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 Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General:

Good afternoon.

**Security Council

As you know, the Council is meeting on Burundi today. It heard this morning from the Secretary-General and from former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa who is the facilitator in the Arusha process for Burundi.

The Secretary-General told the Council that the Secretariat was fully committed to helping President Mandela revive the peace process. He cited the fact that one in eight of Burundi’s people are internally displaced -- many as a result of the government policy of relocation. The Secretary-General urged the Government to abandon this inhumane and illegal policy.

President Mandela told the Council that he was working on a follow-up visit to Arusha in February to which he planned to invite heads of State from different parts of the world. While arguing that it was time for the Burundians to get down to business and highlighting the responsibility on the Burundian leaders to reach an agreement, President Mandela said the international community also had a political part to play, as well as providing humanitarian and financial support.

At the conclusion of today’s meeting, the Council is expected to adopt a resolution on Burundi, supporting President Mandela’s role and the work of the United Nations in the country.

We have copies available of both the Secretary-General’s and President Mandela’s statements.

In his speech, the Secretary-General also endorsed a statement issued today by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, which is a grouping of 16 United Nations and non-United Nations organizations active in humanitarian issues, on the forcibly relocated communities in Burundi.

According to the statement, since 20 September last year, some 330,000 people, living mainly in the province of Bujumbura Rural, have been forcibly relocated by the Government into 53 sites. The impact of this action on the affected populations has been disastrous, as the Government failed to prepare the sites or to make provision for food, water and shelter for those relocated. Most of those relocated have lost their homes and possessions and are being denied access to their fields.

The statement said the agencies express their strong opposition to forced relocation in Burundi and call upon the Government of Burundi to halt the practice.

We have copies of the statement in my Office, as well. At 11 a.m. tomorrow, members of the Security Council will have a discussion with the Chairman of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Jesse Helms. This gathering will take place in the Council Chamber at 11 a.m. and will be open to delegations which are not members of the Security Council, and also to you -— the press. We are advised that Mr. Helms will also speak at the stakeout around noon.

And something for your reference files. The DPI press release on the work of the Security Council throughout 1999 is out today as a document. It compresses into 32 concisely written pages, the full range of the Council’s responses to various crises and ongoing issues through last year.

**World Trade Organization

At 9:30 this morning, the Secretary-General met with Mike Moore, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Mr. Moore then joined the weekly meeting of the Senior Management Group, which, as you know, is the Cabinet-style body of senior UN officials chaired by the Secretary-General. We distributed for you yesterday a background note on today's Senior Management Group meeting, which reflects the essence of Mr. Moore's message in his discussions today.

We have additional copies of that note in my Office.

After the meeting, Mr. Moore took questions from reporters outside the Security Council before leaving for Washington. He said he had talked about the need for the UN system and the WTO to work more closely together to deal with what he called "anxiety over globalization". Referring to the WTO Ministerial Conference held late last year in Seattle, Washington, Mr. Moore said that he was disappointed that governments were not able to make progress in increasing market access and technical assistance to the developing world. Now, he added, "we have to build confidence, and get things moving in a modest, concrete, focused way".

**East Timor

The International Force in East Timor, INTERFET, reported clashes yesterday and again today with armed militia elements that crossed over from West Timor into the East Timorese enclave of Oecussi. Yesterday, near the East Timorese village of Mahata, an INTERFET patrol came across five militia members armed with rifles. The militia waved the rifles in a threatening manner, according to INTERFET, and the INTERFET soldiers fired six quick shots, sending the militia fleeing back across the border to West Timor.

Today, another five armed militia confronted villagers near the village of Bobometo, in the East Timor enclave. The villagers stood up to the militia, according to INTERFET, shots were fired and at least one villager was injured. We're still awaiting more details on that incident.

The INTERFET says there was a total of five militia incursions into Oecussi in the last 72 hours. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has temporarily halted repatriation convoys to and from the enclave until the situation calms down.

**Iraq

The regular weekly update from the “oil-for-food” programme for Iraq is out today. It shows that there were $1.13 billion worth of contracts for humanitarian supplies on hold, with another $224 million worth of oil spare parts and equipment on hold.

