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 Marie Okabe, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**Noon Briefing Guest

Good afternoon. I’d like to welcome our guest today, Reinhart Helmke. He’s the Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Project Services, also known as UNOPS. He’s here to talk about “The United Nations and Business: A Partnership for the New Millennium”, which is a conference taking place from 31 May to 1 June at the Jacob Javits Convention Center here in New York City.

**Secretary-General Opens Coordination Meeting in Rome

The Secretary-General continued his visit to Italy today. He chaired the Administrative Committee on Coordination, otherwise known as the ACC, which opened in Rome today, attended by more than two dozen heads of UN agencies, funds and programmes. We have a list of all those who attended upstairs. These top leaders of the United Nations system first met in closed session -- principals only, no aides -- for a review of the Secretary-General's Millennium Report, which they strongly endorsed.

Then they broke up into two subgroups for focused discussion. Mike Moore, the head of the World Trade Organization, chaired one subgroup that dwelt on trade, human rights, labour standards, and environmental protection. The second subgroup, on information technology, was chaired by G.O.P. Obasi, head of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The twice-a-year meeting was co-hosted by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and it took place at WFP headquarters.

Over lunch, the WFP Executive Director, Catherine Bertini, presented the Secretary-General with a birthday cake. He turns 62 on Saturday.

In the afternoon, principals and aides got together for a round on globalization and the United Nations system, drawing on the reports of the two subgroups.

The Secretary-General gave a press conference in the late morning, at which he presented Ms. Bertini, whom he had appointed as his Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa. Together, they took questions on the developing famine in that region. The Secretary-General also took questions on the planned Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, the Middle East peace process and Chechnya, among others.

We’ve released a copy of that press conference. That’s available upstairs. And the audiotape of that press conference will be replayed on in-house television at 1 p.m.

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 6 April 2000

In the evening, the Secretary-General was to meet with the Mayor of Rome and then attend a reception at the City Hall.

Tomorrow, the Secretary-General and members of the ACC will have an audience with the Pope before resuming their meeting.

**Statement on Death of former Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba

I have a statement issued by the Secretary-General through his Spokesman:

“The Secretary-General has learned with great sadness of the passing away of Habib Bourguiba, the founder and first President of the Republic of Tunisia. The Secretary-General wishes to pay homage to his memory as a great statesman and a man of peace. Known to all as the father of Tunisia and one of the architects of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), President Bourguiba personified the hopes and aspirations of generations of men and women both in Tunisia and in Africa. Today, as we grieve at the death of President Bourguiba, the Secretary-General wishes to extend to all Tunisians, and above all to the bereaved family, his heartfelt condolences.”

**Statement on East Timor

We also have another statement and this is on the recently concluded Memorandum of Understanding concerning judicial and human rights matters in East Timor:

“On this the first anniversary of the massacre at Liquica, the Secretary- General was pleased to learn of the conclusion yesterday of an agreement between the United Nations Mission in East Timor and the Indonesian Government on mutual cooperation concerning judicial and human rights matters. The agreement will facilitate the working together of the United Nations and Indonesia on investigations and prosecutions of those responsible for last year’s violence in East Timor. The Secretary-General wishes to express his appreciation to President Abdurrahman Wahid and Attorney General Marzuki Darusman for taking this important step in meeting their obligations to bring about justice for the crimes committed in East Timor.”

The Memorandum of Understanding covers mutual assistance between Indonesia and the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) on a number of important procedures. These include making detained persons available to give evidence or assist in investigations, ensuring judicial documents are served, carrying out arrests, searches and seizures, facilitating the transfer of people from one jurisdiction to another, allowing for forensic experts to participate in exhumations, ensuring representatives of the authorities can participate in legal proceedings, and providing information and evidentiary items.

**Security Council to Meet on Afghanistan

As you all know, there is no meeting of the Security Council today. Tomorrow –- that’s Friday -- the Council will hear a briefing on Afghanistan, which will be chaired by Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy. The open meeting will include a briefing by John Renninger, Officer-in-Charge of the Asia and Pacific Division for the Department of Political Affairs. The Council will also consider the adoption of a presidential statement on Afghanistan at tomorrow’s session.

Yesterday afternoon, the Council's Sanctions Committee on Angola met and informally discussed a draft resolution on Angolan sanctions. The Council's next scheduled date for consultations on Angola is next Wednesday, 12 April.

