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.

**Security Council

Good afternoon. This morning, the Council began its agenda with a briefing in closed consultations by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahima Fall on the subject of Burundi. He discussed political, security, humanitarian and socio-economic issues.

The Facilitator of the Arusha Process, former South African President Nelson Mandela, kicked off a major conference on furthering the peace process in Burundi in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, last Monday. It gathered many regional heads of State, as well as appearances by video conference by French President Jacques Chirac and United States President Bill Clinton.

The United Nations sent its Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, Berhanu Dinka, to those talks and also provided interpreters and other support for those meetings.

The Council is expected to go into a formal session soon, to hear an open briefing from the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Balkans, Carl Bildt. He will talk to reporters at the stakeout outside the Council when he is done.

Tomorrow, the Council will meet with the Secretary-General for a "tour d'horizon”. The consultations on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara was pushed from today to tomorrow.

We did have some good news from Western Sahara over the weekend. One hundred eighty-six Moroccan prisoners of war were freed on Friday afternoon by the POLISARIO Front and handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in the presence of UN Mission representatives at a camp in Tindouf. A Red Cross chartered plane then flew the prisoners of war to the Moroccan town of Agadir on Saturday.

**UNHCR Convoy Heads to Chechnya

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported today that at 9:40 a.m. local time, the first UNHCR convoy left Stavropol, UNHCR’s base of operations in southern Russia, for Grozny, Chechnya.

Ten trucks belonging to EMERCOM, the Russian emergency logistics ministry, will deliver to citizens of Grozny 45 metric tons of food and non-food items, including 900 pieces of plastic sheeting, blankets, mattresses and bath soap. The arrival of the convoy in Grozny is expected tomorrow around midday. EMERCOM will distribute relief items. Local UNHCR staff is accompanying this convoy.

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 28 February 2000

**Tajikistan Elections

Yesterday, the first multi-party elections in the history of Tajikistan took place. The most significant accomplishment in the parliamentary elections was the inclusion of the former warring parties and others in the electoral process, according to a press release issued today by the Election Observation Mission to Tajikistan, which is a joint effort of the UN and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The Mission said it received very few reports of security incidents, but while some polling procedures were conducted properly, important control provisions during the voting were violated. For example, evidence of proxy voting was unacceptably high in more than 68 per cent of the precincts observed, voters were allowed to cast ballots without proper identification documents and voters were handed more ballots than allowed. The extremely high voter turnout figures -- 87 per cent -- announced two hours before the closing of polling stations and their unofficial forecast of more than 96 per cent expected turnout by the end of polling, cast serious doubt over the integrity of the voting results.

We have copies of the press release and a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions issued prior to the announcement of official election results. The statement was based on findings of the 40-strong election observation Mission. A final and comprehensive report on the parliamentary elections will be issued within a month after the electoral process is completed.

**Flooding in Mozambique

We have a note from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on the flooding in Mozambique that says, in view of the worsening situation in Mozambique, caused by further flooding, the United Nations is undertaking the following measures. First, a second five-member United Nations disaster assessment coordination team was deployed this morning and is scheduled to arrive in Maputo tomorrow morning. This team will also assist with the coordination of the international and national response.

Second, the World Food Programme (WFP) has released today $2 million to support the rescue operation. Third, the Secretary-General has asked Ross Mountain, the Assistant Emergency Relief Coordinator, to travel immediately to Mozambique to serve as his Special Humanitarian Envoy to the country. Fourth, the Secretary-General has authorized the release of resources from the Central Emergency Revolving Fund to reinforce ongoing relief efforts being undertaken by UN agencies on the ground.

You can get the full text of that statement in my Office.

**Sierra Leone

Foday Sankoh returned to Sierra Leone less than an hour ago. He is reported to have landed at an airport outside Freetown and is preparing to come back to Freetown by road, accompanied by his supporters.

Meanwhile, on Saturday there was another incident of blockage of peacekeepers. Seventeen Ghanaian peacekeepers and seven military observers were blocked by fighters of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) on the road from Kenema to Koidu, that’s in the eastern part of Sierra Leone. The RUF fighters would initially neither let the peacekeepers advance nor retreat. Finally, at 1:30 in the morning, they ordered the UN personnel to return to their camp. The personnel arrived safely back in Kenema on Sunday morning. The UN mission has sent a strong protest to the RUF concerning repeated blockage of UN personnel, who in theory have complete freedom of movement.

**Secretary-General’s Address in Glenn Cove

The Secretary-General this morning addressed a week-long global meeting of resident coordinators of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which is being held in Glen Cove, Long Island.

He said that the representatives this week would help to shape a new strategy for the agency's work, which is being developed by UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown.

