DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000809The following is a near verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Manoel Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon. Another summer day in New York and another short briefing.
**Lebanon
Early this morning in Lebanon, 1,000 personnel of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces left from Beirut to deploy in southern Lebanon, where they will now be based in two cities: Marjayoun in the south-east and Bint Jubayl in the south-west.
The deployment is the first step towards the gradual restoration of Lebanese authority over southern Lebanon, and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is supporting the effort, in accordance with Security Council resolution 425 (1978).
The Secretary-General's Special Envoy, Terje Roed Larsen, said today's move represented a "significant deployment". In addition to the Lebanese security forces, the United Nations peacekeeping Force has deployed some 400 troops to 17 new points in southern Lebanon in recent days, including nine along the withdrawal line, and it intends to deploy to about 11 other positions in the coming days.
Meanwhile, Rolf Knutsson, whom the Secretary-General appointed yesterday as his Personal Representative to southern Lebanon, is expected to travel to Lebanon this weekend, where he will immediately take up his duties, which include setting up an office in Beirut.
**Sudan
You will recall that yesterday I read a statement expressing the Secretary- General's concern about the bombing of Mapel, a southern Sudanese area where United Nations and humanitarian agencies were working. The Secretary-General had announced a temporary suspension of United Nations relief flights, pending a security assessment.
Today, Mapel was once again attacked as an aircraft dropped nine bombs on the opposite side of a runway from installations of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP). No casualties were reported.
After the new attack, Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the WFP, said that the WFP will evacuate its aid workers from the area. She said, "These violent attacks are totally unacceptable, and we strongly condemn them. They show no respect for aid workers trying to help innocent Sudanese." After today, she added, we have no other choice but to evacuate our staff from Mapel."
Following the incident, a United Nations flight evacuated 11 aid workers -- seven WFP staff, two UNICEF staff, and two members of non-governmental organizations -- from Mapel, flying them to Lokichokio, Kenya. We have a press release from the WFP with additional details, which is available in our Office upstairs.
**Secretary-General's Report on Haiti
The Secretary-General's first report to the General Assembly on the work of the United Nations International Civilian Support Mission in Haiti, known by its French acronym MICAH, is to be issued today. It will be available on the racks. The report covers the period from mid-March to mid-July and describes the country's political situation, including the elections that took place during the reporting period.
In the report, the Secretary-General notes that the legislative election on 21 May went "unexpectedly well", with the highest turnout for a Haitian election since 1990, little violence and a visible and disciplined police presence.
However, he adds that signs of electoral mismanagement abounded, and "the electoral process overall unfortunately was marred by a climate of violence and intimidation, poor organization and disregard for the electoral law in the calculation of the Senate results". As a result, he says, the political crisis has deepened.
The three main pillars of the United Nations Mission in Haiti are justice, human rights and police. The selection and recruitment of police advisers has proved time-consuming, but by mid-June, 26 of the projected 34 advisers had been selected. In addition to a series of regular contacts with State officials, human rights activists, the Office of Ombudsman, and the international agencies, the human rights pillar is planning seminars and other activities to strengthen civil society's capacity to protect and promote human rights.
The report also notes that the rule of law in Haiti has "suffered as a result of the passivity or even complicity of some police and judicial authorities in the face of violent demonstrations by members of so-called popular organizations which targeted opposition parties, journalists and the general population".
The Secretary-General also stresses the importance of an independent police force that respects rights, and warns against any politicization of the Haitian National Police. Of course, you can get many more details from the report itself.
On Haiti, I am very sad to report to you that Garfield Lyle, the staff member of the Haiti mission who was shot in the head in Port-au-Prince on Monday, has passed away in Miami, where he had been hospitalized overnight.
**East Timor
We have just received the report from the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor that, at about 5 p.m. local time today, a soldier from the Australian battalion of the United Nations peacekeeping force died as a result of accidental discharge. This happened near the south-eastern town of Maliana. We hope to receive further details on the incident in the course of the day.
**Security Council
There is no meeting of the Council scheduled for today. Planned consultations on the Democratic Republic of the Congo were postponed. Tomorrow, the Council expects to hold consultations on Sierra Leone, on which members are considering a draft resolution on the trial of Sierra Leoneans suspected of violations of international humanitarian law and other egregious crimes.
**Budget Matters
Available on the racks today are several letters from Member States on the subject of the peacekeeping scale of assessments. These letters request that the item entitled "Scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of United Nations peacekeeping operations" be included as an agenda item in the upcoming fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly, and be allocated to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).
