DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19991216The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Shirley Brownell, Spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly.
Briefing by Spokesman for Secretary-General
Good afternoon.
**Inquiry on Rwanda Releases Report, Finds UN at Fault; Secretary-General Vows UN Will Never Again Fail to Protect Civilians from Genocide
The Independent Inquiry on Rwanda, conducted by former Prime Minister of Sweden, Ingvar Carlsson, assisted by the former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea, Han Sung-Joo, and the Nigerian General and veteran of United Nations peacekeeping, Rufus Kupolati, was released this morning. And of course, they did a press conference for you at 9:30 a.m.
The panel found that the failure to stop the genocide in Rwanda was shared by the United Nations system as a whole, which lacked the resources and the political will to take effective action.
In a statement issued this morning, the Secretary-General said that he found the report thorough and objective and fully accepted its conclusions. "On behalf of the United Nations", he said, "I acknowledge this failure and express my deep remorse".
He indicated his intention to learn from the United Nations experiences, not only in Rwanda but in Bosnia as well -- on which, of course, there was his report on the situation in Srebrenica, Bosnia. He also expressed his deep commitment to ensure that the United Nations never again fails to protect a civilian population from genocide or mass slaughter. The report and the statement can be found on the Internet on the Spokesman's Page of the United Nations Web site.
**Note to Correspondents
The embargo on the Rwanda report was broken this morning at about 4:50 a.m. by Canadian Press. Lorraine Anthony, Foreign Editor of Canadian Press, called me this morning to apologize for an error made by the overnight editor. But, of course, the damage is done.
Embargoed copies are a service to you, to give you time to study lengthy documents before they are released. However, for this system to work, we must have full confidence in you. That confidence has been shattered. So, I'm sorry to say that as of now we are suspending our policy until further notice of releasing embargoed material to you.
**UN Civilian Police Investigate Shooting Incident in East Timorese Village
On Wednesday evening in East Timor, two alleged militia members were handed over to United Nations Civilian Police by the East Timor National Liberation Armed Force (FALINTIL) after a shooting incident in the village of Aileu. Four shots had been fired there at about 7:30 last night, and FALINTIL members searched for the shooters, returning later in the evening with the two alleged militia members.
United Nations Civilian Police are investigating the incident and maintaining a regular presence at the FALINTIL cantonment in Aileu.
**Notes from East Timor: Mass Grave Located in Oecussi Enclave; Donor's Conference Set to Open in Tokyo
Also yesterday, a mass grave was located in Passabe, in the Oecussi enclave -- also called Ambeno -- in the western part of the island. According to INTERFET, the multi-national force, the mass grave contains 54 bodies. INTERFET will continue its investigation tomorrow.
Tomorrow will also be the opening session of the donors meeting for East Timor being held in Tokyo. The meeting, which is co-hosted by the United Nations and the World Bank, began tonight with a dinner. More than 100 officials from 29 countries are expected to attend, and Sergio Vieira de Mello, who heads our United Nations mission in East Timor (UNTAET), will deliver a statement tomorrow morning. It is expected that the independence leader Xanana Gusmao will also be speaking as part of the United Nations/East Timor delegation.
**Miyet Warns Security Council that Security Situation in Democratic Republic of the Congo Seriously Deteriorated
The Security Council today heard an open briefing on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in which Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Bernard Miyet warned that the military and security situation has seriously deteriorated in the past month.
He noted recent clashes between Government and rebel forces in Equateur province and the south-east of the country, and added that the United Nations Observer Mission in the country (MONUC) has so far deployed 62 of the 90 military liaison officers authorized by the Security Council. But he added, "Until MONUC is guaranteed the full security and freedom of movement by both sides that it needs, it will not be able to complete its technical survey of the country" -- which in turn would prevent the United Nations from submitting its assessment of security and freedom of movement in the country.
We have copies of Mr. Miyet's briefing available for you in my office if you are interested. As that meeting began, 15 speakers were inscribed to take part in an open debate on the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Then, at 3 this afternoon, a Council working group will meet to follow up on the recent United Nations resolution on civilians in armed conflict. Tomorrow, the Council is scheduled to hold consultations on Kosovo as well as on the Ethiopia- Eritrea situation, and may also take up the comprehensive resolution on Iraq.
**Bad Weather Postpones Prime Minister Dodik's Trip to The Hague, ICTY
We learned that the plane in which Prime Minister Dodik, of Republika Srpska, who was supposed to travel to The Hague, got snowed in in Banja Luka and was not able to take off. So his visit to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslav (ICTY) is postponed.
