DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000223The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon. I'd like to welcome our guest today, Bill Paton, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for the Republic of the Congo. That's Congo-Brazzaville, as opposed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo that we're very focused on lately. The other Congo gets very little attention and yet faces very serious problems. He'll be talking to you, after my briefing, on the situation in the Congo, particularly about the population displacement.
**Secretary-General in New Zealand
The Secretary-General's two-day visit to New Zealand began today when he met with the Prime Minister Helen Clark. During that meeting, the Secretary- General personally thanked Prime Minister Clark and her Government for its assistance in East Timor and also for the work being done by New Zealand in Cambodia on demining. He also expressed his hope that the Prime Minister will attend the Millennium Summit in September.
Immediately after their meeting, the Secretary-General and the Prime Minister held a joint press briefing. They both talked about the strong relationship between the United Nations and New Zealand. Some of you may have heard the briefing yesterday. It was broadcast here on the in-house television channel -- at least, the audio portion.
At the briefing, the Secretary-General was asked to comment on such issues as the impact of sanctions on the Iraqi people, the ongoing process of reform in the United Nations, and the United Nations' ability to rapidly respond to crises.
On the matter of the sanctions, the Secretary-General mentioned the concept of "smart sanctions" which, he said, can take the form of closing the foreign bank accounts of the leaders concerned -- those targeted by the sanctions -- by refusing to give them visas to travel, as well as other restrictions directed at them and their families. In April, the Secretary- General said, the Security Council will be having a discussion on sanctions and added that he hoped to be able to come up with some new ideas.
The Secretary-General also met today with the Foreign Minister of New Zealand, as well as the Trade Minister, and called on the Governor General. He also gave a short address at Victoria University. So, you can pick up the report from his delegation as well as the transcripts.
**East Timor Update, 23 February
From East Timor, the multinational force, INTERFET, was formally replaced by the United Nations peacekeeping force in Dili, East Timor, today after the United Nations Transitional Administrator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Commander of INTERFET, Major General Peter Cosgrove, and the Commander of the United Nations peacekeeping force, Jaime de los Santos, signed a declaration on the replacement of INTERFET. The remaining administrative and financial transfer will occur at midnight on 28 February.
At the hand-over ceremony, the Transitional Administrator thanked the Security Council, Australia and other troop-contributing nations for their swift response, which brought an end to the killings of civilians and the widespread destruction which took place following the 4 September announcement of the ballot result. Praising the seamless transition from the multinational force to the United Nations peacekeeping force, Mr. Vieira de Mello said: "Our military component ... will maintain the highest deterrence and reaction capacity in East Timor, which I would not advise anyone to test."
The United Nations Transitional Administration, on behalf of East Timor, signed with Australia today an agreement on gas exploration in the joint zone of the Timor Gap area, known as Byun Undan. According to the agreement, Philips Petroleum of the United States will lead the consortium of six companies from Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom. While the exploration is only expected to start in January 2004, if the reserve of liquid gas, such as propane and butane, proves to be significant, it would become a major source of revenue for East Timor in the long run.
**Security Council Discusses Somalia, Guinea-Bissau
The Security Council began its work today with a briefing on Somalia by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast. He discussed recent peace efforts on Somalia, including the initiative by the Government of Djibouti, as well as on the humanitarian situation there.
After that briefing, the Council went into informal consultations on Guinea-Bissau, on which they were briefed by Samuel Nana-Sinkam, Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the United Nations Peace-Building Support Office in Guinea-Bissau. That Office helped to organize two rounds of elections in Guinea-Bissau, culminating in a run-off vote on 16 January. The results of the voting led to the inauguration last week of newly elected President Kumba Yala, marking the restoration of multi-party democracy in that country.
We'll be having Mr. Nana-Sinkam as our guest at tomorrow's noon briefing. We also have information sheets on Guinea-Bissau available in the Spokesman's Office.
Yesterday, the Council made further progress in narrowing differences over a draft resolution on the other Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, Council members are continuing to discuss several passages in that text, which deals with the proposed expansion of the United Nations Mission there to more than 5,500 military personnel. It is now likely that a vote on the resolution might not take place until tomorrow or possibly even Friday, but you might also want to keep an eye on today's events. We hope to have a senior Secretariat official brief you on background on the day of the vote.
**Truth and Reconciliation Commission Established in Sierra Leone
The Parliament of Sierra Leone yesterday established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. That Commission, which was called for by the Lomé Peace Agreement, will be composed of three international commissioners and four national commissioners. The objective of the Commission is to create an "impartial historical record of violations and abuses of human rights and humanitarian law related to the conflict in Sierra Leone, from the beginning of the conflict in 1991 to the signing of the Lomé Peace Agreements", and to promote reconciliation and healing to prevent a repetition of those violations. Experts were provided by Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to help draft the statute of the Commission.
**Del Ponte calls for Trials in Yugoslavia and Rwanda
Carla Del Ponte, the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia, gave a press conference this morning in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, in which she said she has discussed with the Judges of the Tribunals and with the Rwandan authorities the possibility of holding trials within Yugoslavia and Rwanda, which would help make the Tribunals more visible to the local communities. Paul Risley, her Spokesman in The Hague, explained to reporters that the Prosecutor's proposal is to hold portions of trials and specific hearings in those countries, for example, hearing the testimony of specific witnesses.
