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, and Shirley Brownell, Spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly.

Good afternoon. I apologize for the delay.

**Secretary-General on Verification Process in Lebanon

I have a statement attributable to the Spokesman on the subject of Lebanon:

“The Secretary-General continues to follow very closely developments on the ground in southern Lebanon. He believes that the parties have come a long way: Israel towards complete withdrawal, and Lebanon towards the reassertion of its sovereignty and territorial integrity. It is the Secretary-General's earnest wish that this process should be completed as soon as possible.

“The United Nations, for its part, has completed the task of drawing up and marking a line on the ground, so as to be able to verify Israeli withdrawal form Lebanon. The verification process has now begun, and the Secretary-General has given instructions to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to complete their task urgently -- if possible, within the next 24 hours. Verification is the sole responsibility of the UNIFIL, but the task will require the full cooperation of the parties, which the Secretary-General is confident of receiving.”

**Verification Work Continues in Lebanon

The work of the United Nations verification teams who are trying to determine Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon has been proceeding, but following a brief postponement due to technical problems which had to be overcome, more work will need to be done tomorrow.

United Nations verification teams continued to work with Israeli experts on Israel's side of the withdrawal line, and other teams, in tandem with Lebanese experts, will resume their verification work on the Lebanese side of the line tomorrow.

We don't have any prognosis yet on when the Secretary-General will inform the Security Council about the results of the verification work. He is expected to inform the Council by letter once the Force Commander of UNIFIL, Major General Seth- Kofi Obeng, reports to him on the verification teams' work.

**Secretary-General, United Nations Humanitarian Agencies 'Deeply Dismayed' by Continued Violence in Kisangani

Despite an agreement by Rwanda and Uganda to cease fire yesterday, fighting raged in the north-eastern town of Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the fifth straight day.

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 9 June 2000

Hundreds of people have been reported dead and wounded and the humanitarian situation is worsening by the day. There is no electricity or running water in the town. Heavy shelling has put a halt to United Nations humanitarian operations.

We just spoke with the Force Commander who says that the United Nations mission in Kisangani was working on a humanitarian ceasefire in that town so that urgently needed assistance could be provided to the population.

We have a statement issued by the heads of the humanitarian agencies. In this joint statement, the heads of the World Food Programme (WFP), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) call on all parties involved in the fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to cease hostilities immediately. The statement says: "We are deeply dismayed about the situation facing civilians in Kisangani, especially children and women, many of whom are already malnourished." It goes on: "We urge the Governments of Rwanda and Uganda to immediately end the fighting that is killing innocent civilians.”

The United Nations organizations said that the entire civilian population of Kisangani was under fire and completely cut off from humanitarian relief. They underscored their concern about the current inability of humanitarian organizations to move urgently needed relief goods across front lines. In addition, they noted that vaccines in cold storage in Kisangani were being compromised due to the lack of electricity for refrigeration.

**Secretary-General's Kosovo Report: Despite 'Great Progress', Some Minority Communities Still Threatened

Out as a document today is the Secretary-General's report to the Security Council on the United Nations Interim Administration on Kosovo (UNMIK), which was established by the Council on 10 June 1999.

While noting that the United Nations Mission has made "great progress" over the past 12 months, the Secretary-General says "regrettably" some aspects of Kosovo society have not changed. Kosovo Serbs and other minority communities continue to be murdered, attacked and threatened. United Nations staff members have been murdered by extremists motivated by ethnic hatred.

Meanwhile, the UNHCR, which returned to Kosovo a year ago next week to help hundreds of thousands of Albanians begin rebuilding their lives, released together with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) a report on minorities in Kosovo saying that Serbs have been disproportionately the victims of violent attacks.

Bernard Kouchner, the Special Representative for Kosovo, elaborated on the Secretary-General’s report in a public meeting of the Security Council attended by the Secretary-General, and he will speak to you in this room afterwards.

**Negotiations Continue for Release of UN Personnel in Pendembu, Sierra Leone

There was no change in the status of 21 United Nations personnel in Pendembu, Sierra Leone. Negotiations for their release are continuing. Supplies are getting to them daily, however. In the north, in the town of Kabala, on which we reported to you yesterday, life appears to be returning to normal. There had been no fighting reported for the past 24 hours, according to a report that came in to us fresh from that town just a few minutes ago.

**Security Council Extends 'Oil-for-Food' Programme by Unanimous Vote in Late Night Session

Late Thursday night, the Security Council voted unanimously to extend the "oil-for-food" programme for Iraq by an eighth phase, lasting another 180 days, that happened just before midnight, when Phase VII of the plan expired.

In its resolution, the Council would allow Iraq to spend $600 million from its oil sales to purchase spare parts for its oil industry. The Council also invited the Secretary-General to appoint independent experts to prepare a comprehensive report and analysis of the humanitarian situation in Iraq, by 26 November.

