DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000818The following is a near verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
**Statement Attributable to Spokesman on Democratic Republic of Congo
"The Secretary-General has decided to appoint General Abdulsalami Abubakar of Nigeria as a Special Envoy dealing with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Secretary-General intends to send his Special Envoy to the subregion within the next few days to make clear once more the position of the Security Council and the role of the United Nations Observer Mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC).
"General Abubakar, the former Head of State of Nigeria, will be mandated to discuss with the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo issues pertaining to the Lusaka Agreement and relevant Security Council resolutions. These issues include a cessation of hostilities; the granting of full freedom of movement to MONUC; and full participation in the inter-Congolese dialogue and cooperation with the facilitation process.
"The Special Envoy has also been requested to take up the issue of an apparent propaganda campaign that has been conducted against MONUC and its staff. General Abubakar is also expected to visit Lusaka for consultations with President Frederick Chiluba, and Addis Ababa for consultations with Organization of African Unity (OAU) Secretary-General Salim A. Salim."
**United Nations Team Member Found Dead in Kisangani
This morning one member of an advance party that had been sent to Kisangani to assess the damages caused by fighting in that city was found dead in his room in Kisangani. The United Nations Mission is launching an investigation, and United Nations personnel are already on the ground working to determine the cause of death.
There are no embalming facilities in Kisangani, but the Mission intends to transport the body to one of the neighbouring capitals as quickly as possible to perform any necessary tasks, including embalming and eventual transport to Geneva.
The assessment mission to Kisangani included an advance party, which had been in Kisangani since Wednesday, as well as a five-member assessment team, led by Omar Bakhet, Director of the United Nations
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Development Programme's (UNDP) Emergency Response Division, which arrived in Kinshasa yesterday.
**Security Council Consultations
The Security Council today was briefed in closed consultations by Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Bernard Miyet on recent developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Miyet informed the Council of the Secretary-General's intention to send former Nigerian Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar as his Special Envoy to the subregion, as we just announced.
He also noted the death in Kisangani of the member of the advance team, and added that the team's work has been suspended for the time being in view of the circumstances. He said the Council would be informed once the United Nations assessment team could resume its functions.
In other developments, Miyet noted the continuing fighting in Equateur province between Government forces and the rebel Congolese Liberation Movement, as well as the recent offer by the Government of Rwanda to pull back some troops from the front lines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Also, the Security Council has been considering a draft resolution circulated today by one Member State to extend the United Nations Mission, which currently is set to expire at the end of this month, until 15 October. The Secretary-General, in a letter to the Council earlier this week, had requested an extension of the Mission by one month in order to allow consideration of recent developments.
**Statement Attributable to Spokesman on Cambodia
The Secretary-General today appointed Mr. Peter Leuprecht of Austria as his new Special Representative for Human Rights in Cambodia. According to his mandate, his responsibilities will include coordinating the United Nations human rights presence in Cambodia and reporting to the General Assembly and the Commission for Human Rights on the situation in Cambodia.
Mr. Leuprecht is the author of numerous publications in the field of international law and human rights. He has served as a human rights specialist with the Council of Europe and is the Dean of the Faculty of Law at McGill University in Montreal.
He replaces the former Special Representative, Mr. Thomas Hammarberg of Sweden who left his post in January this year.
**Secretary-General Appoints Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders
In another appointment today, the Secretary-General named Ms. Hina Jilani of Pakistan as his Special Representative on Human
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Rights Defenders. This appointment is being made following resolution passed by the Commission on Human rights in April of this year, which requests of the Secretary-General to appoint a special representative to report on the situation of Human Rights Defenders in all parts of the world and on possible means to enhance their protection in full compliance with the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
The appointment is made for a period of three years.
Prior to this, Ms. Jilani had been a practicing lawyer in Lahore, Pakistan specializing in Human Rights issues. In 1980, she founded the first womens law firm in Pakistan. She has also served as an expert to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
The Declaration of Human Rights Defenders was adopted by the General Assembly in 1998 after more than 10 years of discussions and negotiations.
**Afghanistan
The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Carolyn McAskie, acknowledges the reopening today of 24 bakeries run by women in Kabul with the support of the World Food Programme (WFP). While she welcomes the decision yesterday to rescind this ban, she would like to emphasize that at a time when poverty and suffering are increasing, constructive discussions are needed on how humanitarian support for vulnerable people can be expanded. In particular, she welcomes suggestions from the authorities on how to improve the access for humanitarian agencies to all vulnerable people in a culturally appropriate way that also corresponds with international humanitarian law and standards.
She remains concerned with the edict issued in July by the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan, which banned the employment of Afghan women by United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), with the exception of the health sector.
Still on Afghanistan, we also have UNHCR briefing notes today, which reports on the repatriation to that country of refugees who had been in Iran and Pakistan. The note says that an increasing number of Afghans are returning home in spite of the severe drought and renewed fighting in Afghanistan. So far this year, over 128,000 Afghans have voluntarily repatriated from Iran and Pakistan.
