DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000728The following is a near-verbatim of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General:
**Lebanon
Hello. Okay, the lead item again today is Lebanon. We're proud to report that this morning the first units of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) began deploying along the line of withdrawal.
It's been a twenty-two year wait, and it's finally happening.
Platoons from the Irish and Ghanaian battalions have already taken up positions at Yaroun and Manara respectively.
As the day goes on, we expect platoons from the Fijian, Indian, Nepalese and Finnish battalions to deploy at four more points along the line, those are Labone, Hasbaiya, Rumaysh and Metulla.
Once this initial phase of the deployment is completed, we expect to have approximately 150 peacekeepers in position along the line.
These positions will be re-enforced with more soldiers and more equipment as time goes on.
The Lebanese security forces, who will be co-deploying with us, are expected to deploy in the next few days.
**Security Council
The Security Council began its work this morning with a briefing in closed consultations on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, that was given by the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi.
The Secretary-General earlier this week decided to suspend the deployment of the Tunisian Headquarters support unit of the United Nations Mission to that country following the Democratic Republic of the Congo Government's announcement on 21 July that it would not permit armed United Nations troops to deploy in Kinshasa or any other Congolese city.
Annabi informed the Council of continuing efforts to prepare for the deployment of an expanded United Nations presence and the problems such deployment faces. He also noted that fighting in the Equateur province has caused a critical humanitarian problem along the Ubangi River, the boundary between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and
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the Republic of the Congo -- that's Congo-Brazzaville. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is trying to gain access to an estimated 45,000 refugees displaced by fighting in that area.
After the consultations adjourned, the Council went into a formal meeting to extend unanimously the mandate of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), and that was done for a period of six months, through the end of January 2001.
The Council is now beginning an open debate on East Timor, which began with a briefing by Mr. Annabi. And it is expected to adopt a Presidential Statement at the end of that debate.
**East Timor
The Secretary-General's latest report on the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), which is available today, notes that the normalization of relations between Indonesia and East Timor has progressed well in recent months. Most recently, agreement was reached on 5 July on establishing a Joint Border Committee dealing with all cross-border matters involving East and West Timor.
Also, the Secretary-General notes, more than 167,000 refugees have returned to East Timor from Indonesia, most of them coming from West Timor. However, an estimated 85,000 to 120,000 refugees remain in camps in West Timor, where militias who opposed independence continue to have great influence and to impede the work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
In general, the Secretary-General says, the United Nations Mission "can look with satisfaction on what it has achieved so far" in maintaining a secure environment and administering East Timor. But he also notes that the United Nations has never before tried to build and manage a State, and it continues to face a daunting task.
Also today, we have in the briefing notes from Dili further information about the investigation into the killing on Monday of a soldier from the New Zealand contingent of the United Nations peacekeeping mission there.
The Special Representative, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and Force Commander Lt. Gen. Boonsrang Niumpradit met yesterday in Indonesia with the West Timor Commander, Major General Kiki Syahnakri, who accepted that the group that killed Private Leonard Manning probably operated out of West Timor. He offered assistance in locating and arresting the perpetrators, and agreed to set up a committee involving the Indonesian military, or TNI, and the United Nations peacekeeping force to investigate this killing.
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Yesterday, United Nations troops found two camps near the site where Manning was murdered. And in those camps, the peacekeepers found a military-style backpack, one military uniform and shirts with TNI and Kopassus patches. Kopassus are the Indonesian special forces.
**Sierra Leone
This afternoon, General Vijay Jetley, the Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), will brief the Security Council at 4:45 p.m. on the situation in that country. Jetley is also meeting with troop contributing countries and other senior officials today. Because of his schedule, General Jetley will not be able to come to today's noon briefing -- as we announced -- although we will try to make him available to take a few questions outside the Security Council once consultations adjourn.
Yesterday, General Jetley met with the Secretary-General and discussed the importance of well-trained and well-equipped troops in Sierra Leone. In the evening, he went to the Sierra Leone Mission to the United Nations, where he met with a group of about 30 concerned Sierra Leoneans living in the United States and assured them that the interests of Sierra Leoneans were paramount in the work of the United Nations Mission there.
The situation in Sierra Leone itself remains calm, but unpredictable. Yesterday, we told you that some members of the "West Side Boys" as they're called -- former Sierra Leone army members -- turned in their weapons to United Nations peacekeepers near Masiaka. By day's end, 38 people -- including 29 men, seven women and two child combatants -- had turned in weapons, and were transported to the disarmament camp at Lungi.
