DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19990806
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Welcome to the noon briefing. I have a lot of stuff for you. I'll try to read fast.
**International Criminal Tribunal
Yesterday evening the Secretary-General sent to the Security Council a letter recommending Carla del Ponte, who is currently the Attorney General of Switzerland, for the post of Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.
Upon entering the building this morning, the Secretary-General said, "I was looking for a strong and experienced prosecutor, and I think she is very good".
No date has been set yet for the Security Council to take action on this nomination. According to the procedure, the Prosecutor is appointed by the Security Council by a formal resolution.
We have her bio upstairs, if you haven't seen it yet.
**Security Council
The Council this morning just created the United Nations latest peacekeeping operation, paving the way for Blue Helmets to go back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) almost 40 years after the first United Nations Mission in the Congo was established in 1960.
We currently have 16 missions on the ground; this would be number 17.
According to resolution 1258 (1999), which was just passed unanimously, the Security Council authorized the deployment of up to 90 military liaison personnel for three months, to maintain liaison with all parties of the Lusaka peace agreement. They will also assist and provide technical assistance to the Joint Military Commission in developing modalities for the implementation of the agreement, and they will secure from the parties guarantees of cooperation and assurances of security for the possible deployment of military observers.
**Sierra Leone
Today is the third day that our colleagues have been detained by a rebel group in Ocra Hills in Sierra Leone. Yesterday two more of these hostages
were released: a journalist, who was a correspondent for Reuters, and a Human Rights Officer.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Francis Okelo, is rushing back to Freetown to deal with the crisis. He has just concluded three days of meetings here in New York with a delegation from the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG), which has been doing peacekeeping in Sierra Leone. They were discussing future arrangements and the division of labour between ECOMOG and the United Nations in Sierra Leone.
Also, the World Food Programme (WFP) was supposed to be distributing food to some 9,000 people in the area where this incident is taking place. That food aid has been suspended because of the lack of security.
**Sudan
Statement attributable to the Secretary-General:
I welcome the announcement made yesterday by the Government of Sudan declaring a comprehensive ceasefire throughout the Sudan for a period of 70 days which will "facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to all areas of need" by road, air and river. A ceasefire is essential for the provision of much needed humanitarian assistance to hundreds of thousands of civilians, mostly women and children, affected by the ongoing conflict.
I recall that the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) agreed on the extension of a humanitarian ceasefire for Bahr-El-Ghazal, western and central Upper Nile in mid-July. I call upon the SPLM to consider extending the scope of this ceasefire and thus contribute to the creation of an enabling environment for humanitarian operations in the Sudan. I count on the continued support of the Government and the SPLM for the unhindered and safe provision by United Nations humanitarian agencies and non-governmental organizations of relief to all those in need of humanitarian aid throughout the country.
**Kosovo
The United Nations Police Commissioner in Kosovo, Sven Fredericksen, told journalists in Pristina today that he would begin deploying international police monitors over the weekend. The first officers to be placed on the beat will be in Pristina, where the crime rate is extremely high. They will be placed both in the city's existing police stations and in mobile units placed at crime "hot spots". And they will be manned 24 hours a day.
There are currently 474 out of an expected 3,100 international police in Kosovo, whose job will be to enforce law and order and to establish and train an indigenous Kosovo Police Service.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 6 August 1999
The Pristina Police Academy is being refurbished and training will begin at the end of this month, at the rate of 200 officers a week, Fredericksen announced.
We have the summary of that briefing.
Meanwhile, KFOR announced yesterday the arrest Wednesday evening of Rexhep Sellimi -- I hope I have that name correct -- the self-styled "Interior Minister" of the "Provisional Government of Kosovo", who is a ranking officer of the KLA.
He was stopped in Pristina by KFOR troops while driving in a car with a flashing blue light. Weapons were confiscated from him and his bodyguards until they produced identification cards which entitled them to be in uniform and carry arms during a transitional period. Mr. Sellimi then loaded his weapon and made a threatening gesture to the KFOR patrol, which promptly arrested him and his bodyguards. He was later released, but his weapons were retained.
**Aid for Kosovo
A spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today announced in Geneva that the Government of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia will waive the fees it had imposed on aid transiting through that country bound for Kosovo.
UNHCR encouraged the international community to respond favourably to requests by the Skopje Government for support to defray the costs it has incurred by facilitating the delivery of aid to Kosovo.
And you can read more about that, if you are interested, in the UNHCR notes.
**Comics to Kosovo
Meanwhile, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is sending new Superman comic books to Kosovo. The edition was created specially for the province in order to teach children about the danger of landmines.
UNICEF landmine expert Tehnaz Dastoor stressed the need for Kosovo's children to be aware that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is littered with dangerous military devices.
**Afghanistan
I have a long statement on Afghanistan; I am not going to read it all. It is attributable to the Spokesman and says in part:
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 6 August 1999
The changing fortunes of the parties on the battlefield vividly illustrate that the Afghan conflict can never be resolved through force and that the gain or loss of territory will not bring peace. It demonstrates anew that the conflict will end only through a peaceful dialogue, which would lead to national reconciliation and the formation of a genuinely representative government acceptable to all Afghans.
