DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Shirley Brownell, spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly, and Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Briefing by Spokeswoman for President of General Assembly

**General Debate Continues

Day three of the General Assembly’s general debate, presided over by President Theo-Ben Gurirab, began this morning with addresses by Presidents Carlos Roberto Flores Facusse of Honduras, Luis Angel Gonzalez Macchi of Paraguay and Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia. The Foreign Ministers of Germany, China, Italy and San Marino will also speak.

This afternoon, the Assembly will hear addresses by Presidents Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti, Miguel Angel Rodriguez Echeverria of Costa Rica, Jules Albert Widjenbosch of Suriname, Leo Falcam of the Federated States of Micronesia, and Frederick Chiluba of Zambia. Also expected to speak are the Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Denzil Douglas, and the Foreign Ministers of Pakistan, Greece, Denmark, India, Turkmenistan and the Czech Republic.

**President Expresses Sympathy with People of Taiwan

At the start of Tuesday afternoon’s meeting, the President said he had learned with shock and sadness of the earthquake that struck near Taipei on Monday. On behalf of the members of the Assembly and on his own behalf, he extended to the people of the Taiwan Province of China heartfelt sympathy at this time of trial.

**Schedule of Appointments

Copies of the Assembly President’s appointments for today are available in room S-378 and on the Internet. He met this morning with the Foreign Ministers of Brazil and Japan. Foreign Minister Luiz Felipe Lampreia of Brazil, referring to Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s proposal on humanitarian intervention, suggested that a meeting be held this year to discuss the subject. He also criticized the slow pace at which the Assembly tackles its agenda. The President responded that United Nations reform should include a review of the methods of work of the Assembly and of the Economic and Social Council.

In his meeting with the President, Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumara of Japan expressed concern that the Assembly had been seized of the issue of Security Council reform for six years and that there had been no progress. If no progress was made on substance, he said, the United Nations might lose its credibility. He also spoke about Japan’sinvolvement in disarmament activities. Responding, the President said that discussions on Security Council reform had advanced and that it was possible to make significant progress. At this stage, it was a question of encouraging Member States to think about taking decisions on reform of the Council.

The Assembly President will attend a luncheon with President Yasser Arafat of Palestine, hosted by the Permanent Observer of Palestine. This evening, he will attend a reception in honour of Mr. Arafat, hosted by the Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

**Other Meetings

On other meetings, the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) met at 10 a.m. today to elect the remaining officers of its bureau and to organize its work. The related documents are available on the racks. The Disarmament and International Security Committee (First Committee) will meet at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow, 23 September, also to organize its work.

At 10:30 a.m. tomorrow, 23 September, there will be a press briefing, here in room S-226, on prospects for the special session on the sustainable development of small island developing States. Present will be Ambassador Tuiloma Neroni Slade of Samoa, Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS); and JoAnne DiSano, Director of the Division for Sustainable Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Briefing by Deputy Spokesman for Secretary-General

**East Timor

There have been many questions on the death of the London Financial Times correspondent, Sander Thoenes, based in Jakarta. We contacted the Australian Mission on the matter and they informed us that the International Force in East Timor (INTERFET) does not have information on how and when Mr. Thoenes travelled to East Timor. However, it is understood that he arrived on Tuesday afternoon, Dili time.

Preliminary information available to INTERFET, but yet to be confirmed, is that shortly after his arrival, Mr. Thoenes hired a local driver of a motorbike to take him outside Dili. Reports were that the driver of the motorbike came forward after the body was discovered and alleged that he and Mr. Thoenes were chased by men in uniform who called on them to stop. When they did not, shots were fired. These reports are yet to be substantiated.

An investigation of the death is being conducted jointly by INTERFET and the Indonesian army.

Meanwhile, three Australian military planes carrying 30 tons of World Food Programme (WFP) humanitarian daily rations dropped the much- needed food assistance to three areas in the eastern region of East Timor.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), which has reopened its office in Atambua, West Timor, reported that a truck with 1.2 metric tons of baby food left the town yesterday for Dili with the village of Dare as its final destination. The truck cleared several military checkpoints, but was turned back by militia elements on the outskirts of Dili. The truck reportedly returned safely to West Timor.

The UNICEF, together with the other humanitarian agencies in East Timor, is making every effort possible to assure safe transport of assistance to the people in need. It is essential that security be established to enable vital transport of aid to proceed unheeded.

The WFP, meanwhile, said it had obtained clearance from the Indonesians to fly directly from Darwin to air drop sites without having to go through Dili, whose airport has been congested with incoming multinational force contingents. Two Sikorsky helicopters are expected to arrive in Darwin for WFP use to shuttle food to pockets of displaced persons in East Timor.

The WFP also said it was organizing distribution of food to those trickling down the mountains around Dili. Those in the mountains are currently surviving on cassava, a tropical plant with starchy roots used to make tapioca.

Ian Martin, the head of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), met with an 18-member donor mission which travelled to Dili today. The mission included Julia Taft, the United States Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, as well as senior officials from Australia, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, Japan and the European Union.

Mr. Martin returned with the mission to Darwin late Wednesday and was expected to give a press conference Thursday morning, Darwin time. He is expected to be in New York early next week, and we hope to have him here to brief you.