**Oil-for-Food Update
Iraqi oil sales resumed today after a three-week interruption. The first loading of Iraqi oil began shortly after midnight today at the port of Mina al-Bakr, where some 2 million barrels were loaded. At 11 a.m. today, the pricing formula for Iraqi oil exports under the phase VII was approved, clearing the way for a full resumption of Iraqi oil sales under the "oil-for-food" programme. Already, 30 contracts have been received for oil sales under phase VII of the programme, of which four have been approved by the Sanctions Committee.
**WFP Launches New Web Site: Donate Food to Hungry with Click of Button
The World Food Programme (WFP) today issued a press release on a new Internet Web site by which computer users can help to donate food to the hungry -- simply by clicking a button.
The "Hunger Site" -- at the address -- is an independent Web site created last June by software programmer John Breen. If users click on the site's button marked "Donate Free Food," they will make the corporate sponsors who advertise on the site donate meals to hungry people throughout the world. The donations are at no cost to the computer users, but generate money solely from the advertisers. It's free. So push the button and help them out.
All donations generated by the Hunger Site are given to the WFP, which has so far received more than $200,000 dollars from the site's sponsors; the money has helped to provide food for school children in Ethiopia and Haiti. We have a press release on that if you're interested.
**Updated Photo Exhibit Opens Today at UN Headquarters
An updated version of the photo exhibit on the United Nations and the Question of Palestine opens today. The updating of the exhibit was mandated by the General Assembly.
The photo exhibit is located on the third floor concourse, between the General Assembly and Conference buildings, and is part of the guided tour route. It describes how the Question of Palestine has been dealt with in the United Nations; how the search for a solution to the Question has evolved since the 1970s; and the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and other United Nations agencies which provide assistance to the Palestinian people. Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Information Kensaku Hogen will open the exhibit at 12:30 today.
**Contributions
Contributions: Lesotho paid more than $77,000 to the United Nations regular budget, paying off its balance for prior years and completing its payments this year. Lesotho becomes the 119th Member State to be paid in full for this year.
**Upcoming Press Conferences and Briefings
Press conference tomorrow at 11:15 a.m. in this room. Philippe Kirsch, Chairman of the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court (ICC), will discuss two draft texts, which are to be completed by 30 June next year. One, on the rules of procedure and evidence, and the other on the elements of crimes.
And then, our guest at the noon briefing tomorrow will be Joseph Connor, Under-Secretary-General for Management. He is also the head of the United Nations Y2K crisis management team, and he'll be here to discuss with you the arrangements we've made at Headquarters during the Y2K rollover period -- from 30 December 1999 to 3 January 2000.
The United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) has asked me to remind you that Ambassador Francesco Paolo Fulci, the Permanent Representative of Italy, will be UNCA's guest at the UNCA Club today at 3:30 p.m.
Any questions?
**Questions and Answers
Question: On your decision to suspend embargoed reports, the rest of us obeyed the embargo. Why should we all be punished? Why can't that one offender be excluded?
Spokesman: I just have great difficulty convincing the powers that be here that we can share this material with the press: because they say can they respect the embargo? and I said of course they can. They're professionals. But then when someone slips up, I've got egg all over my face and it's just very difficult. It hurts all of you that this slip-up took place. It was an honest mistake, I think, by Canadian Press and as I've described to you, they have apologized for it. Their overnight editor saw an article in The National Post that looked like it broke the embargo, and on that basis, [the Canadian Press] released the copy. But a closer look at the National Post article this morning showed that they hadn't, in fact, broken the embargo. So that was the mistake that was made.
I'll try to explain that to the people upstairs and we'll see if we can't get back to our policy as quickly was possible, but for now it's suspended.
Question: On the report itself, does the Secretary-General feel that he was treated fairly?
Spokesman: Yes. He has said that he accepts the conclusions wholeheartedly. A number of things mentioned in the report that went wrong, [the Secretary-General] has already taken action to correct. And as I've often said to you, he's a manager, he's always looking ahead and he will want to draw specific conclusions from this report and the Srebrenica report. He is thinking now how best to do that. He will continue to change policies, retool the Secretariat if necessary, but certainly to change procedures so that the Secretariat, anyway, in the future, is much less likely to be fingered for the kinds of things that this report credibly documents were our failures in this instance.
The report, also I think, in saying that the United Nations system as a whole failed, pointed out that the lack of political will was also a major factor. The members of the Security Council, I think, are also fingered in the report and I think we all have some reflecting to do.
