DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19990927The 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
**Special Session on Small Island Developing States Begins Today
The General Assembly opened its twenty-second special session this morning, convened to review and appraise the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.
Elected as President was the current Assembly President, Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, Foreign Minister of Namibia. Addressing the special session, the President said that since the 1994 Barbados conference, convened to address the unique challenges facing small island developing nations, those States had made remarkable efforts to tackle their special ecological and economic vulnerabilities and to put in place policies and measures to implement the Barbados Programme of Action.
During the next two days, he continued, the urgent task before the Assembly is to assess those efforts; review constraints that impede progress; examine new problems confronting small island States; and agree on practical steps that need to be taken by the international community towards implementing development strategies. Let us make use of this ideal opportunity to renew and strengthen further global partnership with small island developing States. In this way, we can make a contribution towards the realization of the sustainable development objectives of these embattled but courageous countries. Copies of the Presidents statement are available in room 378.
The Secretary-General also addressed the special session. Fred Eckhard will tell you what he said.
Concerning the work of the session, the President drew attention to the report of the Commission on Sustainable Development, which acted as the preparatory body for the special session (document A/S-22/2 and Add.1). The report contains two draft texts for the consideration of the Assembly: the first is a draft declaration; the second text is entitled Status of progress and initiatives for the future implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.
The Assembly adopted organizational arrangements for the special session, adhering to the same membership as the fifty-fourth session with regard to Vice-Presidents, Chairmen of the Main Committees, the Credentials Committee and the General Committee.
The Assembly established an Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole, chaired by John Ashe (Antigua and Barbuda). As to the agenda, the Assembly decided to consider all nine items directly in plenary, while also allocating item 8 to the Ad Hoc Committee to consider the two draft texts. That Committee will meet this afternoon and tomorrow to finalize negotiations on the two texts, which the Assembly is expected to adopt at its conclusion. The draft declaration contains one bracketed paragraph; the status of progress text contains brackets in paragraph 15 (l) dealing with hazardous and radioactive wastes. The reports of the special session are in documents A/S-22/1 to A/S-22/7.
In other action, the Assembly decided that the length of statements should not exceed five minutes; and also decided on the participation of observers, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and representatives of United Nations programmes and others in the United Nations system.
Today, the Assembly will hear 57 speakers in three meetings - 25 this morning, 23 this afternoon and nine tonight. The Journal lists the names and titles of all the speakers. Over the two-day session, the Assembly is scheduled to hear over 130 speakers.
In connection with the special session, there will be a press conference, in this room at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, 28 September, when the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director, Klaus Toepfer, will launch a report on "Environment Outlook for Small Islands".
Concerning the work of the regular session, the President, on Saturday, drew attention to document A/INF/54/3, which contains a tentative programme of work and schedule of plenary meetings for the period from Wednesday, 29 September, to the end of November.
**Sixth Committee Holds Organizational Meeting
This morning, the Sixth Committee (Legal) met and elected the rest of its bureau and organized its work for the session. It also elected chairmen for three working groups. The Committee then suspended its work so that the Working Group on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism could meet from today through 8 October.
Briefing by Spokesman for Secretary-General
**Special Session on Small Island Developing States
As Shirley already mentioned, the General Assembly today opened a special session to review the 1994 Programme of Action adopted in Barbados at the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.
At the General Assembly this morning, the Secretary-General recalled that in Barbados, small island countries agreed to work on their problems and the international community agreed to assist their efforts. He said that progress had been made on both fronts, but added that the international community should do more to provide island nations with investment, official development assistance and low-cost technologies.
He pointed out that, "By working with small islands on their problems, we can find solutions to ours".
Copies of the speech are available in my office.
**East Timor
The East Timorese independence leader, Xanana Gusmao, is in the building today, having meetings with Secretariat officials this morning and this afternoon. He is expected to meet with the Secretary-General tomorrow -- I do not have a time as yet, but will let you know as soon as its fixed -- and will meet with the Deputy Secretary-General today at 2:45 p.m. There is a chance he will give a press conference tomorrow, sponsored by the Government of Portugal, right after the noon briefing.
