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 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

**Final Day of Special Session on Small Island Developing States

The General Assembly is in the second and final day of its twenty- second special session, which is reviewing and appraising the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, adopted in Barbados in 1994.

In three meetings today, the Assembly will hear 72 speakers. The session will conclude this evening with the adoption of a declaration and a document on the Status of Progress and Initiatives for the Future Implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action.

Negotiations on the two texts were finalized yesterday by the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole. That Committee met this morning to hear statements by representatives of organizations and to adopt its draft report to the special session (document A/S-22/AC.1/L1).

Only one section of the Status of Progress document had remained in brackets, that on shipment of radioactive and hazardous waste through island seas. In the agreed text, governments reaffirm the paragraphs of the Barbados Programme of Action by which islands have the right to prohibit such shipments, but they also reaffirm that this must be in conformity with international laws governing rights of free passage.

What is new here is a call for States and international organizations to specifically address small island concerns about liability and compensation in the event of accidents, safety measures and disclosures, recognizing that these are not adequately covered in existing legal regimes.

On the issue of trade and globalization, the special session is asking the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to consider the effects of the erosion of trade preferences and problems of diversification and lack of market access on the small islands.

In adopting the text, the special session will also call for

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improving the capacity of small island nations to adequately respond and adapt to climate change. It will reaffirm the Barbados Programme of Action in its call for new and additional resources from the international community to implement the action plan for small islands.

Also yesterday, the Committee of the Whole took note of a letter from Canada, annexed to which was a bracketed draft resolution on the Caribbean Sea (document A/S-22/6). It decided to transmit them to the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session for further consideration by the Second Committee.

The Credentials Committee of the special session met yesterday and recommended that the Assembly accept, subject to a paragraph dealing with Afghanistan, the credentials of all the Member States concerned. The report is in document A/S-22/8.

The General Assembly will continue its general debate tomorrow, 29 September. Among the 19 speakers will be the President of Guinea-Bissau and the Prime Ministers of Samoa and Malaysia.

**Schedule of Plenary Meetings

Again, I wish to draw your attention to document A/INF/54/3, which contains a tentative programme of work and schedule of plenary meetings for the period starting tomorrow, 29 September, to the end of November.

I have been asked when the Credentials Committee of the fifty- fourth session will meet. The Office of Legal Affairs has informed me that last year the Committee met on 20 October. It is anticipated that this year’s meeting will take place around the same time.

**Second Committee to Hold Organizational Meeting

Tomorrow, 29 September, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) will meet to elect the rest of its bureau and organize its work for the session. The related documents are A/C.2/54/1 and L.1.

Briefing by Spokesman for Secretary-General

The guest at today’s briefing is Ian Martin, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor.

**Secretary-General Meets With Xanana Gusmao

As you know, the Secretary-General met this morning with East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao.

The Secretary General opened that meeting by saying "you've been through a lot, and we've been through a lot together”. They talked about the need for the East Timorese leadership in the diaspora to return home now and organize with the United Nations the rebuilding of East Timor and the preparation for the transition to independence.

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And it is on the implementation of the 30 August ballot that this afternoon the Secretary-General will hold bilateral meetings with the Foreign Minister of Indonesia, Ali Alatas, at 5 p.m., then with the Portuguese Foreign Minister, Jaime Gama, at 5:15, and then there will be a trilateral meeting at 5:30.

**East Timor

On the humanitarian side, as you know, the security situation in East Timor has not allowed for a comprehensive needs assessment. However, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has issued a preliminary assessment designed to cover operations by United Nations agencies and their partners for the next six months. The estimated costs cited in the report is $135.5 million. The objective of the assessment is to secure resources for initial assistance for, and protection of, displaced persons in both East and West Timor. Kevin Kennedy of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, just back from Dili, is available for interviews on this subject.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), meanwhile, reports that it has made some headway with the authorities in West Timor in trying to gain access to East Timorese who have fled or who have been deported to West Timor.

On Tuesday morning, the United Nations inter-agency mission met with the Governor of West Timor. The UNHCR-led mission told the Governor that his own staff reported that 60 percent of an estimated 230,000 East Timorese in West Timor want to go back. During an hour- long meeting, Governor Piet Thallo said his priority was assistance and shelter for the displaced in West Timor. He said it was too early to discuss return even though he was not generally opposed to the idea.

In East Timor, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator Ross Mountain was travelling to Baucau today in order to discuss where a second humanitarian base can be set up, while a road convoy was scheduled to carry emergency supplies, food, and 15,000 litres of fuel to the city.

Meanwhile, the UNHCR and other United Nations agencies are working together on the ground on contingency planning for a possible mass return of displaced people to Dili and other towns. UNHCR is also preparing for the registration of returnees which will be vital to determine the number of missing and those taken to West Timor or elsewhere in Indonesia. Many people come to Dili from the hills during the day but they are too fearful to remain in town after dark.

**Commission on Human Rights Votes for Secretary-General to Establish Commission of Inquiry for East Timor

Last night in Geneva, after the members of the Commission on Human Rights failed to reach a consensus, they voted on a resolution on East Timor with 32 votes in favour, 12 opposed and 6 abstentions.

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In the resolution, the Commission on Human Rights calls upon the Government of Indonesia to ensure, in cooperation with the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights, that the persons responsible for acts of violence and flagrant and systematic violations of human rights are brought to justice. It also calls on the Secretary-General to establish an international commission of inquiry, with adequate representation of Asian experts and in cooperation with the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights and thematic rapporteurs, to gather and compile systematically information on possible violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.

The text of the resolution and a press release from Geneva with the details on the vote are available in room 378.

