In progress at UNHQ

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

15 September 1999



Press Briefing


DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

19990915

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Shirley Brownell, spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly, and Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Spokeswoman for General Assembly President:

**General Committee Meeting

The 28-member General Committee, chaired by Assembly President Theo-Ben Gurirab, is meeting at this moment in Conference Room 3 to consider the organization of the work of the session, a draft agenda and the allocation of agenda items. The documents setting out the proposals of the Secretary-General are documents A/BUR/54/1 and Add.1. It lists 166 items from the provisional agenda, five supplementary items and an additional item requested by the Secretary-General on the financing of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), for a total of 172 items.

One item on the supplementary list, item 171, has 30 speakers inscribed thus far. It is a request by 12 States that an item on Taiwan be included in the agenda of the session. It is titled “Need to examine the exceptional international situation pertaining to the Republic of China on Taiwan to ensure the fundamental right of its 22 million people to participate in the work and activities of the United Nations is fully respected”. With such a long list of speakers, the General Committee meeting is expected to spill over into the afternoon.

**General Assembly President Addresses Plenary of Fifty-Fourth Session

At yesterday’s first plenary meeting of the fifty-fourth session, the Assembly elected Mr. Gurirab, Foreign Minister of Namibia, as President. In his acceptance speech, the President highlighted seven challenges he said the international community faced as we enter the new millennium, namely: globalization as an imperative for the empowerment of people; sustainable development and the protection of the environment; the scourge of regional wars; the ever-deteriorating refugee crisis; the need for gender equality; the HIV/AIDS pandemic which has declared unrelenting war on humanity; and the future of children in a globalized community.

The President spoke at length about the plight of children in armed conflict, especially the phenomenon of child soldiers. He added his voice to laudable efforts towards making the twenty-first century one of love and security for every child in the world. Elsewhere in his speech, the President called for the completion of the decolonization process in Africa, for respect for the will of the people of East Timor, and for Palestinian statehood. While supportive of United Nations reform, he insisted that it be carried out in a transparent and constructive way, arguing that the United Nations belongs to all its Member States, collectively and individually.

**Three New Member States Welcomed by Assembly

Also yesterday, United Nations membership increased to 188 Member States with the admission of Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga. Congratulating and welcoming the new Members were the Chairmen of the five regional groups -– Botswana, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Paraguay and Iceland, on behalf of the African, Asian, Eastern European, Latin American and the Caribbean, and Western European and Other States, respectively -– the United States, as host country, Israel, and the Federated States of Micronesia, on behalf of the South Pacific Forum. The Presidents of Kiribati and Nauru, and the Foreign Minister of Tonga responded.

**General Assembly Appoints Credentials Committee, Chairmen and Vice-Presidents

Also yesterday, the Assembly appointed the nine-member Credentials Committee -– Austria, Bolivia, China, Philippines, Russian Federation, South Africa, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States. It elected the Chairmen of the Main Committees -– Raimundo Gonzalez (Chile), Disarmament and International Security (First Committee); Sotirios Zackheos (Cyprus), Special Political and Decolonization (Fourth Committee); Roble Olhaye (Djibouti), Economic and Financial (Second Committee); Vladimir Galuska (Czech Republic), Social, Humanitarian and Cultural (Third Committee); Penny Wensley (Australia), Administrative and Budgetary (Fifth Committee); and Phasiko Mochochoko (Lesotho), Legal (Sixth Committee).

The Assembly elected, by acclamation, 21 Vice-Presidents -– Algeria, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Seychelles (African States); Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran Iraq, Tajikistan and Thailand (Asian States); Lithuania (Eastern European States); Bolivia, Cuba and Grenada (Latin American and Caribbean States); Iceland and Monaco (Western European and Other States); plus the five permanent members of the Security Council (China, France, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and the United States).

No plenary meeting is scheduled on Thursday, 16 September. Instead, the President will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. in room S-226.

**Interfaith Service

Prior to his press conference, the Assembly President and Secretary-General Kofi Annan will address a prominent gathering of world religious and spiritual leaders at the third Annual Interfaith Celebration of Commitment to the Work of the United Nations. Scheduled to begin at 8:45 a.m. at St. Bartholomew’s Church on Park Avenue at 51st Street, the service marks the opening of the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly. It also commemorates the Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World. Over 1,000 members of the diplomatic community, senior United Nations officials, other invited guests and members of the public are expected to attend.

