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 Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Briefing by Spokeswoman for President of General Assembly

**General Assembly in Fifth Day of Debate

The General Assembly is in its fifth day of general debate, hearing addresses this morning by President Mireya Moscoso of Panama and President Leonel Fernandez Reyna of the Dominican Republic. Also speaking in the debate this morning are the Foreign Ministers of Senegal, Cuba, Iran, Kazakhstan, Singapore and Iraq. Assembly President Theo-Ben Gurirab is presiding.

This afternoon, the Assembly will hear addresses by three Presidents: Lansana Conte of Guinea, Yahya Jammeh of the Gambia, and Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana. Speaking in the general debate will be Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek of Slovenia and the Foreign Ministers of Papua New Guinea, the Netherlands, Oman, Hungary, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Brunei Darussalam and Myanmar.

**Schedule of President’s Appointments

Copies of the Assembly President’s appointments for today are available in room S-378 and on the Internet. This morning, he met with Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Manh Cam of Viet Nam, with Vice-Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Lydie Polfer of Luxembourg and with Secretary-General Azeddine Laraki of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

With the Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister, the President discussed United Nations and Security Council reform, regional stability and the proposed initiative on humanitarian intervention versus State sovereignty. With Mrs. Polfer, the President discussed the importance of the United Nations to small States, Security Council reform and how to make of the next century and millennium a better world. They also talked about European Union-Africa ties. The meeting with Mr. Laraki focused on cooperation between the United Nations, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and its 55-member States, particularly on such questions as the Middle East and Afghanistan.

This afternoon, the Assembly President has meetings with Foreign Ministers Jaswant Singh of India, Mohamed Benaissa of Morocco, and Joe Borg of Malta. This evening, he will attend the African-American Institute’s Fifteenth Annual Awards Dinner at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.

Copies of the President’s statement, delivered last evening at a dinner in his honour, hosted by Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer of Germany, are available in room S-378. The dinner brought together African foreign

ministers and heads of delegation to exchange views and update each other on world issues and on the agenda of the Assembly.

I wish to remind correspondents that the General Assembly will be in session all day tomorrow, 25 September, to continue the general debate. The speakers in the morning will be the Vice-President of Palau and the Foreign Ministers of Belarus, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Thailand, Burkina Faso, Belgium and Chile. In the afternoon, the Assembly will hear addresses by the Presidents of Bulgaria and El Salvador. Speaking in the general debate will be the Prime Ministers of Mongolia and Cape Verde, and the Foreign Ministers of Croatia, Viet Nam, Kenya, Ireland, Benin, Malta and Uganda.

There will be no briefing tomorrow. I’ll be here, and if you have any questions, you can reach me at 963-0755.

**The Week Ahead

Now for some information about next week. Monday, 27 September, is the start of the two-day special session to review and appraise implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States. The session will begin at 9 a.m. Over the two days, the Assembly is slated to hear statements by 120 delegations and eight observers. Among the participants are four heads of State –- Guyana, Maldives, Cyprus and the Federated States of Micronesia –- the Vice-President of Palau and five heads of government -– Samoa, Antigua and Barbuda, Cape Verde, Barbados and Mauritius.

A press kit on the special session is available at the documents counter, and the related documents are: A/S-22/1 through A/S-22/5. There is an addendum to document A/S-22/2. If you have questions about the session, Manuel Dengo, from the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and Pragati Pascale, from The Department of Public Information’s Development and Human Rights Section, are here to answer them. A background press release on the session is available on the racks today. I’m asked to inform you that there will be no media centre for the special session, and that questions relating to accreditation, access and tickets should be addressed to the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit, at 963-6934.

A Committee of the Whole will meet on both days to finalize negotiations on a draft declaration and document to be adopted by the special session, and to hear additional statements by non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations.

In connection with the special session, there will be a number of press conferences held in this room: on Monday, 27 September, by small island heads of State on the communiqué adopted at the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) Summit and on the prospects for the session -– the time to be announced; and at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, 28 September, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Klaus Toepfer, will launch a report on Environment Outlook for Small Islands. This may be followed, at 11:30 a.m., by a wrap-up press conference on the outcome of the special session.

Briefing by Spokesman for Secretary-General

**Secretary General to Receive Emblem from Netherlands and Russian Federation

In a few minutes, the Secretary-General is scheduled to receive an emblem from the Netherlands and the Russian Federation in commemoration of the Centennial of the First International Peace Conference. This emblem is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph representing the divine majesty of the Rule of Law and cosmic harmony.

**East Timor

The current round of senior officials’ talks continued this morning with the trilateral meeting between Indonesia, Portugal and the United Nations. As you know, they have been reviewing, since yesterday, the latest developments and the steps needed for the implementation of the results of the 30 August ballot. Ambassador Jamsheed Marker, the Personal Representative of the Secretary-General, chaired these talks and he agreed to meet the press at 1 p.m. today at the stakeout area here on the second floor. You can then ask him questions like who participated, as I was asked yesterday. The response to that is that there were the usual representatives –- Nugroho Wisnamurti for Indonesia and Fernando Neves for Portugal.

