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 General Assembly President

The General Assembly is in the eighth day of its general debate, which is scheduled to conclude on Saturday, 2 October. Among the 18 speakers today will be President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique and the Prime Ministers of Belize, Solomon Islands, Niger and Nepal.

**Assembly President’s Appointments

Assembly President Theo-Ben Gurirab will not be presiding today, using the time to meet, separately, with the Foreign Ministers of New Zealand, Senegal, Singapore, Ecuador, Tunisia and the Republic of Korea, and with the Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Salim Ahmed Salim. Copies of his appointments for today are available in room S-378 and on the Internet.

As I reported, yesterday the President hosted the first in a series of monthly luncheons for the Chairmen of the Main Committees and Secretariat officials. He said the meetings would provide opportunities to discuss informally matters relating to the work of the Assembly in plenary and the Main Committees, and he pledged his full cooperation. Copies of his statement were made available after the luncheon.

**Assembly to Hold Meetings on International Year of Older Persons

In connection with the 1999 International Year of Older Persons, the ninth annual commemoration of the International Day is taking place today in Conference Room 4. Next Monday and Tuesday, 4 and 5 October, the Assembly will hold four meetings in a follow-up to the International Year, the central theme of which is “Towards a society for all ages”. The objective of the Year, which ends on 31 December, has been to promote the United Nations Principles for Older Persons, which deal with the independence, participation, care, self-fulfilment and dignity of older persons. The General Assembly launched the International Year on 1 October 1998. A press kit is available at the documents counter.

**Secretary-General to Address Fifth Committee

I reported yesterday on meetings next week of the Third, Fourth and Fifth Committees as they begin their substantive work. On Tuesday, 5 October, when the Under-Secretary-General for Management, Joseph Connor, makes a statement to the Fifth Committee, this will be followed by an address by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on improving the financial situation of the United Nations (item 122). Committee Chairman Penny Wensley (Australia) has requested that participation at that meeting be at the highest level.

Also in connection with the Fifth Committee, a story in yesterday’s The New York Times gave the impression that the elections for five seats on the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) would take place next week. The Fifth Committee secretariat has informed me that the date is 5 November. Of the five seats that will become vacant, two are from the Group of Western European and Other States, and one each from Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The document on the appointment of ACABQ members is A/54/101/Rev.1.

**Special Session on Small Island Developing States Heard 129 Speakers

For those interested in the number of participants in the just- concluded special session on the sustainable development of small island developing States, the Department of General Assembly Affairs and Conference Services is preparing a final list, but here are the statistics: there were 129 speakers in the debate in plenary, among them three heads of State; one vice-president; two heads of government; six deputy prime ministers/foreign ministers; 38 foreign ministers; 13 other ministers; seven vice-ministers; 44 chairmen of delegation; 12 observers, including Palestine; and three non- governmental organizations. Additional speakers were heard in the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole. When the list is finalized, we will make it available.

Briefing by Spokesman for Secretary-General

The guest at today’s briefing will be United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson. The Secretary-General this morning acted on the resolution of the Human Rights Commission asking him to set up an international commission of inquiry on East Timor by requesting the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to carry out that task. I’m sure she’ll be happy to take your questions.

**East Timor

A Reuters correspondent in East Timor yesterday discovered 10 charred bodies in a small pick-up truck that had been set ablaze in a field just off the coastal road west of Dili. A United Nations investigation of that site was begun today. Also, United Nations police joined a Dutch police investigator looking into the murder in East Timor last week of a Dutch journalist working for The Financial Times of London. They found two eyewitnesses to that murder, and their investigation is continuing.

The United Nations Police Commissioner in East Timor, Alan Mills, today visited the former jail in Dili, which is among the 40 per cent or so of buildings in the capital that have not been destroyed. He estimates that with a bit of a clean up, it will be functional again.

Meanwhile, humanitarian staff in East Timor’s capital on Thursday estimated that 70,000 residents have returned to the city so far. Humanitarian workers in Dili are working urgently to provide people coming down from the hills with basic services. Another 30,000 are expected to reach Dili in the coming days.

Elsewhere in East Timor, the security situation remains perilous. Today, a staff member of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) joined a United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) aerial assessment mission which overflew western portions of East Timor. They reported seeing many houses burning in the towns of Maliana and Ermera. The mission was able to see what appeared to be elements of the feared anti- independence militia actually setting fire to buildings as they passed over the area. On return to Dili, the UNHCR staff member estimated that the level of devastation in the western area is worse than in the capital.

A 29-car inter-agency humanitarian convoy departed for Los Palos yesterday with an international force in East Timor (INTERFET) escort. After an overnight stopover in Baucau, the convoy reached Los Palos today. Los Palos Regency has suffered extensive damage, with over 70 per cent of it destroyed. The convoy delivered plastic sheeting, food, collapsible jerry cans and health kits. The convoy came across a small child suffering from pneumonia. A local doctor said the child would die within 24 hours if not given expert treatment. The United Nations called in a helicopter, and the child, along with several other seriously ill people, was evacuated to the Portuguese hospital in Dili.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said its food distribution strategy is shifting to land deliveries with the first massive distribution to take place on Monday. Working closely with church officials, the agencies will deliver enough rice to feed 100,000 people for a month.