All correspondents are invited to attend the service and are requested to present their official United Nations ground pass for admittance. For more information, please contact Bill Hass in the Department of Public Information at ext. 3-0353.

The third plenary meeting is scheduled to take place at 11 a.m. on Friday, 17 September, in Conference Room 3.

**Question-and-Answer Session

Question: Has the agenda item on the election of justices to the International Court of Justice been allocated to the Sixth Committee or the plenary as yet?

Spokeswoman: The General Committee was still going through its preliminaries when last I checked, so they have not gotten to the allocation of items yet.

Question: Who are the co-sponsors of the Taiwan project?

Spokeswoman: They are Burkina Faso, El Salvador, Gambia, Grenada, Honduras, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Solomon Islands and Swaziland.

Thank you. Fred ...

Spokesman for Secretary-General:

**East Timor

Good afternoon. After many hours of deliberations, the Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, adopted shortly after 2 a.m. today resolution 1264, authorizing a multinational force to restore peace and security in East Timor, to protect and support the UN Mission in carrying out its tasks and, within force capabilities, to facilitate humanitarian assistance operations. The resolution also authorizes the State participating in the multinational force to take all necessary measures to fulfil its mandate.

The Council welcomed the commitment of Indonesia to cooperate with the multinational force. It also welcomed Australia’s acceptance of the leadership of the multinational force. The resolution was adopted unanimously and six member States took the floor. Three of them -- Indonesia, Portugal and Australia -- were represented by their Foreign Ministers. The session was over at 3 a.m. For those of you who do not have it yet, copies of the text of the resolution are available in the Spokesman’s Office.

As Foreign Minister Downer said yesterday, Australian and Indonesian senior military have been in contact to discuss details of the multinational force deployment. The United Nations has been facilitating these contacts and we will continue to coordinate closely with them. For more details on developments regarding the multinational force, Australian Foreign Minister Downer will speak to the press at 1:20 p.m. in the stakeout area outside the Security Council.

As we speak, the Secretary-General is starting a meeting with the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia and Portugal. They are expected to review phase 2 of the East Timor popular consultation process in light of the most recent developments and the humanitarian crisis in the Territory.

Prior to the meeting with the Ministers, the Secretary-General met with José Ramos Horta from the East Timorese resistance leadership.

United Nations staff in Dili today travelled about 10 kilometres south to the town of Dare, where a priest told them some 50,000 residents of Dili, roughly half of Dili's population, were hiding in the mountains.

They brought with them six metric tonnes of rice, which were then trekked up into the hills. The rice was part of a daily ration that had been provided to an Indonesian priest in Dare by the Indonesian military in Dili. The displaced people, according to the priest, lacked food, especially milk for the children and medical supplies to deal with diarrhea and malaria.

The World Food Programme (WFP) announced today that it is preparing to air drop emergency food supplies into East Timor, using for the first time the innovative "snowdrop" technology. Packages of high- energy biscuits are shaped into wings, allowing them to float and circle to the ground, landing softly. The WFP is also contracting commercial helicopters to deliver food to 30,000 people in the hills around Dili. (A WFP press release is available in the Spokesman’s Office with more details.)

The acting head of the United Nations Mission, Brigadier General Rezaqul Haider (Bangladesh), is expected to visit the town of Baucau tomorrow.

The UNAMET personnel, who are now staying in the Australian Consulate in Dili, visited their compound last night and found that windows of vehicles had been broken and radios in those vehicles stolen. The Indonesian military had also stolen office equipment from the compound as we reported to you yesterday. On returning to the compound today, however, UN personnel found that some of the radios had been clumsily reinstalled.

**Kosovo

In Pristina today, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) announced that the International Organization for Migration (IOM) will begin registration of the Kosovo Corps, which is being formed as a civilian emergency and humanitarian force. The Corps will be mobilized throughout Kosovo to assist in ongoing reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts and will also be trained to respond rapidly to natural disasters and other emergencies. Registration begins on Monday.

