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:

**Democratic Republic of Congo

In the Security Council this morning, the United States Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, called the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo "Africa's first world war" -- a recognition of how the conflict inside the country has drawn in so many of its neighbours. Secretary Albright is presiding over the opening of a week of meetings in the Council to reinvigorate the Lusaka process and find ways of ending the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

There are seven African heads of State plus 10 ministerial-level representatives taking part in this week's meetings. The full speakers’ list is in my Office.

In his opening address, the Secretary-General cited the setbacks encountered since the signing of the Lusaka Accord in July last year. He said that there had been many ceasefire violations and obstruction of UN military liaison officers, undermining confidence in the implementation process.

The Secretary-General committed the United Nations to supporting the peace process, but noted the UN's dependence on the compliance of the parties and their primary responsibility for keeping their commitments and creating conditions for progress. The United Nations currently has 79 unarmed military liaison officers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, against the 90 authorized by the Council.

The Secretary-General has proposed the deployment of 500 military observers, supported by about 5,000 troops.

Tomorrow morning, at about 10:30, the Secretary-General will host a mini- summit in Conference Room 8 with the seven heads of State from Africa, along with the Foreign Ministers of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Mr. Salim Salim, will also attend that meeting, as will the facilitator of the Lusaka Accord, the former President of Botswana, Sir Ketumile Masire.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) today appealed for safe and unimpeded access by humanitarian organizations to all people in need of food aid and other relief supplies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is estimated that close to a million people have been displaced by the conflict, and many are still trapped in the country's interior, cut off from humanitarian assistance. Vast areas of that country have been inaccessible to the WFP and other aid agencies because of continued insecurity.

Agencies estimate that 10 million Congolese are vulnerable to food shortages this year. In this connection, the Secretary-General in his latest report flagged the need for a major improvement in funding and resources to address the humanitarian needs.

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 24 January 2000

**New Judges Sworn in by UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo

In Pristina today, Bernard Kouchner, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Kosovo, swore in 102 judges and prosecutors, as well as 35 lay judges, to become part of Pristina's judiciary system.

The judges are among more than 300 who are to be appointed around Kosovo. They were interviewed and screened by legal experts from the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and appointed by Kouchner for one-year terms, which can be renewed. Judicial appointments for Mitrovica are expected to take place in mid-February. We have a press release upstairs on these appointments.

Also in Kosovo today, the Micro-enterprise Bank opened in Pristina, marking the first opening of a commercial bank in Kosovo since last year's conflict. Banks in Prizren and Pec are expected to open in the coming weeks.

Today's press briefing notes from Pristina, which are also available in the Spokesman's Office, include updates on the law and order situation, with UN police reporting that there have been 1,034 serious criminal offences reported so far this year.

According to the police, the Pristina region is responsible for more than 40 per cent of criminal activity in Kosovo. In recent weeks, major offences -- including murder, arson and looting -- have decreased, but the police also reported a large increase in weapons violations over the past weeks.

**Report on Effectiveness of International Tribunals

On the racks today is the report of the experts group appointed by the Secretary-General to evaluate the effectiveness of both International Criminal Tribunals, that is for Rwanda and former Yugoslavia. This report was requested by the General Assembly.

The experts group, led by Jerome Ackerman of the United States, a former President of the UN Administrative Tribunal, concludes that “the operations and functioning of the Tribunals are, given the constraints to which they are subject, reasonably effective in carrying out the missions mandated by the Security Council.”

However, it goes on, based on estimates that it would take 10 years for the Yugoslav Tribunal to complete its work, and a minimum of seven to eight years for the Rwanda Tribunal, the experts group provides precise technical recommendations designed to speed up procedures.

They note the unique character of the Tribunals, each of them administered by one Registry, compared to national structures where the prosecutors and judges would have separate administrations, and they conclude that this situation can lead to friction. They also say that there does not seem to be any evidence in favour of having a separate Prosecutor for each Tribunal.

That document's number is A/54/634.

**East Timor

The United States dollar is the new official currency of East Timor, under a regulation signed in Dili today by UN Transitional Administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello. The text of that regulation is available in my Office. The regulation also establishes a Central Payments Office, which ultimately will become East Timor's Central Bank.