Still here in New York, we expect that early next week the Secretary- General will be meeting with Xanana Gusmao, the East Timorese pro-independence leader. I do not have a specific time for that meeting yet, but as soon as that becomes available, I will let you know.

Meanwhile, the news from Dili is that 45 staff of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) are now in the East Timorese capital. Some are still staying in the Australian Consulate, but others are already in the UNAMET compound which is being cleaned up to eventually receive all of them. The UNAMET continues to do aerial reconnaissance of the Territory, and today they have confirmed earlier estimates that about 50 per cent of all buildings have been destroyed. With the exception of UNAMET headquarters in Dili, all UNAMET offices in the 13 regions have been destroyed.

During a press briefing today in Darwin, the Australian Defence Spokesperson, Colonel Duncan Lewis, said that the international force in East Timor (INTERFET) remains concerned for the security of media personnel in East Timor. He said, “East Timor is, and will remain for some time, a very dangerous place. We urge non-accredited journalists to stay out of East Timor, for the time being.”

Humanitarian relief operations in East Timor are gathering momentum. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said nine tons of plastic sheeting, as well as jerry cans and medical kits for 30,000 people, had been airlifted to Dili. Two truckloads of supplies had been immediately taken to Dare, east of Dili. A second airlift and a barge were expected to arrive in Dili with other supplies.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said seven metric tons of rice had been also taken to the displaced in Dare today. The WFP also reported that the “snowdrop” operation that we had been talking about for more than a week finally happened, and six tons or some 40,000 high-protein biscuits had been scattered over mountainous areas of East Timor. And they fluttered to the ground like snowflakes, successfully. The WFP hopes to double that amount tomorrow.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that the 1.2 metric tons of baby food that arrived in Dili yesterday was being delivered today to children in Dare. On Saturday, UNICEF said it plans to airlift emergency health and drug kits, 5,000 blankets, 3,000 jerry cans and 12.5 tons of baby food. On Sunday, UNICEF plans to transport six tons of baby food and other supplies into Kupang in West Timor.

UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said, in a statement, that UNICEF was very alarmed about the continued violence and threats to East Timorese who have fled to West Timor and urged immediate action to ensure safe access to the displaced persons by humanitarian organizations. The number of displaced persons is reported to have reached 214,000 with 30,000 being under the age of five. Camps are overcrowded and poor sanitation is a serious problem.

A four-member team of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is headed for West Timor, together with representatives of other United Nations agencies and the government. The group is supposed to set up a plan of operations for West Timor. The UNHCR said the issue of international access to West Timor’s overcrowded camps, often ruled by anti- independence militias, was absolutely crucial to give at least some relief and protection to the people in the camps and to ensure that all those who wanted to go back to East Timor would be allowed to do so.

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, Ross Mountain, is scheduled to travel Saturday on an assessment mission to Baucau.

**Special Session on East Timor

The Commission on Human Rights continued its special session on East Timor today in Geneva. About 35 speakers took the floor, among them, the two Nobel Laureates, Archbishop Carlos Jimenez Belo and Jose Ramos-Horta. The National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia, which also took the floor, announced its plans to investigate the events in East Timor, and said that it was open to participation by international experts.

Yesterday, in a joint statement, the Asian Group expressed its concern regarding the convening of the session.

The Commission has now concluded its debate and will resume in half an hour -- 6:30 p.m. Geneva time -- to consider the draft resolution tabled yesterday by Finland on behalf of the European Union.

In the meantime, members are having private consultations to consider, among other things, how to reconcile the two ideas of an international versus a national inquiry.

We understand that they still try to conclude the session tonight.

**Security Council Consultations

The Security Council today held its first ministerial debate on the issue of small arms.

Following the debate, the Council President read a statement, on behalf of the members, which underlined the vital importance of effective national regulations and controls on small arms transfers. He also called for a measure to discourage arms flows to countries or regions engaged in, or emerging from, armed conflicts. The Secretary-General was requested to develop a reference manual on ecologically safe methods of destroying weapons to help States dispose of weapons that have been surrendered. Copies of the statement are available in my Office.

Opening the debate, the Secretary-General said that there is probably no single tool of conflict so widespread, so easily available and so difficult to restrict as small arms.

He reviewed the dangers posed by small arms, which, he pointed out, survive from conflict to conflict -- unlike their victims.

But, the Secretary-General also found grounds for hope in a number of regional initiatives aimed at stemming the proliferation of small arms. He said that there was a realistic, achievable goal that could be met through foresight, action and cooperation in the struggle against small arms. "With the leadership of the Security Council", he told the ministers present, "and the active efforts of your Governments, I am confident that we can succeed."

**Secretary-General Addresses Group of 77

The Secretary-General this morning addressed the Ministerial Meeting of the "Group of 77" developing countries.

He stressed that the United Nations would continue to focus on reducing -- and hopefully, before long, eliminating -- absolute poverty which "condemns so many millions of our fellow citizens to a life of misery and degradation".

