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 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.

We have a statement here on Sri Lanka, and another one on Venezuela. First on Sri Lanka.

**Secretary-General's Statement on Terrorist Act in Sri Lanka

The Secretary-General was profoundly shocked to learn about the indiscriminate terrorist act on Saturday against the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, in which there were a large number of innocent casualties. He has sent her a message wishing her a speedy recovery.

The Secretary-General has also sent his condolences to the families of all the dead and injured, and has extended his best wishes for the speedy and full recovery of those injured by the two terrorist bombings in Colombo on 18 December.

The Secretary-General wishes to reiterate his condemnation of terrorism from whatever quarter. He is concerned that these continuing acts of terrorism in Sri Lanka may make the prospects for achieving peace even more difficult. He expresses the hope that the presidential elections on 21 December, tomorrow, will be credible and, in particular, free of any additional forms of violence.

**Secretary-General's Statement on Venezuela Floods

Now concerning Venezuela.

The Secretary-General is deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and devastation caused by floods in Venezuela. He extends his deepest condolences to the people and the Government of Venezuela, and assures them that the United Nations will continue to assist in the relief and rehabilitation of the affected areas. He also thanks all governments and private individuals who have been assisting Venezuela at this time of need.

**OCHA Assessment of Venezuela Floods

According to the latest situation report on the Venezuela floods issued by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the weather has considerably improved, but the massive scale of the disaster is becoming increasingly evident. The State of Vargas is the area most affected.

Preliminary statistics are as follows. The number of people directly affected reported by the President of the country is approximately 80,000. Overall population affected: 150,000 people, many of them missing. The death toll at present is 2,000.

The OCHA Regional Disaster Response Adviser, who is based in Quito, Ecuador, joined the Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator today to assist in the overall coordination of the response provided by the United Nations system and donor governments.

A list of immediate needs for medical as well as other requirements have been established and is available on the OCHA Web site.

**Notes from East Timor: New Mass Gravesites Discovered

United Nations military observers in East Timor found a mass gravesite in the East Timorese enclave of Oecussi, also known as Ambeno. This site is close to the border, just a few hundred yards from West Timor. Eighteen burial sites were uncovered, some containing more than one body. Local people say the graves contain the bodies of about 50 people from three surrounding villages who had been fleeing militia when they were captured by the militia and shot on 10 September.

Divers from the multinational force in East Timor (INTERFET), acting on a tip from local people, found human remains at the bottom of a lake in Liquica, East Timor. So these are now two additional mass gravesites discovered.

The United Nations Mission there announced in Dili today that two Australian forensic experts would be arriving tomorrow to set up a permanent forensic capability for the Mission. They would have experts from various countries coming to East Timor for limited periods on a rotation basis, and that is expected to start next month.

**Tribunal Welcomes Detention of Galic

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) welcomed today's detention in Bosnia and Herzegovina of retired Major General Stanislav Galic by members of the Stabilization Force (SFOR).

Galic, who was a commander of the Bosnian Serb Army's Romanija Corps between 1992 and 1994, has been charged by the Tribunal with four counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of violations of the laws and customs of war. The Romanija Corps was accused of using shelling and sniping to wound and kill civilians in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo.

Carla Del Ponte, the Tribunal's Prosecutor, said in a statement today that the arrest was and is in line with her policy of targeting senior figures in the chain of command for crimes committed during periods of conflict. She said, "I commend SFOR for its significant contribution to international justice in carrying out the detention and transfer of persons indicted before the ICTY" -- the Tribunal.

The Tribunal said it would set a time and date for Galic's initial appearance shortly, and you can see a press release in my office.

**Notes from Kosovo

From Kosovo, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) today reported that it has removed the United Nations flag from the Mitrovica hospital after Serb doctors refused a Saturday deadline to accept the return of 22 Albanian doctors. UNMIK said that funding to the hospital will also be cut, and that it planned to provide funding to open another facility in the same city, which will be open to all patients.

UNMIK also announced the reopening in the coming days of Stari Trg, a part of the Trepca mining complex. Mitrovica's Regional Administrator described the reopening as a significant step forward in the economic recovery of Kosovo. Initially about 200 workers will conduct a six-week assessment to see what preliminary work needs to be done to get the mine operational. That mine, by the way, produces predominantly lead, but also some amounts of silver, gold, cadmium, bismuth and zinc.

In the Pristina area, UNMIK announced the arrest today of an Albanian man suspected of having committed five murders over the past two months. The victims were of Serb and Roma ethnicity. Three other Albanian men -- suspected accomplices -- were arrested last week in connection with the same murders. All four are suspected of being members of the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC).

**Security Council

There are no meetings scheduled by the Security Council today. However, the members of the Council will hold a working lunch to discuss issues informally.

