DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000517The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon. Our guest today is Ambassador Peggy Mason of Canada, who is here to speak about the work of the Expert Group on Small Arms, which she chairs.
**Sierra Leone
We have several developments to report to you from Sierra Leone. Foday Sankoh, leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), was captured around 6 a.m. local time and is now in the custody of the Sierra Leonean police. Some had added to that "under the auspices of the United Nations". He is not under the auspices of the United Nations. He is in the custody of the Sierra Leonean police.
Ninety-three former United Nations detainees -- 14 Kenyans and 79 Zambians -- arrived in Freetown late last night. They appeared to be in reasonably good condition. Two were suffering from malaria. The remaining 46 former detainees are still in the Liberian border town of Foya and are expected to be transported to Monrovia and returned to Freetown today. We are extremely concerned about reports that some of those remaining in Foya may be injured and may require urgent medical assistance. They will receive the necessary care at the Lungi Reception Centre, set up to clothe, feed and look after the released detainees.
The calm we reported to you yesterday was shattered by renewed fighting, which was reported in Port Loko, about 40 kilometres north-east of Freetown, and at Lungi Loi near Lungi International Airport servicing Freetown. The attack on Port Loko by the RUF on Tuesday evening resulted in the death of one Nigerian soldier, according to the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL). At least six other Nigerian soldiers were wounded and flown to Freetown. There were no United Nations casualties reported from the attack earlier today at Lungi Loi.
The United Nations humanitarian agencies and their partners continued to provide assistance and assess the needs of newly displaced populations where access was possible. A key humanitarian concern was over agriculture programmes, which were to begin this month to coincide with the planting season, but were now severely threatened by the current instability.
Developments over the past 24 hours have further delayed the Secretary- General's report on Sierra Leone to the Security Council. The final version is expected to reach the Secretary-General by the end of the day. The Security Council will most likely hear a briefing on the latest developments in Sierra Leone later today.
**Security Council Consultations
This morning, the Security Council began an open debate on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is in progress as we speak. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke of the United States, who led the seven-member Security Council delegation that visited the Central African region last week, opened the debate by discussing the report the team prepared on its visit.
Starting at 4 p.m., the Council will return to its closed consultations on Ethiopia and Eritrea, on which Council members have been considering a draft resolution. Following yesterday's consultations on that topic, Council members have held "expert-level" talks this morning on the draft resolution, which still contains several bracketed passages (on which agreement has not yet been reached). There is a possibility that, following this afternoon's consultations, the Council may proceed to a formal vote.
As far as the situation on the ground is concerned, there continue to be reports of heavy fighting along the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea, following the resumption of combat last Friday.
**Statement Attributable to Spokesman for Secretary-General
I am pleased to announce that the proximity talks on Cyprus between His Excellency Mr. Glafcos Clerides and His Excellency Mr. Rauf Denktash will resume in Geneva on 5 July. They will be opened by the Secretary-General.
**Special Adviser for Africa on Mission to Angola
Ibrahim Gambari, the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General for Special Assignments in Africa, has begun a weeklong visit to Angola. Yesterday afternoon, he arrived in the capital, Luanda, and met later in the day with Angolan Foreign Minister Joao Miranda.
Over the coming week, Mr. Gambari is expected to hold discussions with the Angolan Government on a variety of issues, including the prospects for a negotiated peace settlement in that country, as well as for elections intended for next year, and the role of the United Nations Office in Angola. Tomorrow, he is scheduled to meet President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, and on Saturday he is expected to travel to Huambo, to see first-hand the conditions of internally displaced persons there.
Also in news on Angola, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) today issued their findings of a joint crop and food supply assessment mission, which ended a two-week visit to Angola on 3 May. According to the mission, the number of internally displaced persons in Angola is now nearly 2.6 million, of whom 1.9 million need urgent humanitarian assistance. The two agencies estimate that some 333,000 tons of emergency food assistance will be needed from other countries during the year-long period from last month through March 2001.
We have copies of the highlights of the mission's findings available upstairs.
**ICTY Seeks Clarification on Yugoslav Indictee
Following reports that the Yugoslav Defence Minister, Dragoljub Ojdanic, was in Moscow last week and met with Russian officials, Claude Jorda, the President of the International Criminal Tribunal, sent a letter today to the Russian Embassy in The Hague seeking clarifications as to why a person indicted by the Tribunal was not arrested. The Prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, said she is alarmed by that report and is seeking clarification.
Mr. Ojdanic was indicted on 26 May of last year, along with President Slobodan Milosevic and three others, for crimes committed in 1999 in Kosovo. He was indicted for crimes against humanity and violations of laws and customs of war. Copies of the indictment and of the international arrest warrants were distributed last year to all the Members of the United Nations.
The Tribunal is not aware of any other travel by any of the five people who were indicted on 26 May last year.
**Secretary-General Calls on Member States to Rededicate to Treaties
In a letter sent to all Member States today, the Secretary-General calls upon all of them to use the Millennium Summit to rededicate themselves to the international legal framework and actively contribute to the strengthening of the rule of law by signing, ratifying or acceding to any of the 500 treaties deposited with him.
The Secretary-General has particularly identified 25 core treaties, which reflect the key policy goals of the United Nations, including a range of human rights conventions, treaties on refugees and stateless persons, as well as on international criminal matters, disarmament and environment. A press release is available.
**Kofi Annan Peace Garden to Be Inaugurated Today
At 6 p.m., the Secretary-General is scheduled to go with his wife Nane to the Cancer Society, in midtown Manhattan, to attend the inauguration of a garden there, which is to be called the "Kofi Annan Peace Garden".