I should mention that with the expansion of the programme over the past 18 months, the expression “humanitarian supplies” now includes contracts worth up to $100 million for the rehabilitation of major power stations and other large contracts to improve water and sanitation facilities.

The issue of contracts on hold is on the agenda of the 661 committee -- the Iraq sanctions committee -- that is meeting this afternoon, its first formal meeting of this year. The agenda also includes consideration of the letter sent in November by the Under-Secretary-General for Management, Joseph Connor, regarding the over-concentration of funds in the United Nations Iraq account at the Banque nationale de Paris -- Parisbas. The current balance is around $5.8 billion.

**Central African Republic Report

The report of the Secretary-General on the Central African Republic is out today. In it, the Secretary-General emphasizes the challenges that lay ahead for the authorities of that country after the withdrawal of the peacekeeping operation on 15 February. He notes that important elements of the Bangui Agreements, such as the restructuring of the armed forces, are not yet implemented.

He recalls that a peace-building support office will take over from the peacekeeping operation after its withdrawal. That United Nations office's main task will be to support the Government's effort to consolidate peace and national reconciliation, to strengthen democratic institutions, and to facilitate the mobilization of international assistance for national reconstruction and economic recovery.

**Kosovo

In today’s briefing in Pristina, Kosovo, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) reported that the ceremony establishing the Kosovo Protection Corps, which had been scheduled for today, has been postponed until Friday. The UNMIK spokesman also said that all outstanding issues were ironed out in discussions between the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Bernard Kouchner, KFOR Commander Klaus Reinhardt and the Kosovo Protection Corps Commander, Agim Ceku.

As you’ll recall, the proposal to create the Kosovo Protection Corps was an integral part of the demobilization process and was an essential factor in securing support for the demilitarization of the Kosovo Liberation Army. The UNMIK again reiterated today that the senior members of the Corps will have no military rank. In addition, they will wear non-military insignias, and Mr. Ceku will have three deputies who will divide responsibilities among themselves. One deputy -- to be appointed Friday -- will be ethnically non-Albanian.

The UNMIK reported two more murders in the past 48 hours and the fact that the power situation continues to be bleak. Residents are receiving power now only two hours out of every eight.

**Sierra Leone Human Rights Newsletter

We have received the second edition of the “Human Rights Newsletter” published by the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone. It highlights the work of the Mission in the field of human rights and announces, among other things, that the draft statute of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was transmitted by the High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Government of Sierra Leone. According to the Lomé Peace Agreement, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission is to be set up in Sierra Leone to address impunity, break the cycle of violence and facilitate genuine healing and reconciliation.

We have copies of that newsletter available in my Office.

**Honour Roll

Ireland and Latvia have become the nineteenth and twentieth Member States to make their payment to the United Nations regular budget in full for the year 2000. Ireland paid approximately $2.3 million; Latvia just under $150,000.

We have updated the honour roll which you can get in my Office.

**Sanction Committee Chairmen

I want to draw your attention to a Security Council document which is now available on the racks. It is the annual Note by the President of the Council which lists the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the various United Nations sanctions committees. There are currently nine committees in all, and the terms of these chairpersons will run to the end of this year.

**Deputy Secretary-General

We have available in my Office copies of a keynote address delivered today by Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette on the future of the United Nations, which she gave at a forum at the United Nations University in Tokyo.

In addition to her participation in the forum, which concerned the United Nations and global governance in the new millennium, she also met this morning with members of the Parliamentary Group for Japan's contribution to the United Nations.

**Budget Matters

We also have out on the racks today the final budget appropriations for the 1998-1999 biennium, the budget period that just concluded. The final budget figures take note that the Professional vacancy rate, that is, the Professional- level posts left vacant during that period, was higher than the rate on which the programme budget had originally been based. As a result, the final budget appropriations for that two-year period were decreased by more than $41 million.

The final amount appropriated for the regular budget was just under $2.5 billion for the two years.

**Briefings/Press Conferences

Tomorrow's guest at the noon briefing will be Eric de Mul, a name that you will remember from the hijacking episode in Afghanistan. He is the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan and will be discussing the humanitarian situation in that country.