Tomorrow, the Council is expected to hear briefings from the Department of Political Affairs on the situations in Guinea-Bissau and Ethiopia and Eritrea. And then on Wednesday, they have scheduled an open meeting on East Timor.

**Sierra Leone: Rebel Leader Visits Liberia

Concerning Sierra Leone, we received confirmation over the weekend that Colonel Sam Bockarie, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) faction leader, also known as "Mosquito," had arrived in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, for talks with Liberian President Charles Taylor.

Bockarie had previously resisted calls from the RUF leader, Foday Sankoh, to disarm and demobilize his fighters in compliance with the provisions of the Lomé peace accord. However, his and Sankoh's presence in Monrovia now allows President Taylor to help mediate differences between them.

The United Nations hopes that Bockarie's arrival in Liberia will help to relieve some of the tensions in Sierra Leone, and to speed up the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme.

**Habitat Press Release

We have a press release from the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) available today, which highlights former South African President Nelson Mandela's announcement that he will serve as a patron to the Cities without Slums initiative, which was unveiled in Berlin last week. Mandela called the initiative "a creative and daring response to urban poverty".

The initiative aims to improve the lives of 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2002 through community-based upgrading programmes, and it is co-sponsored by the World Bank and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, better known to you as Habitat.

**Secretary-General's Schedule

You may have seen on the Secretary-General's programme today that he will be attending an event at the Council on Foreign Relations this evening. It's a rather less formal event than their normal get-togethers. It's sons and daughters night. The Secretary-General's own son and daughter are not in town, however. We understand the format is that Charlie Rose, the talk-show host, will open the event with a number of questions to the Secretary-General, and then other members of the Council will follow. I assume that whole event is off the record, as most of their events are.

**Client Satisfaction Survey

Finally, please don't forget our client satisfaction survey. We've received about 6 responses so far. One of them made some very useful suggestions on how to improve service to broadcast media. Another urged us to cut back on the length of our initial statements to you here at the daily briefings. If you agree, let us know. If you've lost the questionnaire we have extra copies on the counter in my Office.

And last week I overheard one correspondent in the corridor, grumbling that the Secretary-General's press conferences shouldn't be held at noon, they should be held earlier to help some of those with overseas deadlines more easily meet them. We can fix that. So don't kvetch in the corridor. Put it down on paper, make a positive recommendation. We'd like to respond and serve you better.

Anything before we go to Shirley?

**Questions and Answers

Question: How close are we to the nomination of the Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, and also, what is the profile of Mr. Oversight?

Spokesman: I'm not aware that we are closer. We could be, but I've not been told where we stand on that. It's being handled on the thirty-eighth floor. And I've said, I think repeatedly, that it needs to be someone clean and tough. And the Secretary-General is continuing to interview. I think he had another round of interviews recently, which would have been his second round of interviews. That is, the second group of candidates that he's interviewed. But I haven't heard whether he feels he's close to making a selection yet.

Question: Also, last week the press spokesman of Senator Jesse Helms was here. He reiterated that the United States was never part of the International Court of Justice. And he cited some law that prevents the United States from becoming part of the International Criminal Court. Do you have any comment?

Spokesman: No, but of course he represents one committee of the Congress. Congress, of course, has an important voice in United States policy, but not the only voice. So if I were you, I would take note of what he says, but I don't think it's the final pronouncement of the United States Government.

Question: He cited a law that has already been enacted, that is in the congressional book.

Spokesman: You'd have to see what the lawyers have to say about the interpretation of laws. I'm not an expert on that. I can't comment. Yes, Ruth?

Question: Is there any possibility of an end-of-the year briefing? They used to have them.

Spokesman: By whom?

Question: Anyone who could give us sort of a survey of the year.

Spokesman: Well, the Secretary-General's end-of-the year press conference touched a bit on the highs and lows of the past year and also looked ahead. I don't know if we would have anyone to give you anything more systematic. It's hard to get one person to speak about the whole system when it comes to that kind of detail. Why don't we just relax, things are quiet. Go slow this week. Next week no briefings.

Question: I was just at Ambassador Holbrooke's news conference where several people were and are funneling back into the building. He had comments, maybe you heard them before. He basically said that -- and I wondered if I could get your sense of it -- that the United Nations is sort of in the past, but is trying to improve. He can't understand the disconnect between the United Nations Secretariat and the Security Council, inadequate coordination between United Nations specialized agencies and people on the ground. An odd relationship between the Secretariat and the Security Council, over-bureaucratization of the process, which he says he hopes to change … Is he justified in some of these remarks?