The Commander of the UN Peacekeeping Force, Lieutenant General Jaime de los Santos of the Philippines, will arrive in Dili tomorrow. The new UN peacekeeping force will take over from the multinational force that has maintained order in East Timor since last September. The changeover will begin officially on 1 February, when the troops from 19 nations that make up INTERFET begin “changing hats” to put on the blue berets of UN peacekeepers. They will be joined by troops from four additional nations to make up the 8,500-strong UN force. The changeover will be complete by the end of February.

Peter Galbraith, the former US Ambassador to Croatia, has joined the UN mission as its Director of Political Affairs. Negalingam Parameswaran, Malaysia's former Ambassador to Viet Nam, is the new Chief of Staff.

Carol Bellamy, the head of UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Fund), who is on a visit to East Timor, today visited West Timor where UNICEF conducted a survey that found extensive malnutrition among children under five.

**International Atomic Energy Agency Visit to Iraq

On Saturday, four inspectors and one technician from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) began an inspection of low-grade enriched uranium and natural uranium at a storage site in Iraq. They had arrived in Iraq on Friday. This inventory control is part of the cooperation agreement of the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty, which Iraq has ratified. Under this agreement, there should be annual inspections. There had been no inspections since weapons inspectors left Iraq in December 1998.

The IAEA says its inspectors are receiving full cooperation from the Iraqi authorities and expect to complete their work and to leave Iraq around the end of this week.

**UN Observer Mission in Abkhazia, Georgia

The Secretary-General's report on the observer mission in Abkhazia, Georgia, is on the racks today. In it, he recommends a further six-month extension of this mission. The current mandate expires at the end of this month and a vote in the Security Council is expected on Friday this week. The report notes that the 101 military observers in the mission have a new chief. Major General Tariq Waseem Ghazi has been succeeded this month by Major General Anis Ahmed Bajwa, both of Pakistan.

**Ecuador

You have probably been noticing the current turmoil in Ecuador. On Saturday, we put out a note advising that the Secretary-General is closely following the evolving situation there and is firmly convinced that the best interests of Ecuador's people can only be served through the maintenance of constitutional order and the rule of law. If you missed it, you can pick up a copy in my Office.

**UN Drug Control Head Visits Japan

Pino Arlacchi, the Head of the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention in Vienna, flew to Japan this morning for a two-day official visit to that country. In Tokyo, he signed an agreement with a Japanese singer, Tetsuya Komuro, and with the Sony Corporation, for an anti-drug musical campaign. During his visit, he is also scheduled to meet with Japanese officials and sign an agreement for a contribution of $400,000 to the United Nations International Drug Control Programme. That would be from a Japanese non-governmental organization, the Drug Abuse Prevention Centre. It will be used in the field of drug abuse prevention.

Tomorrow, Mr. Arlacchi will leave Japan to go to Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum.

**UNICEF Confirms Returns of Ugandan Children

The UNICEF confirmed today that since the 18th of January it has received 10 Ugandan adults and 43 Ugandan children -- 18 girls and 25 boys -- in the Sudan. The Ugandans, some of whom UNICEF says had been abducted from northern Uganda by the Lord's Resistance Army, are currently in the care of UNICEF and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

The UNICEF welcomed the returns of more than 100 people, who had been abducted from northern Uganda, since the Governments of Uganda and the Sudan signed an accord last month, and UNICEF officials said they remain hopeful that more adults and children will be released.

**Biosafety Protocol Talks under Way in Montreal

Talks aimed at the conclusion of an international treaty on the safe use of biotechnology resumed a one-week session this morning in Montreal, Canada. Talks on a "Biosafety Protocol" to the Convention on Biological Diversity first began in 1996, and were expected to result in an adopted text last February at a session in Cartagena, Colombia.

However, that session was suspended pending resolution of several outstanding issues. Among them were the scope of the treaty's regulatory powers, the question of liability, the minimization of the potential socio-economic impacts of the use of genetically modified imports, and the relationship of the Protocol to other international agreements, particularly those under the World Trade Organization framework.

