DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000420The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon. My guest at today's briefing is, on my right, Jayantha Dhanapala, the Under Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, who will be speaking to you about the Review Conference on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which begins here on Monday and will last until 19 May. And on my left is Hannalore Hoppe, who will be Secretary-General of that Conference.
Yesterday afternoon, we issued a provisional list of speakers for the first three days of the general debate of that Conference; so far, 18 Foreign Ministers are inscribed among the expected speakers next week. Of course, I'll leave it to Mr. Dhanapala to share further details with you of the Conference after my briefing.
**Security Council Approves Presidential Statement on Lebanon
The Security Council began today with consultations on the situation in the Middle East before going into a formal meeting. It had been considering a letter from the Secretary-General, sent on Monday, which conveyed the written notification by the Government of Israel of its intention to withdraw from southern Lebanon in accordance with resolutions 425 and 426, both from 1978.
In its formal meeting, the Council approved a presidential statement on Lebanon, endorsing the decision of the Secretary-General to initiate preparations to enable the United Nations to carry out its responsibilities under those two resolutions.
In response to your questions about the Secretary-General's report to the Council on the return by Iraq of Kuwaiti and third-country nationals, we can confirm that the report did go to the Council yesterday afternoon, although it will not be issued as an official document. However, next Wednesday, the Council will hold consultations on that subject, and is expected to receive a briefing by the Secretary-General's High-level Coordinator on Iraq, Yuli Vorontsov.
**In Letter to Cambodian Government, Secretary-General Responds to Proposals for Khmer Rouge Trial
The Secretary-General last night sent a letter to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in response to the proposals the Prime Minister submitted to him in Havana, Cuba. Those proposals related to the last unresolved issue between the United Nations and Cambodia on the formula for an internationally acceptable trial for the Khmer Rouge.
The United Nations Legal Counsel, Hans Corell, has been in regular contact with his Cambodian counterpart, Senior Minister Sok An, and we now await a reply from the Cambodian Government.
Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 20 April 2000
**Secretary-General 'Encouraged' by Word From Mugabe of Meeting on Land Dispute
The Secretary-General had a phone conversation late yesterday afternoon with Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. He was encouraged by the President's report that in a five-hour meeting yesterday with both farmers and veterans, both sides had agreed to seek a peaceful solution to the land use dispute in Zimbabwe.
**Secretary-General's MONUC Report out Today; Preparations for Phase II of UN Mission to Continue
The Secretary-General's second report on the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) is out on the racks today.
The Secretary-General said that the Secretariat will continue actively to carry out the logistical preparations for phase II with a view to preparing the deployment of the first contingents as soon as possible. He said the mission will do everything it can to assist the parties to finalize their disengagement plans agreed to on 8 April.
Given the assumption of cooperation, the timely provision by troop- contributing countries of the necessary military personnel, especially specialized military units, becomes all the more important and urgent. The Secretary-General appealed to countries who have not done so already to consider providing the specialized units.
We are still lacking some crucial units including airfield crash rescue and fire-fighting, air traffic control, cargo handling and water processing.
The Secretary-General's Special Representative for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kamel Morjane, is scheduled to be here next week and will brief you following his planned appearance in the Security Council Tuesday.
The neutral facilitator of the inter-Congolese dialogue, Ketumile Masire, is also expected to be here next week.
The Secretary-General, in a letter responding to a request from the Council, suggested that members consider creating a panel of experts to undertake a preliminary investigation into the reports of the illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
**Kosovo International Security Presence Report out Today
Out as a Security Council document today is the latest monthly report transmitted by the Secretary-General on the international security presence in Kosovo, which notes that tension is expected to remain high in the northern city of Mitrovica in the short term.
**Note from East Timor: Gusmao Calls for Recognition of Former Independence Fighters
East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao gave a press conference in Dili in which he called for recognition of the status of former independence fighters. The United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNTAET) has been discussing with the local leadership whether East Timor should have armed forces, of which the former guerrillas would be the core. For details, see the summary of the press conference available in my office.
**UNHCR Welcomes Mexico's Accession to Refugee Convention
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today welcomed Mexico's accession to the 1951 refugee convention and its 1967 Protocol -- the two cornerstones of international refugee protection. It also acceded to the 1954 Convention on Statelessness.
With Tuesday's Senate ratification, by a vote of 76 in favor and one abstention, Mexico will become the 138th signatory to the 49-year-old Convention.
**Press Releases
We have two round-up press releases: One on a meeting of the 151-member Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which concluded today in Nairobi. The other one is on the three-day meeting of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, which also concluded today in Vienna.
From the Commission on Human Rights, we have a resolution voted this morning on Human Rights and Terrorism and the statement made this afternoon in Geneva by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
**Payment
Budget news. Bhutan has become the eightieth Member State to be paid in full for their regular budget dues for this year, with a payment of about $10,000.
**Earth Day
Mrs. Nane Annan will welcome several young celebrities, including actresses Camilla Belle and Jena Malone, at an observance of Earth Day on Saturday, 22 April, at 3 p.m., in the Visitor's Plaza of this building. They will participate in a group planting exercise to launch a worldwide children's tree- planting campaign that will culminate on World Environment Day, on 5 June. There will be a musical performance as well. This event is sponsored by the Department of Public Information. There is a press release on the racks.
