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 Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**Lebanon

Good afternoon. Today is a slow news day. Rolf Knutsson, the Secretary-General's Personal Representative to Southern Lebanon began his first full day of work in Beirut today. He met separately with President Emil Lahud and Prime Minister Salim El Hoss to discuss the ongoing situation in the south of the country and United Nations support to Lebanon's effort to convene a donor conference later this fall.

Upon his arrival last night in Beirut, Knutsson told reporters that his task would be to coordinate United Nations activities in Southern Lebanon and to ensure that United Nations support for reconstruction in the South is consistent with political objectives in that area.

**Sudan

Tomorrow, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Humanitarian Affairs in the Sudan, Tom Eric Vraalsen, will travel to Khartoum to meet with senior Sudanese officials and to discuss matters concerning Operation Lifeline Sudan, the umbrella for humanitarian operations in that country. He is expected to arrive in Khartoum on Saturday evening.

Ambassador Vraalsen expects to be in the Sudan through 23 August when he is to travel first to Nairobi to meet with officials dealing with Operation Lifeline Sudan and then to Geneva.

In a related matter, you will recall that humanitarian flights to Sudan which were suspended last week following the bombardment of airstrips used by Operation Lifeline Sudan resumed yesterday. The Secretary-General made the decision to resume those flights following the assurance from Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir that all measures had been taken to ensure the safety of Operation Lifeline personnel and aircraft.

**Security Council Consultations

The Security Council is meeting in closed consultations this morning to hear a briefing by Ambassador Yuli Vorontsov in his capacity as the High-Level Coordinator for the Return of Missing Property and Missing Persons from Iraq to Kuwait. Mr.Vorontsov briefed the Council

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 17 August 2000

on his continuing efforts to establish the fate of Kuwaiti and third country nationals who have been missing for over 10 years.

A report from the Secretary General to the Council on this issue is expected for 17 December.

**Sierra Leone

Today in Sierra Leone, a battalion of Indian United Nations peacekeepers completed their deployment to Mile 91, where thousands of internally displaced persons have gathered or passed through in recent months. The deployment of the Indians in turn has freed up Guinean peacekeepers who had been at Mile 91 to be deployed elsewhere -- at Bo.

There are approximately 35,000 internally displaced persons at Mile 91, and humanitarian workers are continuing efforts to accommodate and feed them. Prior to the Indians' arrival, Nigerian and Guinean troops had also tried to provide protection for the large numbers of internally displaced, given the threat posed by the movements of Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels and bandits in the vicinity.

The United Nations Mission yesterday evacuated two Guinean soldiers who were injured in a traffic accident at Moyamba, southwest of Mile 91, on Tuesday. The soldiers were flown to Conakry, Guinea, where one of them was reported to have died yesterday upon arrival.

**Kosovo

Available in the Spokesman's Office today is a press release describing a visit made yesterday by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, to the Zvecan lead smelter, over which the United Nations Mission in Kosovo took control earlier this week. Kouchner said during his tour of the plant that it was in worse shape than he expected. He said, "This factory is in desperate shape. It is in the nineteenth century."

He briefed workers at the plant on the United Nations Mission's plans to refurbish it and install air control filters, to reduce the extremely high levels of atmospheric lead in the area, which, as we mentioned yesterday, is estimated to be 200 times the acceptable levels determined by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Kouchner also noted that results from blood tests taken of Kosovo Force (KFOR) soldiers working nearby and other tested persons included high levels of lead, and he said people were really in danger. But he emphasized that the United Nations Mission intends to re-open the plant once it was refurbished so that the current work force can resume their tasks.

More details are available in the press release.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 17 August 2000

**Bosnia/Herzegovina

We have available upstairs the notes of today's press briefing from the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH), which includes a condemnation by the Mission of the bombing that occurred yesterday in a café in the Bosnian Federation town of Glamoc. This was the second serious incident targeting property belonging to Bosnian returnees in the past few weeks.

In response, officers of the United Nations International Police Task Force will meet with local police officials to stress the need for action to apprehend those responsible.

**Questions and Answers

Question: Is the meeting being held in Khartoum tomorrow a response to the letter, dated 3 August, sent by the Sudanese Minister through the Ambassador of Sudan asking for an emergency meeting to review Operation Lifeline Sudan?

Deputy Spokesman: I cannot confirm that. We will look into it. [After the briefing, it was announced that Ambassador Vraalsen is going on a regular visit that has been planned in advance. During this visit he will meet with the authorities there to ensure that Operation Lifeline Sudan will enjoy safe, secure and complete access to all affected populations.]

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