And finally -- press conferences.

Tomorrow at 11 a.m. in room S-226, Ambassador Vladislav Jovanovic, Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Then at 1 p.m., also in room S-226, Bill Jordan, the General Secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. He will be joined by John Ruggie, Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary- General. They will be discussing labor union engagement in the Global Compact.

The Global Compact is the Secretary-General’s proposal to business and labour that they adopt into their corporate mission statements, international criteria in the areas of human rights, environment and labor standards.

Mr. Jordan will also be meeting the Secretary-General tomorrow.

That’s all I have for you.

**Questions and Answers

Question: Why is there no reference to dismantlement of the “regroupment” sites in the Security Council resolution on Burundi, even though the Secretary- General, the United Nations and several other speakers said they wanted one?

Spokesman: That’s a question you’ll have to address to the Council.

Question: The meeting tomorrow between the Secretary-General and Senator Jesse Helms could, I think, safely be described as unique. He is probably one of the most powerful critics of the United Nations. What does the Secretary- General anticipate? Will he have a philosophical discussion with Senator Helms about the importance of the Organization?

Spokesman: Don’t forget that the Secretary-General met with Senator Helms on his first visit to Washington, D.C., as Secretary-General in January 1997. Of course, Senator Helms and Senator Biden co-authored the legislation that was eventually adopted by the full Congress and approved by the President, on the basis of which some part of the United States arrears will be paid to the Organization. They have had from the start a cordial relationship, so I expect it will be a friendly meeting.

Question: Is the Secretary-General going to be explaining what the United Nations is doing in terms of reform?

Spokesman: I don’t know. The Secretary-General did not tell me what he expected to talk with the Senator about. It’s likely that he would give the Senator some kind of accounting of the progress he feels he has made over the last three years. Question: The Secretary-General is having not one but two meetings; one with Senator Helms, and the other one with the whole Foreign Relations Committee. Isn’t that a lot of time to be spending with Congressman or Parliamentarians? Isn’t that unique?

Spokesman: This is the Committee that authorizes the funding for 25 per cent of the United Nations budget. I don’t think the investment of an extra meeting is not time well spent.

Question: Is Senator Helms expected to address the Council itself?

Spokesman: He will address members of Council, as I announced, at 11 a.m. You can attend that meeting.

Question: As a result of yesterday’s Council meeting, is there still a role for the Secretary-General in choosing the UNMOVIC (United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Investigation Commission in Iraq) Executive Chairman, or is it now a matter for the Council to sort out?

Spokesman: I think you heard Ambassador Holbrooke say yesterday that he was not passing the ball back to the Secretary-General at this time, and that he would consult other Council members on the matter of a new Executive Chairman. The resolution still says that the Secretary-General has to nominate. I don’t know whether that means that should the Council be able to arrive at a number of names on which they agree on a consensus basis, that they would send these names back to the Secretary-General to nominate one from that list. That is one of the scenarios that I think is being discussed. I don’t think the Secretary- General is out of the picture, but for the moment the ball is in the Council’s court.

Question: You mentioned $41 million ultimately saved off the last biennium budget. I was wondering if you had a little more information about the vacancy rates. Is it now about 10 per cent?

Spokesman: I don’t have that information, but it is easy enough to get for you. I think 10 per cent is roughly what it was. I think the budgeting figure was something like 4 to 6 per cent. But I’ll double check that and get the precise figures for you.

Question: Does the Secretary-General have any position about changing the contribution of the United States, or is it purely a matter for governments and the General Assembly?

Spokesman: I think he sees it now as Ambassador Holbrooke’s task to sell to the other 187 members the conditions that the United States Congress has imposed on the dues.

Question: Aided by Senator Helms tomorrow?

Spokesman: I suppose that will be the kickoff perhaps, although I don’t want to speculate on what Ambassador Holbrooke’s strategy is. But it seems that that would be an important first step.

Question: The Secretary-General is not involved or engaged in this discussion? Governments don’t come to him to explain their position? Spokesman: Not to my knowledge. It’s a discussion that usually takes place within the Contributions Committee on the matter of reducing or changing the appropriations scale.

Thank you very much.

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