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. Sorry for the delay, but I believe that both we at our office and most of you have had difficulty getting here with the rain. So we'll have a short briefing, and then we shall have our guest, Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, who will be talking to us after a very long and important day yesterday on children and armed conflict. (Mr. Otunnu's briefing is being issued separately.) I will start the briefing with a statement attributable to the Spokesman.

**Statement Attributable to Spokesman for Secretary-General

The Secretary-General is appalled by the widespread violence in Dili today, including the loss of lives. He demands that the Indonesian authorities take immediate steps to restore and maintain law and order. The Secretary-General again reminds the Indonesian authorities of their obligations under the 5 May arrangements. It is crucial that, even at this late stage, concrete and effective steps be taken by Indonesia to control the militias who, it is increasingly clear, are intent on disrupting the popular consultation.

Those who are responsible for planning and carrying out these acts of violence and lawlessness must be arrested. The Secretary-General is determined that the United Nations should fulfil its responsibilities to the people of East Timor and should not be deterred by threats and intimidation from lawless elements.

**Security Council

The Security Council is in consultations this morning, and before it starts with the programme on Iraq they have heard a briefing by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast on the latest developments in East Timor. As we speak now, Members of the Council are discussing this matter. They will then take up the original programme of the day, when they will consider the report of the Secretary-General on the "oil-for-food" programme for Iraq (S/1999/896), as well as the report of the committee that monitors the sanctions (S/1999/907). The Council will be briefed on this item by the Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan.

In the afternoon, the Council is scheduled to go back into consultations at 4 o'clock to discuss Burundi. Ibrahima Fall, the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, will brief the Council on this subject.

Yesterday, 48 speakers addressed the Council's meeting on children and armed conflict, which concluded at around 10:30 p.m. The Council adopted a resolution strongly condemning the targeting of children in situations of armed conflict. It called on all parties concerned to put an end to such practices as killing and maiming, sexual violence, abduction and forced displacement, recruitment and use of children in armed conflict and attacks on places that usually have a significant presence of children, such as schools and hospitals.

The Council also asked the Secretary-General to report, by the end of next July, on the implementation of the resolution, and to ensure that all personnel involved in peacemaking, peacekeeping and peace-building activities have training on the protection, rights and welfare of children.

**Kosovo

The Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Balkans, Carl Bildt, is here at Headquarters today. He'll be meeting this afternoon with the Deputy Secretary-General, as well as other senior United Nations officials.

Meanwhile, in Kosovo, the first group of 200 recruits for the province's multi-ethnic police force will start their training on Monday, 30 August. Their course will run through October. A second group of recruits will begin training on 15 September. As you know, the training of the new police force in Kosovo is under the responsibility of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is responsible for one of the pillars of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

**Report of Secretary-General on Haiti

The Secretary-General's latest report on the United Nations Civilian Police Mission in Haiti (MIPONUH) came out yesterday evening. In it, the Secretary-General covers the activities of the mission and the latest developments in Haiti since his last report issued in May. He says that the period under review was marked by continuing negotiations and slow progress between the political parties and the Government of Haiti on how to continue to provide essential Government services and how to further the cause of democracy.

The Secretary-General expresses his concern at the security situation and says that, to avoid a further deterioration in the months leading to the elections scheduled to take place later this year, a coordinated effort by the Government, the police and political and civil leaders will be required. The report contains an entire section on possible support to Haiti after the expiration of the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Haiti.

The Secretary-General says that the Government of Haiti itself must prepare to assume full responsibility for the further strengthening and effective functioning of the Haitian national police. To this end, the police authorities continue to develop a two-year technical assistance programme designed to provide the service with the expertise to carry out training and institution- building and to ensure the necessary continuity in the efforts of the MIPONUH. He suggests that in the light of a recent Economic and Social Council proposal, the two missions present in Haiti now, (MIPONUH and the International Civilian Mission to Haiti (MICIVIH)) could be merged into one integrated mission to discharge functions of human rights monitoring and institution- building to provide support to the judicial system and the police.

**International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia

Yesterday afternoon we put out a press release from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia saying that Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, the President of the Tribunal, has reported to the Security Council "the refusal of the Republic of Croatia to cooperate with the International Tribunal". She requested "the Security Council to take measures that are sufficiently compelling to bring the Republic of Croatia into compliance with its obligation under international law".

The letter from Judge McDonald follows a request by the Prosecutor that Croatia be found in breach of its obligation to cooperate with the International Tribunal and that it be reported to the Security Council.

**Human Rights in Colombia Statement

The High Commissioner for Human Rights office in Bogota, Colombia, issued a statement yesterday condemning the recent upsurge of violence in the Department of North Santander, including the massacre that took place on 21 August with dozens of civilian victims. We have available upstairs a copy of the statement, which, from what I understand, is incomplete and in Spanish only.

**Afghanistan

From Islamabad, we hear that internally displaced people continue to trickle into Kabul, Afghanistan. There are now some 7,000 people living in the former Soviet diplomatic compound there. Meanwhile, the situation in the Shomali valley is not improving. The World Food Programme is planning to move food stocks into the Valley from Tajikistan. The aim is to provide enough food to feed 14,400 people for 30 days.

**International Tribunal for Law of Sea

And finally, we have a press release available upstairs from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea announcing that tomorrow the Tribunal will issue a decision on a dispute over southern bluefin tuna. The case was brought by Australia and New Zealand against Japan. You can read more in the press release, and we'll announce the decision as soon as we hear it. This is all I had for you this morning. Are there any questions?

Question: With the latest developments in East Timor, is there a possibility of a delay in the ballot there? Can we say definitively that the ballot is going to take place on Monday, as scheduled?

Answer: We can say that the ballot will go ahead, as scheduled.

Question: The Pakistani Government has asked the Secretary- General to send a fact-finding mission to investigate a shooting down of an aircraft several weeks ago. Any reaction to that?

Answer: I will have to look into that for you.

Question: Is there any chance for us to see Carl Bildt?

Answer: We shall try.

If you do not have any other questions for me, I will now give the floor to Mr. Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.

Following the briefing by Mr. Otunnu, the Deputy Spokesman said the following:

Before you go, for the benefit of those in this room, I would like to tell you about the statement which the President of the Security Council made a few moments ago. He said that the Council had heard a briefing from the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs on recent events in East Timor. Council Members condemned strongly the acts of violence in Dili on 26 August. Council Members called on all parties to stop the violence and to cooperate in measures designed to ensure that the ballot will go ahead in conditions of peace and security on 30 August. Council members strongly support the Secretary-General's intention to proceed on that basis.

Council Members called on the local authorities to take concrete steps to prevent further violence, to investigate the events of 26 August and to bring those responsible to justice. Council Members also called on all parties, particularly the Indonesian Government, to cooperate with UNAMET and to ensure the security and freedom of movement of its staff.

[This was a statement the President of the Security Council made while the daily noon briefing by the Spokesman was going on.]

This will conclude our briefing then, there are copies of the statement by the President of the Security Council available to you as you leave the room. Thank you very much, have a nice afternoon.

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