DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000719The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon.
**Bertini at Briefing
We'll have, at the briefing today in a few minutes, Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP). She'll be talking to you about the United Nations response to the drought affecting more than 60 million people in Central and South Asia, particularly in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, India and Iran.
There was a joint press release issued today by the key United Nations humanitarian agencies and partner organizations, which we have available in my office.
**Kosovo
The registration of the population of Kosovo, which will be the basis for the voter registration for municipal elections planned for this fall, is ending today with over one million people registered.
Given that the United Nations in Kosovo estimated that those eligible to vote would have been around 1.2 million, the United Nations mission considers this a positive development. However, the fact that virtually no Serbs registered was clearly a setback for the mission.
The elections are expected to be sometime in October. The date has not yet been finalized. More than 20 political parties have been registered. Campaigning begins 45 days before the election date.
Meanwhile, the situation in northern Mitrovica remained tense. Hundreds of Serbs protesting the arrest of a Serb suspect by United Nations police Monday night, in connection with the harassment of a Kosovo Albanian, demonstrated for a second straight day.
Last night, the demonstrators targeted United Nations police. Two apartments housing United Nations police were broken into and looted by groups of Serbs. A United Nations police car was attacked and damaged.
Another evening demonstration is planned starting 7 p.m. Kosovo time, which is less than an hour from now.
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**Security Council
The Security Council is holding consultations this afternoon at 4:30 to review the draft text of a presidential statement on "the role of the Security Council in the prevention of armed conflicts". That is the theme of tomorrow's Security Council open meeting. Under the other matters on the agenda, Council members are expected to hear a briefing by Hédi Annabi, Assistant Secretary- General for peacekeeping, on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Secretary-General will open tomorrow's open meeting which, as of this morning, already had 27 countries on the speakers' list.
**Secretary-General's Return
This afternoon's consultation will follow the Security Council monthly luncheon with the Secretary-General, who is back at Headquarters today after a series of trips that took him from the Middle East, to Europe and to Africa.
Upon arriving at the building this morning, the Secretary-General took a few questions from journalists. On the Middle East Summit at Camp David, outside of Washington, he urged "all parties to really focus on the issues as we get down to the wire in the spirit of give and take and make the kind of compromise that is necessary for them to get compromises so that we can move on.
He also answered questions on the Moluccas and on Sierra Leone. We have a transcript of his answers in my office.
**Sierra Leone
Humanitarian agencies are reporting that thousands of internally displaced people continue to gather in Kenema in the southeast part of Sierra Leone. They appear to be coming from Tongo Fields and neighbouring villages, having fled fighting over the weekend. At present, the agencies on the ground appear equipped to handle the influx.
In response to your request, we have booked the Force Commander of the United Nations mission in Sierra Leone, Major General Vejay Jetley, head of the military component of the United Nations mission, to speak to you at about noon- time on Tuesday of next week, here in 226. We will give you a more precise time as we get closer to the date.
**Humanitarian Appeal for Eritrea
The United Nations Country Team in Eritrea today appealed for $87.3 million to address priority humanitarian needs for the more than 1.1 million war- affected Eritreans through the end of the year 2000.
The revised appeal brings together the relief aid requirements of eight United Nations agencies providing, among other things, food, agricultural inputs, shelter and household items, water and sanitation, health and nutrition
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and education. These programmes are designed to provide immediate assistance to the most vulnerable and to help Eritreans return home to rebuild their shattered communities.
We have a press release with more details.
**East Timor
From East Timor, a 17-person team from the Indonesian Attorney General's Office arrived in Dili today. They are expected to be in East Timor for about nine days to question witnesses and collect any evidence concerning the five criminal cases considered as priority by the Indonesian authorities. The questioning of witnesses by the United Nations mission investigation staff, in the presence of observers from the Attorney General's team, will start tomorrow.
Today's Media Briefing Note from Dili also tells us that a Web site for East Timorese independent print media was launched today during the annual conference of the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers' Association. The Timorese journalists will be trained and supported in Web site development by the United Nations mission's Media Development Unit and the Queensland University of Technology.
I have the Media Briefing Note.
**ECOSOC
From the Economic and Social Council, the exhibit "Towards Reduction of Natural Disasters: The Journey of Latin America and the Caribbean" opened this morning in the first basement near the Viennese Café, in connection with the humanitarian segment of the Economic and Social Council's 2000 substantive session.
Organized by the Permanent Mission of Colombia together with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) -- a regional office of the World Health Organization (WHO) -- the exhibit shows how Latin American and Caribbean countries have increased their preparedness for disasters, and their successes in disaster relief as well as mitigation, preparation and response.
At three this afternoon in the Economic and Social Council Chamber, there will be a panel discussion on natural disasters and technology, moderated by Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the World Food Programme.
Following that, there will be an informal panel on Traumatic Stress in Humanitarian Emergencies, to be moderated by Carolyn McAskie, the Deputy Emergency Relief Coordination in Conference Room 5 from 6:15-7:45 p.m.
**Budget News
Quick budget news: Portugal became the 101st Member State to be paid in full for the regular budget dues for this year with a check for about $4.5 million dollars.
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**Press Conferences
At a press conference at 3 p.m. today -- Olara Otunnu, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and Francis Deng, the Special Representative for Internally Displaced Persons.
Then at 12:00 tomorrow, at our regular briefing, John Ruggie of the Secretary-General's staff will be here to make an announcement concerning the Secretary-General's Global Compact with business, labour and non-governmental organizations.
And then at 12:30, Carolyn McAskie, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, will be joined by Paul Grossrieder, the Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross. They will be here to launch the report, "Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-first Century".
**UNCA Briefing
And finally, the correspondents association asked me to tell you that they will have a briefing today by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Chief of Jamaat-E-Islami of Pakistan. That will be at 2:30 in the UNCA Club.
I'll take your questions and then we'll go to Catherine Bertini.
**Questions and Answers
Question: I have an Afghan-related question. Is there a final readout of the meeting of Eric de Mul with the Taliban leadership? I believe it was on Sunday.
Spokesman: We don't have anything on that yet. I'll have to double-check after the briefing for you to see if we have anything additional to report. [He later reported that Mr. de Mul was still in Kabul talking to the Taliban and was due back in Islamabad on the 20 July, at which time there would be more information.]
Question: What is the case of the passport of Raghida Dergham? She was travelling with the Secretary-General and had a problem with her passport.
Spokesman: It is true that the Secretary-General did inquire in a telephone conversation with President Lahoud of Lebanon about that incident. Iqbal Riza of the Secretary-General's office, called the Permanent Representative here in New York to get a readout and he was told -- this is now the day before yesterday -- Mr. Riza was told by the Permanent Representative that President Lahoud had decided to reverse the decision to annul the passport of Raghida Dergham.
No more questions? Catherine, welcome to the meeting.
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