**The Week Ahead at United Nations
Monday, 24 April: At 9:30 a.m., the Secretary-General will join the Presidents of four major United States foundations -- Ford, Rockefeller and MacArthur, and the Carnegie Corporation -- in announcing a Partnership to Strengthen African Universities. The announcement will be made at the Carnegie Corporation (437 Madison Avenue, twenty-sixth floor.
Then at 10 a.m., the Department of Disarmament Affairs will sponsor a press conference on the NPT. Invited guests are to include Matt Robson, Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control of New Zealand, and Anna Lindh, Foreign Minister of Sweden.
Also in the morning, the Security Council will hold consultations on Kosovo. The guest at the noon briefing will be David Stephen, Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia.
The two-week annual session of the Commission on Sustainable Development begins in New York; it is to focus on sustainable agriculture. Events will include an editorial breakfast briefing at 10 a.m. in the Church Center, featuring representatives from several non-governmental organizations.
In the evening, the Secretary-General will leave New York for a trip to West Africa, which will last until 4 May.
Those are all the things you can cover when you're not doing the NPT Review.
Tuesday, 25 April: The Secretary-General will begin a trip to Dakar, Senegal, on Tuesday, where he is to meet officials from the new Government of President Abdoulaye Wade. He will also attend the World Education Forum, which lasts from Wednesday through Friday.
The Security Council will hold informal consultations on the United Nations Organization Mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC).
Wednesday, 26 April: The Security Council will hold consultations on the report of the Secretary-General on the return of Kuwaiti and third-party nationals from Iraq. We already mentioned that.
In the evening, a nine-member delegation of Security Council Ambassadors, led by Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury of Bangladesh, will leave for Kosovo on a Council mission to examine the work of the United Nations Mission (UNMIK) there; they are scheduled to return on 30 April.
The high-level segment of the Commission on Sustainable Development will begin, and last through Thursday. More than 20 Ministers of Environment and Agriculture are expected to attend that segment.
Thursday, 27 April: The Security Council has scheduled an open briefing on East Timor.
So you'll all be busy.
**Press Conference Today
And just a reminder of the press conference at 1 p.m., in this room at which Jose Maria Figueres-Olsen, the former head of State of Costa Rica, will announce a global action plan on information technology.
**Questions and Answers
Question: You took the words out of my mouth, saying how busy we'd be next week. With the NPT and all the other things happening, can you pass the word along to the Secretariat and the agencies to kindly cut down the number of press conferences?
Spokesman: Yes. Noted.
Question: Now that Mexico has finally decided to sign the refugee convention, does that mean that they are now going to accept refugees into their country?
Spokesman: I assume that they accept the responsibility to provide protection for any refugees who seek asylum in Mexico.
Question: Do you have any idea why it took so long for them to sign?
Spokesman: I don't know. You'll have to ask them.
Question: In your note about the phone call between the Secretary-General and President Mugabe, you made it sound like the situation in Zimbabwe was moving towards a nice conclusion. What will the Secretary-General's involvement be from this point on? Can you give us any more details of the conversation?
Spokesman: I didn't mean to characterize the situation. I just said that he was encouraged by the news the President conveyed to him: that both sides renounced violence and decided to try to sort this out in a peaceful way.
You may have seen the news today that President Mugabe has apparently called a meeting in Victoria Falls tomorrow of a number of regional leaders to discuss the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as to brief some of them on this land dispute -- there has been some concern expressed by some of the neighbouring States that there could be a spillover effect. So, I think the Secretary-General welcomes the fact that [the parties] are grappling with this issue together, that they're talking it out and have agreed to stop the violence as a positive indication. We're not saying the problem is solved.
And the Secretary-General's role was merely to encourage a peaceful settlement. Now that that is going ahead, I don't think he sees any active role for himself, although he'll continue talking to the leaders to stay informed.
Question: Was the phone conversation between the Secretary-General and President Mugabe the result of a personal decision on his part? Was there a specific mandate or did it come under Article 99?
Spokesman: I'm not going to get into the legal underpinnings. The Secretary-General uses his good offices wherever he can. We did indicate that this was not the first conversation he had with President Mugabe. They had met in Havana. They had spoken together on the telephone prior to the conversation they had yesterday. The President was merely briefing the Secretary-General on the situation and the Secretary-General was encouraging the President to find a peaceful solution.
Question: Do you have anything more about the explosions at the [Kinshasa] airport? Is it back in operation?
Spokesman: The Government was intending to investigate and I'm not aware of where that stands. Our people did go out to the airport to look at our own equipment, and I think we reported to you that we initially thought we had lost two planes; we found two planes damaged, but repairable. None of our workers, local or international, were among the casualties.
Question: What role will the United Nations have at that airport?
Spokesman: We will be moving planes in and out, not just of Kinshasa, but supplying the four regional Headquarters. We will need to help the Government with the air traffic control for our planes.
Question: Does or will this explosion have any impact on the deployment of peacekeepers in the region?
Spokesman: No. I think that the working assumption is that this was an accident. I don't think at this time anyone is postulating there was foul play or that it would have any impact on our plans.
Question: Has the Secretary-General officially replied to the letter on AIDS he received from President Mbeki?
Spokesman: Not yet. That's still being drafted.
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