**International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia

Yesterday evening in The Hague, the Prosecutor informed the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia that she would file an appeal against the Trial Chamber's orders of last Tuesday, that Miroslav Tadic and Simo Zaric should be granted provisional release. Following this, according to the rules of the Tribunal, the accused will not be released unless the Appeals Chamber decides to the contrary.

On Tuesday, the Trial Chamber had decided to grant provisional release to the two accused, based on the fact that the accused voluntarily surrendered to the custody of the Tribunal, and that they had provided the guarantees required by the Trial Chamber. A press release is available on this issue upstairs.

**Press Releases

Also available in the Spokesman’s Office, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns that current crop prospects in North Africa for 2000 are unfavourable because of prolonged dry conditions since January. It warns that parts of Morocco and northern Algeria have received little rain since January, while dry conditions have also affected parts of northern and central Tunisia and northern Libya.

We also have available upstairs a new version of the World Health Organization's (WHO) fact sheet on tuberculosis.

And that’s all the information I have for you today before we turn to our guest. Does anybody have any questions for me?

**Questions and Answers

Question: The President of Lebanon sent a text of a memorandum with nine questions to the Secretary-General. Do you have any feedback on that, if there is any answer given by the Secretary-General?

Associate Spokesman: The Secretary-General has just informed the Security Council President for this month on the series of meetings that he’s had on this subject. He has informed them, of course, on the meeting that you all know of, with the Foreign Minister of Israel, David Levy, on 4 April, which he’s already issued a statement on. He reports also to the Council President that he spoke with Ehud Barak, the Prime Minister of Israel, on 5 April. He told the Prime Minister that the United Nations had an obligation to fulfil the mandate established by Security Council resolutions 425 and 426, while noting that many questions would have to be addressed to make this possible.

And then, as you know, he instructed his Special Envoy, Terje Roed Larsen, to meet with the President of Lebanon to brief him on these developments. The Special Envoy met with President Lahoud in Beirut yesterday and with other members of the Government of Lebanon.

The Secretary-General himself spoke with President Lahoud on the telephone -– that’s earlier today. The President raised a number of questions relating to the Israeli proposal, which he has since made public –- as you just mentioned.

The Secretary-General has instructed his Special Envoy to now meet with the Foreign Minister of Syria later this week, as well as with other concerned parties in the region, to brief them on the situation and to seek their views.

At this point, he says that he has conveyed to the Prime Minister of Israel his expectation that the United Nations would receive in due course formal notification of Israel’s intention. Only at that point, would he -- that’s the Secretary-General – be in a position to contact all concerned formally. And to that end, he counts on the support the members of the Council.

This letter will be available to all of you in the form of a document shortly.

Question: In the text of the memorandum, there are nine points, very important points asked to Mr. Kofi Annan. It seems you don’t have the text of the memorandum. Just in case you don’t have it, I’d be glad to give it you, because it does not answer the question.

Associate Spokesman: Thank you. The Secretary-General is obviously studying the proposal. He’s just received them. In his transcript from Rome, you will see that he is also briefing the reporters there on his series of discussions that he has had this week. And he will obviously get back to all parties involved in due course. But, at the moment, he is studying the proposals made.

Question: Does the understanding between UNTAET and Indonesia specify what court would have jurisdiction if criminal prosecutions result from the investigation?

(The reporter was told after the briefing that each jurisdiction tries its own case and the agreement is for cooperation between the two jurisdictions.)

Question: Is this the first time the Secretary-General spoke about his opinion regarding the fate of Elian Gonzalez and his remarks in Rome?

Associate Spokesman: The last question that he received in Rome at his news conference was on this issue. And this is what he says. He says that he notes the legal process is taking its course and that the United States Attorney General’s Office and that the National Immigration Service has made their position clear. And that he hopes that the law will takes its course and the best solution will be found for the boy. He says he understands the father is on his way to the United States. I quote the Secretary-General who says, “I personally believe it is not a United Nations matter. We are not engaged. But I personally believe that the child belongs with his father.” And that he said as his personal comment on this issue. And yes, I think it is the first time that he has said something on the subject.

Question: Is there any inscription that we know on the cake that Ms. Bertini gave to the Secretary-General for his birthday?

Associate Spokesman: I’ll try to get something on that for you. I understand that he is spending his birthday in Florence on Saturday. (The correspondent was later told that the cake, measuring three feet by two feet, had written on it in United Nations blue Happy Birthday Secretary-General.)

Any other questions? Then I’d like to turn the floor over to Reinhart Helmke.

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