**Secretary-General's Weekend Speeches Available

We are making available, on an embargoed basis, three speeches that the Secretary-General will deliver over the weekend on his trip to Washington, D.C., and California. The speeches include an address to the American-Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee this evening in Arlington, Virginia; his commencement address at Stanford University on Sunday; and remarks later that day to the California-based group Roots of Peace, on a demining initiative.

**Secretary-General to Address Charity for 'Children of Chernobyl'

Next Tuesday, the Secretary-General will contribute a message to a gala dinner at Sotheby's, co-chaired by Steven Spielberg and Elie Wiesel, to aid an Israeli charity, "Chabad's Children of Chernobyl". That group is arranging treatment for children who are suffering from cancer and other ailments as a result of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl disaster 14 years ago.

We have copies of the message available upstairs.

**Secretary-General's UNMIBH Report Notes 'Significant Advances', Recommends Security Council Extend Mandate

Available on the racks this morning is the Secretary-General’s report on the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH).

The Secretary-General notes that while UNMIBH has achieved significant results in the past 12 months, such as the establishment of the State Border Service and the multi-ethnic Brcko district police force, the rate of return of refugees is still unsatisfactory and far below expectations.

He recommends that the Security Council extend UNMIBH’s mandate for a further 12-month period, until 21 June 2001.

The Council will be discussing Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday of next week, when it will be briefed by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Jacques Klein. We will try to have Mr. Klein available to you here following his briefing to the Council.

**Payment

On budget news: We received a payment yesterday for the United Nations peacekeeping budget from Ukraine in an amount of $11.1 million. Although this is not a full payment, it is enough to bring them above the Article 19 threshold, which means they now regain their vote in the General Assembly.

**WHO Launches Action Plan to Head off Health Crisis in Horn of Africa

Today the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a special action plan to try and save the countries of the Horn of Africa and their 13.4 million people from plummeting into a health crisis that threatens to turn the current food shortages into another devastating famine.

An investment of just over $25 million will substantially reduce death and illness from preventable diseases and save thousands of lives in the coming months.

You can see the press release on that if you're interested.

**Afternoon Press Conferences

In addition to Dr. Bernard Kouchner who will be coming here as soon as he's finished in the Council, there are two other press conferences this afternoon.

At 2:30 p.m., the Permanent Mission of Bosnia and Herzegovina is hosting a press conference by the delegation of Kosovo Serbs led by Bishop Artemije and Dr. Rada Trajkovic, Representative of the Kosovo Serbs on the Kosovo Interim Administrative Council.

Then, at 3:30 p.m., "Voices from War Zones: Women Speak Out", with non- governmental organization representatives from Sierra Leone, Fiji, East Timor, Colombia, Nepal, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

**Week Ahead at United Nations

And we also have the week ahead for you. I won't take up your time by reading from it, but please see it and you'll get a clue of what's happening here next week.

Any question before we go to Shirley on what we hope will be the last day of the General Assembly special session on women?

**Question-and-Answer Session

Question: As you spoke about the payment to the peacekeeping budget, I was wondering about the remaining debts from the Congo operation that had difficulties some time ago. Was this issue solved? Who is assuming that responsibility?

Spokesman: From the 1960s? The General Assembly put that owed money in a special account in which it would not apply towards the loss of vote penalty. So

that was a political solution to that problem. That debt is still on the books, but does not count towards loss of vote.

**Briefing By Spokeswoman for General Assembly President

The General Assembly will conclude its twenty-third special session on women later today, after adopting an outcome document calling on governments to undertake further actions and initiatives to implement the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action. The document focuses on major areas and concerns that have emerged as priority items since the adoption of the Platform for Action at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, and in this context will update the Beijing Platform.

The document seeks to further strengthen the Platform in the areas of violence against women, trafficking in women, health, education, human rights, poverty, debt and globalization, armed conflict, sovereignty, land and inheritance rights for women, political participation and decision-making.

The debate continues this morning and afternoon in the plenary. The Journal lists the names and titles of the speakers, although representatives of several of the United Nations bodies mentioned will now make their statements in the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole.

The two Working Groups of the Ad Hoc Committee are conducting final negotiations on the outcome document (A/S-23/2/Add. 2, Parts I to IV), having worked into the early hours of this morning. According to the Chairperson of the Ad Hoc Committee, Christine Kapalata (United Republic of Tanzania), the Committee is “almost there”. Only six paragraphs in part IV of the document remain to be agreed; elsewhere in the document, some important sticky issues are still pending.

For today, the Ad Hoc Committee will reconvene in informal consultations, at 12:30 p.m., to adopt the negotiated paragraphs, with a view to a formal meeting at 3 p.m. At that time, the Committee will hear statements by United Nations organizations and a number of non-governmental organizations. It will then adjourn for final consultations on the document, and will resume the formal meeting later to adopt the text.

The Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women, Yakin Erturk, then answered correspondents’ substantive questions about the final document of the special session. [A summary of that briefing will be issued separately.]

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