DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000320The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon.
**Elections in Senegal
We've been getting questions about our reaction to the elections in Senegal; and on that, I can say that the United Nations welcomes the elections and congratulates the people and the Government for the peaceful conduct of those elections, which are a testimony to Senegal's long-standing democratic tradition.
**Security Council Briefed on Afghanistan
This morning, the Security Council heard several briefings on Afghanistan in its closed consultations.
First, Francesc Vendrell, the Personal Representative of the Secretary- General and Head of the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan, briefed the Council on recent developments there. He said that he hoped to strengthen the Special Mission in the coming months, and expand its presence to bureaus in Islamabad, Teheran and Kabul. He added that he would try to deepen the dialogue among the "Six plus Two" group.
The Council also heard from Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, who warned that the opium harvest in Afghanistan had increased to some 4,600 tons last year, or approximately three quarters of world production.
Also, Ambassador Arnoldo Manuel Listre of Argentina, who chairs the Council's Sanctions Committee dealing with Afghanistan, gave a briefing on the Committee's recent work, which included approvals of some flights from Kabul to Saudi Arabia to allow Afghans to make the "hajj" pilgrimage.
I've just been told that Mr. Arlacchi will brief you when he comes out of the Security Council at the "stake out".
**Cambodia Talks Continue; Corell Meets Cambodian Leaders, Visits Killing Field
The United Nations team, headed by Legal Counsel Hans Corell, continued talks over the weekend with Cambodian leaders concerning standards for a Khmer Rouge trial that would meet international guidelines.
After sessions with Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and National Assembly Chairman Prince Norodom Ranariddh, among others, Mr. Corell said that common ground had been established on a number of points, but differences remained. Mr. Corell and his team took the occasion to visit Cheoung Ek, a Khmer Rouge "killing field" about 20 miles outside Phnom Penh, where he laid a wreath in memory of those killed there. The wreath conveys a simple message, he said -- we remember, we will never forget, and we must do something about it.
He was not in Cambodia just to discuss legal technicalities, he added. The shadows of the victims are ever present in our discussions here, he said.
**Tribunal Begins Rape Trial in The Hague
Today in The Hague, the so-called "rape trial" started at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. In the first case ever before an International Tribunal to treat sexual enslavement as a crime against humanity, three Bosnian Serbs stand accused of crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws or customs of war.
In 1992, Muslim women, children and the elderly were detained in the Bosnian town of Foca, as well as in surrounding villages, or at detention centres in the region. Many of the detained women and girls, some as young as 12 years old, were subjected to humiliating and degrading conditions of life, to brutal beatings and to sexual assaults, including rapes. Dragoljub Kunarac, Radomir Kovac and Zoran Vukovic are specifically accused of rape, torture, enslavement, outrage upon personal dignity and plunder of private property.
You can get a background press release in my Office.
Report from World Water Forum Warns Billions May Suffer unless Global Water Security Achieved
The world's water crisis -- in which 1 billion people do not have access to safe water and 2 billion people go without adequate sanitation -- will worsen and affect millions more, unless action is taken now. This warning came from World Water Vision, a report unveiled at the Second World Water Forum, which opened on Friday, 17 March, in The Hague. The Forum is being convened by the Government of the Netherlands and the World Water Council, which is an international water-policy think tank established in 1996 and sponsored by several United Nations agencies.
The report outlines the seriousness of the current water crisis and makes recommendations on how we can achieve "global water security".
The Forum will conclude with a two-day ministerial conference, on 21 and 22 March which is also World Water Day. The Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Klaus Toepfer, is scheduled to make closing remarks on behalf of the Secretary-General -- we will make those remarks available as soon as we get them.
For more information on the Forum, you can tune in to their Web site: . We also have available in my Office a press release on the issue of water and megacities.
**Miyet Arrives in Sierra Leone, Visits Centres for Child Ex-Combatants, Disarmament Camps
Bernard Miyet, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, arrived in Sierra Leone yesterday. He visited two disarmament camps and centres for child ex-combatants and children separated from their parents. He also visited several team sites of the United Nations Mission in that country (UNAMSIL). Mr. Miyet returned to Freetown Sunday night and met with President Kabbah today. He is scheduled to meet this afternoon with Johnny Paul Koroma and with Foday Sankoh, two former rebel leaders. He will hold a press conference in Freetown tomorrow and we will get a read out of it.
**Peacekeepers Deployed in Eastern Sierra Leone Find Grim Humanitarian Conditions in Kailahun
Still on Sierra Leone, an Indian company of 107 troops and six military observers has now deployed in Kailahun, eastern Sierra Leone, in the heart of the area controlled by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The peacekeepers found the town in a grim humanitarian situation: shortage of food, water and medicines. Only one hospital -- managed by the RUF -- shelters about a dozen patients, including four rebels with bullet and shrapnel wounds that had been untreated for months. The peacekeepers' priorities will be to dig wells to augment civilian water supply. They will then do a reconnaissance mission starting tomorrow to check out sites to establish a disarmament centre.
