DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000516The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon.
We have a special guest at the briefing today. He's Ivo Petrov, who is the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Tajikistan. The United Nations Mission in Tajikistan ended at midnight last night. So he'll be talking to you about that.
**Sierra Leone
On Sierra Leone, some of the 139 United Nations detainees have been released and ferried to Monrovia, Liberia, from the Liberian border town of Foya which is near Sierra Leone. So far, 25 former United Nations detainees have been transported by Liberian helicopter from Foya to Monrovia, where there were already 15 other released personnel. So that means there are 40 former detainees in Monrovia right now. There could be further helicopter flights today, so that number could go up. We'll keep you posted. There's no word yet about the condition of those released. We're waiting to hear from Monrovia on that.
Reports are that the Liberian helicopter has gone back to Foya to bring another group. A United Nations helicopter is standing by for clearance to also go to Foya. So there could be quite a few more brought back today. We hope to fly all the released detainees from Monrovia to Freetown, Sierra Leone, as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, Sierra Leone this morning was reported free of fighting for the previous 24 hours.
As part of the strengthening of the United Nations force, by midday, about 150 members of the Indian battalion had arrived in Lungi, which is the Freetown airport location. Another 600 are expected tomorrow.
The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone also reported that all international civilian staff who had been relocated to Banjul, Gambia, last week had returned to Freetown. The Secretary-General's report on Sierra Leone, meanwhile, is being finalized today for distribution to Security Council members tomorrow.
**Security Council
There are no Security Council consultations this morning. However, the members of the Council yesterday afternoon received two draft resolutions concerning the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and Council members have been considering both draft texts.
At 11 this morning, the Council had meetings at the Expert level on those two drafts, and there is a possibility of Security Council consultations on Ethiopia and Eritrea later this afternoon.
Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 16 May 2000
The Council was also informed yesterday by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast that, three days after the Council had condemned the resumption of conflict between the two nations, they had continued to fight at several points along their border.
Tomorrow, the Council will hold an open debate on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at which United States Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who led the seven- member Council delegation to the region last week, will formally present the report of that mission's travels.
**Sri Lanka
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) today appealed to all sides of the conflict in Sri Lanka to treat young people as "zones of peace" and to end the use of children as soldiers.
Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF, says that children are "being forced to feel the heat of battle" in Sri Lanka, where fighting for the town of Jaffna over the last few days has been putting children and women at enormous risk.
Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees expressed deep concern about the situation of civilians in Jaffna, and reported that two of its international staff today moved from their Jaffna office to a medical centre which the UNHCR had repaired north-west of the Jaffna peninsula, where evacuees from Jaffna have encamped.
Tamil Tiger radio broadcasts have urged civilians and international aid workers to move to the northern and western parts of the peninsula.
Most of the displaced appeared to have found accommodation with friends and relatives. A small number are in collective centres, such as schools, public buildings, temples and churches.
**Central African Republic
The two-day special meeting on the Central African Republic, currently being held in this Building in Conference Room 8, is just wrapping up with the announcement of donations to strengthen security and development in that country.
The meeting, which was co-sponsored by the United Nations, Germany and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), included a detailed discussion by the Government of the Central African Republic on its plans to restructure its defence and security forces and to alleviate poverty. In addition, donors took the occasion to announce pledges in excess of $33 million.
The head of the Central African Republic delegation, Prime Minister Georges- Anicet Dologuélé, will also meet with the Secretary-General at 4 this afternoon.
**Appointment
The Security Council today concurred with the Secretary-General's intention to appoint Jean Arnaud as his Representative and Head of the United Nations Office in Burundi. The exchange of letters is on the racks, including Arnaud's bio. Mr. Arnaud has been the Special Representative in Guatemala since 1997, having been involved since 1992 in the peace negotiations which resulted in a comprehensive peace plan in December 1996. He replaces Cheikh Tidiane Sy, who was recently shifted from Burundi to take over the new Peace-building Support Office in the Central African Republic.
Mr. Arnaud will take up his duties as of 1 June.
**East Timor
On East Timor, the UNHCR reported in Geneva that Indonesian officials today told East Timorese refugees the Government will improve distribution of food rations and basic services in the camps in West Timor.
