In progress at UNHQ

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

14 March 2000



Press Briefing


DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

20000314

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Shirley Brownell, Spokeswoman for the President of General Assembly:

**Briefing by Spokesman

Good afternoon. I'd like to introduce to you Commander Erkki Platan who is the Head of the Standby Arrangements Unit in the Peacekeeping Department -- that's designed to make the deployment of peacekeepers more rapid. And there is a report by the Secretary-General on the Standby Arrangements that just came out on the racks today. So the Commander will be talking to us about the contents of that report and then will take your questions.

**Angola Sanctions Report Available

Another report on the Angolan sanctions is out on the racks just in the last few minutes. This 60-page report provides an exhaustive overview of sanctions-busting by the National Union for Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and others in the areas of arms, military equipment, petroleum, diamonds, finances and assets, as well as representation and travel. The report contains 39 recommendations and concludes with the expressed hope that the Security Council will use the opportunity to demonstrate that international sanctions can be made to work effectively and that Member States and others who violate Security Council sanctions will be held accountable by the international community. A background briefing on this report will be held tomorrow at 9 a.m. It’s currently scheduled for Conference Room C -- I don't know why they can't do it here in room 226. Conference Room C then at 9 a.m., and then following Security Council consultations on this matter tomorrow, Ambassador Fowler of Canada, who chairs the Angola Sanctions Committee will give a press conference in this room. We think that will be about 1 p.m.

**Secretary-General's United Kingdom Visit

The Secretary-General concluded his official visit to the United Kingdom today, or he will in a few hours. He held a series of meetings this morning and delivered -- or will deliver -- a major speech this evening. He began with a working breakfast with Foreign Minister Robin Cook, during which they reviewed a number of African issues, the humanitarian situation in Iraq, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and a number of other issues. In remarks to the press after that meeting, the Foreign Minister commented extensively on Kosovo and the Secretary-General focused primarily on Africa. And then they took a variety of questions -- we have the full transcript of that exchange available in my office.

The Secretary-General also met this morning with Peter Hain, the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affair, Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Defence, and then had a working lunch with Claire Short, the Secretary of State for International Development. And we have a read-out of those meetings available in my office as well.

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 14 March 2000

This evening, the Secretary-General will deliver the Commonwealth Lecture on the subject “Africa -- Maintaining the Momentum”. In that speech, the text of which is available on an embargoed basis until 2 p.m. today, New York time, the Secretary-General argues that the overall picture is not unrelieved gloom and that African leaders now want to trade their way out of poverty and dependence.

The Secretary-General leaves tomorrow morning for Paris, where he will begin an official visit to France that will last two days.

**United Nations Delegation to Depart for Cambodia

As the Secretary-General announced to you last week, a delegation will leave Headquarters today for Phnom Penh to discuss the issue of the proposed trial for the Khmer Rouge leaders. Those discussions, of course, will take place with the Cambodian authorities. They are leaving New York tonight. They'll arrive in Phnom Penh on Thursday. The list of the delegation travelling is available in my office. But, of course, it is headed by Hans Corell, the Legal Counsel of the United Nations.

**Democratic Republic of the Congo

In the wake of Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Bernard Miyet's visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, two aircraft carrying 12 United Nations personnel travelled to the south central town of Mbuji Mayi earlier today.

Mbuji Mayi is one of the four bases where the 500 military observers are scheduled to deploy.

As you'll recall, we reported to you last Friday that discussions between Mr. Miyet and President Laurent Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo resulted in an agreement in principle for United Nations reconnaissance teams to begin a series of missions this week.

Among the places the team in Mbuji Mayi is scheduled to visit this week are Mbandaka and Matadi.

Mr. Miyet, meanwhile, is continuing his visit to the region to seek support for and assess if conditions of the deployment exist for the 5,500 strong military observer force. He was in Kigali today.

**East Timor

From East Timor, autopsies were performed in Dili today on the bodies of two men who were shot last September near the town of Los Palos in a massacre that claimed a total of eight victims.

Two nuns, three seminarians, one journalist and two other people were killed by members of the Team Alpha militia.

Four bodies have been exhumed from local cemeteries to date and autopsies on these four are expected to be completed by the end of tomorrow.

