, of particular concern are the Serb refugees from Bosnia and Croatia. Please see the UNHCR update for details.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, meanwhile, has appointed William O'Neil as human rights adviser who will work directly with the Special Representative. The General Assembly will meet this afternoon to adopt the budget for the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo.

**Arrival of Interim Special Representative

Yesterday we had a question from you regarding Sergio Vieira de Mello's arrival here and being available for meeting with you. I can now confirm that he's expected to return by this week's end, and he has agreed to join us here at the noon briefing on Monday.

**Security Council

In a formal meeting this morning, the Security Council recommended that the Kingdom of Tonga be admitted as a Member of the United Nations. This meeting was followed by consultations on Afghanistan, with a briefing by the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Alvaro de Soto. The members of the Security Council will then have their first reading of the reports of the Secretary-General on the situation in Abkhazia, Georgia, and on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The Council has scheduled to hold consultations tomorrow on Angola and East Timor.

**Afghanistan

Still on Afghanistan, we have a statement issued by the United Nations Coordinator for Afghanistan, on behalf of United Nations assistance agencies operating in Afghanistan. They say: United Nations agencies are extremely concerned at the disruption of humanitarian activities by the rocketing of Kabul airport on 27 July. Three rockets impacted in or around the airport during the agreed window for take off and landing of humanitarian flights. This forced the United Nations plane, which was about to land, to turn back. Rocketing of the airport, and military activity at the time of agreed flights,

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 28 July 1999

puts the security of staff and the continuation of United Nations activities in jeopardy. The United Nations has expressed its concern and requested clarification from the Norther Alliance in this regard. It recalls that at the recent Six-Plus-Two meeting in Tashkent, all parties to the Afghan conflict had agreed to respect the impartiality of the United Nations. The United Nations has suspended its next flights to Kabul pending the reconfirmation of the agreed security guarantees.

**Angola Mission Audit Report

There is a report out on the racks by the Secretary-General on the findings of a June 1996 audit of the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM). This audit was undertaken by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS). The Secretary-General analyses the status of the response to the OIOS recommendations. He concludes that the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and UNAVEM itself took remedial actions wherever possible. According to the Secretary-General, the in-depth review of procurement by the Angola Mission has contributed to a better understanding of potential weaknesses in procurement in general. "This understanding", he says, "is being translated by the Secretariat into practical improvements in the organization of the procurement activities in field missions and in general." He cites a number of specific improvements, including new training for procurement officers and greater emphasis on internal controls. If you're interested, this report is document A/53/1018.

**Angola

Still on Angola, yesterday the Secretary-General convened a meeting with permanent representatives of some 14 countries concerned with developments in Angola, including the five permanent members of the Security Council and six African countries, to discuss possible steps that could be taken bilaterally and multilaterally to promote a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Angola. The Secretary-General also updated the meeting on his ongoing consultations regarding the future presence of the United Nations in the country.

**Mourning Suspension of Western Sahara Verification Mission

As you may have heard, the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has suspended its operations for one week following the death of King Hassan II of Morocco. The identification commission and the appeals process will resume on 2 August.

**Global Forum on Human Development

We have a media advisory from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on a three-day global forum on human development that begins tomorrow at the United Nations. It's available in our office.

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 28 July 1999

**Addis Ababa Meeting on Debt Relief

Also, we have here, as we told you in the week ahead, a note about a meeting taking place at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) on strengthening the link between debt relief and poverty reduction. The meeting, which will open tomorrow at ECA headquarters in Addis Ababa, is partly sponsored by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Participants will focus on the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative. More details of this important meeting you can find in a press release available on the racks.

**Payments

And finally, I have a note here on payments. Two countries have made their contributions, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. This brings to 87 the number of Members States that have paid in full their 1999 contribution. Do you have any questions?

Question-and-Answer Segment

Question: I'd like to put on record that the Secretary-General, when he spoke to the press yesterday afternoon, obviously knew that the East Timor ballot was being delayed, and I think all of us were rather dismayed to wake up this morning and find out that it had been announced in Jakarta by the Foreign Minister of Indonesia, that the Secretary-General had in fact delayed the ballot for a week. You gave us a very brief one line statement. Could you add anything to his reasoning for delaying the ballot?

