DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000502The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by David Wimhurst, Acting Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon.
**In Cameroon, Secretary-General Urges Africans to Invest in Girls' Education; Resolve Ongoing Conflicts
The Secretary-General began his official programme in Yaoundé today with a meeting with the Foreign Minister of Cameroon, Augustin Kontchou Kouomegni. This was followed by a meeting with the country's Prime Minister, Peter Mafany Musongue. In both meetings, the Secretary-General emphasized the themes of good governance, human rights and transparency. The Ministers briefed him on the Governments efforts to meet United Nations standards, particularly in the area of human rights.
The Secretary-General then went to the Presidential Palace where he met privately for more than one hour with President Paul Biya.
After lunch, the Secretary-General met with the heads of United Nations agencies working in Cameroon, as well as with United Nations staff. He then went on to the University of Yaoundé, where he was given an honorary doctorate in international relations. In his acceptance speech, he called on Africans to exploit the new information technology in order to make African economies more globally competitive.
"The main input", he said, "is brainpower -- the one commodity that is equally distributed throughout the human race." He urged governments to invest in girls' education, to get AIDS infection growth under control, and to work together to resolve conflicts so that economic growth could resume. "If conflict perpetuates poverty, poverty also makes conflict harder to avoid and to resolve", he said. "That is the vicious circle we Africans have to break."
In the evening, the Secretary-General is to be the guest of honour at a dinner hosted by the President of Cameroon.
Tomorrow, the Secretary-General will give a press conference before leaving Yaoundé for Paris, where he will meet with the French President, as well as with other senior French government officials, possibly including the Foreign Minister.
He is scheduled to leave Paris on Thursday and be back in New York on the same day. He is expected to be back at work on Friday.
**Refusal to Cooperate with RUF Sparks Confrontation, Stand-off in Sierra Leone; Seven UNAMSIL Personnel Detained
In Sierra Leone, rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) are holding seven United Nations personnel from the peacekeeping mission (UNAMSIL). The incident occurred yesterday, when a group of about 100 RUF combatants appeared at
Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 2 May 2000
the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration camp in Makeni, and demanded the return of a number of ex-combatants from the RUF who had recently disarmed, calling them deserters. When the request was declined, the RUF forces surrounded the camp and fired several rounds into the air. In the ensuing confrontation, the UNAMSIL personnel were detained.
In the area of Kailahun, another group of RUF rebels set up a roadblock between the military observers team site and the peacekeepers compound and detained the civilian crew and passengers of a United Nations helicopter.
It was later learned that eight United Nations personnel had been detained in Makeni, and 12 (five helicopter crew and passenger and seven peacekeeepers) detained in Kailahun for a total of 20.
The Mission is seeking to obtain the rapid release of the United Nations personnel.
On another subject related to Sierra Leone: Contrary to wire reports, the United Nations peacekeeper who was shot Sunday in the Occra Hills while on patrol is in critical but stable condition after being evacuated to Nigeria.
**Secretary-General Invites Parties to Western Sahara Dispute to Meet in London with Special Envoy
The Secretary-General has invited the parties in the Western Sahara dispute -- Morocco and the POLISARIO Front -- and the neighbouring countries, Algeria and Mauritania, to meet with his Personal Envoy on Western Sahara, James Baker III, in London on 14 May.
Mr. Baker intends to consult with the parties and the neighbouring countries and, taking into account existing and potential obstacles, to explore ways and means of achieving an early, durable and agreed resolution of the dispute in Western Sahara.
**Secretary-General Mourns Loss of Great Humanitarian Poul Hartling, former High Commissioner for Refugees
We have a statement from the Secretary-General, who says it was with great sadness that I learned of the death of my friend, colleague and mentor Poul Hartling. As United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1978-1985, he revitalized its mission and gave it new purpose from the Horn of Africa to Central America to Viet Nam.