Spokesman: The relationship between the Secretariat and the Security Council I commented on very recently. In terms of the flow of information, the quality of information from the Secretariat to the Council, we think, has improved under this Secretary-General because of the change in procedures. Overbureaucratization. I don't know. We are a bureaucracy. We certainly -- again under this Secretary- General in particular -- have been trying to streamline things. We're tackling the personnel system, which is particularly bureaucratic. But, of course, the constraints on streamlining the personnel department lie in resolutions adopted by the General Assembly. Excuse me, Shirley. So it does require a partnership, I think, between the Secretariat and Member States to get things improved here. But my impression was that we were cooperating pretty well.

Question: He did say though, that the current Secretary-General should have more enhanced powers. And he did complain -- just so you know -- about the triple Bosnia presidency versus the Srebrenica report, just to let you know.

Spokesman: You also mentioned agencies and the field.

Questions: The United Nations and specialized agencies. [Another correspondent added: I think he was referring mostly to the problems, for example, between the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees (UNHCR) and Angola and other hot spots. Coordination between them and Headquarters -- that it's really difficult. Especially in terms of getting the workers on the ground what they need from Headquarters, and communication with Headquarters being more streamlined.] There's a general sense around here that process is what this place is all about.

Spokesman: Well he has tried to improve his relations with the agencies. When you talk about the specialized agencies he has no authority over them whatsoever. He has a limited amount of authority over funds and programmes. He’s been working through the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) to improve his relations with the specialized agencies.

We've seen signs that they are beginning to work more closely together. You've had press conferences here with the heads of five different agencies, the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and joint initiatives. So I think there is definitely an effort on the part of these agencies to try to work more closely together. And OCHA tries its best, without any real legislative power, to improve the coordination among agencies on the ground. Our impression is that they are beginning to work more closely, to divide up what needs to be done, allocate specific tasks to different agencies.

And there's always a lead agency. Very often it’s the UNHCR, but it’s not exclusively UNHCR. So I think we're doing our best, and the United Nations as a whole has become operational in the last decade to a degree it never was in the past. So the opposite of process is operations, and over the last 10 years, with the growth of peacekeeping, we've had to kind of get hands-on to accomplish things in the field -- returning refugees, organizing elections.

That's a process that the Secretariat itself had to undergo -- a substantial change in its approach to things. It isn't just talk shop anymore. So, I would step back from it a bit and see a bureaucracy that's been changing substantially over 10 years towards a different kind of work -- more operation/field oriented work, and also in the process trying to improve its internal coordination.

Question: Talking about suggestions. In the past, when we used to have catastrophes -- you were not here -- the United Nations used to be a little more sensitive to what is going on. For example in the case of Venezuela and Turkey, we would use the entrance of the building to show that we care. This custom disappeared. Do you think, as a suggestion, we could go back to the humanitarian way?

Spokesman: What did they do at the entrance of the building? I don’t know.

Question: Everyone in the building used to cooperate, to send things to the victims. This custom disappeared, like many other things. Do you think that we could go back to that?

Spokesman: We could ask about that. There is, as I think Ruth was just mentioning, a clothing collection on the fourth floor. I don't know whether that was for a specific disaster or just the annual clothing drive.

Ok. Anything else? Shirley.

Briefing by Spokeswoman for General Assembly President

At the start of this morning’s meeting, the President of the General Assembly, Theo-Ben Gurirab, extended, on behalf of the Members, deepest sympathy to the Government and the people of Venezuela for the tragic loss of life and extensive material damage that have resulted from the recent floods and mudslides. He also expressed the hope that the international community would show its solidarity and respond promptly and generously to any request for help. A full text of the statement is available in room 378.

The Assembly is continuing its debate on Security Council reform, with 44 speakers listed. The meeting is taking place in Conference Room 2 because of the preparations in the General Assembly Hall for this evening’s Broadway and Jazz Concert, entitled “United We Stand”. The concert, hosted by the United Nations Staff Union, will pay tribute to the staff of the United Nations by honouring the children of staff killed in the line of duty.

The Assembly may meet tomorrow, depending on whether it concludes the debate today on the equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and related matters. On Wednesday, it will take up the reports of the Second and Fifth Committees and recess the session.

This afternoon, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) will meet, having held informal consultations all weekend, to take action on a draft resolution and draft decisions dealing with the scale of assessments for apportioning the expenses of the Organization (A/C.5/54/L.28, L.29 and L.30); on draft resolutions pertaining to the financing of the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (A/C.5/54/L.33) and of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (A/C.5/54/L.34); and a text on the Support Account for peacekeeping operations (A/C.5/54/L.32). It will also consider aspects of the programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001.

As to the appointments of the President, he is presiding over today’s plenary meetings. He is scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. with the Permanent Representative of Libya, Abuzed Omar Dorda, and to attend the concert, although these were not confirmed.

* *** *