From West Timor, there are 136,000 displaced East Timorese in the Atambua area, according to a joint mission by a UNHCR staff member and Indonesian government officials. The UNHCR representative on the mission reported seeing a number of armed men in the camps visited. Militia members from East Timor have also reportedly opened an office in the town of Atambua. Other members of the UNHCR team in West Timor Thursday visited five camps of displaced in the Kupang area.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) representative in Jakarta has reached an agreement with the Indonesian Navy to use their barges to transport supplies and food stocks from Surabaya to Kupang.

The United Nations mission continues to try to gain access to the enclave of Ambeno on the northern coast of the island. The area is administratively part of East Timor, but it is surrounded by West Timor territory where widespread destruction has been reported.

**Aid for Chechen Refugees

This just in from the UNHCR. The UNHCR said it should have the first convoy carrying emergency supplies for 10,000 people in Ingushetia leaving in the next few hours. The convoy will leave from Stavropol, its regional centre in southern Russia. The supplies include kitchen sets, plastic sheeting, jerry cans, mattresses, blankets, gas and electric stoves and tents. In addition, 4.4 tons of sugar and 8.9 tons of vegetable oil will be taken. The destination is the Sunjinski area of Ingushetia, where tens of thousands of Chechens have fled the bombing. The numbers are reported to be increasing daily.

The aid will be distributed by Ingush authorities in conjunction with UNHCR local staff. The UNHCR said it expected to send three more convoys over the next 10 days. Russian authorities, which have given the green light for the UNHCR to launch the emergency aid operation, are also sending in aid to the area.

**Security Council Consultations on Africa Continue

The Security Council open meeting on the situation in Africa, which started yesterday, resumed this morning. As of mid-morning, 32 delegations were expected to speak in the course of the day. Yesterday, 23 speakers took the floor.

Tomorrow, 1 October, marks the beginning of the Russian Federation presidency of the Council. Ambassador Sergey Lavrov, the President of the Council for the month of October, will be holding bilateral talks with other Council members to review their plan of work for the month.

**Burundi

Humanitarian agencies in Burundi are reporting large population displacements following intensified attacks by rebel groups on the province of Bujumbura Rural and its suburbs. About 260,000 people are believed to have been forced by the attacks during the past two weeks into 30 protection sites in Bujumbura Rural. As a result, the total number of internally displaced persons in the province is now estimated at 318,000 or three quarters of the province’s population. This brings the total number of internally displaced persons in Burundi to an estimated 807,000.

In response to this development, United Nations agencies and non- governmental organizations sent two rapid assessment teams to visit several of the protection sites on 27 and 29 September. Two additional teams are scheduled to assess conditions in more sites tomorrow. The teams’ preliminary findings reveal that the most urgent needs are for access to safe water and non-food items, particularly blankets and plastic sheeting. International humanitarian organizations have begun to deliver safe water and some non-food items to affected populations on these sites.

**Former United Nations Staff Member Found Guilty of Fraud

On the internal investigations front, Tuesday, a Manhattan Federal Court found a former United Nations staff member guilty on all five counts of conspiracy and wire fraud stemming from his participation in schemes to defraud the United Nations. The individual, Charles Kim, was the chief of the Traffic Unit in the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH). From 1996 until September 1998, he submitted false and inflated travel bills to the United Nations resulting in a loss to the Organization of some $800,000.

Mr. Kim's felony conviction was made possible following a complex and thorough investigation by the Investigations Section of the Office of Internal Oversight Services. United Nations investigators from that section gathered both documentary and testimonial evidence against Mr. Kim that they turned over to United States and Croatian authorities. Several United Nations staff members, including one investigator of the Office of Internal Oversight Services and one member of staff of UNMIBH, provided testimony during Mr. Kim's trial.

Mr. Kim is scheduled to be sentenced on 8 December. He faces five years imprisonment on each of the five counts against him.

**Seychelles Is First to Ratify ILO Child Labour Convention

The Republic of Seychelles became the first country to formally ratify the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) newest international labour standard on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, Convention No. 182, which was adopted unanimously by the organization’s 174 member States at the International Labour Conference last June.

**Question-and-Answer Session

Question: Did you say the militia members opened an office in Atambua? What office?

Spokesman: An office -– I guess they want to do business there. [laughter]

Question: Has the Secretary-General reacted to President Clinton’s statement on federal debt relief?

Spokesman: I don’t have any guidance on that. I would have to check.

Question: What is the Secretary-General going to do in Sarajevo?

Spokesman: We are not ready to announce any travel plans yet.

Question: Have you any new comment on the situation in Western Sahara and the events that occurred in Laayoune?

Spokesman: There is concern about the reports of some deaths in connection with some demonstrations there, but I don’t have anything formal to say at this time.

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