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 Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**Sierra Leone

Amid reports of increasing military activity between rebels and government soldiers in Sierra Leone, thousands of people, fleeing the renewed fighting, are heading towards Freetown.

A United Nations humanitarian team, composed of representatives of the World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO) and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, set out on an emergency assessment mission a short while ago. They will travel towards Waterloo and the eastern end of the Freetown peninsula, as far as security conditions will allow. We hope to hear from them before the day's end.

The people on the move are believed to be fleeing fighting reported around Waterloo, Mile 91, Masiaka and other areas. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) is believed to be on the move.

No new movements of refugees leaving the country were reported today. There are close to half a million refugees in Guinea and Liberia from Sierra Leone -- Africa's largest refugee country of origin.

The UNICEF, meanwhile, said the current crisis could result in new efforts to recruit child soldiers, and appealed to all parties to keep their promises to stop this practice.

Against the backdrop of increased activity on the ground, the United Nations has decided that it will not be publicly reporting on military operations involving our mission there. Our efforts continue to focus on trying to stabilize the situation by reinforcing and consolidating the peacekeepers in Sierra Leone. The contingent strength as of today is 8,936.

At United Nations Headquarters today, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations brought the troop contributors together with the countries offering to provide logistical support to expedite their deployment. Battalions from Bangladesh, India and Jordan are expected to arrive in Sierra Leone between 20 May and the end of the month.

The Secretary-General, on entering United Nations Headquarters today, said, "We're strengthening the force, bringing it up to strength, bringing in the Jordanians, the Indians and the Bangladeshis, while we pursue the issue of a rapid reaction force."

He described the British presence in Sierra Leone as useful and positive, specifically mentioning their presence in helping secure the airport and the heliport at Hastings.

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 10 May 2000

In response to a question about Nigerian deployment, the Secretary-General said that the defence ministers of the region had agreed to meet on 17 May, indicating that immediate deployment is unlikely.

Bernard Miyet, sent by the Secretary-General to meet with the peacekeepers, made an evaluation of the mission and sent a clear signal that the United Nations intends to remain and get the peace process back on track. He is ending his mission following a news conference he is expected to give later today. He, of course, is the head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Department.

**Security Council

The Security Council began its closed consultations this morning by hearing a briefing from Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Ibrahima Fall, on the Central African Republic, where the United Nations maintains a Peace- Building Support Office.

Mr. Fall reported on the work of the Office since it was set up in February. The Secretary-General last week named Cheikh Tidiane Sy, currently his Representative for Burundi, to be his Representative for the Central African Republic. Mr. Sy is expected to take up his duties later this month.

Mr. Fall noted that, starting next Monday, there will be a two-day donors' meeting here at Headquarters on the security and development needs of the Central African Republic. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette will open that meeting, and the Prime Minister of the Central African Republic, Anicet-Georges Dologuele, will lead his country's delegation. A press release will be issued on this later today.

Following the briefing on the Central African Republic, the Council went into consultations on Sierra Leone, on which it received an update on the latest developments by the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, Hédi Annabi. That discussion is going on right now.

As for the report of the Secretary-General on Sierra Leone, which had been expected earlier this week, I told you yesterday it had been overtaken by events and was being rewritten. They tell us that it is expected to go to the Council shortly.

**Kosovo

Today in Pristina, the Kosovo Transitional Council adopted a statement demanding that the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia unconditionally hand over to the United Nations Mission in Kosovo all detainees from Kosovo currently being held in Serbian prisons and other detention facilities.

The Council, which includes members of all of Kosovo's political parties and ethnic communities, also demanded that the Yugoslav Government grant access to those detention facilities to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and turn over all relevant information on missing Kosovars to the United Nations Mission.

The Council also called on the United Nations to appoint a special envoy for detainees and missing persons "at the earliest date".

Tomorrow, Bernard Kouchner, the Special Representative of the Secretary- General for Kosovo, will inaugurate a Victims' Recovery and Identification Commission in a ceremony at the United Nations Mission.

That Commission is to be the key agency in identifying persons who died during the recent conflict and who have not yet been formally identified. It will identify and dispose of the remains of the victims, and coordinate its work with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

We have a press release with more details.

**Middle East

The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General, Terje Roed Larsen, has concluded his trip to the Middle East and is on his way back to New York. He is expected to arrive tonight.

Yesterday, we made available copies of a press release on his meetings in Cairo with the Foreign Minister of Egypt, Amre Moussa, and the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Esmat Abdel-Meguid, of course, discussing the question of Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon.

Mr. Larsen, in particular, expressed his appreciation at the declaration made last week by the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria, which called for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to be allowed to carry out its tasks under Security Council resolutions 425 and 426 (1978). Mr. Larsen responded, "This is precisely the type of unconditional statement of support the United Nations needs to be able to carry out our responsibilities under 425 and 426."

