DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000811The following is a near verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
I will start with a statement attributable to the Spokesman. It is on East Timor.
**Statement by Spokesman
This morning, the Security Council was briefed on two clashes between unidentified armed personnel and United Nations patrols. They occurred yesterday afternoon local time near the village of Holibo in Sector West. Four Nepalese soldiers and one civilian were wounded. Regrettably, one of the soldiers died.
The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the family of the killed soldier and to the Kingdom of Nepal.
This is the latest in a series of incidents which include the killing of a New Zealand soldier on 24 July, and clashes at the beginning of this month between United Nations patrols and armed groups in the western sector, which is next to the border of West Timor. In addition, reports of armed groups operating in that sector have increased in the last two weeks.
The Secretary-General is following the situation closely and is concerned over the increase in activities by armed personnel. He expects the Government of Indonesia to take effective measures to prevent any infiltration into East Timor.
**East Timor
As you'll recall, we reported the incident to you yesterday. At that time, we were not able to provide you with many details. I am now able to tell you that the incident occurred at 5 p.m., when a patrol of 15 Nepalese soldiers was attacked approximately 14 kilometres north-east of Suai. Private Devi Ram Yaishi died while being evacuated to Dili for medical treatment. He was 26 years old and is survived by his wife.
Two other soldiers and a civilian who was an innocent bystander underwent surgery and are in stable condition. A fourth soldier was slightly injured and returned to his unit today. The Nepalese patrol of 15 soldiers was initially fired upon by the militia. They called for assistance and another group of 15 Nepalese came to their aid. They were also fired upon.
Today, peacekeeping forces conducted follow-up operations to try to track down the militia group, believed to number up to 30. During a memorial service at the Dili airport today before the body of the Nepalese soldier was flown back to Nepal, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Sergio Vieira de Mello, said that, "it seems that there are a few groups of fairly well trained and well coordinated militia operating in Suai and Covalima, possibly having also entered the Ainaro district". He added that "the solution is what we have been requesting from the Indonesian Government since October last year. Identify -- and that is not difficult -- disarm and detain those extremist elements that are operating from within the refugee camps, as well as those political extremist leaders who continue to influence the population and feed them with disinformation and lies on the situation in East Timor".
**UNHCR
Still on East Timor, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today that tensions remain high along the West Timor border, and they do not see a resumption of repatriation operations for the next several days.
Today, for instance, several dozen former militia members gathered in front of the UNHCR office in Atambua, taunting staff members and threatening to attack the premises. Indonesian soldiers in the area of Atambua were called and the situation was brought under control after several tense hours.
For more details, you can look at both the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) briefing note and the UNCHR briefing note, which we have available in our Office upstairs.
**Security Council
The Security Council today began its work with closed consultations on the Sudan. Kevin Kennedy, Chief of the Emergency Liaison Branch of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, briefed the Council on the recent bombings in southern Sudan near United Nations humanitarian facilities.
At the end of this briefing, Mr. Kennedy will be here as our guest to talk to you, as well.
As you'll recall, we issued a statement earlier this week expressing the Secretary-General's concern at those bombings, and the suspension of relief flights to the area pending a security assessment.
Mr. Kennedy told the Council that "should the suspension remain in place for long, the impact will be serious and life-threatening. Easily a million people will be at risk, especially in war-affected areas such as Bahr-e-Ghazal, Western Upper Nile and Upper Nile".
He also noted that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has confirmed his Government's support for Operation Lifeline Sudan and pledged to take all measures to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian personnel.
After Mr. Kennedy's briefing, Joachim Hutter, Director of the Asia and Middle East Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, is to brief the Council on the 24 July killing of a United Nations peacekeeper from New Zealand near East Timor's border with West Timor.
Once its consultations conclude, the Council will hold two formal meetings: first, to approve a resolution on children and armed conflict; and second, to approve a resolution on the trial of Sierra Leonean nationals suspected of egregious crimes. The Council's open meeting on Ethiopia and Eritrea, planned earlier for today, has been postponed until Monday, to give Council members more time to study the report of the Secretary-General on that topic, which is out on the racks today.