The Secretary-General noted that governments and civil society representatives value the United Nations as "a channel through which they can get access to the latest expertise" and as a source of advice on policy and governance, and urged the representatives to continue their battle for economic and social progress. He told the representatives, "We are undefeated, because you have never stopped trying."

We have the full text of his statement in my Office. By the way, he will be back here at Headquarters in the early afternoon today. We’ve made his appointments available to you as usual.

**Kosovo

From Kosovo, the UN Mission there reports an increase in the level of violence against Serbs around Kosovo, as well as several explosions and grenade attacks in Pristina, Gnjilane and Pec.

United Nations officials today attended the burial of the family of Dr. Josip Vasic, who was shot to death on Saturday in the centre of Gnjilane, near the hospital where he worked. He was one of a handful of Serb physicians who had remained in Kosovo and had worked closely with the UN administration.

On the racks today is the monthly report on the international security presence in Kosovo, covering the period to 23 January and transmitted by the Secretary-General to the Security Council. It says there were approximately 44,000 KFOR troops during that period.

The number of United Nations police numbered 2,341. They come from 44 nations, according to the UN Mission.

**Afghanistan

On Afghanistan, the "Six plus Two" high-level meeting started this morning here at UN Headquarters, chaired by Kieran Prendergast, the Under-Secretary- General for Political Affairs. The group is discussing a counter-narcotics coordination initiative, and Pino Arlacchi, who is the Executive Director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, is also addressing the meeting.

We have available upstairs the agenda of the meeting and the text of Mr. Arlacchi’s presentation. A press statement will be issued at the end of the meeting.

**East Timor

We heard that the Civilian Police Officer from Ghana, who died last week while on duty in East Timor, suffered from dengue fever, the autopsy showed. The UN Mission in East Timor is preparing a public education campaign on dengue fever, which has struck 30 people in the last three months, including UN local and international staff.

The Mission, meanwhile, is preparing for the arrival tomorrow of President Wahid of Indonesia, who will spend about three hours in Dili.

And, of course, today is the day that administrative arrangements are finalized for the takeover by the UN Mission of the security responsibilities carried out by INTERFET, the international force which had been led by Australia. The INTERFET, of course, as we reported to you last week, had pulled out of East Timor last Wednesday.

**’Oil-for-Food’ Update

We have the latest figures on Iraqi oil sales, provided by the Office of the Iraq Programme. The Office reports that, during the reporting period from 19 through 25 February, no oil sales contracts were approved. The number of oil sales contracts approved under the current phase stands at 96, and the total volume at 268.3 million barrels.

Last week, during the same reporting period, eight loadings were completed at a total of 10.2 million barrels of oil at an estimated value of $272 million.

The revenue generated since the beginning of Phase VII of the "oil-for- food" programme is estimated, at current prices, to be about $3,283,000,000. The next update on Iraqi oil sales, with the information on last week's transactions, will be available tomorrow.

**Economic and Social Council

Today at 3 p.m. in the ECOSOC Chamber, the Economic and Social Council will discuss the main developments that were dealt with by the Security Council last month during its “Month on Africa”. It will explore ways that, on issues including HIV/AIDS, the Economic and Social Council can undertake further cooperation with the Security Council.

Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette and United States Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, as well as Council President Arnoldo Manuel Listre of Argentina, will speak at the briefing, and their speeches will be broadcast by UNTV. The entire meeting is open. **Disarmament Meeting

Also today, a week-long Committee session on illicit small arms trafficking began in Conference Room 2. The meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons will last through Friday. It is chaired by Ambassador Carlos dos Santos of Mozambique.

** New Names on Security Council

We have available upstairs a list of members of the Security Council. The reason for the update is two new members. First, from China, Wang Yingfan has replaced Ambassador Qin. Also, Said Ben Mustapha is the new Ambassador for Tunisia. Both recently presented their UN credentials. We'd like to welcome them both belatedly as they take up their Council duties.

**Commission on Status of Women

The Commission on the Status of Women began its forty-fourth session today at Headquarters. It will meet through 2 March. The Commission's agenda will include follow-up to the Beijing Conference on women, as well as a review of gender mainstreaming in the United Nations system. During the Commission’s consultations, a panel discussion will be held on "Emerging issues, trends and new approaches to issues affecting women or equality between women and men".

Starting Friday through 17 March, the Commission will act as Preparatory Committee for the special session of the General Assembly on women scheduled to take place this coming June. On 6 March, a panel discussion will be held on "Outlook on gender equality, development and peace beyond the year 2000".

**Budget Matters

The mid-month “Status of Contributions to the Regular, International Tribunals and Peacekeeping Budgets” is now available in my Office. The chart indicates that as of 15 February, Member States owed approximately $3.37 billion.