Meanwhile, the Secretary-General's Personal Representative for East Timor, Jamsheed Marker, will participate in a Ministerial-level Trilateral Meeting at 5 p.m. tomorrow. He will be joined by the Foreign Minister of Indonesia, Ali Alatas, and the Foreign Minister of Portugal, Jaime Gama.
On the humanitarian front in East Timor, as more East Timorese trickled back into Dili, United Nations agencies and their partners stepped up deliveries of humanitarian aid and a clearer picture of the level of destruction emerged from several assessment missions that took place over the weekend.
As part of ongoing efforts to expand access, two major assessments - one to Baucau and the other to the western sector -- were completed on Sunday. The first inter-agency humanitarian assessment mission to Baucau and Manatuto, escorted by the international force in East Timor (INTERFET), reported that security and humanitarian conditions in Baucau, which hosts some 3,000 displaced persons, was relatively intact with 5 per cent of the infrastructure damaged. Humanitarian agencies are satisfied that there is sufficient infrastructure in Baucau to provide a logistic base for the distribution of humanitarian supplies to the eastern part of the island.
However, the team reported extensive damage in Manatuto with 80 per cent of the buildings burned. Little food or medicine was available. People were slowly returning from the hills. The city -- previously home to some 15,000 people -- is considered one of the highest priorities for emergency assistance. The team also reported that although this has been a bumper year for rice, many crops have been burned by departing forces. Numerous small villages have also been destroyed along the main transport routes including Umori and Lalala.
The first aerial humanitarian assessment of the western sector also took place on Sunday. The team travelled to the East Timor enclave of Oecussi inside of West Timor in addition to traversing most of the western sector of East Timor. They reported that most towns and villages have been largely destroyed.
On Saturday, a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)-led assessment mission arrived in West Timors capital of Kupang. UNHCR staff reported Kupang was calm over the weekend with no visible militia activity in the city. However, UNHCR reported that its scheduled appointment with the governor of West Timor today was cancelled by his office.
The Indonesian Government estimates that more than 200,000 East Timorese have fled to West Timor -- with some 100,000 believed to be massed in the vicinity of the border town of Atambua living in difficult conditions.
Today, the World Food Programme (WFP) had two successful airdrops. They carried a mixed cargo of nine tons of humanitarian daily rations (HDRs) -- equal to 9,000 meals -- and three tons of high protein biscuits, equal to 3,000 meals. In addition to the WFP airdrops, the Australian Air Force conducted two airdrops of 16 tons, equalling 16,000 meals.
Yesterday, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) delivered 28 tons of baby food, tents, jerry cans and water tanks to Kupang, West Timor. Today and tomorrow, UNICEF staff were ferrying the relief items by truck to displaced persons camps throughout West Timor.
UNHCR staff have been distributing aid in Dili and the immediate surroundings -- primarily plastic sheeting and jerry cans.
A very limited trucking capacity and the lack of safe warehousing and a shortage of staff continue to hamper the relief operation from the airport and port in Dili. In an effort to overcome this bottleneck, the WFP is airlifting trucks from Cambodia which are expected to arrive in Dili in a few days time.
We have several handouts by the agencies on the humanitarian assistance effort available in my office.
**Commission on Human Rights Special Session on East Timor
The Commission on Human Rights resumed its special session on East Timor today in Geneva. The members just decided by a vote of 27 in favour to 12 against, with 11 abstentions to include paragraph 6 of the draft resolution. In the resolution for a vote, that paragraph would call on the Secretary- General to establish a commission of inquiry on the events in East Timor. That is a procedural motion and they now go to a vote on the whole resolution, which includes paragraph 6, which they have been discussing.
Earlier today, they met quickly and then suspended the meeting as they continued to work behind the scenes to negotiate a draft resolution in the hope of reaching a consensus. According to the rules of the Commission, a special session must be limited to three working days. Therefore, since it began on Thursday, they must complete their work by midnight tonight Geneva time.
**Security Council
The Security Council is not meeting today, but three new reports of the Secretary-General to the Council that may be of interest to you are on the racks. These are on Afghanistan, Africa and Sierra Leone.