"This consideration", one letter states, "should also include a discussion of operational reforms needed to strengthen peacekeeping and thereby make the best use of the peacekeeping resources." As I said, these are letters from a number of Member States, and they are available on the racks.
**Kosovo
We have available in the Spokesman's Office the briefing notes from the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, which note that the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Bernard Kouchner, will begin a series of meetings tomorrow with the representatives of Kosovo's minority communities. On Thursday and Friday, he will meet directly with representatives of the Bosniak, Roma, Egyptian, Ashkalia and Turkish communities. These meetings are a part of his plan to discuss the concerns of minorities directly and in person with them.
**Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
My last two notes of this briefing are to bring to your attention the fact that the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has issued two brief reports. One is on mudslides in Brazil, which were triggered by torrential rains in the north-east of the country. Some 60 people are dead, 3,000 have left their homes, and 63 towns have been affected.
The second report regards an earthquake which struck Mexico today, 9 August, some 30 miles west of the coastal town of Lazaro Cardenas in the state of Michoacan. This is some 240 miles south-west of the capital, Mexico City. The magnitude of this earthquake was 6.4 on the Richter scale. Initial reports indicate no injuries or damage.
**Model United Nations: 10-13 August 2000
Finally, I would like to inform you that the Department of Public Information (DPI), in partnership with the American Model UN, Inc., is co-sponsoring the first ever "United Nations International Model UN Conference" at United Nations Headquarters from 10-13 August. In other words, from tomorrow through Sunday.
The Conference will bring together 350 students from 33 nations, who represent over 175 universities, to deliberate and attempt to find solutions for a variety of international issues. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette will address the Conference at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, 11 August, in the General Assembly Hall. This conference is a United Nations' Millennium project.
If you have any questions, the Secretary-General of the Conference, Fernando Flores, is sitting in the back of the room. He will be available to answer questions outside this room at the end of the briefing. He can also be found in Conference Room D at extension 3-6348. For further information, please contact the Group Programmes Unit of DPI on 3-6019.
**New Director at UNIC/Tokyo
I also wish to bring to your attention that we will have available in our Office upstairs a note announcing the appointment of the new Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Tokyo, Hatsuhisa Takashima.
**Questions and Answers
Question: Which countries have proposed the inscription of the scale of assessment for peacekeeping?
Deputy Spokesman: I would rather give you the documentation because it is close to 30 countries, making it a long list for me to read. It goes from countries as large as the United States to small countries such as Vanuatu. I am speaking in geographical terms. We have a variety of countries making the same request.
Question: I understand that the Americans will withdraw their support, financial support, to the Haitian police. Is the United Nations mission affected by that?
Deputy Spokesman: I read these media reports. I understand that it is the United States Government's support for a bilateral programme that they had for capacity-building of the Haitian police. It is, of course, a pity, but there are other actors. Not only the United Nations, but the Canadians and the French, who also have programmes with the police.
Question: What is the position of the United Nations? Is the United Nations just following Washington's position in every single item or does the Organization have some sort of independent thinking in the Haitian situation?
Deputy Spokesman: The United Nations is guided by General Assembly resolutions and Security Council resolutions. This is what guides the Secretary- General and the Secretariat in the actions taken in Haiti.
Question: Just a couple of small things. On Lebanon, what is the figure now that the Secretary-General is trying to get in terms of a full troop force? On the Democratic Republic of the Congo, when is the Secretary-General's report coming out? On Sierra Leone, how soon will he be ready to come up with the announcement on the figures that he needs?
Deputy Spokesman: Right now, the only precise answer that I can give you is that the report on the Democratic Republic of the Congo is expected around 24 August. On Sierra Leone, the report has to be before 8 September, because that is when the resolution that extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) will expire. The report has to come forward to the Council early enough for them to discuss it and take a decision. On Lebanon, I will have to check on the numbers for you.
Question: On the question of liability, what about the Guyanese national who was shot in Haiti. What is the responsibility of the delegate in that situation?
Deputy Spokesman: We have to find out exactly what happened. The details of the situation that led to him being shot and dying are still very unclear.
Question: The Sudanese Government, or at least the Sudanese Air Force, seems to be taking no notice of appeals by the United Nations. Ross Mountain was in Khartoum a few days ago. Yesterday, we had the statement by the Secretary-General expressing alarm, and we have still got bombing of airstrips. Does the Secretary- General intend to make any sterner representations?
Deputy Spokesman: I think that further and firmer contacts with the Government are to be pursued.
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