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. A computer crashed today. That's my excuse for the delay.

**Lebanon

We're going to lead with Lebanon today. On entering the Building this morning, the Secretary-General told reporters that the situation on the ground in Lebanon today is "very calm". He had had a telephone conversation very early this morning with the Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). He also said that the UNIFIL had moved troops from its mobile reserve into areas vacated by the Israeli Defence Force and its allies on the ground, and that the area was quiet.

He said that what was happening on the ground today was "encouraging", and he renewed his call for all the parties in southern Lebanon to cooperate with the United Nations. Once the withdrawal is complete, the Secretary-General said, the United Nations would go to the border to try to confirm that a full withdrawal has, in fact, taken place.

Just over the past hour, the spokesman for the UNIFIL, Timur Goksel, described to us the region vacated by the Israelis as "unexpectedly calm". However, he noted, in order to alleviate anxiety about the sudden withdrawal of the Israeli forces from a 60-kilometre-wide swath -- which stretches from Naqoura on the western shore to more eastern villages like Taibe -- the United Nations troops are trying to maintain calm through reconnaissance activities and close contact with all parties.

Meanwhile, the Security Council yesterday afternoon considered the Secretary-General's report on the Middle East, and began consultations on a draft presidential statement endorsing the report and supporting the work of the United Nations and of the Secretary-General's Special Envoy, Terje Roed Larsen. Discussions on the text lasted until about 12:30 this morning before the Council adjourned.

This morning, an expert group worked on the draft presidential statement starting at about 10 a.m., while the Security Council held informal consultations on the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. They also discussed the situation in Somalia and then in Afghanistan.

After hearing a briefing from Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast on all three subjects, the Council then returned to discussions on the Lebanon presidential statement, and they now just went into a formal meeting to adopt it.

Later this afternoon, Mr. Larsen will leave New York to return to the region. He will fly initially to Beirut, in an effort to talk with all the relevant parties to ensure that the United Nations can quickly confirm the withdrawal once it has been accomplished.

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 23 May 2000

**Sierra Leone

The past 24 hours in Sierra Leone was reported calm with no firing incidents reported from any part of the country.

Regarding the six to eight bodies wearing remnants of uniforms with United Nations badges, the United Nations Mission has sent a team made up of military observers, civilian police and a human rights officer to the site at Rogberi Junction north-east of Freetown. The Mission has so far been unable to find forensic experts to help identify the decomposing bodies.

Another 29 hostages were transported yesterday afternoon from the Liberian border town of Foya to the capital Monrovia, but have yet to be handed over to the United Nations.

The total force strength as of this morning was reported at just over 10,700.

Insecurity continues to hamper the delivery of assistance to thousands of newly displaced civilians in the Lungi and Port Loko areas.

Here at Headquarters tomorrow, the Security Council is scheduled to take up the Secretary-General's report on Sierra Leone.

**Ethiopia/Eritrea

Concerning Ethiopia/Eritrea, the World Food Programme (WFP) today announced that it had launched an urgent airlift of high-protein biscuits to tens of thousands of Eritreans displaced by fighting between Ethiopia and Eritrea. This morning, two WFP-chartered C-130 Hercules aircraft, each carrying 14 metric tons of high-protein food, left for Asmara. An additional WFP flight from Entebbe, Uganda, also departed this morning for Asmara, delivering approximately 40 metric tons of high-protein biscuits aboard an Ilyushin-76 aircraft.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says it has so far registered 11,500 Eritrean refugees in four transit centres in the Sudan, but we estimate that up to 20,000 people have arrived over the past few days. Tens of thousands more may be on their way.

The first of three Eritrea-bound cargo planes carrying United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) relief supplies was also expected to arrive in Asmara today. That shipment includes 40 tonnes of medicines (antibiotics and anti- malarials); medical equipment (including 370,000 auto-disposable syringes); water purification tablets, skimmed milk and water containers.

