DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000128The following is a near-verbatim transcript of todays noon briefing by Marie Okabe, Associate Spokesman of the Secretary-General:
Good afternoon. We are trying to keep you entertained with different faces every day.
** Press Briefings
Our guest today is Georg Kell of the Secretary-General's office. He is here to tell you about the launching of the United Nations Web site on the Global Compact.
And, immediately after this briefing, Carol Bellamy and Marta Santos Pais of UNICEF will tell you about their recent visit to East Timor and Indonesia.
** Secretary-General in Russian Federation
The Secretary-General had his first face-to-face meeting this morning with acting President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin. The meeting lasted one hour and ten minutes. The acting President gave a detailed briefing on why Russia had taken military action in Chechnya, and how he intended to press on to a military victory.
The Secretary-General said that the world understood the terrorist challenge that Russia faced in Chechnya, but was concerned that the force being used was not proportional to the threat. The result was massive displacement and suffering for the civilian population. Speaking to reporters afterward, the Secretary-General said, "The point I made was understood. I made my point on the need to protect civilians, and pleaded urged that the war should be brought to an end as soon as possible."
The Secretary-General added later, "We should be very careful to avoid a situation where violence is visited on innocent civilians, because such situations often risk violating international law".
At the same press briefing, the first Deputy Foreign Minister, Alexander Ardeyev, said the argument on proportionality was academic. He said, "The sooner we achieve a military victory over the terrorists the easier it will be to resolve the Chechnya problem".
Other items discussed in the Secretary-General's meeting with the acting President included national sovereignty versus humanitarian intervention, the conflict in Afghanistan, drug trafficking and the wars in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia/Eritrea. They also touched on the appointment of Dr. Hans Blix to lead the new Iraq inspection mission.
This evening the Secretary-General is having dinner with the First Deputy Foreign Minister and other senior ministry officials. A fuller read-out of today's programme is available from the Spokesman's office, as is the transcript of the press briefing.
Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 28 January 2000
**Chechnya
Meanwhile, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees reported today that fighting in and around Grozny is driving more and more people from their homes. UNHCR also reported that harsh winter conditions have made the lives of the displaced in Ingushetia more miserable, especially in spontaneous makeshift settlements and tented camps.
While winterized tents and stoves keep the people relatively warm, the lack of water, baby food and medicine are widespread. Some 2,000 babies have been born over the last four months. There is an acute need for baby clothes and diapers. Some camps are totally infested with lice and scabies, according to UNHCR. The local 300-bed tuberculosis treatment clinic is full, with 192 beds being taken by the displaced.
**Security Council
The Security Council this morning began informal consultations on the mandates of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), both of which are set to expire at month's end. In both cases, the Secretary-General has recommended a six-month extension, until 31 July.
After those consultations wrap up, the Council will take up the request by Tuvalu, the small Pacific Island chain, to be admitted as a Member State of the United Nations. After consultations adjourn, the Council may hold a formal meeting on the subject of Tuvalu's inclusion.
On Monday, the Council is expected to hold formal meetings on the Missions in Georgia and Lebanon. Then the Council will conclude its "month of Africa" with an open briefing on Africa. Among the scheduled speakers at that session will be Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette, President Frederick Chiluba of Zambia, South African Foreign Minister Nkosozana Dlamini-Zuma and Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim of the Organization of African Unity.
** Head of New Inspection Body for Iraq
On Iraq, as we announced late yesterday, the Secretary-General was advised that the Security Council has formally approved his recommendation that Dr. Hans Blix be appointed as Executive Chairman of the new Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission for Iraq (UNMONC). The Secretary-General has therefore appointed Dr. Blix; an appointment that takes effect upon assumption of his duties.
** Deteriorating Human Rights Situation in Sierra Leone
We have received an alarming report from a human rights team from the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, who returned from an assessment mission to Port Loko in the North-West of the country and Kabala in the North.
They found that in Kabala, the systematic attacks on villages have subsided in the last three weeks, although disarmed former rebels in search of food and shelter still roam in and around Kabala, harassing civilians. However, in Port Loko, the human rights situation has deteriorated in recent weeks. There have been daily reports of looting of villages, houses burning, harassment and abduction of civilians, rape and sexual abuses by former rebels from Occra Hills.
In both sites, most women abductees arriving in the camps for displaced persons suffer from rape and sexual abuses. According to health care workers, cases of rape-related pregnancies among women are so frequent that they "cannot be counted". Many report that women and girls often feel forced to marry their abductors or to live as their wives, because they fear the social stigma attached to rape and resulting pregnancies.
**East Timor
From Dili, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor is taking a number of measures to improve the law and order situation. There are increased patrols by United Nations civilian police in the market area of Dili and other areas of the capital where there has been recent violence. The United Nations civilian police officers have been instructed to confiscate on the spot all weapons being carried without a justifiable reason.
As well, 50 civilian police officers are being trained and equipped to deal with public disorder. This is an interim measure until a larger rapid response unit is in place in early March. Given the importance of maintaining order, the United Nations is concerned that only 900 of the authorized strength of 1,640 civilian police have been promised so far by Member States. By the middle of next month, we expect to have just 632 on the ground.
**Press Releases
In The Hague this morning, Mitar Vasiljevic pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. This was his first appearance in front of the Tribunal. We have a press release, so you can get more details on this, in our office upstairs.
