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 Marie Okabe, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good Afternoon.

**In Lomé, Togo, Secretary-General, ECOWAS Leaders Discuss Sierra Leone

The Secretary-General continued his visit to Lomé, Togo, today. He had a number of bilateral meetings, all of which I won't name, but I will tell you that they included, among others, the President of Rwanda and the President of Eritrea.

Going back to Monday, he met with the heads of State and government and heads of delegation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Committee on Sierra Leone. Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria and Togo make up that group. The President of Sierra Leone, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, also took part in that meeting.

Early Tuesday, a communiqué was issued on the deliberations of that meeting and we have copies upstairs. The participants demanded that the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) restore immediately and without conditions the freedom of movement of the United Nations personnel, in particular the peacekeepers and military observers in Kailahun in the eastern part of the country. Participants also discussed the need to establish coordination mechanisms to strengthen the cohesiveness of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone. It was also agreed that the Secretary-General would hold a meeting in the coming days with the Commanders of the Armed Forces of the ECOWAS member states which are contributing troops to the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) -- Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria.

**Situation in Sierra Leone described as 'Calm but Tense'

Meanwhile, the situation in Sierra Leone can be described as “calm but tense”. The RUF have officially turned down the United Nations Mission's request to re-supply United Nations personnel at Kailahun by helicopter. Efforts at every level continued to be made to re-supply this contingent.

H(di Annabi, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, is briefing the Security Council on Sierra Leone in closed consultations this morning.

**Security Council Notes

In addition to the item on Sierra Leone, the Security Council also received this morning the Secretary General’s report on the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP). In his report, as you know, the Secretary-General recommends that the mandate be extended for a further six months.

The report was made available to you late last week. There are no Security Council consultations scheduled for tomorrow. The next round of consultations is scheduled for Thursday when, I believe, the item is on Kosovo.

**De Mul Heads to Kandahar for Talks as Taliban Decrees No Afghan Women Can Work for UN Agencies, NGOs

Turning to Afghanistan, the United Nations Coordinator for that country, Erick de Mul, will travel to Kandahar tomorrow -- that's Wednesday -- to hold discussions with the Taliban Foreign Minister Mullah Mutawwakil. The discussions will focus on the edict issued in Kabul last week that prohibits Afghan women from working with national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and United Nations agencies in Afghanistan.

On Wednesday and Thursday last week, Radio Shariat in Kabul, and local newspapers in the Afghan capital issued a new edict promulgated by the Vice- Minister of Planning, according to which Afghan women were no longer allowed to work with NGOs or United Nations agencies. Concurrently, humanitarian organizations in Afghanistan received a letter from the Ministry of Planning, reiterating the new rule in writing.

While women are not allowed to work in Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan, in the past, exceptions had been made for women working in the health sector and in various essential capacities in national and international organizations. Country wide, hundreds of women would be affected by this new edict. Without their continued participation, many humanitarian assistance programmes in Afghanistan will be severely affected.

Mr. de Mul's mission is a follow-up to meetings between local authorities, United Nations agencies and NGOs in Kabul and in Islamabad, seeking clarification and resolution of this issue. The United Nations hopes that this issue will be resolved soon so as to avoid any negative impact on the provision of much needed humanitarian aid at such a critical moment for the populations in Afghanistan who are currently suffering from one of the worst droughts in decades, in addition to the effects of 22 years of civil strife.

**Secretary-General Appoints New UNDOF Force Commander

The Secretary-General has appointed Major General Bo Lennart Wranker of Sweden as Force Commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), with effect from 1 August 2000. He will succeed Major General Cameron Ross of Canada who has served as head of mission since 1 October 1998.

There is an exchange of letters upstairs as documents to the Security Council.

**Secretary-General Stresses Debt Relief for Poor Countries in Letter to G-8 Summit

We also have upstairs in our office, a letter that the Secretary-General addressed to the forthcoming Summit of the Group of 8 in Okinawa, Japan. In the letter, the Secretary-General speaks of the need for debt relief for poor countries where servicing the debt was to the detriment of health, education and other essential social services. He underlines suggestions for accelerated debt relief and draws attention to the role of information technology in development. **Srebrenica Commemoration

As we mentioned to you yesterday, today is the fifth anniversary of the fall of Srebrenica. The Secretary-General’s representative, David Harland, delivered a message on his behalf to the Srebrenica Report Symposium, which is taking place today in Conference Room 4. “We cannot undo this tragedy, but it is vitally important that the right lessons be learned, and applied in the future”, he said in his message.

Meanwhile, in Potochari, Bosnia today, over 3,000 people attended a prayer service marking the anniversary. High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jacques Klein, attended the commemoration, as did representatives of the international community and local authorities.

Other than a few minor incidents, the event took place very peacefully, our Mission (UNMIBH) reports to us today.