An information campaign is under way at the 49 official UCK assembly areas to inform former combatants of the application process and the possibilities that exist for them within the Corps. The creation and implementation of the Kosovo Corps is a collaborative effort of the NATO-led security force (KFOR), UNMIK and the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK). The IOM was asked to identify appropriate candidates for the Corps among former UCK members already registered under the organization’s Information, Counseling and Referral Service to accept applications from other members of society. The IOM is assisting former combatants to reintegrate into civilian life. To date, 10,700 former combatants have been registered.

It is foreseen that the Kosovo Corps will number 5,000, out of which 3,000 will serve as full-time members and the rest as part-time reservists.

You can see a briefing note from Pristina for more details on the Kosovo Corps, as well as updates on the schools, new judicial appointments and an announcement of the first wedding presided over by the civil administrator in which the marriage certificate was issued by UNMIK.

**Security Council Consultations

Security Council consultations today start a bit later than usual after yesterday’s marathon session that lasted until the early morning. As we speak, they should be starting their consultations on Cyprus. They will be briefed by Ann Hercus, the outgoing Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Chief of the United Nations Operation in Cyprus. This will be her last briefing to the Council. Ann Hercus will be going back to New Zealand at the end of the month.

This afternoon, at 3:30, in Conference Room 7, the Sanctions Committee will meet concerning the situation in Angola. The Chairman of that Committee, Ambassador Robert Fowler of Canada, will brief interested members after the meeting and the press is welcome to attend that briefing.

**DPI/NGO Conference

The annual Department of Public Information/Non-governmental Organization (DPI/NGO) Conference is now taking place in the General Assembly Hall.

The keynote speakers at this year's event were Queen Noor al- Hussein of Jordan and Nobel Laureate Oscar Arias of Costa Rica. They addressed the challenge of finding new directions in a globalized world.

The Secretary-General welcomed all the participants, especially the over 100 Ghanaians who represent the largest developing-country presence at the Conference. He said, "I am glad my compatriots have come in such numbers and are taking this issue so seriously."

Looking to the future, the Secretary-General stressed the importance of next May's Millennium Forum at the United Nations, which will bring together NGOs from around the world in advance of the Millennium Assembly in September 2000. He urged the NGOs to bring their concerns to the Forum, saying, "Please, for all our sakes -- for the sake of the international community -- keep up the fight."

Copies of the speech are available.

Meanwhile, the DPI has just launched a new web page to coincide with the annual NGO Conference. You'll find it on the United Nations home page under civil society. It provides easy access to information, which is of particular interest to NGOs.

We expect that there will be a press release available on the racks shortly with more information.

**UNICEF Executive Director Calls for More Resources To Fight AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa

Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said the countries of sub-Saharan Africa need a massive infusion of resources if they are to make any significant headway against the growing pandemic of HIV/AIDS. Ms. Bellamy called the pandemic "the world's most terrible undeclared war", saying it had turned sub-Saharan Africa into “a killing field”.

She said some 200,000 people, most of them children and women, died in 1998 as a result of armed conflict on the African continent, and yet 2 million Africans were killed by AIDS in that same year.

"Poor countries need more than encouragement in the fight against HIV/AIDS”, she said. "They need income support, debt relief and strong social safety nets. Most of all, they need resources."

The UNICEF chief called special attention to rising numbers of AIDS orphans, the problem of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and the need to give youth a primary role in efforts to inform young people about the dangers posed by the pandemic and how they can protect themselves.

There should be copies in this room of her speech delivered earlier today in Lusaka, Zambia, at the International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

**Afghanistan

The United Nations is continuing to provide assistance to displaced people in Afghanistan's Shamali Valley. Over 11,000 families are estimated to have been displaced to the Valley from Kabul over the five-week period that started on August 8th.

In Kabul, there are now about 12,300 displaced persons taking shelter in the former Soviet compound. The WFP is providing them with food rations. Other United Nations agencies, along with our NGO partners, are supplying non-food items. For example, UNICEF has set up a corner of the compound to administer oral rehydration therapy.

Meanwhile, the agencies are making contingency plans for the continued presence of IDPs in Kabul throughout the winter. We have a detailed update from Islamabad available in the Spokesman’s Office.

**New Prosecutor Starts Work Today

Carla Del Ponte, the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and for the former Yugoslavia, started her new job today in The Hague. More details are in the notes from the weekly briefing of the Tribunal, available in room S-378.