He called on developing countries to pursue job-creation strategies while promoting private sector development. Developed countries, he said, must provide more assistance, debt relief and improved market access to developing countries.

Copies of that text are available in the Spokesman’s Office.

**Sierra Leone

Heads up on Sierra Leone. We expect the report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council on Sierra Leone to be issued today. The Council is scheduled to discuss that report next Tuesday.

**Landmine Hit in Lebanon

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has reported that last evening, just before 11 p.m. local time, a mobile patrol APC of the Fiji battalion hit a landmine. The incident occurred near Mansuri village, which is about nine kilometres north of UNIFIL headquarters.

Two of the vehicle’s three occupants were injured. They were medevaced by helicopter to the UNIFIL hospital where their condition is reported as good. The vehicle sustained heavy damage, and an investigation is under way.

**Kosovo

We have notes from the press briefing in Pristina today, which includes a security update in the province, including the response of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to tensions involving the hospital in Mitrovica and an announcement that the Joint Civil Commission on Telecommunications which, last week, approved telephone rates and, this week, have started sending bills to customers. So, if you are getting a bill, things are getting back to normal.

Carl Bildt, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Balkans, has left New York earlier today for Washington, D.C., where he will address the Conference on Economic Reconstruction in South-Eastern Europe, sponsored by the World Bank and the Georges Marshall Foundation.

**Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

We have available in the Spokesman’s Office copies of a report on the status of electricity and heating requirements for populations in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. After two months of analysis, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs concludes that there will be problems with the energy supply leading to frequent and prolonged outages over the winter months. Priority areas for humanitarian assistance outlined in the report include the provision of generators and alternative fuel sources.

**Democratic Republic of Congo

The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the peace process for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Moustapha Niasse, arrived yesterday in New York for a week of consultations with senior United Nations officials and especially with donor countries. This comes as part of his advocacy efforts to enhance their awareness on the funding needs of the various aspects of the restoration of peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

UN Compensation Commission

The United Nations Compensation Commission which deals with claims from damages resulting from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait has today made available $481 million to 73 governments and nine offices of three international organizations for distribution to 167,730 claimants.

We have available in the Spokesman’s Office copies of a press release issued in Geneva by the Commission with more details, including the list of governments and organizations receiving the funds.

We also have copies of the briefing given in Islamabad earlier today which gives an update on United Nations assistance to pockets of newly displaced persons in Kabul and the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan.

**Treaties

Oman yesterday signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which now has 154 signatories and 45 parties.

**Payments

Guinea made a payment today of over $30,000 towards its regular budget dues. We now have 103 Member States paid in full for this year.

**World Chronicle

World Chronicle screening will take place today. The TV programme produced by the Department of Public Information will feature Dr. Richard Jolly, Special Adviser to the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and you can see that today at 2:30 p.m. on in-house channel 6 or 38.

**Press Conferences

Today at 4 p.m., Sartaj Aziz, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, will host a press conference in room S-226. At 5:30 p.m., the Mission of Denmark will sponsor a press conference on the situation in Myanmar.

Tomorrow, the General Assembly will be meeting all day. At 12 noon, Paek Nam Sun, Foreign Minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and at 4:15 p.m., Francisco Guillermo Flores Perez, the President of El Salvador, will hold press conferences in room S-226. **The Week Ahead

A few highlights for the week ahead follow.

Tomorrow afternoon, the Secretary-General will deliver the keynote address at the 1999 programme of seminars organized by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C. The theme of the event is, “On the Eve of the Millennium . . . Setting the Agenda for Global Growth and Development”.

On Monday, Mongolia is scheduled to sign a standby arrangement Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations. That is slated to happen at 12 noon.

Ian Martin, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for East Timor, is expected to be the guest at the noon briefing. That is still to be confirmed. At 12:30 p.m., Georg Kell of the Executive Office of the Secretary-General will discuss the “1999 World Investment Report”. That report examines the world’s 100 largest transnational corporations, the 50 largest in developing countries and 25 largest in Central and Eastern Europe.

On Tuesday, there will be an East Timor ministerial meeting here in New York. It will be attended by the Foreign Minister of Indonesia, Ali Alatas, and the Foreign Minister of Portugal, Jaime Gama. It will be chaired by the Secretary-General. The Security Council is scheduled to hold consultations on the Secretary-General’s report on Sierra Leone, and the Secretary-General’s report to the Security Council on Guinea-Bissau is due.

On Wednesday, the Security Council has scheduled an open meeting on Africa, and the Secretary-General will address that meeting. Also, his report on Afghanistan is expected to be issued on Wednesday or Thursday.

On Thursday, an interim report of the Security Council Committee on Sanctions against the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) is due.

**Question-and-Answer Session

Question: The Secretary-General will address the Security Council on Wednesday. What is the specific topic of that meeting?

Spokesman: It’s a follow-up to his report on Africa issued a year ago. He is essentially issuing an updated report on progress that was or was not made, then he will give a speech with some highlights from that report.

Question: Is the Secretary-General expected to meet with members of the opposition from Iraq?

Spokesman: No meeting has been scheduled.

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