**'Oil-for-Food' Programme Update

The regular weekly update from the Iraq Programme is also available upstairs. It shows that Iraq exported 4.8 million barrels of oil last week and that the total revenue so far in Phase VIII is just under $1.1 billion.

There's not much else new to report -- the Office of the Iraq Programme is awaiting the arrival of the Distribution Plan for Phase VIII. In the meantime, the 661 Committee continues to approve and put on hold contracts for humanitarian supplies and oil equipment for earlier phases. These supplies continue to come into the country in significant quantities -- last week, 100,000 tons of wheat arrived, as well as 13,000 tons of rice.

If you would like more information, please contact John Mills of the Office of the Iraq Programme at (212) 963-3054.

**Other Press Releases Available Today

Also available in our office is a message from Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, on the occasion of World Population Day, which is today.

We also have two press releases from UNAIDS on the immense impact of HIV/AIDS on the economies of hard-hit countries, and on the PETRA study concerning mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

Also available is an embargoed press release from UNAIDS on finding a germicide to fight HIV.

You can also pick up in our office today’s briefing notes from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), from their briefing in Geneva, which contains updates on Eritrea, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Timor.

**Pakistan Signs Convention on Arrest of Ships

This morning, Pakistan became the first country to sign the Convention on Arrest of Ships. The Convention, which was adopted on 12 March 1999, remains open for signature until 31 August.

**Luxembourg Signs Cartegena Protocol on Bio-Safety

Also this morning, Luxembourg became the 61st country to sign the Cartegena Protocol on Bio-Safety to the Convention on Biological Diversity. This Protocol, adopted on 29 January of this year, will remain open for signature until 4 June 2001.

**Payment

And finally, on budget matters, the United Arab Emirates has become the 99th Member State to pay their dues in full towards the United Nations regular budget for this year by giving us a check today for over $1.8 million.

And that's our United Nations update today. Are there any questions?

**Questions and Answers

Question: Is President Charles Taylor of Liberia still working with the Secretary-General toward getting the United Nations peacekeepers released in light of last week’s Security Council resolution?

Associate Spokesperson: I have not heard reports of any recent, direct contacts between the Secretary-General and President Taylor, but as you know, we are in touch with all parties that can exert pressure on the RUF to secure the release of the 233 Indian peacekeepers and the military observers in Kailahun. I'm sure the Liberian leader would be included with those parties.

As you also know, President Taylor has been instrumental in securing the release of more than 500 United Nations peacekeepers who were detained during the month of May. Certainly, we are sparing no efforts to seek the freedom of the release of the United Nations personnel there.

Question: How is food aid being distributed in Afghanistan? Is it given to the Taliban or directly to the civilian population?

Associate Spokesperson: The United Nations Humanitarian Programme in Afghanistan is being conducted through United Nations international staff currently rotating out of Islamabad where they are based into areas where they have access. They work with the local United Nations staff. That Programme has been around for a long time so there are many national staff members assisting in the distribution of aid. They also receive essential help from NGOs. So, United Nations agencies or those organizations with which we work deliver the aid.

Question: Is all this with the permission of Taliban authorities?

Associate Spokesperson: Well, in areas that are controlled by the Taliban, we obviously have to work with the Taliban authorities in order to get access to the vulnerable populations that are the targets of our programmes. Question: It's been more than three months since the Secretary-General established the task force headed by Ambassador Brahimi. What have they been doing? Will a report be released on their deliberations?

Associate Spokesman: As you know, the Secretary-General did ask Ambassador Brahimi to look into the future of United Nations peacekeeping operations, with an aim toward how they could be conducted more effectively. The latest information that I have received is that the report on their work will be coming out at the end of July or in early August.

Question: What is the Secretary-General's reaction to the OAU Panel's suggestion that a commission be established on reparations for Rwanda?

Associate Spokesperson: The Secretary-General has not issued an official reaction to that recommendation. We issued a statement when the report was initially released in which he welcomed the study and hoped that it would serve to prevent the occurrence of future such incidents of genocide. I did see, however, that over the weekend he gave an interview where he spoke on the subject of reparations. He commented on the difficulties of setting up such a commission in terms of setting precedents for the future, as well as where the funds would come from.

Now while these were just press reports, I, as you know, this is not a decision the Secretary-General could make on his own. He would have to consult with the Member States, who would in turn have to decide whether they would want to create such a commission.

Question: Was the statement on debt relief the Secretary-General issued for the Group of 8 Summit in Okinawa made at their request or was it voluntary?

Associate Spokesman: I believe he did it voluntarily, but I will check on that and get back to you. It was a letter that he addressed to the Prime Minister of Japan in his capacity as the host of the Summit to be delivered to the participants. [The correspondent was later informed that the initiative to write the letter was the Secretary-General’s.]

Have a good afternoon.

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