**ICAO Presents Award

"Mr. Aviation Safety" is the nickname of this year's recipient of the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) highest honour.

The Edward Warner Award, named for ICAO's first President, was given to 97-year old Jerome Lederer, who has led the development of accident investigation procedures and regulatory standards.

You can read more in a press release available in the Spokesman’s Office.

**United Nations World Economic and Social Survey

The latest UN World Economic and Social Survey is out, with an embargo of 1 p.m. tomorrow New York time. You can pick up a press release at the documents counter. If you want a copy of the Survey itself, contact Tim Wall at ext. 3-5851.

There will be a press conference on the Survey tomorrow here in room S-226 immediately following the noon briefing.

**Press Conferences

Tomorrow at 10:30 a.m., Vladislav Jovanovic, Permanent Representative of Yugoslavia, will hold a press conference to discuss the book “NATO Crimes in Yugoslavia (Part 2), Documentary Evidence, 25 April to 10 June”. That will be followed at 11 a.m. by another press conference by the President of the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly.

**UNCA Informal Briefing

The United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) has asked me to invite you to an informal briefing by the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mark Malloch Brown, at 5 p.m. today. He will talk about his first meeting with his Executive Board and his vision for the new UNDP.

**Question-and-Answer Session

Question: The Vatican and other aid agencies have expressed concern that food drops might endanger East Timorese refugees since they could be located and attacked by anti-independence militias. How is the United Nations addressing this issue?

Spokesman: There was a considerable amount of discussion about those food drops and whether they could pose a security problem. I have to assume they must have concluded the threat of the shortage of food was greater than the threat of the attention that might be called to their presence. So, I’m sure that these things were taken into account in making the decision.

Question: What about the group in Jakarta that was discussing getting the aid groups into East Timor?

Spokesman: You mean Ross Mountain’s group? He would be going to Darwin on Thursday, then he hopes to go in with the MNF. We wish to get as many civilian aid workers in as possible. Therefore, we would be riding on the coattails of the MNF and setting up in Dili as soon as possible.

Question: Will the Indonesian military continue to stay there?

Spokesman: You saw that the resolution adopted last night reaffirmed Indonesia’s responsibility, under the referendum agreement, for the maintenance of peace and security, so I have to assume that the MNF is going in there to help restore peace and security and that they would be working in partnership with the Indonesian military.

Question: Will there be new military people on the Indonesian side?

Spokesman: You would recall that at the end of last week when martial law was declared, President Habibi said that he was going to be rotating some troops, putting some new troops in, as well as rotating the Commander. I assume those things were done. You would also recall that at the time, we said we did not notice any difference in their behaviour. I do not know whether you could judge from the incident that I mentioned earlier today about their return of the stolen radios whether this is the beginning of a turn-around.

Question: Is it true that the Indonesian military will be advisers of the MNF?

Spokesman: You should ask Foreign Minister Downer at his 1:20 briefing. The Australians and the Indonesians have been discussing the military arrangements between the MNF and the Indonesian armed forces here in New York while the Foreign Ministers have been here. I believe they must have come to an understanding and I would let him describe that to you.

Question: What is the timetable for transition from Multinational Forces to peacekeeping operations?

Spokesman: I cannot discuss drafts of Security Council resolutions that are confidential documents, I can only discuss the final document as adopted. Question: Do you know about the document that would be signed at the tripartite meeting?

Spokesman: I am told that they are not expected to sign a document in opposition to rumours about that yesterday.

Question: Are they just going to discuss Phase 2?

Spokesman: That is what we were told. There is the issue of how do we get on with Phase 2. The interface between UNAMET which will be expected to go back into East Timor and resume its duties, the MNF, as well as relations with the Indonesian forces all need to be sorted out.

Question: Will the United Nations be sending a bill to the Indonesian Government with regards to the looting of the compound? I have no recollection of a similar incident occurring where the national army was identified as being responsible.

Spokesman: I am not aware of any intention of the Secretariat to give a claim to Indonesia.

Question: What lessons could be drawn from the conflict in East Timor?

Spokesman: I do not wish to get into the philosophy of things.

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For information media. Not an official record.