"A distinguished political leader and great humanitarian, Poul Hartling devoted his life to improving the condition of all refugees, and called on all peoples to be humane towards the displaced in their midst. It was only fitting that he was the one to receive the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1981 on behalf of the UNHCR. I can think of no individual who embodied its highest ideals more fully and more consistently than Poul Hartling."
"The United Nations has lost one of its finest and most admired leaders", the Secretary-General concludes.
We have the full text of his statement available for you upstairs. **Security Council Delegation Heads to Democratic Republic of the Congo
There is no meeting of the Security Council scheduled today. Instead, the President of the Council for the month of May, Ambassador Wang of China, is holding bilateral discussions with other Council members to agree on the agenda for the month ahead.
He plans to hold further bilateral consultations tomorrow, and then the Council is expected to hold informal consultations on its programme of work for May later that day.
(Later in the day, the Security Council held closed consultations on the situation in Sierra Leone, following which the Council President made a statement to the press.)
Today marks the start of the Security Council mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A delegation of seven Council ambassadors, led by Ambassador Holbrooke of the United States, is departing New York on a mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as to Lusaka, Zambia, where they expect to meet with regional heads of State. The mission is scheduled to return next Monday, 8 May.
**Special Envoy Larsen Arrives in Lebanon
We have an "information" release from the Middle East: The Secretary- General's Special Envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, will meet with Lebanon's President and Prime Minister on Thursday, 4 May, to discuss the implementation of United Nations Security Council resolutions 425 and 426 concerning the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon.
During his three-day stay in the country, Mr. Larsen and his delegation will also meet with Nabih Berri, Speaker for the Parliament, and will spend two days visiting United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) operations in South Lebanon.
Prior to coming to Beirut, Mr. Larsen met Israeli government officials. He will also hold consultations in Damascus, Amman and Cairo before returning to United Nations Headquarters on 10 May.
The complete text of this release is available upstairs.
**Afghanistan Drought May Affect Hundreds of Thousands, WFP Warns
The World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that some 400,000 people in Afghanistan will need assistance -- requiring the distribution of some 30,000 tons of food -- over the next 12 months, to survive the second consecutive drought in Afghanistan in the past two years.
The drought particularly affects four southern provinces where more than 4 million people live, WFP says. The agency is already helping some 1.5 million people in Afghanistan, in a relief operation that will cost about $88 million until the end of next year.
We have a press release from WFP with more information. Meanwhile, the United Nations Information Centre in Islamabad added in a press release today that there is sufficient evidence that there is also a critical drought situation in most of Baluchistan Province, in south-western Pakistan. The United Nations Resident Coordinator, Onder Yucer, said today that the local and federal authorities are dealing with the situation, and the United Nations is providing some technical support.
We also have today's briefing notes from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which include information on the return last week of more than 4,500 Afghan refugees from Iran to Afghanistan, in a joint effort by the Iranian Government and the UNHCR. Since 8 April, 8,336 Afghans have returned home from Iran.
**UNMIK High Officials Welcome Agreement Which Would Ensure Safe Return of Kosovo Serbs
We just got a call before this briefing from Gracanica in Kosovo to say that the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Dr. Bernard Kouchner, Bishop Artemije of the Serb National Council, and KFOR Commander Gen. Joun Ortuno signed an agreement aimed at ensuring the safe and sustained return of Kosovo Serbs, who number some 150,000.
The United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) noted that this development was the first concrete step towards fulfilling the conditions of complete participation by the Kosovo Serbs in the joint administrative structure of Kosovo, and welcomed it as a step towards peaceful coexistence.
As you recall, the Security Council delegation to Kosovo encouraged the return of all refugees and displaced persons to their homes.
We should have more details in a press release being prepared now.
**Iraq Programme Update Available
The weekly update from the Office of the Iraq Programme will be available upstairs this afternoon.
It shows that after some weeks of marking time at around the $1.7 billion level, the total value of humanitarian and oil sector contracts on hold has increased to $1.95 billion. This is the highest level since the Programme's inception in 1996.