The location of the remaining four bodies is known and permission is being sought from the victims' families to complete exhumations.

One of the alleged perpetrators of that massacre is in custody in Dili.

From UNHCR, on East Timor as well, more than 1,000 East Timorese have moved out of three major refugee encampments in West Timor's Kupang area in the largest movements from these facilities so far since the repatriation programme started in October. Four hundred fifty of them are scheduled to leave Dili by a chartered boat later today. The group’s final destination is Los Palos -- the place we were just talking about. More than 150,000 of the estimated 250,000 people from East Timor who came to West Timor in the aftermath of the violence that followed the 30 August vote have returned home -- 150,000 out of 250,000.

UNHCR hopes that the safe return of this group now at the Kupang transit centre will give momentum to the repatriation programme, which has slowed since last December.

**Statement on Ukraine Mine Accident

We have the following statement on the mining tragedy in Ukraine attributable to the Spokesman:

The Secretary-General has learned of the tragic accident on Saturday in the Barakov mine in Ukraine, which has cost the lives of more than 80 workers. He wishes to convey his sympathies to the Government and people of Ukraine, and his deepest condolences to the families of the deceased.

**Statement on Recent Bombings in Sudan

We have a statement attributable to Carolyn McAskie, the Emergency Relief Coordinator on Sudan, saying that she's alarmed over reports of recent bombings in Sudan of civilian targets. She calls up on all parties to desist immediately from all measures that endanger the lives of the civilian population.

She says that the United Nations humanitarian agencies will be starting a second round of national polio immunizations later this month, as well as a mission to assess the condition and needs of beneficiaries in previously inaccessible areas of Western Upper Nile. To this end, she requests the full cooperation of all parties to ensure that humanitarian operations will be carried out under safe and secure conditions.

**Mozambique Flood Relief

The World Food Programme today launched a new appeal for nearly $34 million to help feed the hundreds of thousands of Mozambicans left homeless by what the agency described as “a flood unmatched in the country's recorded history both for its extent and destruction”.

The appeal includes $28.4 million to provide emergency food rations for an estimated 650,000 flood-affected people for the next six months and an additional $5.3 million to support airlift operations and costs for the beginning of rebuilding the country.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), meanwhile, announced an emergency plan in response to the problem of landmines displaced by the flooding in Mozambique. UNDP said in Moamba, in southern Mozambique, deminers are already clearing land where water has receded. There are an estimated one to two million landmines planted during the two-decade-long war in Mozambique that ended in 1992, according to the UNDP press release.

**Meeting in Japan on Biotech Foods Safety

A three-day meeting set to discuss the safety of foods derived from biotechnology -- I think they're called “Frankenfoods” -- is starting today in Chiba, Japan.

In a joint press release on the meeting, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) say that delegates will analyze the risks of biotech foods on human and animal health, as well as the environment, including the risks of transferring toxins or allergens from one species to another. This is the first meeting of an intergovernmental task force that was set up last year and given a four-year mandate to develop standards and guidelines on biotech food safety. You can get copies of that press release in my office.

**Press Releases Available

A few miscellaneous press releases.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) urges participants in the World Water Forum to provide all children with access to adequate sanitation facilities.

The World Health Organization says that unsafe injection practices throughout the world result in millions of infections. Each year, overuse of injections and the reuse of dirty syringes and needles combine to cause an estimated 8 to 16 million hepatitis B virus infections.

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan reports that measles is spreading in that country.

And finally, UNHCR reports that the High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, will begin on Thursday, a 13-day long tour of the Balkans, which will include a stop in Mitrovica, Kosovo.

**Payments

Financial matters. Nicaragua became the seventy-first Member State to be paid in full for this year, the payment of just over $25,000.

We also have the “Status of Contributions to the Regular, Peacekeeping and International Tribunal Budgets” as of the end of February. Pick it up in my office.

**NPT Press Kit

Also at the documents counter, we have a press kit produced by the Department of Disarmament Affairs on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, otherwise known as the NPT.

**Press Conferences

One press conference this afternoon. At 2 p.m., Ms. Shazia Rafi, Secretary-General of Parliamentarians for Global Action, and others will hold a press conference to discuss a peace-building workshop scheduled to take place from 20 to 23 March, in Lusaka, Zambia, with the participation of parliamentarians from countries that signed the Lusaka Accord. And that's sponsored by the Canadian Mission.