Deputy Spokesman: You know that these decisions, and as I've mentioned, the Secretary-General takes them in consultation with the parties, in this case Indonesia and Portugal. And in fact, he has to inform the Security Council, which has not yet received his letter confirming this. The letter is in the process of reaching the Council. This morning there was a verbal presentation at the Council confirming the postponement. But the official announcement is made by the Secretary-General, and as you know, we have certain procedures which are still being followed. And the letter of the Secretary-General to the Council is the document which will have all the reasoning that he followed to make this proposal, this recommendation.

There are, I think, two points though, that I should mention. It has to do with the delay of the beginning of registration, which as you know only started on 16 July, when there were concerns regarding security, which, by the way, continue. He will continue to follow that very closely through his Special Representative in East Timor. But there are also technical reasons. With the delay in the beginning of registration, the time-frame for the steps which follow registration was very tight, if the ballot were to remain on 21 or 22 August. These steps have to do with the complete collection of the list of voters, the proper publication of this list and a time necessary for

Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 28 July 1999

appeals to be raised, once the lists are published, and scrutinized by the public.

I think the most overriding consideration, all the time, in this process, is the integrity of this process. And it's considered that it is essential for the integrity of the process to respect these steps, registration, publication of the list, appeals process, the campaigning, a cool-off period, which by the way, they are all listed in the original agreement of 5 May. So the integrity of the process is of essential consideration, and I believe this is what has guided the Secretary-General. But we will know all of this in detail through his letter once it is sent to the Council.

Question: Can you explain whether this will have a knock-on effect on the mandate of the United Nations mission in East Timor because that mandate, I think, only ran to 31 August and obviously you're going to have a lot of work, which is probably more than a day's work, after this poll takes place if it goes ahead on 30 August.

Deputy Spokesman: I think that's a good, logical question and I believe that in the consultations that the Council will be holding tomorrow on East Timor, I believe this is an issue that may be discussed.

Question: In what way did the security situation in East Timor impact the Secretary-General's decision to delay the ballot?

Deputy Spokesman: That impacted on the beginning of registration, and then that affects all the other steps which follow registration.

Question: Does the security situation in East Timor have a direct effect on the delay of this ballot?

Deputy Spokesman: It had a direct effect on the beginning of registration, and once registration is delayed, everything else then was delayed.

Question: Is this a firm date or is this also open to review, this set date? We've had it delayed before.

Deputy Spokesman: It's a firm date, of course. But of course everything is firm until you change, if conditions require so. I mean, we are all in life in passing. It's firm that I'm alive now. I may not be alive in one minute. Sorry to that answer, but --

Question: It can be elevated to the security situation, I suppose. But is the United Nations happy with the current security situation? Is it happy with the current situation which is facing its offices in East Timor as they go about registration?

Daily Press Briefing - 7 - 28 July 1999

Deputy Spokesman: I'll refer you to the letter of the Secretary-General of Monday to the Security Council, when he decided to go ahead and continue the registration. This was halfway through the registration process, which had started 10 days earlier and which, as you know, is scheduled to go for 10 more days, or altogether 20 days. We acknowledge that there were some improvements, particularly as a result of the cooperation we now see, of the Indonesian police with UNAMET, but that there are still serious concerns regarding security, and that he will continue to follow that very closely and will keep the Council informed of that.

Question: The day has been quite contentious in the past, what day it should be. The Indonesians want it a Saturday, East Timor independence people want it a Sunday, I believe. And you decided on a Monday. Is that significant, that this will be held on a Monday?

Deputy Spokesman: I think it avoids this kind of concern. But I don't have any guidance on that. But you're right in raising this issue, indeed it's an issue that had been floating for quite a while, and obviously if it's not a Saturday nor a Sunday, it's avoiding that problem.

Question: On Iraq, one of the issues that I recall was rather contentious, was which diplomatic observers initially attended the opening of the initial entry into the laboratory with the team of experts. Can you tell us which diplomats were there when the VX was destroyed?

Deputy Spokesman: You know that the three diplomatic observers were the representatives from China, Russia and France. In the notes I received on the destruction, it did not specify which ones, if not all three, were present. But I can follow up on that and let you know.

Question: Back to East Timor. At what date would the Secretary-General next be determining whether this 30 August date is firm, whether the conditions that are necessary to --

Deputy Spokesman: The date is firm. I don't think there is the consideration of setting a date to review that date again. That is the date. No more questions? Thank you so much, have a nice afternoon.

* *** *