The Secretary-General urges all Afghan parties, including neutral groups and individuals, as well as countries with influence, to work together and with the United Nations to put an end to the present fighting and to resume serious negotiations to establish peace in Afghanistan and security for the region.
(For the full text, see Press Release SG/SM/7090-AFG/100 of today's date.)
Also on Afghanistan, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today reported that the Taliban's recent six-day offensive against the Northern Alliance has displaced between 100,000 and 140,000 people over a six- day period.
UNHCR is stressing that the victims are badly in need of humanitarian assistance. An assessment team went to Faizabad two days ago, and aid is positioned in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan for delivery as soon as access is secured.
**International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
We have a note from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) saying that yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rendered its decision on an appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas regarding Elizaphan Ntakirutima, an indictee of the ICTR. The Appeals Court decided that Mr. Ntakirutima should be surrendered to the Tribunal to face trial on genocide-related charges. He has been detained in Texas since his arrest in 1996.
**International Day of World's Indigenous People
Next week, the International Day of the World's Indigenous People will be observed here at Headquarters -- I think we announced that yesterday. However, there will be two days of activities and workshops related to this event, held on Monday and Tuesday of next week.
I am not going to list all of them here, but a press release is available on the racks with all the details. To highlight just a few: Monday morning at 11:30 a.m. a sacred-pipe ceremony will take place outside the Visitors' Entrance on the public plaza, preceded by a drum calling-all- together.
Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 6 August 1999
And of course we mentioned the Aboriginal art yesterday.
**Food and Agriculture Organization
From FAO we have a press release announcing plans to gather together a group of international research institutions to deal with the issue of what happens to food after it is harvested and before it arrives at the consumer's table.
Ten institutions will participate in the new forum with the goal of creating post-harvest information systems and raising the profile of post- harvest research.
Look at the press release if you are interested.
**Treaty Update
Mali has just ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which now has 42 States parties.
One hundred and fifty-two countries have signed that Treaty.
**Press Conferences
On Monday, at 11 a.m. Esmeralda Brown and Roberto Borrero of the NGO Committee on the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, and others will be here to discuss the events and workshops taking place here at Headquarters in connection with the Decade celebration.
Our guest at the noon briefing will be the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who will discuss, not Kosovo, but the humanitarian situation in Africa and the need for aid for that region.
**Week Ahead
Let me just give you some highlights. You can pick up the text in my office.
On Wednesday, the Secretary-General will travel to Geneva for a visit to Switzerland. On Thursday, he will be among those signing a Solemn Appeal at the Geneva Town Hall. Later, he will speak at a ceremony, the event organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). That has to do with the fiftieth anniversary of the Geneva Conventions.
The Secretary-General's report to the Security Council on the Western Sahara Mission is due on Thursday.
Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 6 August 1999
That is all I have for you. Are there any questions on this sleepy Friday?
Question: Is there a timetable or some sense of how long it will take for the Council to take up the issue of sending the peacekeeping mission to the Congo?
Answer: No, I don't have a sense of that. I suspect people are continuing to look at the issue of the rebel groups. But until that situation is clarified, I don't think we will know the specific timetable.
Question: If the peacekeepers are never going, do you still call it a peacekeeping mission, as you did?
Answer: It is official once it is created by the Council and funded by the Assembly. But let us not hope it never gets deployed.
Question: Yesterday, I raised a question about the long-term development of developing countries. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report on human development, and also according to what the Economic and Social Council is trying to establish, about long-term development of developing countries, this seems to be away from what your people are doing in the Secretariat. Are we going to make a new move towards a new strategy for developing countries?
Answer: On your questions of yesterday, I referred you to the UNDP, and I think I'll have to do that again today. It is not anything I know much about.
Question: On Afghanistan, there have been so many envoys sent, and nobody has been able to achieve anything so far, including [Special Representative Lakhdar] Brahimi. Does the Secretary-General have a new initiative, a new mechanism to get some dialogue going there?
Answer: All we have is the statement I just mentioned.
Question: India has not approached Committee 661 for the approval of the announced $25 million loan to Iraq. How do you reconcile this issue, that they have announced a $25 million loan to Iraq on one hand, and that they have not approached Committee 661 for approval? Is this a violation of the sanctions?
Answer: You will have to ask India about its relations with the Sanctions Committee.
Question: About the new prosecutor, is it routine for the Secretary- General when he makes such an appointment to first clear it with the P-5?
Daily Press Briefing - 7 - 6 August 1999
Answer: It is routine for him to consult with Council members discreetly before making an appointment of any kind that they would have to approve. It is just good political sense, I think. It is something he does routinely.
Question: Where is Ambassador Jamsheed Marker?
Answer: He is here today, and they are finalizing their report [on East Timor] to the Council. There is a possibility that it could go to the Council by the end of the day, but it will not be out, obviously, as a document, translated, until Monday.
Question: When is Brahimi expected to return to Headquarters?
Answer: We'll have to check for you. I don't know that. But he may be seeing the Secretary-General in Geneva.
Question: In which language are the Superman comics printed?
Answer: Good question. I assume Serbo-Croat, if that is an acceptable designation for a language that has been subject to a lot of political pressure. I'd have to find out, I don't know, but I assume it is a language everyone can understand in Kosovo, whatever it is. And it may be more than one language.
Thank you very much.
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