**Special Session on East Timor

The special session convened by the Commission on Human Rights on East Timor, scheduled to start tomorrow in Geneva, will be webcast live on the United Nations human rights Web site. That address is .

**Kosovo

The weekly meeting of the Kosovo Transitional Council began today around 10 a.m. in Pristina with all participants present. However, the Serb delegation walked out of the meeting in protest of the agreement yesterday to form the Kosovo Protection Corps. The Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Bernard Kouchner, and Kosovo Force (KFOR) General Michael Jackson had been scheduled to brief the participants on that agreement.

Mr. Kouchner, in remarks made later in the day, said that he hoped the incident was a temporary setback and that he would work to hold meetings with the individual members of the Kosovo Transitional Council with an eye towards the early return to the Council of the Serbian representatives. He told reporters that seats reserved for the Serb delegation remained open and that he hoped they would come back as soon as possible.

Mr. Kouchner reiterated his mission’s goal of trying to build a multi-ethnic Kosovo. But, this does not come overnight, he said. “It will come if we give enough time to build confidence. We are ready. They were not. The people of Kosovo are not ready. We are. I regret it. The seats remain for them. And they will come back. Sometimes in negotiations, you have steps forward and steps back”, he said.

In the meantime, UNMIK police reported today that the situation in the mission area remained calm. Only two cases of intimidation were reported from Pristina, the lowest rate for weeks.

On a lighter note, some 70 cows were to have arrived in Pristina today as part of a Swiss Government pilot project, which intends to import 500 milk cows to be distributed to farms around Kosovo, in areas selected on the basis of stock depletion and the availability of food and shelter for winter.

Copies of today’s UNMIK briefing in Pristina, as well as Mr. Kouchner’s remarks to reporters following the Council meeting, are available in the Spokesman’s Office.

**Statement on Central African Republic

The following statement is attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

“As the last votes are being cast in the first round of the presidential elections in the Central African Republic, the Secretary- General would like to express his satisfaction at the peaceful and calm manner in which the people of the Central African Republic have participated in the vote. The significant turnout underlines their desire for stability, democracy and development.

“The Secretary-General congratulates all political participants and the people of the Central African Republic on their display of maturity and calm during this democratic event. The Secretary-General would also like to extend his deep appreciation to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Oluyemi Adeniji, the civilian and military personnel of the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINURCA) and all electoral observers for their excellent work in supporting the elections.”

**Secretary-General’s Report on UNMIBH

The report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH)is out on the racks today. The Secretary-General notes that UNMIBH is making steady progress in its effort to establish multi-ethnic, professional and democratic police forces throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. He notes, however, the difficulties faced by UNMIBH in the recruitment of minority police officers. He says that in both entities “the leadership of each of the ethnic communities continues to demonstrate a serious lack of political will to improve the functioning of the police and judiciary in line with international standards”.

**Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team in Taipei

The six-member United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team arrived in Taipei as scheduled and held initial meetings with the local authorities. A reception centre has been established by the authorities at the Taipei airport for incoming international search and rescue teams. Members of the team will be providing support to the centre.

The remainder of the team will proceed to Taichung tomorrow morning (local time) to work with the coordination centre for international search and rescue teams.

**Pakistan Brings India to International Court of Justice

Today, Pakistan brought a case against India to the International Court of Justice over the shooting down of a Pakistani aircraft by Indian air force planes on 10 August.

Pakistan contends that the unarmed aircraft was on a routine training mission in the country's own airspace, with 16 personnel on board who were all killed when it was hit without warning by Indian air force planes.

Pakistan is charging that that action had violated the United Nations Charter and an agreement between India and Pakistan on the prevention of air space violations. Pakistan also said that the incident had violated obligations under customary international law not to use force and not to violate another State's sovereignty. It wants the Court to order India to pay reparations. **Press Conferences

This afternoon at 1:30 and 4:15, the spokesman of the Foreign Minister of Japan, Yasuhisa Kawamura; and at 3:30, the Foreign Minister of Canada, Lloyd Axworthy, and the Minister for International Cooperation of Canada, Maria Minna, will discuss child soldiers with a focus on Sierra Leone in room S-226.

Tomorrow, the Chair of AOSIS, Tuiloma Neroni of Samoa, and the Director of the Division for Sustainable Development, JoAnne DiSano, will discuss prospects for the General Assembly special session on small island developing States at 10:30 a.m. Other press conferences will be held in room S-226 by the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Glafcos Clerides, at 11 a.m.; the Minister for External Affairs of India, Jaswant Singh, at 11:30 a.m.; the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Tarja Kaarina Halonen, at 12:30 p.m.; and the President of Albania, Rexhep Meidani, at 1 p.m.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Jozias Van Aartsen, accompanied by Loretta Bondi and Eugenia Piza-Lopex of the International Network on Small Arms, will also host a press conference at 4 p.m. in room S-226.

**Question-and-Answer Session

Question: Do you have any comment on today’s The New York Times editorial on the Secretary-General?

Deputy Spokesman: I have no comment. I am happy that the Secretary-General’s speech is reaching many people, and there is discussion about issues that he considers very important.

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