**Narcotics Board Report Out
As you know from hearing Ambassador Herbert Okun's briefing just a few minutes ago, the Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 1999 was issued today, with a launch in Vienna and with Ambassador Okun's presentation here, which just concluded. He's the United States member of the Board. The Report calls for certain controlled drugs -- including opioids like morphine -- to be made more available for legitimate medical purposes, including the easing of excessive pain and suffering. It recommends that opioid manufacturers increase the availability of these drugs in the developing world, subject to monitoring by the Board, the World Health Organization and the United Nations International Drug Control Programme. The Report, copies of which are available at the Documents Counter, also highlights developments in drug control and production throughout the world. We also have press kit upstairs.
**Arlacchi in Cuba
Pino Arlacchi, the Head of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, is in Cuba on an official visit, which began on Monday. Today, he's scheduled to meet with President Fidel Castro and other government officials. Mr. Arlacchi said that the conversations with the Government have been very constructive thus far, and he's scheduled to leave Cuba tomorrow.
Last evening, he signed a project with the Government of Cuba for $1.3 million. About half of that amount has already been secured through a donation from Italy. The project, which will last two years, is mainly devoted to law enforcement against drug trafficking and prevention of demand for drugs through education.
**Home Alone
In London this morning, Carol Bellamy launched a UNICEF report entitled "Growing Up Alone: The Hidden Cost of Poverty". The report estimates that 100 million children around the world are growing up without a family environment or support. The first in a series, the report examines the socio- economic causes of children growing up alone. Two future reports will explore HIV/AIDS and war.
**Mozambique
The United Nations today issued an inter-agency appeal to address the devastation caused by the recent floods in Mozambique which is considered to be the worst in 30 years. The United Nations is appealing for $13.6 million in order to provide emergency assistance over the next six months to some 300,000 people affected by the floods. Carolyn McAskie, Emergency Relief Coordinator ad interim, emphasized that "it is imperative to speed up the delivery of assistance to Mozambique at this critical stage to prevent the loss of more lives, additional damage to essential infrastructure and the spread of disease".
In a related matter, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has issued a press release on the impact of the worst floods in four decades on southern Africa, including such countries as Botswana, Swaziland and South Africa, as well as Mozambique.
**Security Council letter on East Timor Inquiry
On the racks today is a letter from the President of the Security Council to the Secretary-General concerning the report of the International Commission of Inquiry on East Timor.
The members of the Council welcome the commitment of the Government of Indonesia to bring those responsible to justice through Indonesia's national judicial system. To that end, they encourage Indonesia to institute a swift, comprehensive, effective and transparent legal process, in conformity with international standards of justice and due process of law. In this context, Council members recognize that the accountability of those responsible for the aforementioned violations would be a key factor in ensuring reconciliation and stability in East Timor.
The members of the Council share the belief that the United Nations has its role to play in this process in order to help safeguard the rights of the people of East Timor, promote reconciliation and ensure future social and political stability.
**Press releases
We've a few more press releases. The World Intellectual Property Organization announced in Geneva yesterday that it will expedite its work in dealing with "cyber-squatting" -- the practice by which some companies may register Internet domain names more commonly associated with other companies. According to the agency, a total of 89 cases dealing with cyber-squatting have been filed so far with its Arbitration and Mediation Centre since its procedure to deal with "abusive registrations" of Internet domain names took effect in December of last year. New cases are coming in rapidly, with 60 cases filed so far this month and 28 last month. Disputed names include dior.org, worldcup2002.com and microsoft.org. The arbitration procedure requires cases to be resolved within 45 days, and all decisions are posted on the Centre's Web site. We have a press release upstairs with more information, if you're interested.
We also have a press release from the FAO on a new FAO report, which estimates that Africa has lost some 10.5 per cent of its forests between 1980 and 1995, because of over-logging, civil unrest and other factors.
Finally, the weekly humanitarian update for Afghanistan is out, and is available upstairs.
**Payments
We received the payment from Papua New Guinea which became the fifty- seventh Member State to be paid in full for regular budget for this year, with a payment of just under $74,000.
**UNCA Announcement
And finally, the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) has asked me to announce a press conference by Professor Edward Allworth of Columbia University this afternoon at 1:30 at the UNCA Club. Professor Allworth will be discussing the Tartars of Crimea.
That's all I have for you. Anything for me before we go to Bill Paton?
**Question and Answer
Question: What have you heard from Kosovo, if anything at all?
Answer: We didn't have much news today, other than that Mitrovica was quiet, at least relatively quiet, apart from a few student demonstrations. You did ask me about a safety zone that has been mentioned on the wires in Mitrovica. It apparently covers an area on either side of the river dividing the town into northern and southern sectors, that was established apparently about two weeks ago in the wake of the eruption of violence in that city. The idea was to keep that area free of demonstrations, and it's one of the measures to try to improve security in Mitrovica. As far as we know, there have been no immediate developments concerning that safety zone.
Question: Do you have any reaction to Ambassador Okun's comment that a small underdeveloped country could become a narco-trafficking country under the United Nations flag? I'm referring to Haiti, for example.
Answer: Well, I heard his comment. I think it was clear. He said that the international community as a whole has a responsibility to try to get drug- trafficking under control, particularly in areas like Haiti, and he also mentioned Albania, where there's a large international presence, and still the trafficking is on the increase. So, I'm sure the Secretary-General would endorse that view.