We expect that he will meet with the Secretary-General later this week, and he is scheduled to brief the Security Council on his trip next Thursday, 18 May.

**Afghanistan

The following statement is attributable to the Spokesman on the subject of Afghanistan.

"The indirect talks on Afghanistan under the auspices of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) ended today in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. An agreement on a comprehensive exchange of prisoners of war was reached yesterday by the two warring parties -- the Taliban and the United Front. The talks were conducted by the OIC Committee on Afghanistan, headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Javad Zarif of Iran, and with the participation of the Personal Representative of the Secretary- General for Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been contacted by the head of the OIC Committee and requested to make the necessary arrangements for the early implementation of the agreement in consultation with the two sides."

**Iraq

We have upstairs the regular weekly update from the Office of the Iraq Programme which was published on the OIP Web site late yesterday.

It shows that for the seven days ending 5 May -- last Friday -- Iraq exported 15.3 million barrels of oil for an estimated revenue of $341 million. This brings the total oil exported in the current phase -- that is, Phase VII -- to 260 million barrels, for a revenue of around $6.172 billion.

The hold on a number of contracts has been lifted, and the current total for humanitarian and oil sector contracts on hold is currently $1.824 billion -- and that is well down from last week's figure of nearly $1.95 billion.

**United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat)

Mayors of cities from all over the world meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, declared their support for the World Charter for Local Self-Government, which draws up a framework for the practice of local democracy. The Charter was initiated by mayors and representatives of local authorities in Istanbul in 1996, during the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements.

**Millennium Forum

Finally, the co-chair of the Millennium Forum, Techeste Ahderom, will be giving a press briefing here tomorrow at 11 a.m. to describe the final preparations for this meeting of civil society. As you may know, the Millennium Forum will bring together over 1,600 representatives from civil society organizations around the world. They will be meeting here at Headquarters for a five-day gathering from 22 to 26 May, and they will produce a declaration intended to be considered by the Millennium Assembly, which is happening in September.

That is all I have for you.

**Questions and Answers

Question: The heads of State who met in Abuja, Nigeria, yesterday made a lot of important decisions about Sierra Leone, and decided to immediately forward them to the Secretary-General for "due consideration". What do you think they expect the United Nations to do?

Spokesman: They gave strong support to our current efforts in Sierra Leone, and I think the Secretary-General certainly appreciated that. We are still studying the communiqué that was issued yesterday so I do not have anything further to give to you now.

Question: You mentioned that the Jordanians and the Indians might be on their way soon. Have you secured commitments for transportation of those battalions?

Spokesman: We have a number of things in the pipeline. The problem now is not so much the shortage of planes -- I think we have got enough of those lined up. It will be the coordination of equipment and getting each of these units and their equipment in sequence to the place where the planes will pick them up and bring them, in an orderly way, to the Freetown airport.

Question: The Secretary-General, upon entering the Building, said in summary that if there was a rebel advance in Freetown, it would be checked. What specifically is the United Nations Mission mandated to do to stop such an advance, and what specific measures would it take to defend Freetown? Spokesman: I do not want to get into tactical discussions. The United Nations Mission has been consolidating its positions and particularly concentrating troops around the entry points to Freetown. As the Secretary- General indicated, we will do what we have to do to defend ourselves and the Government. We hope that it is not going to come to a pitched battle. We are, in effect, preparing for one, nevertheless.

Question: Could you clarify your statement that you will no longer be reporting on the military aspects of a mission? Does that mean even after an incident? For example, you told us about the helicopter that was hit. Is that the kind of thing you will not be telling us from now on?

Spokesman: As you know, there have been reports of fighting between Government troops and the RUF. As that fighting continues, we will not report to you on who is winning what battles or the location of troops. We do not want to have any kind of a negative effect on the deployments or activity in the field. We are backing away from that. Any information we give out could affect the outcome of the fighting and we do not want to become a factor in that. That is really the reason for the hunkering down.

Question: Did the unfortunate error on Friday have something to do with the present way of thinking? For example, it was reported that RUF forces were advancing on Freetown and were 12 miles outside it.

Spokesman: It is not so much that. I think it is standard practice when fighting breaks out like this that we do not comment on it so as not to be a factor, one way or another, in the outcome.

Question: Is Philip Winslow still in Freetown?

Spokesman: Yes.

Question: As a veteran of peacekeeping missions, is UNAMSIL a little bit different to others? Is there a bit of breakdown in Sierra Leone compared to other peacekeeping missions?

Spokesman: I do not want to say whether Sierra Leone is better or worse than other peacekeeping missions. I am not sure whether I would have the basis for making such a judgement.

Question: Are things not going as smoothly on this Mission in comparison to others -- for example, problems such as getting troops in?