**Briefing Notes Available
We also have briefing notes available for you upstairs from East Timor, Bosnia, and the UNHCR.
**Payment
A note on payments: Trinidad and Tobago has become the eighty-fifth Member State to pay its full contribution to the United Nations regular budget for this year. They made a payment of close to $168,000.
**United Nations Honours World Press Freedom Day
We'd like to draw your attention to a subject which I'm sure you all hold dear, World Press Freedom Day, which is tomorrow. To mark the occasion, the Secretary-General issued a joint statement with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and Koichiro Matsuura, the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
In the joint statement, the three assert that "in every society, freedom of the press is essential to transparency, accountability, good governance and the rule of law". They emphasize the need for independent and pluralistic reporting, and for the particular need that women's voices should be heard.
The statement is available in the press release section on the third floor.
Also tomorrow, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., in Conference Room 2, there will be an event on "Reporting the News in a Dangerous World", which will explore the role of media in conflict situations. The programme includes a lecture on press freedom and the United Nations perspective by Communications Director Shashi Tharoor; a screening of excerpts from the film "Cry Freetown", which deals with Sierra Leone; and a panel discussion moderated by Richard Roth of CNN. You are all welcome to attend.
**World Chronicle
The recently recorded "World Chronicle" TV programme number 783 with Victor Ordoñez, Director of the Principal Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, will be shown today on in-house television, Channel 3 or 31 at 2:30 p.m.
**Press Conferences
Today, in this room, Ambassador Chris Westdal, Canadian Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament, will discuss Canada's approach to the NPT Review Conference.
And tomorrow, "Nuclear victims and the NPT" will be the subject of a press conference at 10:30 a.m. The guests will include Mayor Iccho Itoh of Nagasaki, Deputy Mayor Koshi Morimoto of Hiroshima, Daniel Ellsberg, former Pentagon Adviser, Lev Feoktistov, former Russian weapons designer, and Jaqui Katona, a native Australian activist.
**UNCA Announcement
The United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) has announced a briefing at 2 p.m. tomorrow in the UNCA Club with Haris Silajdzic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The topic will be "Changes of the Dayton Peace Accords: Bosnia after the Election". All correspondents are invited.
That's all I have for you today. Are there any questions?
**Questions and Answers
Question: Is the United Nations threatening to use force against the RUF to obtain the release of the peacekeepers in Sierra Leone?
Acting Deputy Spokesman: We are currently talking to the RUF in order to obtain the release of our personnel as rapidly and as safely as possible.
Question: You mentioned the ex-combatants that the RUF referred to as deserters, who had turned in their arms. Where are they now?
Acting Deputy Spokesman: I can't tell you what happened to them. They were ex-RUF combatants who had come to the centre to disarm and were then treated as deserters by other RUF combatants. When our personnel refused to hand those so- called deserters over, that's when this incident occurred.
Question: What is the level on the negotiations? Are there only local United Nations officials involved or will there be some involvement from the Secretariat?
Acting Deputy Spokesman: There will be negotiations at all levels.
Question: What exactly is happening regarding the United Nations and Sierra Leone? These episodes keep occurring, but there had been promises that security for peacekeepers had been guaranteed. What is the reaction of the Secretariat?
Acting Deputy Spokesman: Well, it's most certainly one of concern. These events create obstacles to the ongoing peace process and the fulfilment of our mandate in the region. So we are concerned about it and we are seeking as rapidly as possible to bring these events to an end.
Question: Although you described the discussions between the Secretary- General and President Biya as "private", could you give us an idea of what the subjects were?
Acting Deputy Spokesman: As soon as we have a read-out from those meetings, we'll be happy to inform you.
Question: When will Mr. Larsen be back in New York?
Acting Deputy Spokesman: He will be back here at Headquarters on 10 May.
Thank you very much.
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