DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000424The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon. This afternoon's guest was David Stephen, the Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, but you seem to be up to your eyeballs in the NPT, and his programme was also pretty tight, so we've cancelled that. But he will be here for two days, and if any of you want to speak to him personally, you can reach him on extension 4230.
** Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference
This morning, the four-week Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference began in the General Assembly Hall, where Ambassador Abdallah Baali of Algeria was elected President of the Conference. We hope to have Ambassador Baali appear tomorrow, here at the noon briefing, by the way.
At the opening session, the Secretary-General pointed to some recent developments, including Russia's ratification of the START II treaty, as well as the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, as part of "an unmistakable record of achievement and hard-won progress" since the NPT was extended indefinitely five years ago. However, he added, "this is no time for complacency when it comes to the threat of nuclear war".
He noted that some 35,000 nuclear weapons remain in the arsenals of the nuclear Powers, with thousands still deployed on hair-trigger alert. The Secretary-General also noted the challenge posed by the growing pressure to deploy national missile defences. That pressure, he said, is jeopardizing the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) and could well lead to a new arms race and setbacks for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.
We have copies of his speech available in my office. We also have speeches by Ambassador Baali and by Mohamed El-Baradei, the Secretary-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). And I understand that there is also a spokesman from the IAEA here in the back of the room, if you have any questions on the IAEA.
At 3:00 this afternoon, the General Debate of the Review Conference will begin with the Foreign Ministers of Ireland, Mexico and Portugal and the Secretary of State of the United States speaking. We have a list of speakers, as well as fact sheets on the Conference, available upstairs.
**Partnership to Strengthen African Universities
The Secretary-General this morning attended the launch of a Partnership to Strengthen African Universities, which is being undertaken by four United States-based foundations: the Carnegie Corporation, the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.
Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 24 April 2000
The initiative is intended to provide more than $100 million in support over the next five years to expand and improve higher education facilities in Africa.
The Secretary-General told the presidents of the four foundations that he intends to launch a United Nations initiative for girls' education at the World Education Forum, which he will open two days from now in Dakar, Senegal. He said, "our goal is to ensure that by 2015, all children everywhere -- boys and girls alike -- will be able to complete primary schooling".
He also emphasized the importance of African universities, and urged the increased use of information technology in Africa. So far, he noted, less than one half of one per cent of all Africans have used the Internet. He noted the plan, described in his Millennium Report, to field a new United Nations corps of high-tech volunteers, which can train groups in the developing world on information technology.
We have copies of his speech upstairs.
As you know, he will be leaving probably within the hour for West Africa via Europe, starting in Dakar, Senegal, tomorrow through Thursday. From there, he will go to the Gambia, Gabon, the Central African Republic and Cameroon, returning to New York on 4 May.
**Security Council
The Security Council is meeting in closed consultations today on Kosovo.
The briefing by Bernard Miyet, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, is providing an update on developments in preparation for the Security Council visit to Kosovo later this week.
Mr. Miyet told the Council that the United Nations mission in Kosovo was at a critical stage in the consolidation of the Joint Interim Administrative Structure and the lead-up to municipal elections.
On the latter, he said that civil registration of the local population in preparation for the municipal elections later this year will begin on 26 April. A pilot project at five registration sites has already begun in Gnjilane.
Mr. Miyet also noted that the security situation in Mitrovica had improved recently, although the general situation in Kosovo had shown no significant change over the past two months.
Ambassador Karim Chowdhury of Bangladesh, who is leading the eight-member Security Council mission to Kosovo, departing Wednesday, is expected to brief members on preparations. We have been informed that France, originally scheduled to go on the Kosovo mission, is now going on the Council mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Secretary-General's Special Representative for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kamel Morjane, is scheduled to brief the Council tomorrow in
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 24 April 2000
closed consultations at 10 a.m. And, following those consultations, a closed private session featuring the Neutral Facilitator of the inter-Congolese dialogue, former President Ketumile Masire of Botswana, is scheduled.
Mr. Morjane has agreed to brief you following his Council appearance.