**Economic and Social Council Concludes Substantive Session
This morning the Secretary-General addressed the closing session of the Economic and Social Council's substantive session for the year 2000.
He praised the Councils high-level segment on information technology for raising awareness of the tremendous potential which the information revolution holds for development work. But he also reminded delegates that all efforts must be made to bridge the digital divide. He said, We must not let the new information technologies become another resource that divides rich and poor countries.
The Secretary-General also underscored the key role that the United Nations can play in expanding the impact of IT on development and in promoting digital opportunities.
He concluded his remarks by renewing his call for debt relief, especially for those countries emerging from years of dictatorship and those which suffered from major conflicts or natural disasters.
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Pledges are no longer sufficient -- he said we need concrete and immediate measures.
**Kosovo
A few items from the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) press briefing. The Secretary-Generals Special Representative, Bernard Kouchner, will be in Ankara on Monday to meet with Turkish Foreign Minister, Ismael Cem. Their discussion will centre the issues of registration and language for the Turkish community in Kosovo.
The Interim Administrative Council will hold its first meeting in two weeks this coming Tuesday, and that will be in Pristina.
You can get the full notes in my office.
**UNHCR Briefing Notes
Today's briefing notes from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) contains information about the return of 4,680 Afghans from Iran, in a joint programme run by the Iranian Government and UNHCR. More than 57,000 Afghans have returned home from Iran since the programme began on 8 April of this year, with more than three-quarters of the returnees going to three cities: Kabul, Herat and Ghazni.
Also, UNHCR announced today that its repatriation programme for some 90,000 Eritrean refugees in the Sudan kicked into high gear with the deployment of about 100 trucks to assist the returnees. Weather permitting, about 3,000 refugees are expected to return today to Eritrea from camps in eastern Sudan.
**The Week Ahead
We have the Week Ahead for you, which you can pick up in my office. I'll mention a few of the highlights.
On Monday, the Secretary-General of course will be in Accra, Ghana, where he will begin an official visit on Tuesday.
The Security Council Sanctions Committee on Sierra Leone will begin a two-day meeting in the Trusteeship Council Chamber on the role of diamonds in the Sierra Leone conflict.
The Council is also expected that day to hold consultations on Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Then on Tuesday in Accra, the Secretary-General will attend a wreath-laying ceremony at Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum in Ghana, and he'll also meet with President Jerry Rawlings.
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And then Ambassador Hasmy Agam of Malaysia will replace Ambassador Patricia Durrant of Jamaica as the President of the Security Council, and he will hold bilateral talks with other Council members on the programme of work.
On Wednesday, the Secretary-General will attend the inauguration of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Ghana and he'll receive an honorary degree from the University of Ghana on the last day of his official visit to that country.
That's all I have for you.
Questions and Answers
Questions: In Timor, those uniforms and other things that were found, does that mean there's a connection between the military and
Spokesman: My understanding is that the mission is not drawing any direct conclusions, any direct links, between these uniforms and the militia, therefore saying that the uniforms are proof of a link between the militia and the Indonesian military.
But at the same time, they want to underline that they hold the Indonesian military responsible for the behaviour of the militia on Indonesian soil.
Question: Any comment on the Sydney Morning Herald piece that allegedly quoted United Nations offices saying that the ears of the young New Zealand soldier was used as bounty and cut off the dead solider?
Spokesman: I didn't hear that detail. We'll have to call the mission to see if they know anything about that. I'll have to get back to you.
Question: At what points are the peacekeepers in Sierra Leone deployed in the country?
Spokesman: The Government controls a broad swath of the country east to west through the middle and south of the country. The area to the north is largely still controlled by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). And so they have pulled back from the northern-most and eastern- most positions they have held. They're concentrated in the east, but on the southern part, at Daru, where they pulled back from Kailahun when they broke out the 200-some-odd peacekeepers that were encircled by the RUF in Kailahun. They pulled back to Daru. Then they have some positions in the centre of the country. The main cluster is in the west, around Freetown.
Question: The Afghans who returned to Afghanistan. Where did they go? To the Taliban part of Afghanistan?
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Spokesman: I'm sorry I can't tell you. I mentioned the three cities where most of them returned to. I assume that is Taliban- controlled territory, but we'll have to double-check, and confirm afterwards.
Farhan is signaling to me yes, these three cities are in Taliban- controlled territory.
Evelyn, on your question, I was just passed a note saying that the United Nations mission has acknowledged that there were some signs of mutilation on the body of this New Zealand soldier who was killed.
Thank you very much.
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