Within Eritrea, access to the large number of displaced people remains problematic due to the ongoing conflict. The WFP said the immense challenge is how to rapidly feed a highly mobile population which is without water, cooking pots and fuel, and that in these situations high-protein biscuits are the one of the best solutions.

**Fiji

We announced very late yesterday, after 8 p.m. I think, that at the request of the Secretary-General, the Special Representative in East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, would be leaving this morning for Fiji as the Secretary-General's Special Envoy to assess the situation in Fiji. Mr. Vieira de Mello was expected to meet Fiji's President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara to convey to the Government and leaders of political parties the Secretary-General's concern about unconstitutional and violent actions intended to bring about a change in government.

In a statement released last night, the Secretary-General urged the release of the hostages and the restoration of democratic rule in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of the Fiji Islands.

En route to Fiji, Mr. Vieira de Mello stopped off in the Solomon Islands, where he was to join up with the Secretary-General of the British Commonwealth, Donald McKinnon, and the two of them were to go on to Fiji together.

**Western Sahara

The Secretary-General's report to the Security Council on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara -- called MINURSO -- has gone to the Council today, and we should have copies available upstairs shortly.

The report notes the visit by the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General, James Baker III, to the region last month, as well as the meeting of the parties in face-to-face talks in London on 14 May. The Secretary-General notes that, although Morocco and the POLISARIO Front -- along with observer delegations from Algeria and Mauritania -- met in direct talks for the first time since 1997 for a "frank exchange" of views, "the meeting was inconclusive".

He said that Mr. Baker has called on the parties to bring specific solutions that they could agree to at a further meeting, to be held sometime in June, in order to achieve an early, durable and agreed resolution of their dispute. The Secretary-General voiced his hope that the parties will come forward with concrete proposals at that meeting.

He also recommends that the Security Council extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission, which expires at the end of this month, by another two months, until the end of July.

**UNDOF

There's also a report out today on the United Nations mission on the Golan Heights. This is the Secretary-General's report on the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). In it, the Secretary-General informs the Council that the situation in the Force's area of operation was calm. He urges the extension of the Force's mandate by six months, until the end of November, and draws attention to a shortfall of some $17 million in funding for the Force.

**Biosafety Protocol

From Nairobi, we have word that tomorrow, in Nairobi, the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol will open for signature. The Protocol was agreed to earlier this year after five years of negotiation. A signing ceremony will take place at the opening of the High-level Segment of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which is holding its fifth session at the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said: "By signing the Biosafety Protocol, governments will demonstrate that an effective regime for minimizing the potential risks posed by the trade or accidental release of agricultural and food products that have been genetically modified should soon become a reality." We have a press release upstairs, if you're interested in that.

**Olara Otunnu

The Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, has called on the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to follow its political commitments to the protection of war-affected children with concrete activities. Addressing an OSCE seminar in Warsaw this morning, Mr. Otunnu said the protection of children should be a central concern in the Organization's peace and security agenda, as well as OSCE-mandated field operations and post-conflict programmes. A press release on that should be available later today.

**Other Matters

Late yesterday afternoon, we announced the latest figures from the "oil-for- food" programme on Iraq. If you missed that, you can pick up a piece of paper in my Office.

We have available the weekly humanitarian update on Afghanistan, as well as a press release from the International Labour Organization (ILO) announcing a mission to Myanmar to discuss the issue of forced labour with authorities there.

And we also have the UNHCR briefing notes, which contain an item on internally displaced people living in inhuman conditions in Angola's northern provinces.

**UNCA

Finally, the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) asked me to tell you that there will be, at 1 o'clock today in the UNCA Club, a briefing titled, "Victims of Nuclear Age Speak". This is a press conference by the sufferers from atomic explosions. I assume that's in Japan.