Question: Has the Secretary-General considered a personal apology to the people of Rwanda?
Spokesman: I think you'd have to say that in his statement issued this morning, he gave it. He expressed his deep remorse.
Question: But the word sorry doesn't appear, does it? That's more normally associated with an apology.
Spokesman: I think to express deep remorse is to be more than sorry.
Question: You mentioned looking at ways to change things. Can you be more specific about what the Secretary-General's intentions might be to avoid another incident like Rwanda?
Spokesman: He's not prepared to make an announcement yet, but he does have in mind taking some specific steps to respond to the recommendations in this report and in the Srebrenica report.
Some of the things mentioned in the report involve internal communications. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, for example, participates in his weekly cabinet meetings, and she was televised in from Geneva just yesterday to that meeting. So, he has taken steps to improve communication within the Secretariat.
Communication with the Security Council is different under this administration. Rather than have just one person from the Secretariat brief the Council on all matters, the department concerned sends their most experienced person -- an under-secretary or sometimes even a desk officer -- down to the Council to brief them and take their questions. So we hope we've improved the quality of information that's conveyed to the Council.
We are very quick these days to report any news that we think is a matter of concern. So much so that, in some cases, the Council says "No, no, we don't want to hear about that today". But at least we're calling them up and saying that there's a negative development in this place we'd like to report to you.
So those things have already changed, and the Secretary-General will have something more specific to announce eventually.
Question: Has the Secretary-General or anyone in the Secretariat planned any follow-up meetings with Rwandan officials following the release of the report? Will the Secretary-General officially submit the report to the Rwandan Government?
Spokesman: I'll have to ask about that. Ingvar Carlsson mentioned this morning at the press conference that he had submitted a copy of the report to the Rwandan Government, and I'll have to see whether there'll be any follow-up on our side.
Question: Can we get a list of the donor countries that are at the Tokyo meeting on East Timor?
Spokesman: I'll try to. I'll see if we have a list.
Nothing else? Ok. Shirley.
Briefing by Spokeswoman for General Assembly President
The General Assembly is holding a day-long debate on Security Council reform. Seventy-two delegations are inscribed on the list of speakers on agenda item 38, entitled Question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and related matters.
Opening the discussion, Assembly President Theo-Ben Gurirab said that by launching the process of reforming, restructuring and democratizing the United Nations in its totality, including specifically the reform and increase in the membership of the Security Council, Member States had accepted change. The United Nations community had much to be proud of that a vision for change and rebirth of the United Nations had been kept burning, in spite of the vagaries of multilateral negotiations, as well as the vexing problems of policy.
However, the President was of the view that Member States were not quite ready for concentrated negotiations and for a final package deal. Instead, he was expected, for now, to continue the consultations, bearing in mind the forthcoming meeting of the open-ended working group, which he would convene in the early part of 2000. He believed that this debate would be useful to everyone, as it would ensure progress and promote transparency in moving the process forward. Copies of the statement are available in room 378.
Before commencing the debate on Security Council reform, the Assembly concluded its consideration of the item on the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, adopting a draft resolution on the subject (A/54/L.63/Rev.1, as orally corrected). In so doing, the Assembly welcomed the adoption of the New York Declaration of 15 November, in which the Joint Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina agreed to important steps for moving forward the process of fully implementing the Peace Agreement, and demanded its full implementation. The Assembly insisted upon the need to surrender all indictees to the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for trial, and demanded that all the parties fulfil their obligations to hand over to the Tribunal all indicted persons in territories under their control and to cooperate with its work.
The Assembly has a heavy programme for tomorrow, 17 December. In the morning, it will consider 12 reports of the Third Committee dealing with social, human rights and refugee issues. In the afternoon, it will take action on draft resolutions on the following plenary items: the situation in Afghanistan; return or restitution of cultural property to the countries of origin; assistance in mine action; the question of East Timor; and observer status for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in the General Assembly. The Assembly will also consider two items: question of the Comorian island of Mayotte; and the situation of democracy and human rights in Haiti.
The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) will conclude its work this afternoon, after taking action on draft resolutions dealing with the high-level international intergovernmental consideration of financing for development (A/C.2/54/L.75) and the role of the United Nations in promoting development in the context of globalization and interdependence (A/C.2/54/L.76), and after approving its draft biennial programme of work for 2000 and 2001.
Spokesman: Any questions? Thank you very much.
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