**Sierra Leone
Today's briefing notes from the UNHCR say that, in a four-day period over the past week, some 2,500 refugees from Sierra Leone fled from intense fighting in the diamond-mining areas to Guinea. Among the new refugees were 15 child soldiers and women and girls who had been held by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
Many of the women and girls said that they were held against their will, sometimes for years, by RUF forces who only recently decided to let them go. They had been serving as domestic workers or camp guards, and some of the women said they had been abused. All of the 15 child soldiers said that they had been heavily drugged with cocaine after being captured by the rebels and forced to fight.
The rate of arrivals in Guinea has picked up pace since the end of July, with more than 4,000 refugees coming from Sierra Leone in the last two weeks alone, according to the UNHCR.
**Democratic Republic of Congo
In other UNHCR news, the agency says that the last camp of Rwandan and Burundian refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be closed today with the departure of 400 refugees from Mbuji-Mayi. Almost 1,500 Rwandans and Burundians are being settled on farmland allocated by local authorities and traditional chiefs, in an effort supported by the UNHCR and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
You can see today's briefing notes for more details.
**Iraq
Yesterday, the Secretary-General wrote to the President of the Security Council appointing two more oil overseers to assist the Iraq Sanctions Committee.
When the programme began back in 1996, there were four overseers, from Norway, United States, France and the Russian Federation. Each year since then, one of the overseers has left and has not been replaced. For the last year, there has been just one overseer from Russia.
In resolution 1302, adopted in June of this year, the Security Council asked the Secretary-General to appoint additional overseers. The two appointed are Michel Tellings of the Netherlands and Morten Buur-Jensen of Denmark.
Abstracts of their curriculum vitae are available upstairs along with the Secretary-General's letter, which is being distributed as an official document.
**Kosovo
Tomorrow, Bernard Kouchner, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Kosovo, will hold a town hall meeting in Vucitrn, which will provide an opportunity for a wide-ranging discussion on Kosovo's development; another town meeting is also planned on Monday, in Suva Reka. We have some details in today's briefing notes from Pristina, available upstairs.
**Millennium Summit Publication
Also available at the press document's counter this afternoon are copies of the book entitled "Millennium Summit Multilateral Treaty Framework: An Invitation to Universal Participation".
This publication contains useful procedural information for the Millennium Summit (to take place from 6 to 8 September), as well as the Secretary-General's letters to heads of State and government in which he calls on them to "rededicate themselves to the international legal framework during the Millennium Summit" and encourages them to "make use of this unique opportunity to express support" for the Framework.
The book also contains an introduction to each one of the 25 core treaties and the status of signatories and ratifications as of 15 June. For more updated information, you can visit the Treaty Section's Web site at "untreaty.un.org".
**Budget Matters
On budget news, Panama has become the 107th Member State to pay its dues in full to the United Nations regular budget for this year by giving us a cheque for just over $136,000.
**Week Ahead at United Nations
Finally, our weekly feature of the Week Ahead, which indicates to you a number of activities of the Security Council next week, as well as other notable events. One of them is on Sunday.
Roberto Garretón, the Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, will visit that country, including stops in Kinshasa, Goma, Bukavu, Kisangani and Mbuji-Mayi. The visit is to last through 13-26 August.
**Questions and Answers
Question: Where do you stand with regards to the efforts of the mediator on Burundi, President Nelson Mandela.
Deputy Spokesman: His efforts continue, the talks continue, the Arusha talks are an ongoing process and he is doing his job. There is a proposal for an accord which did not meet initial agreement from all parties, but they are working on it.
Question: Non-governmental organizations, working here and in Indonesia and dealing with East Timor issues, put out a notice about an Aceh activist who has been missing in Indonesia since last Saturday. They have made representation to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. I was wondering if you have had any information or contact with the Indonesian Government or military on the activists whereabouts. Deputy Spokesman: You would have to check with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights about their contact with the authorities. Within the United Nations system, they would be the proper contact for this case.
If there are no further questions, I would like to take this opportunity to let you know that the Security Council consultations have adjourned. The formal meeting on Sierra Leone will be on Monday, not today as I had announced. The formal meeting to adopt a resolution on children and armed conflict is happening as we speak.
* *** *