**Questions and Answers

Question: From what you're saying, it sounds like UNIFIL is now deployed all over what was formerly known as the Israeli Security Zone. Am I correct in that, and how does that jive with what they were saying yesterday – that, at first, they were going to make sure that Israel had redeployed its forces, and only then they will come in? Spokesman: It doesn't jive and it isn't so. I didn't say that they moved into these areas and took them over and set up shop. They are merely showing the flag, carrying out reconnaissance missions to as many of these villages as possible to reassure the people who are very anxious at the lack of civil infrastructure as a result of the earlier-than-expected departure of Israeli and South Lebanon Army (SLA) troops. So, it's merely to calm the people. The situation is militarily calm, as we said, but we are trying to calm the remaining population by driving through these areas, not settling down anywhere. Our first major objective under the agreement, of course, is to verify the full withdrawal at the border once it's complete, and then to move inland.

Follow-up Question: So the reconnaissance at this point is only to show the flag as you say, or is it also the beginning of making sure that the Israeli withdrawal was completed?

Spokesman: It was a classic military reconnaissance, the practical effect of which we hope would be the calming of the civilian population. The Secretary- General's emphasis in his comments, made from the beginning, but in particular in the past two days, is let's manage this transition. It can be a calm, orderly transition, and he hopes that all the actors in the region will support his efforts to make it that.

Question: Did the reconnaissance mission encounter the Hezbollah at all, and has there been any contact outside the zone between UNIFIL and the Hezbollah?

Spokesman: I did not hear that there was any contact with Hezbollah, but I didn't specifically put that question to the spokesman.

Follow-up Question: Has there been any consultation with Hezbollah? I noticed that there was a statement from the head of Hezbollah this morning saying that the Secretary-General's report referring to the Shaba farms was a catastrophe, and had been drawn up by the American and Israeli foreign ministries. That sounds like an ominous remark to me.

Spokesman: I didn't hear that comment. I don't want to say anything about it. You were briefed in this room on the Larsen mission and the research into the border line for the sake of marking the ground, putting a line on the ground, which would guide us in confirming the withdrawal of the Israeli forces. It was conducted by the head of our Cartographic Section here.

I don't know about specific contact with Hezbollah, but the Secretary- General did say, coming into the Building this morning, that he expected the support of State and non-State actors. You can get his exact quote. We transcribed what he said.

Question: The Secretary-General this morning mentioned this force mobile reserve, how many are they, who are they, what exactly are they doing? Are these the ones that are just showing the flag?

Spokesman: Yes, and apparently it wasn't just the force mobile reserve, and I'll have to get for you a technical definition of what that is and what their numbers are. Timur Goksel told us that military observers and even civilians from the Mission were fanned out throughout this area. The idea was just to calm

people down and try to keep things calm. But we'll try to find out more about the force mobile reserve.

Question: Can we get any readout when the College of Commissioners meet for the first time today?

Spokesman: Yes, we'll try to ask Ewen Buchanan, the spokesman still for the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), to tell us whatever he can about that meeting.

Question: Do you have any idea when we can expect a report by the Secretary-General on the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) and the good offices mission on Cyprus?

Spokesman: That's a regularly scheduled thing. Frankly, off the top of my head, I don’t know when the next report is due, but if you check with me after the briefing, it'll be easy enough for me to tell you.

Question: Fred, you said that Mr. Larsen would be arriving in Beirut to hold discussions with all the parties. Could you spell out who the parties would be? Would that include the Syrians, the Hezbollah or ...?

Spokesman: I have no further details of his travels, but you'll recall that the last time he was in the region, he visited five countries. I don't know what his agenda will be. It starts in Beirut, he leaves today. We will be talking to him on a daily basis. So we'll probably be giving you further details on the agenda as his programme moves forward.

Question: One last question on Israel and Lebanon. I know that the Secretary-General said things were quiet, but I think that reports from the region indicated that there were still some fighting and even some shooting across the border. I'm just wondering whether this was quite the proper characterization.

Spokesman: Well, as I mentioned, we also spoke to Timur Goksel, the UNIFIL spokesman, who said it was extraordinarily quiet. I think that you have to say that's “in the Lebanese context”.

Okay, thank you very much.

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