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. As you know, our guest at the noon briefing today is Sergio Vieira de Mello, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. He is here because he has just returned from Kosovo, where he was the Acting Special Representative for the Secretary- General and the Chief of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). He will be joining us in the course of the briefing, and I will try to make this a shorter briefing to allow you time for questions to him. (Mr. Vieira de Mello's press briefing is issued separately.) I also want to tell you that the guest we had originally planned for today will be coming on Monday. Anton Kruiderink, Director of the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) regional bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), will be talking on Monday about human development in that part of the world.

Question: Wasn't there a report on CIS that was being released today?

Answer: I don't know if it has been released today. Was it being released today? It is out already.

**Kosovo

In his message to the Stability Pact Summit meeting, which began yesterday in Sarajevo, the Secretary-General expressed his "fervent hope that these efforts will set the region as a whole on a path towards lasting stability, prosperity, democracy and respect for human rights".

In the message, which was delivered by his Special Envoy for the Balkans, Carl Bildt, the Secretary-General also said that "by focusing on the regional roots of the conflicts in the Balkans, by committing ourselves to ensuring the true integration of South-Eastern Europe into the larger economies of the continent, by placing pluralism and respect for the human rights of both minorities and majorities at the core of our efforts at reconstruction, and by continuing to emphasize our role as that of enabling the peoples and parties themselves to build lasting peace and democracy, we will create a framework for lasting peace and stability in the region".

The two-day conference, as you know, has been focusing on peace and stability in the Balkans. The Summit, chaired by President Martti Ahtisaari of Finland, is being attended by some 40 Heads of State and Government, as well as over 15 international and regional organizations. Specific issues being discussed are human rights and democracy, economic reconstruction and security.

Bernard Kouchner, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Kosovo, also present at the Summit, held a press conference, and in response to questions regarding Kosovo he said that "the only government is UNMIK. That is not to say that we are not going to work with the parties. On the contrary, we are not competitors".

Meanwhile in Pristina, we now have over 350 civilian police on the ground and some additional 240 from Canada, Russia, and the United States are expected to be on the ground early this coming week.

The future Kosovo Police Service continues to generate great interest among Kosovars. In addition to the 20,000 forms distributed and which we reported to you a few days ago, another 20,000 are going to be distributed very soon. That is because several hundred people every day gather outside the UNMIK Police headquarters, hoping to be able to join the future Kosovo Police. And once the applications are received by UNMIK, they will be compiled in a database. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and UNMIK will later interview qualified candidates, who must also undergo a medical checkup before a final decision on their entrance to the academy can be made by the Police Commissioner.

On the humanitarian front, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) informs that 737,000 refugees have returned to Kosovo and that the UNHCR is discussing with their parties the possibility of arranging a shuttle bus service between ethnic enclaves as a confidence-building measure. The service is expected to begin soon in Gnjilane and later on in Mitrovica. For more details on this, please check the UNHCR emergency update on Kosovo, and for the Secretary-General's message to the Summit, I refer you to our office, where we have copies available.

**Security Council

Today the Security Council has a busy schedule. First, the Members had a briefing by Alvaro de Soto, Assistant-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, on East Timor. Once those discussions were over, there was another briefing by Mr. de Soto on Somalia.

Once the consultations are finished, Council members have scheduled two formal meetings, one on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the other one on Abkhazia, Georgia. And both are expected to renew the mandate of both missions.

On Somalia, I can tell you that as a result of the escalated internal armed conflict, poor prospects for the main harvest in July and August and disease, including cholera, 1 million persons are now facing severe food shortages in the southern and central regions of Somalia. Of this 1 million, over 300,000 internally displaced persons are still living in precarious conditions in Mogadishu and other areas.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 30 July 1999

Security conditions continue to restrain humanitarian agencies from assisting some of the vulnerable communities, particularly in the Kismayo and Mogadishu areas. However, in a few cases, improved security conditions have enabled relief agencies to make progress. Examples include the decision by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) to redeploy staff to their offices in Baidoa earlier this month.

**Sierra Leone

In Freetown, Sierra Leone, the Military Observers of the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL), have carried out the temporary registration of 200 ex-combatants. Arrangements are under way for their transfer to Lungi, on the other side of the estuary, where the complete Registration and Disarmament/Demobilization/Reintegration programme will be conducted. The three reception sites, which had been set up temporarily in Freetown to cater for the influx of ex-combatants, are going to be closed once they are all moved to Lungi.

**ECOSOC

The Economic and Social Council concluded its annual substantive session in Geneva today.

The President of the Council, Ambassador Paolo Fulci of Italy, issued a statement on poverty eradication. He told reporters in Geneva that he considered this statement as a road map for those who want to challenge poverty eradication.

We expect a summary of Ambassador Fulci's press conference later today.

**UNISPACE III

There was another meeting conclusion today, this time in Vienna: the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

More than 100 countries are expected to adopt a Vienna Declaration on Space and Human Development. The Declaration and its Action Plan provide the international community with a blueprint for outer space-related activities into the next millennium.

The round-up press release with more details on their decisions is expected later today.

**Democratic Republic of Congo

Moving back to Africa, let me tell you that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has informed in Geneva today that fighting between the Mayi Mayi and rebel forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 30 July 1999

has driven 95,000 refugees to Tanzania since last August. Some 35,000 people have fled across lake Tanganyka over the past two months alone.

We have UNHCR briefing notes in our office, which can give you more details on that.

**Law of Sea Tribunal

Australia and New Zealand today filed cases before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea against Japan for its failure to conserve the stock of Southern Bluefin Tuna.

The two countries also claim that Japan has failed to cooperate in conserving the tuna stock, which they say is significantly overfished. They charge that Japan's actions in 1998 and this year threaten to create serious or irreversible damage to the tuna population.

We are expecting a press release from the Tribunal with all the details shortly, and as soon as we have it, we'll announce it.

**Payment

Today we received full payment from the Syrian Arab Republic of over $600,000, adding to the list of Member States who have paid their contribution in full for 1999.

**Several Announcements

And just very briefly, we have available in our office our weekly feature "The Week Ahead". I will not go into any details now, so that we have more time for your questions to Mr. Vieira de Mello.

I also want to inform you that we have available in our office the full text of remarks made by Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia; remarks she made to the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court, which is meeting in New York.

**Cafeteria

Finally a housekeeping note to let you know that renovations of the Main Cafeteria start today, and that the work will go on until 23 August.

In the meantime, while the Main Cafeteria is closed, there are seven other in-house places to dine. We have made a list of those places and that is available in our office for your benefit.

This is all I have. Do you have any questions before we move on to Mr. Vieira de Mello? Okay, thank you very much for your attention.

* *** *