Although the majority are returning to relatively peaceful parts of Afghanistan, UNHCR field staff are alarmed by the increasing numbers of Afghans going back to areas affected by drought and fighting between Taliban forces and rebels. These people are returning on their own out of desperation. Deteriorating economic conditions, asylum fatigue, growing hostility in host countries and declining donor support are some of the factors which are driving many to return home.
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You can obtain more details from the UNHCR note available in the Spokesman's Office.
**Kosovo
At about 9:30 this morning in Pristina, an explosion hit the Political Services Centre of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which houses the offices of the political parties in Kosovo. Several offices were damaged, with the worst damage caused at the office of a Bosniac party. No injuries were reported, other than slight injuries to one woman.
United Nations police and officers of the Kosovo Force (KFOR) have been investigating, and believe that the damage to the building may have resulted from anti-tank rockets fired at the back of the Centre. No suspects have been arrested as of yet.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Bernard Kouchner, called the incident an attack on democracy, and repeated his call that the local elections for Kosovo, scheduled for October 28, occur without violence. In remarks at today's press briefing, he said that the Mission was "convinced that extremists from Belgrade, and from Kosovo as well, will try to sap our efforts" to organize elections, but he stressed that work on the elections would continue.
There are further details in today's briefing notes from the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK).
**Bosnia/Herzegovina
Yesterday in Bosnia and Herzegovina, two deminers who worked for the Mine Action Centre and a local Serb police officer were killed when an antipersonnel mine exploded in Rogatica, about 70 kilometres east of Sarajevo. The deminers had been trying to clear the bodies of two fishermen who had been killed in a mine accident in the same area on 14 August, and were sweeping a minefield when the incident occurred. Of the two mineworkers who were killed, one was Swedish and one was Serb.
Police from the United Nations Mission's International Police Task Force, as well as officers of the Stabilization Force (SFOR) were present at the area following the explosion, and local police secured the area.
There were an estimated 1 million mines laid in Bosnia during the war in some 19,000 mine fields.
**Appeal Made to Alleviate Funding Problems for Food Rations for African Refugees
In Geneva today, the WFP, along with the office of the UNHCR, issued a statement appealing for support, especially from the European
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Union, to alleviate the funding problems for food rations for refugees throughout Africa. Because of lack of donor support, food rations have had to be cut by 50 per cent in some areas leading to an increase in malnutrition and food security incidents.
The complete notes of the Geneva briefing are available upstairs.
**Resolution on Organization of Millennium Summit Released
Available on the racks upstairs is a General Assembly resolution (document A/RES/54/281) outlining the organization of the Millennium Summit. The document indicates that the General Assembly proceedings during the three-day summit will be co-chaired by Namibia and Finland. As you know Namibia holds the presidency for the fifty-fourth General Assembly session and Finland will preside over the fifty-fifth session.
The resolution also lists the Chairs of the four round-table discussions scheduled to run during the Summit. Those are Singapore, Poland, Venezuela and Algeria. Lastly, the resolution lists which delegations holding observer status will be permitted to speak during the General Assembly Summit.
**Update on United Nations Peacekeeping Operations
The Peace and Security Section of the Department of Public Information has issued an updated version of the background note on peacekeeping operations. It is available in the Spokesman's Office.
It says that the total number of military and civilian police personnel serving in United Nations peacekeeping operations has almost doubled since February of this year - going from 18,927 to approximately 37,350. In terms of cost, $2.2 billion has been budgeted for peacekeeping operations for the period of July 2000 to June 2001. For the same period last year, the budget was $1.5 billion.
**The Week Ahead
We also have available upstairs our weekly feature, the Week Ahead. I would like to bring to your attention that on Monday, the Secretary-General will return to work at Headquarters. On Wednesday, 23 August, there will be a press conference at 10:30 a.m. by Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi who is the Chair of the United Nations panel on peace operations and that will be launching the report on United Nations peace operations.
On 24 August, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette will hold a press briefing at 11:15 a.m. to discuss plans for the upcoming Millennium Summit, which will be held in New York from 6 to 8 September.
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**Questions and Answers
Question: Was the death of the team member in Kisangani a violent one?
Deputy Spokesman: An investigation is ongoing and the family is yet to be informed. So, I cannot give you any further details.
Question: Can you disclose his nationality?
Deputy Spokesman: Until the family is informed, we cannot release any details.
Question: Is this the first time that a high military officer has been appointed to such as position as General Abubakar has been?
Deputy Spokesman: I would have to look into that. We have had many Generals as Force Commanders -- that is very high-ranking.
Question: Were the refugees who returned to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan forced to do so, or did they voluntarily repatriate?
Deputy Spokesman: According to the note from the UNHCR in Geneva - - and I would recommend that you obtain a copy -- the deteriorating economic conditions, growing hostility in host countries and decline in donor support seem to be the main forces driving people back to Afghanistan.
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