**Chechnya
The United Nations today carried out its first rapid humanitarian needs assessment by international staff in the Republic of Chechnya. The mission assessed staff safety and humanitarian conditions in three locations.
The mission's members were struck by the enormous needs of both resident and internally displaced populations. The mission reported dire conditions in the hospitals, where operations were being carried out with limited basic anaesthetics and medicines. The mission also said there was a high number of civilians who have lost their limbs to anti-personnel mines, and reported that there was an urgent need to provide adequate shelter and basic relief items for the displaced.
The United Nations is working with the Russian Ministry of Emergencies and a local Chechen non-governmental organization to dispatch a humanitarian convoy tomorrow to the Republic. Some 17 trucks will deliver food aid, plastic sheeting, oral re-hydration salts, blankets and clothing, among other relief items, to address the most urgent humanitarian needs identified by this mission.
This will be the second United Nations convoy to bring assistance into Chechnya. The High Commissioner for Refugees has sent aid in nearly 50 convoys to date for those who fled Chechnya.
**Sierra Leone
A battalion of Zambian troops is arriving in Freetown, Sierra Leone, today, and with this new battalion the United Nations peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone will be more than 8,000 strong. Two Jordanian battalions of over 750 troops each are expected soon.
**World Health Organization
We have a press release from the World Health Organization (WHO), which is embargoed until 6 a.m. GMT tomorrow, Tuesday -- and that is midnight tonight Eastern Daylight Time. The release cites a report, which will be issued tomorrow, which suggests that Africa's gross domestic product (GDP) would be up to $100 billion greater this year if malaria had been eliminated years ago. That conclusion stems from new research by Harvard University, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the WHO.
**Budget News
On budget news, Eritrea and Mali have become the eighty-first and eighty- second Member States to be paid up in full for the regular budget for this year; Eritrea with a payment of just over $10,000, and Mali with a payment of over $21,000.
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 24 April 2000**Commission on Sustainable Development
Finally, the Commission on Sustainable Development will begin its dialogue on sustainable agriculture this afternoon, with representatives from agribusiness, farmers groups, environment-related non-governmental organizations and trade unions.
An Editorial Breakfast Briefing on sustainable agriculture will be held by an NGO coalition at 9:30 a.m.tomorrow at the Church Centre across the street. Speakers will include the Commission Chair, Juan Mayr Maldonado, Environment Minister of Colombia, as well as representatives from Greenpeace and Food First. There is an advisory on the racks, and the contact person within DPI, if you are interested, is Pragati Pascale on extension 6870.
**Questions and Answers
I am told we have a Department of Disarmament Affairs resource person at the back of the room, Randy Rydell, Adviser to the Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, for any questions you might have on the NPT. Maybe you should just come right up to the front. We will try to have someone available almost every day on the NPT for you.
Question: Is there any plan to have the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation at the stakeout today?
Answer: We asked him if he would have time to do that. His office told us he would not. We understand that the Secretary-General has agreed with the Foreign Minister to take a few questions at the photo-op, scheduled for the end of the meeting which started at 12:00. We were scrambling to get your pool committee to send someone from the written press up to that photo-op. United Nations television will carry the video and audio of the event for the rest of you.
Question: Will we get a read-out of the meeting?
Answer: We will try to get a read-out, but, of course, the two principals will take questions from the press immediately after the meeting. That may be the best read-out you'll get.
Question: Has there been any change in Mr. Larsen's schedule since last week, and has the United Nations heard anything from any of the parties since the close of business on Friday?
Answer: Mr. Larsen, as we announced, is expected to begin his programme this week. We don't have for you, yet, the exact itinerary and dates, but I expect we'll have them by Wednesday. His first stop will be Israel, including a visit to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in southern Lebanon. That begins towards the end of this week. We will give you precise dates for that first stop, as well as for the subsequent ones, probably on Wednesday. On ongoing contacts, the Secretary-General is on the phone pretty regularly, so there has been a string of phone calls. I am not free to go into those details, but he continues to follow it closely and to consult with the principals. * *** *