DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000203The following is near-verbatim press transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, the Spokesman for the Secretary-General:
** Security Council
Good Afternoon. The Security Council met yesterday afternoon and agreed on its programme of work for the month of February. This morning, of course there was East Timor on the agenda, with the presentation of the Secretary- General's report by his Special Representative and Transitional Administrator for East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello. A rough draft of his comments was made available for checking against delivery and we expect to have a final copy shortly.
In his comments, Mr. Vieira de Mello described the unprecedented scope of United Nations responsibility in this Territory. He said the United Nations was being called upon to administer and govern a country which is starting from nearly nothing in terms of resources. Mr. Vieira de Mello highlighted the extreme urgency of beginning work on rehabilitation and reconstruction projects. He warned that delays could result in the perception amongst East Timorese that little is being done. Action was essential to prevent social unrest.
Mr. Vieira de Mello will speak at the microphone outside of the Security Council once he has finished his presentation.
This afternoon there will be closed consultations on the Democratic Republic of the Congo at which Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hedi Annabi will present the Secretary-General's report released last month.
Tomorrow afternoon, the Council will discuss the peacekeeping operation in Sierra Leone and has scheduled a formal meeting on that country for Monday. On Monday, Iraq is also on the agenda with the Executive Director of the Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan, presenting two reports issued last month on the "Implementation of the Humanitarian Programme" and on "the Needs of Iraq's Oil Industry".
Just a sidebar here on Benon Sevan: this week he marked his thirty-fifth anniversary with the United Nations. He started out in the Department of Public Information in 1965 writing captions on photographs. He later took part in the decolonization programme in Irian Jaya. After numerous assignments at Headquarters, he became the Secretary-General's representative for Afghanistan for four years, including during the Soviet withdrawal. Benon is now the Under-Secretary-General in charge of the Iraq Programme and also the United Nations Security Coordinator. So to paraphrase Benon, I have to say, Benon we love you. ** Kosovo
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has suspended all of its bus line shuttling between isolated communities in Kosovo while the attack on one of its buses was being investigated.
Two elderly persons, a man and a woman, were killed and five persons were injured on Wednesday when an anti-tank rocket struck a UNHCR bus carrying 49 passengers, all of them of Serb ethnicity, over foggy roads.
The United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) condemned the killing attack as a senseless attack on innocent Kosovar residents and vowed to spare no efforts in investigating the incident.
** Secretary-General to Speak to Palestinian Committee
At 3 p.m. today, the Secretary-General will address the opening of this year's session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. We have advance copies of his statement in my office.
In it, he commends Palestinian Authority President, Yasser Arafat, and Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, for "their courage and their commitment to the cause of peace and reconciliation".
However, he warned that the Palestinians are worried about the continued construction and expansion of settlements, and called upon the parties to refrain from actions that could affect the outcome of peace talks. He also urged further action to improve the Palestinians' economic and social condition.
The Committee session, which is chaired by Ambassador Ibra Deguène Ka of Senegal, will be held in Conference Room 4, and we hope that we can air the Secretary-General's speech on in-house television.
You will see on the Secretary-General's appointments for today that he is meeting with Fekrou Kedane, Director of the International Olympic Committee's Department of International Cooperation. Mr. Kedane will present the Secretary- General with a trophy, which is called the Olympic Door of the Year 2000. The trophy has been presented to the 199 national Olympic committees for presentations to their heads of State. The trophy being presented to the Secretary-General is intended as a symbol of peace, understanding, prosperity and well-being. We hope to have our photographers covering that event.
** Press Releases
Press releases today: one out by the World Food Programme warns that more than 2 million Kenyans still need food aid to recover from a recent drought, and reiterates its appeal for more than 43 million dollars for 75,000 tons of food.
Among other releases, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says that its tenth meeting, which will begin on 12 February in Bangkok, Thailand, must provide a "healing process" following the concerns about globalization voiced at the recent World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Seattle.
Then the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia announced in a release that Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte will meet tomorrow with the Mothers of Srebrenica and with the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Filip Vujanovic.
And finally, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) announced that it would appoint Mpule Kwelagobe of Botswana, who is the current Miss Universe, (you learn something everyday) as Goodwill Ambassador championing HIV/AIDS prevention. That will happen next Tuesday 8 February and the Fund will hold a press conference in this room at 11 a.m. on Tuesday to make that appointment.
We also have out a new Department of Public Information background note on United Nations peacekeeping operations.
** Statements
For your attention we also have a statement issued by the Spokesman, that's me, on reactions to that attack on the UNHCR bus in Kosovo, which I will read for you now.
"The Secretary-General was deeply saddened to learn that two civilians were killed and another five wounded yesterday during an attack on the UNHCR bus in Kosovo. It is the Secretary-General's deep conviction that for as long as any single community of Kosovo lives in fear because of their ethnic or religious background, none can resume normal life for which they waited for so long.
"He also renews his appeal to Member States to urgently contribute directly needed resources and police to UNMIK, which is working day and night to give the people in Kosovo the opportunity to build a tolerant society in which the dignity and safety of human life is preserved for all."
**Payments
Money. We have two more payments in full for the United Nations regular budget for the year 2000. The Czech Republic and Italy have become the forty-fifth and forty-sixth Member States to be paid in full for this year The Czechs gave us just over $1 million and Italy just over $57 million.
** Global Compact
We told you about the Web site for the Global Compact that was launched in Davos and we see that USA Today.com has awarded this Web site the "Hot Site of the Day", which they say is selected on the basis of sites that are likely to be sure hits with readers, that seek to astound and delight and inform or amuse by exhibiting something remarkable in graphics, content or both. Congratulations Georg Kell who put that site together with no staff and no budget.