**Kouchner Condemns Grenade Attacks in Kosovo

In a statement just issued in Pristina, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative Bernard Kouchner strongly condemned the grenade attack today in a market place in the predominantly Serb town of Bresje close to Kosovo Polje.

The United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) police said two grenades were thrown into a market place, killing two people and injuring more than 35 others. Four arrests were made in connection with the attacks. Two Kosovar Albanians were arrested by UNMIK police and KFOR detained two others of undetermined ethnicity.

“This outrageous act against innocent civilians”, said Kouchner, “puts in danger all efforts at democracy in Kosovo. I deplore this crime which occurred in an area where our efforts at retaining a multi- ethnic society in Kosovo has been so intensely focused.”

We have copies of the full statement.

**Talks on Aid for Chechnya

The UNHCR, citing information provided by authorities in Ingushetia, reported today that around 50,000 Chechens have fled to Ingushetia since the Russian aerial bombardment began this weekend and the number is climbing rapidly. Most of the Chechens are fleeing the capital, Grozny, or surrounding villages.

In the past 24 hours, an estimated 30,000 people have crossed into Ingushetia. Yesterday, most of the 20,000 displaced who had already reached Ingushetia had been able to find shelter with family or acquaintances but this capacity could quickly be outstripped. Only a few hundred people had reportedly stopped and sought assistance at the border.

Ingush authorities have approached UNHCR for assistance. The United Nations refugee agency is in talks on aid with the Office for

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the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and other humanitarian agencies as well as with local Ingush authorities and Russian federal officials in Moscow.

There is no international aid presence in either Daghestan or Ingushetia, owing to the precarious security situation there.

**Security Council Consultations

The Security Council is holding consultations this morning. On the agenda are the reports of the Secretary-General on Sierra Leone and Kosovo which will be introduced by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Hedi Annabi. A draft resolution on Sierra Leone was also circulated among Council members.

Under other matters, the Council is expected to be briefed by Assistant Secretary-General Annabi on the elections in the Central African Republic.

**Democratic Republic of the Congo

This is an update on the deployment in the Democratic Republic of Congo. About half of the 90 military liaison officers have now been deployed in capitals of the countries signatories of the Lusaka peace agreement. The other half is expected to be deployed within the Democratic Republic of the Congo outside of Kinshasa in the field headquarters of the fighting parties, as soon as security conditions are guaranteed.

Last week, in his address to the Security Council, President Chiluba of Zambia announced that the Joint Military Commission, which is overseeing the implementation of the Lusaka agreement, will meet on 10 October.

Around that same date, the second week of October, a technical survey team is scheduled to be sent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations to assess the conditions for the possible deployment of 500 military observers. This would constitute the second phase as envisaged by the Secretary-General in his last report to the Security Council.

**United Nations Resumes Aid to Somalia

The Office of the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia announced today that the United Nations had resumed its aid activities in Somalia's central and southern regions as of today. This announcement comes in the wake of a suspension of activities following the murder of Dr. Ayoub Sheikh Yerow of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on 15 September.

The United Nations will resume its aid efforts because the relevant Somali authorities and communities have made a major

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commitment to assume greater direct responsibility to protect humanitarian workers, including identification of guilty parties and action to deal with them. The United Nations in turn will work increasingly closely with those leaders and communities to support their efforts.

**Office of Iraq Programme

We have the weekly report from the Office of the Iraq Programme. So far this phase, Iraq has exported $4.56 billion worth of oil. The update notes that with current prices and the current rate of export, Iraq would be able to export $7.17 billion worth of oil in the current phase, which ends on 21 November. As you know, resolution 1242 of this year authorizes Iraq to export up to $5.25 billion, but also indicates the Council’s intention to review that ceiling if the need arises.

This afternoon, Executive Director of the Office of Iraq Programme Benon Sevan will brief an informal meeting of the 661 Committee –- that is the sanctions committee -- on the current revenue situation and the outlook for the rest of Phase VI.

**Press Conferences

Immediately after this –- you will be given a double whammy on East Timor today -– there will be a press conference by Xanana Gusmao at 12:30 in this room.

The guest at tomorrow’s noon briefing will be Dennis McNamara, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs in Kosovs. Also tomorrow, at 10 a.m., Wim Kok, Prime Minister of the Netherlands; at 10:45 a.m., Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia; at 11:30 a.m., Alexander Downer, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia; and at 12:30 p.m., Lakshman Kadirgamar Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka will hold press conferences in room 226.

**Question and Answer Session

Question: Is there a readout on the briefing between the Secretary-General and Xanana Gusmao?

Spokesman: Yes, we announced it just a few minutes after12. It’s in written form in my Office.

Question: People have been miraculously popping up alive in East Timor. How did the FAO, two weeks ago, arrive at a figure of 7,000 dead?

Spokesman: I don’t know. To my knowledge, FAO has no presence in East Timor and I believe they calculated that figure on the basis of some mathematical calculation. I did notice a more recent FAO press release, I believe just of today, did not contain a specific figure, so I don’t know whether they are backing off that 7,000 figure. Nobody knows just how many have been killed. We’ve only done aerial

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surveillance of much of the country. We’re just beginning now to break out of Dili into Baucau and other areas. The multinational force, you saw today, conducted two raids in additional towns gradually increasing the size of the envelope that they’re attempting to secure, so there is still much of the territory that we haven’t seen.

Question: Does the Secretary-General need Security Council approval to set up an investigation team for East Timor?

Spokesman: No, this is a mandate that has been handed to him by the Human Rights Commission. His legal advisers are currently studying that document, which is also available to you, and as soon as he decides how to handle it, we’ll announce it to you.

Question: Will he submit that report to the Security Council?

Spokesman: He will submit it to the Commission, and to the Security Council and the General Assembly, as required by the Commission’s resolution.

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