DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000825The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon. I see we have low turnout today.
**Libyan Defence Team Requests Release of Secretary-General's 1999 Letter on Lockerbie Incident
I'm going to start -- surprisingly to you, I think -- with Lockerbie. The Defence team for the two Libyan suspects in the trial over the bombing of the civilian airliner that went down over Lockerbie, Scotland, has requested the United Kingdom authorities to release the letter that the Secretary-General sent to Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi in February of last year explaining the terms of the trial.
On Tuesday of this week, the Secretary-General sent to the United Kingdom Ambassador here at the United Nations, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, a copy of the requested letter. Today at noon, both the United Kingdom Government and the United States Government made the letter and the Secretary-General's cover letter to Ambassador Greenstock, public.
We are therefore also making these two letters public, and United Nations Legal Counsel Hans Corell will be here shortly to take any questions you might have.
Copies of those letters are available on the table in the corner of the room, as well as in my office.
**Secretary-General on the Dalai Lama and the Upcoming Religious Summit
On the subject of the Dalai Lama: A number of media outlets, reporting on the Secretary-General's off-the-cuff comments entering the building yesterday, mistakenly stated that the Secretary-General had denied the Dalai Lama access to United Nations Headquarters to attend the religious summit that is to take place here next week.
I think as most of you know, the Millennium World Peace Summit is a private, non-governmental organization (NGO) that has organized an important conference of world religious leaders to take place, in part, here at the United Nations.
The organizational details of this event are the responsibility of the NGO. They decide who is to be invited to their event.
The Secretary-General emphasized yesterday that he has tried to open up the United Nations to the citizens of the world. He is an
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inclusive guy. He said he shares the disappointment of those who hoped that the Dalai Lama would participate here next week. And he is pleased that the Dalai Lama is sending a delegation of three senior religious leaders to represent him.
This is a religious summit, not a political one, and the Secretary-General hopes all the participants will act in the spirit of the interfaith dialogue that is the goal of this meeting.
**Secretary-General's Report on Sierra Leone
The Secretary-General's report on Sierra Leone has been finalized and is expected to go to the President of the Security Council today, so that it can be informally distributed to the Council members. The report will not be formally issued until next Monday, which is also the day that the Council has scheduled consultations on Sierra Leone.
There are no Security Council consultations today.
The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) has continued to monitor the situation in the Port Loko area -- that's in the west of that country -- following an attack on that town by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) on Wednesday. A Jordanian platoon has been deployed in the area.
**With Work Programme Complete, United Nations Panel on Sierra Leone Heads to Region, Western Capitals
The independent panel the Secretary-General appointed earlier this month to collect information on the link between trade in diamonds and trade in arms and related material in Sierra Leone concludes today a week of briefings at United Nations Headquarters.
They have established their programme of work, which will take the five-man panel on a series of visits, starting next week, to a number of countries in the African region and western capitals. Their plans also include attending an intergovernmental diamonds conference to be held in Pretoria, South Africa on 16 September.
As you will recall, the panel was appointed for an initial four- month period. In addition to the links between diamonds and arms trade, the team will also collect information on possible violations of the arms embargo and the adequacy of air traffic control systems in the region. They are expected back at Headquarters in early November.
**Note from East Timor
The first criminal sentence in East Timor since the popular consultation held last August was carried out today in the Dili District Court. A 28-year old man was sentenced to 15 years in jail for the murder of a 12-year-old child in March. The convicted man will serve his sentence in the Becora prison in Dili.
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The sentence was announced in the same Dili Court room where in 1993 an Indonesian Court sentenced the then resistance leader, Xanana Gusmao.
More details on this and other news from East Timor are available in the Briefing Notes available in my office.
**Despite Recent Successes, Aid Workers Report Hard Times Just Beginning in Drought-Stricken Afghanistan
On Afghanistan: United Nations humanitarian agencies have met with success in their initial efforts to provide food aid to some 2,600 families in a part of Afghanistan that has been hit hard by both drought and fighting between the Taliban and the United Front. But more aid needs to be given to Dara-e-Suf, in Afghanistan's Samangan Province, as the harvest season ends and the weather turns colder.
Michael Semple, the United Regional Coordinator for Afghanistan's Hazarajat region, said in Islamabad, Pakistan, today that the World Food Programme (WFP) had successfully provided 407 metric tons of food to Dara-e-Suf, in an operation that crossed the front lines of Afghanistan's continuing conflict. The operation was the first time in two years that the route to Dara-e-Suf was open to motor traffic.
Mr. Semple added that food aid currently is being targeted only at the most vulnerable 25 percent of the local population, for a three- month period. He warned that "the hard times are just beginning," with the distribution team noting severely malnourished children, and reports of some children who have already died of starvation.
We have a press release from the Office of the United Nations Coordinator in Afghanistan with more details.
**United Nations Issues Appeal for programmes for IDPs in Ethiopia
The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ethiopia issued an appeal today for $30.4 million to be used for rehabilitation and recovery programmes for Internally Displaced People (IDPs).
The funds will be used by the United Nations Country Team in Ethiopia to assist some 312 thousand IDPs in the Tigray and Affar regions of the country.
The full text of the press release is available in my office. As well as the most recent United Nations report on the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia.
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** Department of Youth Established for Kosovo, United Nations Mission Reports
The United Nations mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) informs us in today's briefing notes from Pristina, that a Department of Youth has been established, pursuant to a regulation issued on August 19, of which we have copies available upstairs. The Department of Youth has already begun work on a "youth week" from one through seven October, during which it intends to mark the theme of "Tolerance, No Violence".
We also have available upstairs a regulation establishing a Department of Public Utilities. That too, is in the briefing notes from Pristina.
**Budget Matters
Grenada became the 111th Member State to be paid in full for their dues for this year. That's with the minimum amount of 10 and a half thousand dollars.
**Press Conference
In the briefing yesterday by Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette on the Millennium Summit, a number of questions were raised about the press aspects of that event. So this afternoon at 2:30 p.m., in this room, we'll bring you Michael McCann, the Chief of United Nations Security, as well as the Head of the United Nations Media Accreditation Department and the Head of United Nations television. We hope that those three people will be to answer all your questions on the ground rules for your work here during the Summit.
**The Week Ahead at the United Nations
We have the 'week ahead' for you. I'll highlight just a few elements -- you can get the full text in my office.
Monday, 28 August
The Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, will represent the Secretary-General at a meeting organized by the Facilitator of the Arusha Peace Process, former South African President Nelson Mandela, in Arusha, Tanzania. Of course, that's the peace process for Burundi. Mr. Prendergast is already in Arusha today for that Burundi peace process.
And the fifty-third annual NGO Conference of the Department of Public Information will take place through Wednesday, dealing with the theme of global solidarity. I think we already mentioned to you yesterday that Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will be one of the people addressing the conference.
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Tuesday, 29 August
The Security Council will hold an open briefing on East Timor.
Wednesday, 30 August
The Security Council expects to hear a briefing in closed session from the Secretary-General's Special Envoy dealing with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, General Abdulsalami Abubakar. We've asked him to come and speak to you as well.
The Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments, bringing together leading Parliamentarians from around the world, will meet at United Nations Headquarters through Friday.
Friday, 1 September
The President of the Security Council for the month of September, Ambassador Moctar Ouane of Mali, will take over from previous Council President Hasmy Agam of Malaysia.
That's all I have for you. I see that Mr. Corell has arrived so we'll take any questions you have.
[A summary of Hans Corell's briefing, which also includes comments by the Spokesman, will be issued separately.]
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