**Brundtland Tells WHO Executive Board AIDS Calls for Unprecedented International Response

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Gro Harlem Brundtland, told the opening session of the WHO Executive Board meeting this morning that AIDS is the “most dramatic” of the world's health problems, and she calls for “unprecedented responses” from the world community.

She told the 32-member Board that the WHO must capitalize on the new attention AIDS has garnered, including the recent Security Council debate on AIDS in Africa. She added that the WHO would focus on three areas: care for the more than 30 million people currently living with HIV/AIDS; reduction in mother-to- child transmission; and access to HIV/AIDS-related drugs.

We have a press release from the WHO on this subject upstairs.

**Other Press Releases

We also have press releases from UNICEF, on the launch next week of an initiative to conquer vaccine-preventable diseases, and from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, on an agreement between Italy and Russia to destroy Russian chemical weapons stockpiles.

**Secretary-General's Meeting with Commerce Leaders Rescheduled

We mentioned last week that the Secretary-General would meet today with the President and Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce to discuss business contributions to the Millennium Assembly. That meeting has now been postponed until Wednesday.

The Secretary-General is expected to meet the Chamber's President, Adnan Kassar, and its Secretary-General, Maria Cattaui, at 12:30 p.m. We also expect to announce a press briefing in this room by the two officials later that afternoon, tentatively 2:30 p.m.

**Payments

And finally, payments. We have several payments to the UN regular budget today. Five more countries made their payment in full to the regular budget for the year 2000. That brings the total number paid in full to 29.

Kuwait paid around $1.3 million; the Russian Federation around $11.3 million; Slovakia about $370,000; Thailand $1.8 million; and Viet Nam $73,000. Those numbers are all rounded off.

That's all I have for you.

** Questions and Answers

Question: What time will tomorrow’s mini-summit on [the Democratic Republic of the] Congo be?

Spokesman: 10:30 in the morning.

Question: You said a week of meetings on the Congo. How long do you anticipate this going on?

Spokesman: We will just have to see how it plays out, but as I understand it, the Council President has planned meetings all week. I don't know if the plenary involving the Presidents will go beyond today, but we will just have to see how it goes.

Question: Any draft resolution expected?

Spokesman: I don't think we know about any draft resolution yet.

Question: You didn't mention anything about Ecuador.

Spokesman: I did. I said that the Secretary-General issued a statement on Saturday and you can pick up a copy in my Office.

Question: Do you have any follow-up on that statement?

Spokesman: No. Nothing more than what was said on Saturday. He is watching the situation closely.

Question: I have the French text of the Secretary-General's report on the situation in the Congo. I notice that the French text mentions the Arusha military commission in collaboration with the United Nations and OAS (Organization of American States). What does OAS have to do with it?

Spokesman: They probably mean OAU (Organization of African Unity), but I'll have to check.

Question: The new currency in East Timor is US dollars?

Spokesman: Yes.

Question: What is the situation with the previous currency?

Spokesman: The previous currency was Indonesian. There was a decision made -- I think we announced it last week -- that any currency can be used in East Timor. But as of today, the official currency is the dollar. That means that the UN Transitional Administration will be dealing in dollars, and, of course, the contributions to the various UN Funds dealing with East Timor are in US dollars. If you deal in any other currency, you would exchange that currency for dollars and probably incur a slight transaction fee. We also mentioned today the setting up of the precursor of a Central Bank.

Question: Is that permanent?

Spokesman: No. This is just for the transitional period.

Question: What would the discussion between the International Chamber of Commerce and the United Nations be about.

Spokesman: As I understand it, it's business's contribution to the Millenium Assembly.

Question: Do you have anything on the racks about it?

Spokesman: We might have something on Wednesday when the two ICC officials give a press conference. Anything you might like to know about this you can ask Georg Kell on the Secretary-General's staff, who overseas the United Nations' relations with the private sector.

Question: President Kabila said this morning that the Lusaka Agreement was not working. Any comment?

Spokesman: I think it's pretty clear that the factions to this war have not ceased fire and that the foreign troops have not withdrawn from the Congo. This has also slowed up the deployment of the UN military liaison officers. The whole purpose of this week's meetings is to get the parties to this conflict to comply fully and quickly with the Lusaka Agreement. That's what we are trying to do.

Thank you very much.

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