And then two press conferences tomorrow. At 11:15 a.m., Austin Ruse, President of Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, and others, will discuss the Holy See at the United Nations. That's sponsored by the United States Mission.

And the New York Host Committee for Beijing + 5 will discuss its activities during the General Assembly Special Session on Women, which will be held from 5 to 9 June. And that's at 2 p.m., also in room 226.

Any questions before we go to Shirley?

**Questions and Answers

Question: On Angola, you said consultations tomorrow, does that mean they'll be closed?

Spokesman: Yes, presumably the Ambassador's report to the Council will be closed, but immediately afterward he will brief correspondents.

[It was later announced that the Security Council will hold an open meeting on the Angola Sanctions Report.]

Question: Is there any word yet on any of the countries named, if they are going to make statements to the Council during these consultations?

Spokesman: Not that I've heard.

Question: Is this the first time that a Security Council report specifically named sitting Heads of State as sanctions-busters?

Spokesman: Those kind of questions are always very difficult to answer. Let me say, it's very unusual.

Question: The people who had a press conference just before we came in have a release saying they are calling on the Secretary-General to review the current status of the Holy See at the United Nations. Can you tell me if there's a process available for the Secretary-General to do this or what would be his role in any change of status?

Spokesman: I don't have any guidance on that point, so if you check with me after the briefing, we'll try to get an answer for you.

Ok. Shirley?

** Briefing by Spokeswoman for Assembly President

The General Assembly meets today and tomorrow to take decisions on assistance to Madagascar, the Millennium Summit and NGO participation in its special session on women.

At 3 p.m. today, the Assembly will take action on a draft resolution calling for assistance to Madagascar following the tropical cyclones. The draft (document A/54/L.80) requests States and international organizations to provide additional emergency support to Madagascar to alleviate the economic and financial burden which the people of that country will have to bear during the emergency period and in the subsequent rehabilitation process.

The Secretary-General is requested to make all necessary arrangements to continue mobilizing and coordinating humanitarian assistance from the specialized agencies, other organizations and the United Nations system in supporting the efforts of the Government of Madagascar. The Secretary-General, acting in conjunction with the relevant organizations and United Nations system bodies and in close cooperation with government authorities, is also requested to assist Madagascar in carrying out its rehabilitation efforts. The draft resolution is sponsored by Madagascar, but is expected to gain many co-sponsors.

Tomorrow afternoon, 15 March, the Assembly will consider a draft resolution submitted by the President on the Millennium Summit of the United Nations. In that text (document A/54/L.81), the Assembly decides that the Summit will be held from 6 to 8 September 2000, in New York under the overall theme “The United Nations in the Twenty-first Century”; that the Summit will be composed of plenary meetings and of four interactive roundtable sessions, each session held concurrent with a plenary meeting; and that, owing to the unique symbolic moment of the Summit, the country holding the presidency of the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly and the country holding the presidency of the fifty-fifth session will jointly co-chair the Summit. The Assembly requests its President to hold consultations with all Member States in an open-ended process to take decisions on all outstanding issues relating to the Summit, including its outcome.

The two draft decisions before the Assembly deal with arrangements on the participation and the accreditation of non-governmental organizations for its twenty-third special session entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”, which will take place from 5 to 9 June, here in New York. They were approved, on 3 March, by the Commission on the Status of Women acting as the preparatory committee for the special session.

In the text on NGO participation (document A/54/L.77), the Assembly decides that those accredited to the special session may make statements in the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole; that, given time, those NGOs in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council may also make statements in the plenary; and that NGOs should select spokespersons among themselves and submit the list to the President of the Assembly through the Secretariat, for approval by Member States.

By the second draft (document A/54/L.78), the Assembly decides that non- accredited NGOs interested in the special session may participate, and should submit their application for accreditation to a committee composed of the Bureau of the preparatory committee and the Secretariat by 5 April. The Bureau would submit to the members of the preparatory committee, by 10 April, a list of the NGOs for approval. The Secretary-General is requested to disseminate widely to the NGO community all available information on accreditation procedures, as well as information on supportive measures for participation in the special session.

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For information media. Not an official record.