**Secretary-Generals Report on Afghanistan
On Afghanistan, the Secretary-General's latest report discusses implications for international peace and security in Afghanistan.
He notes that it is "profoundly disturbing" that just one week after the July meeting of the "six plus two" group in Tashkent, the Taliban forces started a new military offensive. He says it is his "sad duty" once more to alert the international community to the worsening human rights situation in Afghanistan. The Taliban's conduct of forced displacement of civilians during their recent offensive in the Shomali plains is particularly alarming, he states.
The Secretary-General continues that the unabated external involvement in the Afghan conflict leads him to question the role of the "six plus two" group. It appears that the group has not been able to make any real progress on a more unified approach towards the warring parties in Afghanistan. "Words must be put into political practice", he says, adding that by continuing to support certain Afghan factions, some members of the "six plus two" group appear to be paying only lip service to their own stated intentions. He calls for a review of the United Nations approach regarding the Afghan conflict, and says he will report on the results of this review by the end of this year.
**Secretary-Generals Report on Africa
The report on Africa concerns the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in the continent.
In it, the Secretary-General analyses the situation since his report on Africa of 1997 was issued. In his observations, he says, Africa today, on the eve of the new millennium, reveals a remarkable combination of accomplishments and unresolved problems, of opportunities seized and chances missed. The birth of so many new States in Africa this century", he says, "with all the attendant euphoria and high expectations, has been quickly followed by disillusionment and disappointment. He notes that although Africa could do more to put an end to its conflicts, the efforts that Africans are making merit the international communitys strong support. He added, "When the international community is committed to make a difference, it has proved that significant and rapid transformation can be achieved.
There is no excuse, he said, for not doing what is reasonable and doable.
**Secretary-Generals Report on Sierra Leone
The report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL) is out on the racks today. In it, the Secretary-General outlines the future role of the United Nations in Sierra Leone, including its cooperation with the military observer group of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The Secretary-General notes that President Obasanjo of Nigeria has agreed to his proposal to deploy a United Nations peacekeeping force which would include some Nigerian and other ECOWAS troops. Nigeria represents the bulk of the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG) troops present in Sierra Leone. Under the proposed plan, ECOMOG would continue to provide security for the areas where it is currently located, in particular around Freetown and Lungi, and would also play a role in the disarmament and demobilization of former combatants.
In his concept of operations, the Secretary-General says that the main purpose of the United Nations force would be to assist the Government in carrying out its programme to disarm and demobilize all former combatants and to help create the conditions of confidence and stability required for the smooth implementation of the peace process. The Secretary-General requests the Security Council to authorize the deployment of a force comprised of six battalions and specialized support units, bringing the total military personnel for Sierra Leone to 6,000. The force would be known as the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL).
**Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
We've been tracking for you the number of parties to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which 45 countries have now ratified. Unfortunately, this is not enough for the Treaty to enter into force. But, there is a provision in the Treaty which says that if it has not entered into force three years after its opening for signature, a conference can be convened at the request of a majority of States to address the issue.
Last Friday was the third anniversary of the date that the Treaty opened for signature. In accordance with its provisions, the Permanent Representative of Japan to the CTBT Preparatory Commission wrote to the Secretary-General on behalf of the countries which have ratified the Treaty requesting him, in his capacity as Depositary, to convene a conference from 6 to 8 October in Vienna. In response, the Secretary-General has sent letters of invitation to this conference.
We have a press release with more details.
**Secretary-General in Washington
As we told you on Friday, the Secretary-General was in Washington, D.C., on Saturday where he addressed an International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank seminar on the subject of youth unemployment.
He said the fact that millions and perhaps billions of people are either unemployed or underemployed amounts to a scandal, which must be overcome as a matter of priority in the new century. The developing countries will have to re-orient their strategies towards job creation, while developed countries will have to facilitate the flow of capital to developing countries.
Ultimately, he said, the international community could either give young people the tools they needed to fulfil their potential, or it could leave them to nurse their sense of frustration and misery. "It is up to us", he said.
Copies of that speech are available in my office.