In another development, a total of 267 East Timorese refugees were scheduled to sail later today from the West Timor province capital of Kupang for Dili in East Timor. This is the first repatriation by ship to Dili since 28 April, when the pace of returns began to slow down sharply.
The total number of returns since October is now more than 161,000. The rate of returns, however, remains extremely low.
**Mary Robinson in Brazil
Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, is visiting Brazil and signed a Memorandum of Intent on technical cooperation this morning. This is the first step towards a possible full-fledged cooperation agreement, whereby the Office of the High Commissioner would provide technical assistance to Brazil in order to improve the human rights situation in that country. Mrs. Robinson also met with President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. More details in the briefing notes from Geneva.
**Secretary-General Visits Harlem School
The Secretary-General this morning visited Saint Charles Borromeo School in Harlem. He addressed several hundred young children, visited their classrooms and took questions from them and posed questions to them. On returning, he said he was very happy to begin his day with these young, stimulating people. He said: They talked about dreaming -- we do a lot of that here -- that one must dream and that one should get an education, and that they can be anything they want to be. And if you fail, try a little harder." He continued: "I thought I had gone to give them a message, but they sang a beautiful song that gave me a message. It was a happy school, and I've always maintained that a good school is a happy one. We have some film about the visit that we can show to you, also.
**Weekly Updates
We have the weekly update from the Office of the Iraq Programme on the oil figures. We put it out yesterday afternoon, and if you missed it, you can pick it up in my Office.
**Catherine Bertini
Catherine Bertini, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) and Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on the Drought in the Horn of Africa, will brief on her recent mission to the affected region and on the action being taken by the United Nations system to implement her recommendations. The meeting is open to interested media. It will take place today, in Conference room 3, from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
**Tomorrow's Guest
The guest at tomorrow's noon briefing will be Ambassador Peggy Mason of Canada, who is the Chair of the Experts Group Meeting on Small Arms.
**UNCA Announcement
Finally, the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) has asked me to tell you about a press event today at 1 p.m. in the UNCA Lounge: The First Space Pix, (which, I think, means pictures) of Nuke Sites (I think "nuke" means nuclear. This must be the "Daily News".) Spy photos show India and Pakistan expanding missile programmes.
That's it from us, and I hope you enjoy it. Any questions before we go to Mr. Petrov and Tajikistan?
** Questions and Answers
Question: On Sierra Leone, has the Secretary-General been in contact again with (President) Charles Taylor (of Liberia) with respect to further assistance in the release of the peacekeepers?
Answer: I'm not aware of any conversation in the last 48 hours or so. Mr. Adeniji, his Special Representative (in Sierra Leone) is in Monrovia and has been meeting with President Taylor, and has been coordinating with him this evacuation of the released detainees.
Question: As a follow-up to that, the Special Representative indicated yesterday - at least we saw on the wires - that he predicted more releases. Have you seen anything on that? Have you seen any reports of that?
Answer: We've seen no further movements of the remaining 350 still inside Sierra Leone. All the focus is on getting this 139 out of the small border town to the Liberian capital and from there back to Sierra Leone. We're also concerned about their condition, and so when we see them, we'll get some assessment on how they stood up in the last 10 days or so, whether they were properly fed. We're trying to bring in stress counsellors, in case any of them need counselling.
Question: Where's Foday Sankoh (RUF leader)?
Answer: We still have no word on that.
Question: Do you have a sense of who (President) Taylor is negotiating with and how exactly he's working to secure their release?
Answer: No, I can't say who he has been negotiating with. There are field commanders in the areas where these detainees are being held. I assume that some contacts with them would have been necessary, but I can't honestly say who Taylor has spoken with.
Question: The remaining detainees -- how many different locations are they being held in? Do you know any details of where and how many they are?
Answer: It's hard to get any specifics on that. We've said that the first group of Zambians, we assume, were taken to Koidu in the East. The second group of Zambians, we still have not contact with; we don't know where they are. Anyone else?
Question: Any information on the items retrieved from Sankoh's house?
Answer: Those documents taken from Sankoh's house are, to my knowledge, in the hands of the Sierra Leonean Government. It's they who have been making statements about what the documents contained. I have nothing to add to what the Government had said.
Mr. Petrov, welcome to the briefing.
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