**High Commissioner Robinson Opens Human Rights Convention in Geneva
Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, opened the fifty-sixth session of the Commission on Human Rights this morning in Geneva. In her opening address, she invited the Commission to "give attention to how human rights strategies can help prevent conflicts, and to how we can help prevent gross violations of human rights through national, regional and international endeavours".
She added: "The appropriate response to all allegations of gross violations of human rights -- wherever in the world they are reported -- is that they be rigorously and independently investigated. Where proven to be well- founded, those responsible have to be pursued and brought to justice. There must be no selectivity, no sanctuary, no impunity for those guilty of gross human rights violations", she said.
This session is expected to focus heavily on the situation in Chechnya. Mrs. Robinson will visit the region at the end of this month. Upon her return, she intends to directly report to the Commission, which will still be in session until 28 April.
We have the full text of her speech available in my Office.
**Secretary-General's Latest Report on Mission in Bosnia out Today
The Secretary-General's new report on the work of the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH), which covers the Mission's work since mid-December, is available on the racks today.
It notes progress made by the Mission in restructuring the police force to better reflect Bosnia's multi-ethnic character, including the integration of the specialized police forces. Also, the Secretary-General notes the inauguration in January of a multi-ethnic police force in the district of Brcko.
The Secretary-General also notes that a Bosnian police contingent comprising 16 officers from all three major ethnic groups has successfully completed training and will be deployed to the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET).
However, the report also notes obstacles in other areas, including delays in implementing a State Border Service and in reforming the judiciary system. The Secretary-General cautions that, "while tangible progress is possible in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it requires intensive, coordinated and robust international engagement".
The Security Council will hold an open briefing on Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday of this week.
**In Tajikistan Report, Secretary-General Says UNMOT Observers Fulfilled Tasks Well
In his latest report on Tajikistan, which is out on the racks today, the Secretary-General says that the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) has "fulfilled its tasks well" and will be withdrawn when its mandate expires on 15 May.
The Secretary-General notes that the Tajik parties managed to overcome their differences to hold the country's first multi-party parliamentary elections last month. "The United Nations has played an important part in this success", he says, although he also warns that progress towards a stable democracy has just begun.
The report adds that the Secretary-General and the Tajik Government are currently in consultations about a possible future United Nations role, in which a small office can work on post-conflict peace-building activities.
The Security Council will hold an open briefing on Tajikistan tomorrow.
**UNMIK Weekend Press Releases, Today's Briefing Notes Available
We have a few press releases from the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) that came in over the weekend, as well as today's briefing notes. Those are available in my Office.
**Meeting on Organic Pollutants Opens in Bonn Today
A press release is available from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) concerning the latest round of talks opening today in Bonn, on an international legally binding treaty on persistent organic pollutants, or POPs. The proposed treaty will deal with the production and use of 12 toxic pesticides, industrial chemicals and industrial by-products, such as DDT, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins, among others.
The final round of talks is scheduled for South Africa at the end of the year.
**New UNTSO Chief of Staff Appointed
On the racks today is an exchange of letters between the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council on the decision to appoint Major- General Franco Ganguzza of Italy as Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO).
General Ganguzza takes over command on the first of April from Major General Timothy Ford, of Australia.
We have a short biography on General Ganguzza in my Office.
**Nane Annan Welcomes Millennium Dreamers to United Nations
Tomorrow at 10 a.m. in the Visitor's Lobby, Nane Annan will welcome five children who are being recognized for community service. They are among the 2000 children aged 8 to 15 who have been selected as Millennium Dreamers in a campaign sponsored by McDonald's Corporation and The Walt Disney Company, in association with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The nominees represent more than 80 countries. The children will unfurl a scroll containing the names of all 2000 Millennium Dreamers.
**Press Conference Tomorrow
At 11:15 a.m. tomorrow, Joseph Chamie, Director of the Population Division of the United Nations, will be discussing a report released recently by the Population Division, entitled "Replacement Migration: Is It a Solution to Declining and Ageing Populations?" That sounds interesting.
**UNCA Announcement
The United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) has asked me to announce that Ambassador Shamshad Ahmad, the Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, will address UNCA members at a briefing tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. in the UNCA Club. There will be refreshments.
That's all I have for you. Are there any questions?
**Questions and Answers
Question: There was a story in The Washington Post quoting a confidential United Nations report that said that Indonesian military officials were responsible for incursions in East Timor and the spread of violence there. Is there such a report? Does the United Nations have any comment?
Spokesman: There is such a report, but the information in it is not new or confidential. You will recall that I reported to you that Peter Galbraith, the Director of Political Affairs for the United Nations Mission there, and the United Nations Force Commander, General Jaime de Los Santos, visited Jakarta in early March. Following that meeting in which they specifically laid out their security concerns along the boarder with West Timor, Mr. Galbraith gave a press conference in Dili. He said, and I'll quote him: We believe that at a minimum, the TNI -- the Indonesian Military -- had been looking the other way as the infiltrations into East Timor took place and that there was some evidence that in such cases there was cooperation. So there was a public expression of concern that the TNI could have been directly involved in these infiltrations.