The Peace Garden includes mosaics dedicated to the themes of restoration, remembrance and forgiving, which were inspired by the experiences of children from Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Children from the United Nations International School helped lay the tiles that comprise the mosaics. We have copies of the Secretary-General's remarks for the inauguration, embargoed until 6 p.m., in which he notes that, "while the United Nations seeks to heal the wounds of war, this Garden is a place for inner healing".
**Chairman of Financial Stability Forum to Brief Prepcom for Financing for Development
Andrew Crockett, Chairman of the Financial Stability Forum, the main international committee dealing with reform of global financial architecture, will meet tomorrow with the United Nations Preparatory Committee for an upcoming global meeting on financing for development. Mr. Crockett, who is also General Manager of the Basel, Switzerland-based Bank for International Settlements, will brief members of the United Nations community at 11 a.m. in the Trusteeship Council Chamber. For further information, call Tim Wall at (212) 963-5851.
**Payments
Cambodia became the eighty-eighth Member State to be paid in full for the year 2000 regular budget. They made a payment today of just over $10,000. **Questions and Answers
Question: Is the United Nations concerned that the detention of Foday Sankoh going to influence negotiations over the remaining United Nations detainees? Also, would the Organization still consider him a key player in the peace process, taking account that he was a signatory of the Lomé accord and is now in custody?
Spokesman: We are concerned that his capture could complicate the arrangements currently under way concerning the release of the remaining detainees. It is too soon to say what impact it would have.
With regards to your second question, the Sierra Leonean Government is the first one to make the judgement call on the future of the peace process and Foday Sankoh's relationship to that. I understand they have been meeting at the cabinet level for a few hours now and we are waiting to see what comes out of that meeting.
Question: Has President Taylor opened the channel of communication with any of Sankoh's subordinates in the field, or is that channel between the two of them?
Spokesman: I don't know. You would have to ask him. I did say yesterday that he most likely had contact with at least a field commander in the east, in whose territory the detainees who were released yesterday had been held. But, I was just guessing.
Question: Whose custody is Foday Sankoh really in? Is UNOMSIL playing any role in keeping him at the moment?
Spokesman: No. We have no role in that. My understanding is that he was arrested by the Sierra Leonean police and is now in their custody. There are a lot of other details that I cannot confirm, but which have been made public by the British and others concerning the circumstances under which he was arrested and taken to Lungi airport. Our position is that he is now in the custody of the Sierra Leonean police and Government.
Question: How many hostages have been released? Were those who were reported to be injured or seriously ill from Foya or from the broader group of injured United Nations peacekeepers? Also, is there any way for more information to come from Liberia?
Spokesman: The numbers are always fluctuating. One hundred and thirty- nine is the number the Liberian Government gave us. They had made arrangements with the RUF to have them released. We are assuming that the total is 139, but until we get them out of Foya, we would not know. My impression was that those described as injured, by President Taylor of Liberia in a press conference he gave yesterday, were among the remaining freed peacekeepers in Foya. Why they were not medivaced immediately -- why they were left last -- I don't know. Until we get there and see these people, we would not know what their condition is.
On the communications with Monrovia, we have relied on the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone to communicate to us the things that have been happening in Monrovia since they pertained to that Mission. Communication has not always been reliable and we will try to improve it, but we have to work with what we have.
Question: Does the United Nations plan to talk with Sankoh for him to intercede to have the hostages released, or is the Organization going to work through the Sierra Leone Government?
Spokesman: We certainly will be talking to the Government and, as I said, it has been meeting at cabinet level and is expected to issue a statement. I think we will be looking closely at that statement. I believe that the Special Representative would like to speak to Mr. Sankoh if only to try to move along the release of all of the detained United Nations personnel.
Question: What stage are the negotiations at for the release of the 358 remaining hostages? Does the United Nations welcome the arrest of Mr. Sankoh.
Spokesman: President Taylor has been tasked by the West African heads of State to take the lead on getting the detainees released, and we will continue to work with him and all others who can possibly have any influence on that situation.
The political situation has been clouded by our not knowing the whereabouts of Foday Sankoh. He was a member of the Government and a signatory of the Peace Agreement. So, in a sense, it is a relief to know where he is and we are waiting to see what the Government's reaction would be to his arrest. You would recall that when the Government agreed to extend an amnesty to Mr. Sankoh and we were asked to witness that agreement, we entered a reservation in signing as a witness, saying that we did not recognize the amnesty as extending to violations of international law.
Question: Ambassador Holbrooke, referring to the situation in Kisangani, said in the Security Council this morning that the Secretary-General had been in touch with a number of countries. What were those countries and what is the likelihood of getting troops there?
Spokesman: I can't get into those details. It is possible to switch the deployment plan to put Kisangani at the top of the list. We are not ready to say what governments might have been approached for troops. Whether we could actually accomplish that or not is not entirely in our hands. That has to do with how quickly governments would make their troops available.
Question: Has the Secretary-General been in touch with President Taylor since the arrest of Sankoh?
Spokesman: No, he spoke to him most recently yesterday afternoon. In response to a question at the briefing yesterday on whether they had been in touch, I said I was not aware of any contact within the last 48 hours, but then there was contact yesterday afternoon by phone. I am not aware of any contact since then.
Question: Do you have any details on why the Nigerian and others were killed? Also, with reference to your comment on Lungi Loi, were you referring to the British clash with the rebels there or the United Nations clash? Spokesman: At Lungi Loi, there was an exchange with about 40 RUF in which three of them were killed. There were no casualties on the British side. Port Loko was a much bigger operation. About 500 RUF attacked simultaneously from the east and the west. On one side of the town, the Nigerian peacekeepers were based and on the other the Sierra Leonean army. The RUF used mortars and, as a result of that, one Nigerian was killed and a number injured. On the Sierra Leonean side, there were also casualties, but I don't have those numbers to give to you. In the end, the attack, which was a serious one, was repelled.
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