Spokesman: We have had our share of organizational problems in the start-up phase of this Mission. That is one of the issues that Bernard Miyet went to Sierra Leone to address. And it is one of the reasons he brought an experienced senior administrator of peacekeeping with him to bolster the administrative side of peacekeeping. Yes, we have our problems and we are trying to address them.

Question: Do you have any idea where the detainees are now and, if so, under what conditions are they being kept?

Spokesman: The conditions vary from unit to unit. We are out of touch with the two major units which are both from Zambia, and both in excess of 200 soldiers. The first one that was detained we established had been taken further east to an RUF stronghold called Koidu. We have no further information on their condition. We do not know where the second Zambian group of 200 are and, therefore, we do not know anything about the conditions under which they are being kept.

Question: Regarding the detainees, could you tell us as much as you can about the efforts, diplomatic or other, that are being made to find out anything? Is there any consideration of an extraction force to pull them out? And if hostilities between the United Nations and the rebels started around Freetown, what would that mean for the detainees since their situation would become 10 times more precarious?

Spokesman: We are still trying by political means to get the detainees released. At Abuja yesterday, President Charles Taylor of Liberia was asked to personally intervene to try and win their release. As for what might happen to Freetown, I do not know. Again, the peacekeepers are not a fighting force and are not configured to do battle. They are basically digging in, in a defensive mode, and anticipating the worst -- that there would be some kind of attack on Freetown. Would that make the situation of the detainees worse or better? I do not know. I suppose, as the situation gets worse overall, the situation of the detainees would get worse, as well.

Question: Just a question of terminology: a diplomat here said her government did not consider the peacekeepers hostages because no conditions or demands were made. What word is the United Nations using to describe the units held by the RUF?

Spokesman: We have sometimes said "hostages" using the term loosely. But it is true that no conditions have been given to us for their release. So in that sense, they are more detainees than hostages.

Question: You have already spoken about the bad communication equipment that is being used. The President of Zambia also said that the units from his country had the wrong maps. Is it possible that these 200 Zambians who have not been heard from are lost?

Spokesman: I doubt that they could be lost for this amount of time. I do not know the end of the story on the maps. I can tell you that we got up-to-date maps that we shipped to the Mission area, and I know they were received in that area. I do not know whether they were physically given to the Zambian troops. Those troops did receive training and, I assume, maps. But I am not sure. We in the peacekeeping department were a bit surprised by the statements by the Zambians. Again, we might have to look into that more carefully to see exactly what happened.

Question: There was a lot of talk last year about the United States, United Kingdom and France training African peacekeepers. Do you know if the peacekeepers who are missing are part of that training?

Spokesman: No, I do not.

Question: How many people are there to train international peacekeepers? Is there a set amount in the peacekeeping department?

Spokesman: There is a small training unit. We have never assumed responsibility for training peacekeepers. We expect the contributing governments to do that. But in recent years we established a training unit in the peacekeeping department. They have developed manuals, video clips and so on. This small group of people have also travelled around the world training trainers, so that there is some kind of training infrastructure in place. What you referred to with the British and the French is an extension of that.

Question: What is the latest confirmed number of killed among the United Nations soldiers?

Spokesman: Our numbers here are not very good, so I cannot give you the latest figures. There were a number of Nigerian casualties over the weekend as a result of a firefight at Rogberi Junction, but I do not have the final numbers. There were a number of Kenyans injured, and seven of them were evacuated to Kenya. However, the exact number of dead I do not have, since we are not getting precise figures from the Mission.

Question: Does the United Nations know about the whereabouts of Foday Sankoh? Has he been arrested, is he in prison? And how will his disappearance affect negotiations?

Spokesman: We do not know where he is and, therefore, we cannot negotiate with him, which is a handicap.

Question: Is there any indication that the RUF is using the armoured personnel carriers (APCs) that were taken from the Zambians last week?

Spokesman: On a number of occasions, we have spotted from the air movements of black painted APCs that we assume are ours -- the ones that were taken from our troops. So yes, they do seem to be using them.

Question: Are there any helicopter gunships available for United Nations use now, and are you expecting any soon from other countries?

Spokesman: We do not have any helicopter gunships, although some are on order. It is possible that they could arrive in the Mission area by the end of this month, but I do not have the latest on that. They are Russian.

Question: There is a report that the United States is sending a warship which may have Navy Seals on it. Do you know anything about this?

Spokesman: No.

Question: I couldn't help but notice the irony of the town of Waterloo. What would it take for the United Nations to meet its Waterloo? There must be contingency plans for withdrawal.

Spokesman: I don't want to speculate about what might happen. We always have evacuation plans on a contingency basis, but we have stated -- and I just mentioned Mr. Miyet's most recent comment -- our commitment to stick it out. For as long as it is possible, we are going to hang in there and try to revive this peace process.