They did ask at that time, though, that the borders be sealed and that the Indonesian Government take other steps to control the militia that are still in West Timor. We've had no further reports of border incidents since that visit, although the Government has not yet directly addressed this question of TNI involvement.
Question: Was The Washington Post correct in reporting that the peacekeepers being deployed in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo would be given "a condom a day". If that story was correct, is it limited to only those two missions?
Spokesman: No. This is an evolution of our policies to sensitize peacekeepers to the dangers of AIDS. It goes back at least two years in a joint effort that we took with UNAIDS. We have developed brochures warning peacekeepers to take precautions.
More recently, following the public meetings on AIDS, the Security Council said that there should be in every resolution creating or renewing a peacekeeping mission language on efforts to sensitize peacekeepers to the dangers of AIDS. And I believe that renewal of the Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) was the first to contain that language. In any case, the budgetary arrangements being made for the expanded mission there contain this line item -- not just for condoms, but for ways to maintain sanitary blood supplies, and so on. So it's part of a much larger package. It will not just be Sierra Leone and I think there are plans to include it in the Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and others. I think it will be a standard feature of peacekeeping missions in the future.
Question: Do you have any comment on [former Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq] Dennis Halliday's letter in The New York Times yesterday that said that it was time for the Secretary-General to intervene on behalf of the Iraqi children?
Spokesman: Well, what he said was that the Secretary-General can't remain silent any longer and, frankly, I don't see how he could say that the Secretary-General has been silent on the sanctions issue.
The Secretary-General has been talking about the impact of sanctions on innocent members of the civilian population for years -- from before he appointed Mr. Halliday Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq.
Again, it was consistent with what the Secretary-General has been saying about these sanctions regimes that the Security Council, in its latest resolution on Iraq, raised the ceiling on oil production and took steps to speed up the delivery of food and medicine. Ultimately, it will be up to Iraq, through cooperation with the Council's Weapons Inspection regime, to set the stage for the ultimate lifting of the sanctions. Question: When is the Cambodia team expected back in New York?
Spokesman: I think the current plan is to meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen very early Wednesday morning and then to take a flight that would get them back in New York by Friday. That schedule has to be flexible, however; if the talks warrant extending their stay, then they will stay longer.
Question: On the [Chairman, Panel on United Nations Peace Operations] Lakhdar Brahimi meeting tomorrow, do you know the time and whether there will be a photo opportunity?
Spokesman: I don't have the programme for tomorrow, but we'll do whatever we can to get a photo-op for you at the beginning of that meeting.
Question: Has the United Nations internal affairs division [sic] responded to my question [the removal of ashtrays from non-smoking areas at Headquarters] from two weeks ago?
Spokesman: I sent a second memo asking what provisions had been made and suggesting that we put signs in those ashtrays that identified certain areas as no smoking zones. United Nations security does not consider it their job to police no smoking zones, so I raised the question of whether we couldn't take a fresh look at that. I paid a visit to the South Lounge last week and there were eight people smoking there. I asked them to put out their cigarettes and they did. But the smokers seem to have only a couple of places in the Building where smoking is authorized, so I've asked Management to take a fresh look at this situation. There must be something we can do to accommodate the non- smokers, but also to make life easier for the smokers. We'll have to see. The first memo was never answered.
Question: Do you have any predictions on the elections in Haiti? The [United States] State Department has sent an emissary. Is the United Nations going to send a representative?
Spokesman: We all have our fingers crossed that these elections will take place now as scheduled, that they will be successful and that Haiti can move on to a more stable political environment. I think that's what everyone wants. I have no predictions on the outcome and I'm not aware of any specific action the United Nations is taking apart from establishing this follow-on political mission.
Question: Is the United Nations administration doing anything to increase efforts to ensure the release of thousands of Albanians being held prisoner in Serbia? Their release would enhance United Nations efforts to stabilize the country.
Spokesman: We are aware that there are significant numbers of Albanians from Kosovo that have been arrested in Serbia. The human rights component of our Kosovo Mission has raised this matter repeatedly. We have appealed to the Yugoslav Government to review the issue of their detention. So efforts have been made and will continue to be made. At this point, we have no progress to report. Question: Do senior United Nations officials believe it will benefit world peace if the Security Council visits [United States Senator] Jesse Helms in Washington at his invitation?
Spokesman: That is the Council members call. I understand that the invitation has been extended by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright -- backing up Senator Helms' invitation. The Secretariat won't comment. Council members will individually make their decisions whether to accept the invitation. I suspect that they'll go and I suspect that it would be good if they did.
Thank you very much.
[Shortly following the briefing, the Spokesman's Office made available a press release from Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, in which Mr. Otunnu welcomed the new laws enacted by the Rwandan Government allowing girls to inherit property.]
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