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 David Wimhurst, acting Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon. Sorry we’re a little late getting started. We’re waiting for a statement on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which I hope to get to you by the end of this briefing.

**Secretary-General en route to Havana

In the meantime, I can tell you that the Secretary-General is in transit today. He’s travelling from Rome to Havana, in Cuba, where he will be arriving this evening.

Tomorrow, the Secretary-General is expected to conduct meetings with Government officials in Cuba on the first full day of his visit to Havana, where he will be attending the Summit of the Group of 77 countries.

We have a transcript from a press encounter –- a short press encounter -– that the Secretary-General had in Madrid airport shortly before he boarded his plane for Havana. He says in that encounter that he looks forward to very constructive and useful discussions in Cuba between the heads of State of the South.

**Security Council

There’s no Security Council meeting today. The next scheduled meeting of the Council will be Wednesday, when it is expected to hold closed consultations on Angola.

**Shooting Incident in Sierra Leone

We’ve just learned that on Saturday night, in Sierra Leone for about two hours, unknown attackers fired on the Ghanaian headquarters position at Kenema in Eastern Sierra Leone. Peacekeepers fired back at the attackers, but there were no casualties reported on either side. One platoon of the quick reaction company was immediately dispatched to the scene. The attackers fled in the dark at around midnight and no arrest was made. The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone is investigating the incident, which is the first of its kind.

In other news, a Jordanian advance party of 110 peacekeepers arrived on Saturday. The complete Jordanian battalion is due to arrive next month and scheduled to deploy soon afterwards.

**Kosovo

In Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Kosovo, is scheduled to visit Gracanica this evening to discuss the participation of Serb National Council representatives to the Interim Administrative Council, which begins tomorrow.

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 10 April 2000

Meanwhile, United Nations Civilian Police at the mission in Kosovo report a surge in violence over the past several days with five murders since last Saturday, the victims predominantly being from minority groups. The Kosovo Force (KFOR) says it was able to prevent a confrontation between Serbs and Albanians on Sunday in Mitrovica. We have briefing notes from Pristina which have more details of these incidents.

**Conference on Endangered Species Begins in Nairobi

The eleventh Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which is known by the acronym CITES, opened Sunday evening at the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi. In opening remarks, UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said that while media attention prior to the meeting has focused on elephants, turtles, whales and sharks, attention should not be diverted from the other species, on which there are over 60 proposals. “The meeting must send the signal that it is also an early- warning system for the whole ecosystem”, he said.

To obtain the full text of Mr. Toepfer’s statement and others, please contact UNEP. We have the numbers for you upstairs. In conjunction with this important conference, the United Nations Postal Administration issued a set of 12 stamps depicting endangered species.

**Tenth United Nations Crime Congress Begins in Vienna

The Tenth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders opened this morning in Vienna. According to the Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention, “Organized crime has profoundly expanded its activities, taking full advantage of the globalization of the world economy and the profound technological advances in transportation and telecommunications”. Organized crime will be high on the agenda of the one-week Congress.

Commenting on the globalization of crime, Louise Frechette, the Deputy Secretary-General, said in her opening address that those representing what the Secretary-General called “the uncivil society”, “have jumped on the bandwagon of globalization to create transnational criminal networks and so to boost profits from a wide range of illegal activities”. He speech is on the racks, and we have available in our office the speech of Pino Arlacchi, who is the Executive Director of the Drug Control and Crime Prevention Office.

**FAO Press Release

Some miscellaneous events and releases. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Parmalat, Italy’s largest producer of dairy products, have signed a cooperative agreement to work together in the fight against world hunger, FAO announced today in a press release. Under the terms of the agreement, Parmalat will provide 3 billion Italian lira, which is about $1.5 million, over three years to sponsor FAO activities aimed at reducing world hunger.

**Commission on Human Rights Statements

We also have available in the Spokesman’s Office the text of presentations made at the current session of the Commission on Human Rights of the special rapporteurs dealing with religious intolerance and with violence against women. The text of the presentation made by the rapporteur on religious intolerance is in French only.

**Screening of Belgian Film ‘Rosetta’

And finally, we’d like to inform you that you are all invited to a special screening tomorrow at the Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium at 6 p.m. of the Belgian movie “Rosetta.” The Department of Public Information and the Belgian Mission are co-sponsoring the screening of the film, which won the Grand Prize at Cannes last year, on the occasion of the Preparatory Committee dealing with the follow-up to the 1995 Social Summit.

**Payment

And the last note I have is on the budget. Equatorial Guinea has become the seventy-seventh Member State to have paid in full this year’s regular budget by giving us a cheque for close to $10,500 dollars.

That’s all the information I have. So if you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer.

**Questions and Answers

Question: Does the United Nations know anything regarding The New York Times reporting that apparently Radovan Karadzic has moved from Bosnia to Serbia after Momcilo Krajisnik has been apprehended?

Acting Deputy Spokesman: We don’t have any information on the whereabouts of this gentleman at the moment. In fact, we spoke just at short while ago to the Tribunal and we don’t have any information on his whereabouts, I’m afraid.

Question: Any comments on the reports in The New York Times that apparently Carla Del Ponte asked French President Jacques Chirac about the apprehension of two other Bosnian Serb high officials in the French sector?

Acting Deputy Spokesman: No. I can’t confirm that at the moment. But we do know that she’s pleased with the cooperation that she’s been receiving from NATO, and particularly the French, in her work.

Question: Any initial reaction to the Bosnian local elections where hard- liners from Serb and Croat factions seem to be strengthening their position.

Acting Deputy Spokesman: According to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Jacques Klein, and I quote: “The municipal elections took place in a safe and secure environment, with only a few reports of isolated security incidents. Local police in both entities showed efficiency and responsibility in ensuring freedom of movement and providing security for the polling stations”, Mr. Klein said. That’s the only information I have at the moment. I don’t believe the count has been completed yet.

Question: Is there reaction to the announcement by the Koreas that they would be holding their first summit meeting?

Acting Deputy Spokesman: Well, we understand that the Secretary-General will in fact be commenting on this when he arrives in Havana. Obviously, it’s a positive development.

Thank you. Anything else? Thank you all very much.

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