Question: When is Mr. Miyet expected back?

Spokesman: I believe that he is leaving the Mission area tonight. Conceivably, he could be back in New York by the end of tomorrow, but I would have to confirm.

Question: Is there concern that the Nigerians keep order too severely?

Spokesman: I don’t think I want to comment on the performance of individual national units.

Question: What political options are in motion? Is the option of trying to reach some political settlement still alive?

Spokesman: Leaders of the region are continuing to focus – energetically, I would say, judging from the Abuja, Nigeria, meeting of yesterday -- on trying to get the situation in Sierra Leone under control. We hope they are successful. As I mentioned, they have asked President Taylor to get involved personally in the efforts to release the hostages. We hope he is successful

Question: Is there more news on Ethiopia/Eritrea?

Spokesman: No, we understand that the Security Council mission is continuing its shuttle diplomacy, but I expect they will be returning to New York shortly. Then, they'll have to report to the Council and that is when we will get the read-out.

Question: Could you tell us anything about the team that has been sent out to investigate?

Spokesman: This is a humanitarian team, trying to evaluate the number of people, of civilians, that have come into Freetown or are trying to get into Freetown, and what their humanitarian needs might be -- food, water, medicine.

Thank you very much. I have Shirley here, who has been waiting so patiently to tell you about the General Assembly.

**Briefing by Spokeswoman for President of General Assembly

The General Assembly meets at 3 p.m. today to take action on a draft resolution, submitted by the President, on the organization of the list of speakers and the round tables for the Millennium Summit, which will be held 6 to 8 September 2000.

By adopting the draft resolution (document A/54/L.83/Rev.1), the Assembly will decide that the Millennium Summit shall consist of a total of six meetings, with two plenary meetings a day over the three days; and that there shall be four interactive round-table sessions, beginning on the afternoon of 6 September and ending on the morning of 8 September. Consultations are continuing regarding the possible participation in the plenary of representatives of intergovernmental organizations, parliaments and civil society.

The resolution includes an annex that sets out how the list of speakers for the plenary of the Summit will be established. It will be done through the drawing of Member States’ names for the choice of meeting they want to speak at, and for speaking slot. The list will then be rearranged, in keeping with the established practice of the Assembly, to accord first priority to heads of State and government.

As regards the organization of the round tables, the annex stipulates that the three regions not represented by the co-Chairpersons (Namibia for Africa, and Finland for Western Europe and Other States) will chair three of the four round tables. The three regions being: Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The choice of the chairperson of the fourth round table is subject to further consultations. The regional groups, in consultation with the Assembly President, will select the chairpersons of the round tables. Each regional group will also determine those members that will attend each round table to ensure equitable geographical distribution, and they will communicate that information to the Assembly President.

The draft resolution that will be before the Assembly this afternoon expands on resolution 54/254, which was adopted on 15 March, and in which the Assembly decided that the Summit will take place from 6 to 8 September 2000 in New York, under the overall theme “The role of the United Nations in the Twenty-first Century”; that the Summit will be composed of plenary meetings and of four interactive round-table sessions, each session running concurrent with a plenary meeting; and that, owing to the unique symbolic moment of the Summit, the country holding the presidency of the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly and the country holding the presidency of the fifty-fifth session will jointly co-chair the Summit.

At a meeting this morning, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) approved a statement on the programme budget implications of the draft resolution on the Millennium Summit (document A/C.5/54/60). The Committee did so in order to enable the Assembly to approve the resolution, but it stated that it would revisit the issue of the cost, estimated at $1.1 million to $1.4 million, in addition to $450,000 for security coverage and $193,000 for protocol. It will do so before the end of its current session, which continues for a further three weeks. Some delegations, both in the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) and in the Fifth Committee, believed the cost to be too high.

In other action, on the recommendation of the Fifth Committee, the Assembly is expected to appoint Nathan Irumba of Uganda to the 18-member Committee on Contributions for a term of office ending on 31 December 2000. The Assembly will also appoint four members of the 11-member Joint Inspection Unit, for a five-year term beginning 1 January 2001 through 31 December 2005, as follows: Doris

Bertrand-Muck, of Austria; Ion Gorita, of Romania; Wolfgang M. Munch, of Germany; and Louis-Dominique Ouedraogo, of Burkina Faso (document A/54/110).

Presiding over this afternoon's meeting will be the Permanent Representative of the Seychelles, Ambassador Claude Morel. The Assembly President, Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, is on a visit to several Middle East countries. He returns to New York on 17 May.

**Questions and Answers

Question: Where will the interactive round-table sessions take place?

Spokeswoman: In the Economic and Social Council, which will have to be reconfigured.

Question: What day is the drawing for who will speak on the first day?

Spokeswoman: They say later this month, but no date has been given.

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