**Miscellaneous Press Releases

The World Food Programme (WFP) and the UNHCR, in a joint press release issued today, expressed concern over funding shortfalls for humanitarian programmes in Africa. Food assistance operations by the two agencies to 16 African countries are currently facing a shortfall of some $81 million, with the largest funding problem in the United Republic of Tanzania.

We also have an embargoed press release from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), on the contents of the January-February edition of its publication "Food Crops and Shortages", which will be released in Rome and on the Internet on Wednesday.

And finally, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has come out with a press release on how the growth of online technology has changed journalism, by leveling the playing field between fixed staff and freelancers, and providing more career opportunities for women. If you’re interested in that, look up the press release.

**Press Conferences

We’ve already mentioned that Carl Bildt will come out to talk to you at the second-floor stakeout right after he’s finished briefing the Council.

Then at 4:45 p.m. today, two United States congressmen, Steve Rothman of New Jersey and Joe Crowley of New York, will discuss “Israel and the Western European and others Group (WEOG)”. That press conference is sponsored by the United States Mission.

And then tomorrow morning, in connection with that small arms discussion I mentioned to you, Michel Rocard, the former Prime Minister of France, will be here at 11 a.m. to discuss the small arms issue.

And our friend Jacques Klein, the Special Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, is in town and he will come here tomorrow at 3 p.m. to speak to you.

**Questions and Answers

Question: Is there any possibility in the foreseeable future that the United Nations would be able to gather all 5,000 or so needed police for Kosovo? How would you address that?

Spokesman: Well, the track record so far is not good. It seems that if these police were available, they would have been made available to us by now. You heard that the number I mentioned to you is at something like 2,400. We keep making appeals. Some governments have joined us in appealing to other governments to come forward with additional police. I don’t know how long it will take to get all of them.

Follow-up question: Do you think that you will be able to get all of them in time?

Spokesman: The issue is getting a fair amount of attention. It seems everyone is aware that we’re short of these police. The question is what can be done about it. There was an announcement by the U.S. Secretary of State last week, that the United States intended to set up some kind of a reserve of 2,000 police for international operations. That’s a step in the right direction. It’s not the solution to the Kosovo problem, but I think governments are focusing on the issue and we recognize the difficulty of freeing up police, who are on the beat. You take them away from their civic duty when you send them abroad. It’s not an easy thing for governments to do.

Question: Could you tell us whether you are arranging any access for us to both Hans Von Sponeck and to Hans Blix on Wednesday? I know a lot of us have tried to get in touch with their press people. Nobody seems to be saying that we’re going to have any crack at them at all. I know a lot of us would like to be able to talk to them.

Spokesman: Well, you asked me last week about bringing Hans Von Sponeck to this briefing room and we relayed that request to him. He’s not travelling with a press person so we’ve relayed this through the Iraq Programme Office here in New York. We’ve also been passing on to him any individual requests for interviews and there have been quite a few of those. So he’s been getting these bits and pieces of information and it’ll be up to him to respond. I’m sure we’ll be talking to him.

He’s seeing the Secretary-General this afternoon at 3:30, as you might have seen from the Secretary-General’s appointments. As soon as we hear from him about when he feels he might be available to come here to room 226, we’ll be happy to arrange it.

Hans Blix has asked us to reserve the Wednesday briefing for him. So, he’ll be coming with me here to the noon briefing on Wednesday and he’ll take your questions.

Question: On Von Sponeck, what is the status now of his possibly briefing the Security Council, open/closed?

Spokesman: There’s still no change as far as I know. The Council members are still discussing it amongst themselves. There’s been no formal request by the President of the Council to the Secretary-General. So, I’m not sure how that’s going to be resolved.

Follow-up question: Will we get some kind of a read-out after the meeting at 3:30 today?

Spokesman: We try whenever we can to get a meaningful read-out, but usually these private meetings don’t yield much in the way of substantive read- outs for you. We’ll do what we can.

Question: Is there any reaction from the Secretary-General to the letter today from the Iraqi Ambassador basically saying that the resignations of Mr. Von Sponeck and the head of the World Food Programme show that sanctions are not working?

Spokesman: I don’t think he is prepared to react today. As I mentioned, he’ll be meeting with Von Sponeck this afternoon. There’s an “oil-for-food” programme report that’s due on 10 March. While he was travelling in Asia, he said that he’d be giving some thought to this problem of sanctions and may be putting forward some fresh ideas. So, I think you’ll be hearing from him eventually, but not today.

Question: Can you arrange a read-out of the conversation between the Secretary-General and Christopher Thomas of the OAS this afternoon?

Spokesman: Okay. Thank you very much.

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