** Non-Governmental Organizations Briefing
The Department of Public Information tells us that the non-governmental organizations (NGO) briefing on the Security Council initiatives on Africa, which took place this morning, will be televised this afternoon on in-house channels 3 and 31 immediately following the playback of the Secretary-General's speech to the Palestinian Rights Committee which is scheduled to take place at around 3:30 p.m. So any of you who did not attend that NGO briefing this morning -- I understand that the press, who are regularly invited to attend those briefings and to ask questions, can see the playback this afternoon. ** Upcoming Press Conferences
Press conferences for tomorrow: Jan Urban Jonsson, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, will be here to discuss the challenges facing women and children in Africa.
** Embargo Policy
You will remember that we stopped giving out embargoed materials after there was an embarrassing leak out of the third floor. Some of you complained that we were punishing everybody for the transgression of one news organization.
So today, I would like to announce a new policy on embargoed materials. A news organization that breaks an embargo for the first time will not be trusted with an embargoed report or material, and will be blocked from attending any background briefings, for a period of three months.
If the same news organization breaks an embargo a second time, the same sanctions will be applied for a period of six months. After a third breach, we would review that organization's press accreditation at the United Nations.
After three years without a further breach, you have your slate wiped clean. So those are the new rules and we will go back to giving out embargoed materials under those ground rules. I hope that will satisfy you.
** Questions and Answers
Question: Is Hans Blix, Executive Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), in Sweden; is he scheduled to come here or to make any public announcement at all?
Spokesman: We heard that he arrived in Stockholm today and we already announced to you that his first statement to the press would be given there. So I assume that is likely to happen in the near future.
Question: But you have no idea when he will be in New York?
Spokesman: I have no idea when he will come here - not yet.
Question: Can you tell me if the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has really stopped encouraging Serbs from returning to Kosovo as a result of the incident yesterday involving the bombing of the bus?
Spokesman: Well I do not know if they have sent out any notice to Serbs outside of Kosovo, who want to return, that they should cancel their plans. They have cancelled the bus service as an understandable response to the security threat posed by this rocket-propelled grenade that hit the bus yesterday. I will have to check for you whether they have issued any warning to other Serbs planning to return to Kosovo. But I am not aware that they have. So check with me after the briefing.
Question: On Lebanon: the Spokesman for the United Nations Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said yesterday they would have to consider pulling out if the shelling and the counter-shelling does not stop. Is that something that has been discussed here at Headquarters?
Spokesman: We did see that. Timur Goksel is the dean of United Nations spokesmen. I think he has been in Lebanon for 18 years or so. Our position is that we have been in Southern Lebanon since 1978. We have been the targets of attacks and also our positions have been used as a place from which to fire at the enemy and therefore draw incoming fire. This not only threatens peacekeepers but also very often when you put down a peacekeeping observation post, a little village of people looking for protection crops up around that post. And so you put civilians at risk when you use our positions to fire out. I think Mr. Goksel was expressing the frustration that we feel at the parties willing to risk the lives of civilians and peacekeepers in order to wage war. It is not our intent to pull out. We have stuck it out since 1978. We hope to stick it out to the end. But I think we do understand Timur's frustration and why he said what he said.
Question: Considering that all of the parties in the area do seem to be breaking the United Nations resolutions, what, if anything, is the Secretary- General doing to communicate this frustration and perhaps bring compliance?
Spokesman: The violence in Southern Lebanon comes and goes in waves. We saw recently how it was shut down completely without the firing of a single rifle while there were bodies of deceased being returned. So we know the violence can be controlled and the Secretary-General's message is: look we have never been closer to a negotiated solution -- not just in Lebanon but in the whole of the Middle East -- please exercise restraint and keep your eye on the goal of a negotiated settlement.
Question: I understand that the Prime Minister of Lebanon has written to the Secretary-General asking for the United Nations to prevent Israel from redrawing the international frontier. Is that right - has he received that letter, and if so is there a reply?
Spokesman: I believe we have received the letter but I do not know that we have drafted a reply. I will have to see if we have and, if so, what if anything we tell you about it.Question: What is the future of the Internal Oversight Office?
Spokesman: We are getting very close. The Secretary-General interviewed two candidates for the post of Director in recent days and I think we will be making an announcement soon. It has been a long drawn-out process but the final candidates were both strong and I think we are close to making a selection. And then we hope that Office will get up and continue its good work. It has been limping along as best it can without a Director and we hope that with the naming of a new one it will get up to speed again.
Question: In the meantime, was the Office closed or the operation shut down? Or did the Legal Department continue to investigate.
Spokesman: No. The Legal Department took no operational control for the Office. That would not be appropriate in terms of the independence of that Office. That Oversight Office is designed to investigate the Secretariat and so you could not have the Secretariat administering it. So that the Legal Counsel has merely administered the Office but not given it any substantive direction. In the meantime, the Directors of the various Units of the Office have continued their work and have made judgement calls on their own as to things that they want to look into and so on. So it has continued to operate but without the centralized substantive oversight of the Director who, we hope, we will be able to name shortly.
Question: Do you have any comments on this Russian ship that the United States said was carrying illegal Iraqi oil? You also mentioned Benon Sevan's various reports. Is this sort of thing being tracked anywhere or monitored?
Spokesman: Is what sort of thing being tracked?
Question: The illegal shipment interceptions and things like that.
Spokesman: The interception regime that has been established in the Gulf was authorized by the Security Council but is not overseen by the Council. So it is something that we have no operational control over. You would really have to talk to the nations who are carrying out that work for any detailed information on what they are up to and, in particular, this latest incident. There is no comment on our side.
Thank you very much.
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