We also have a press release from the World Food Programme, which has found grave food shortages among tens of thousands of displaced people in the Moluccas islands, in the eastern past of Indonesia. Please see the release for more details on that subject.
We also have the press briefing notes from Geneva from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which reports on the logistical challenges of assisting refugees arriving from Angola into Zambia, and on increasing violence in the Prizren area of south-western Kosovo, which has led some hundred of new arrivals into the Novi Pazaar region of Yugoslavia over the past three weeks.
We have one more press release upstairs on food security in Afghanistan, which is in danger for under-funding. This is put out by the Food and Agriculture Organization, which has also put out a food and crop assessment of Kosovo.
**Eritrea and Ethiopia
The United Nation today launched simultaneous appeals to the international community for humanitarian assistance needed this year, to assist destitute persons in Eritrea and Ethiopia.
An appeal for $42.7 million was launched today in Asmara (Eritrea), and that's for food and non-food items for some 583,000 people, of whom about 370,000 are war- affected and over 200,000 are drought-affected.
And in the other appeal -- that's for $190 million launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia -- relief assistance for some 8 million Ethiopians and 250,000 refugees from the Sudan and Somalia were included. We have a press release from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on the appeals.
** General Assembly
The Spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly has asked me to draw your attention to the plenary meeting scheduled for next Tuesday, 1 February, at which the Assembly will appoint a member of the 16-member Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions -- that's the ACABQ. Fumiaki Toya of Japan has resigned and the Government of Japan has nominated Juichi Takahara to serve the remainder of Mr. Toya's term, which expires on 31 December 2001. There is a related document upstairs.
**Payments
We have received three more payments towards the United Nations budget for this year. Canada, Iceland and South Africa have become the thirty-fourth, thirty- fifth and thirty-sixth Member States, respectively, to have paid their full assessed contribution to the regular budget. Canada made a payment of close to $28.7 million, Iceland around $336,000 and South Africa around $3.8 million.
Member States have until Monday -- that's the 31st -- at midnight to pay their full contribution to the regular budget before falling into arrears. To remind you, a letter of assessment was issued to Member States on 29 December. This letter indicates the amount they owe to the regular budget. Member States have until the end of this month before they become delinquent in paying their dues.
**Security Council Update
I have just been told that the Security Council finished the Lebanon item very quickly. Consultations adjourned at 12:10, and a formal meeting on the application by Tuvala for membership begins at 12:15, which is a minute from now.
** The Week Ahead
An item we have every Friday -- looking ahead at next week.
I can tell you that on Saturday the Secretary-General is scheduled to meet with Patriarch Alexi II in Moscow. He is then expected to leave Moscow and arrive in Geneva on Sunday.
On Monday, 31 January, in Geneva, the Secretary-General will open the next session of proximity talks on Cyprus. His Special Representative on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, will also attend that meeting.
Also on Monday the report of the Commission of Inquiry on East Timor is expected to be issued.
Here in room 226, at 11:15 a.m., we will have the Prime Minister of the Republika Srpska, on the announcement of the establishment of an international interfaith centre in Brcko.
And we will also have guests at the noon briefing from UNICEF and PAHO, who will launch a new global initiative to conquer vaccine preventable diseases.
On Tuesday, Ambassador Arnaldo Manuel Listre of Argentina takes over from United States Ambassador Richard Holbrooke as the President of the Security Council for the month of February.
The Secretary-General is expected to return to New York from his visit to Moscow and Geneva.
On Wednesday, the Secretary-General will speak to the Advisory Board on Disarmament, which concludes its current session today.
And finally, on Thursday, 3 February, the United Nations Transitional Administrator for East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, will brief the Security Council on the situation in East Timor, and we hope to have him either here, or at the stakeout, to talk to you.
**Links from Spokesman's Office
And before I turn over to Georg, just one item on the "we're trying to make ourselves more accessible to you" front.
This week, we began linking the full text of press releases, statements, reports and other relevant documents which are mentioned in the Internet version of the "Highlights of the Noon Briefing", so that they are at your fingertips. For example, an item on payments will be linked to a list of Member States that have paid their dues, which as you know is prepared by our office. If there is no link, it means the documents have not been posted on their relevant sites at the time of posting.
**Questions and Answers
Question: Those refugees who left Kosovo, they are Serb refugees, or Bosnian?
Associate Spokesman: There is full detail of this in the UNHCR briefing from Geneva, but what they are reporting is increasing violence in Prizren in Kosovo over the last months, some of it targeting members of the Goran ethnic group and other non-Albanian Muslims. Several hundred new arrivals from the Prizren area have been recorded in the Novi Pazaar region of Yugoslavia in the first three weeks of this year. This is information according to the Serbian authorities and the Serbian Red Cross.
UNHCR could not verify the exact number, but some of the mew arrivals are telling UNHCR staff that the Muslim Slav groups in Prizren are subject to violence and increasing pressures since December, and feel that they have no future in an increasingly mono-ethnic Kosovo where they have almost no access to work. According to Serbian figures, the numbers of recent arrivals include 584 internally displaced persons from the Gora area in the hills above Prizren and another 144 people from Prizren itself.
Question: And UNHCR just took the Serbian sources. Do you have any of your sources? Fred told us explicitly that you are capable of giving this type of information.
Associate Spokesman: These are refugee figures we are talking about, and UNHCR and the Belgrade Government's Commission of Refugees are starting a registration of refugees in February. So we will probably have an update from them fairly soon. * *** *