**Mongolia To Sign Standby Arrangements for Peacekeeping Operations
As we mentioned to you Friday, Mongolia was scheduled to sign a standby arrangement Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations. That signing was slated for noon today and the standby arrangements are designed to accelerate the deployment of peacekeeping operations.
**Payments
Senegal completed payment today on its 1999 regular budget dues of over $62,000, bringing the total number of Member States paid in full for this year up to 104.
**Press Conferences
Today, at 12:30 p.m. in this room, Georg Kell, of the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, will discuss the 1999 World Investment Report.
Tomorrow, at 10:30 a.m., Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Zivadin Jovanovic will host a press conference in room 226. At 11 a.m., Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Klaus Toepfer will launch the UNEP series of Island Environment Outlook reports, followed at 11:30 a.m. by a press conference on the General Assembly special session on Small Island Developing States.
**Isabelle Broyer
And if I could just take one more minute of your time on a personal announcement. As you know, every year a significant number of support staff take a gruelling test to qualify for a few professional posts in an attempt to cross the divide, here at the United Nations, between the General Service and support staff and Professional staff. I couldnt pass it, by the way.
This year, about 100 General Service staff members competed for four posts in the Department of Public Information (DPI). There were nine finalists. Of those, two were from the Spokesmans Office - Isabelle Broyer and Maricel Magas-Sniffen. Isabelle is one of the four winners, so she will shortly move on to her new job as a Professional in DPI. Congratulations to her; she richly deserves the new responsibilities and we will miss her terribly, as Im sure you will since shes been in the office for years. She has always been a Professional to us.
To Maricel, we say try again next year. Her loss is bittersweet to us, as it is also our gain. She is a valuable member of our staff and were happy to hold on to her for at least one more year.
**Question and Answer Session
Question: Do you have any comment on the letter regarding the Kosovo Corps from Ambassador Jovanovic to the Security Council? Also, is it considered serious, since Mr. Kouchner has already appointed a head for that body?
Spokesman: I have no guidance on that point and Ill have to get back to you. [It was subsequently announced that the Security Council will take up Kosovo in consultations Tuesday.]
Question: Could you give an evaluation of the United Nations humanitarian aid in East Timor?
Spokesman: We have been reporting to you on the nuts and bolts. We would certainly like it to go faster. It hasnt helped that most of the trucks in East Timor were taken to West Timor loaded with loot. Weve been repairing a few wrecks, and, as I mentioned today, the WFP is trying to fly in some fresh trucks so that we can move this humanitarian aid which is coming in reasonably well to the port and the airport of Dili, but getting it out to the countryside, where its most needed, has been a problem, and thats why weve been relying on these airdrops. So, it needs to go faster. But, were doing everything we can to move it in that direction.
Question: How will you improve the situation?
Spokesman: We will continue the airdrops until we get some reliable trucks to go into the hills -- and a large number of reliable trucks. The next step then will be to help rebuild the housing in the cities so that people can return. But, if they all return as they did in Kosovo, in one big spontaneous mass, there will be great difficulties accommodating them in the cities, particularly in Dili.
Question: Can you tell us whether Ian Martin is going to be here?
Spokesman: I should have mentioned that he told us that he could not come today because of a meeting that he has now. But, he has indicated that he would probably be here at the noon briefing tomorrow. That has not yet been confirmed, that is why we did not announce it.
Question: What will be discussed between the Secretary-General and Mr. Gusmao?
Spokesman: Mr. Gusmao, I think, has asked to meet with the Secretary- General. The Secretary-General will listen to whatever he wants to raise. I assume it will be a review of the current situation in East Timor, but I dont think I could be more specific. Why dont you ask us for a read-out after the meeting has taken place?
Question: Have you heard of the reports of clergymen being killed by Indonesian forces?
Spokesman: We have seen those reports, but we have no confirmation of them at this time. The multinational force has only deployed to two other locations outside of Dili, so, apart from these overflights assessing damage, Im afraid we still have more to discover as we go into these places, one by one, on the ground. I dont think anyone knows accurately what the casualty figure is for East Timor. Some have said its in the hundreds, some in the thousands.
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