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 Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**Sierra Leone

Good afternoon. We'll start with Sierra Leone. The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone is assisting in whatever way possible the United Kingdom Government as well the local authorities in an effort to end the detention of 11 British and one Sierra Leonian soldier by a group of rebels known as the West Side Boys, that took place near Massiaka. According to the information we have, the detainees are in good condition and are being treated well.

The negotiations, which are ongoing, are being conducted by British and Sierra Leonian authorities, with the assistance of United Nations military observers.

Also on Sierra Leone, the Secretary-General’s sixth report on the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone is out on the racks. In the report, the Secretary-General calls for UNAMSIL -- as the Mission is known -- to receive an increase in peacekeepers to 20,500 in order for the Mission to fulfil its priority tasks outlined in a Security Council resolution earlier this month. He also recommends that the Mission’s mandate, which expires on 8 September, be extended for a further six months.

**Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Secretary-General's Special Envoy dealing with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, is in New York today where he will personally brief the Secretary-General on his recent trip to the sub-region.

Last week General Abubakar met with a number of officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and Ethiopia in effort to bring about the full and unhindered deployment of United Nations peacekeepers to that country.

The Secretary-General is awaiting a letter from Democratic Republic of the Congo President Laurent Kabila confirming what his Government is willing to do to facilitate the deployment of peacekeepers in his country.

General Abubakar is scheduled to brief the Security Council on Wednesday and we expect him to be available to the press afterwards.

**NGO/DPI Conference

Over 1,800 representatives from non-governmental organizations in some 60 countries gathered at the United Nations this morning for a three-day annual conference organized by the United Nations Department of Public Information.

The Secretary-General welcomed them saying that for more than a half century, non-governmental organizations have been allies and supporters of the United Nations. "Today", he said, "you are our partners in every sense of the word".

He pledged to continue to work to improve non-governmental organization access to the United Nations, although ultimately, he said, it is Member States who will decide. In time, "they will agree that our doors must be open", he said. He assured them, "your voices will be heard, I can promise you that".

When governments, civil society and the private sector work together, he concluded, "we can strengthen the bonds of our global community".

**World Peace Summit

The World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual leaders, organized by an independent group of people active in the inter-faith non-governmental organization community, will open this afternoon here at United Nations headquarters. The event is convened to identify ways the world's religious and spiritual leaders can work together in support of United Nations initiatives for peace. Over 1,000 participants are expected to be here today and tomorrow at the Waldorf Astoria, where the meeting continues on Wednesday and Thursday.

The President of the General Assembly, Theo Ben-Gurirab, will address participants this afternoon and the Secretary-General addresses them tomorrow and participates in their official luncheon, also tomorrow.

**Security Council

The Security Council is holding consultations this morning in preparation for the public meeting they will hold on 7 September at the Head of State/Head of Government level. The theme of that session, as you know, is "Ensuring an effective role of the Security Council in the maintenance of international peace and security, particularly in Africa".

**Kosovo

From Kosovo, after a series of fatal attacks on Kosovo Serbs over the weekend, Dr. Bernard Kouchner, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative there, issued a statement condemning the continued attacks targeting the province’s Serbian community.

Dr. Kouchner said that the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is working hard to build a foundation for democracy, but that no democracy can take hold in such a climate of hate.

The full press release from the mission is available upstairs.

**Somalia

In a message read at the inauguration ceremony of the Somali interim president, Abdiqassin Salad Hassan, the Secretary-General said that the event marked "an important milestone in the efforts of the Somali people to re-establish Somalia as a member of the community of nations, through an inclusive, consultative process".

"The search for peace and prosperity in Somalia", the message continued, "will not be achieved quickly. Formidable challenges await the new Somali administrative structure. It will need to establish itself as a viable entity". It will also need to "bring on board, through dialogue and negotiation, those personalities and entities in Somalia who have chosen to stay out of the process so far".

The Secretary-General was represented at the ceremony, which was held yesterday in the town of Arata in Djibouti, by his representative for Somalia, David Stephen.

The text of the Secretary-General's message is available in my office.

**Iraq Programme

From the Office of the Iraq Programme, we have some information on contracts. The latest oil figures show that in the week ending 25 August -- last Friday -- Iraq had exported 17.2 million barrels of oil generating revenue of about $479 million.

And the Security Council's sanctions committee has approved an additional contract -- a single contract for a Swiss company -- for 1.5 million barrels of Kirkuk crude destined for Europe.

**Payments

On payments, Djibouti paid not only its current debt to the United Nations for 2000, but also its arrears for prior years, and now is the 112th nation to be paid in full. That was with a payment of about $14,500.

And then Lithuania paid its dues of $187,000 plus, to become the 113th Member State paid in full.

**Press Conferences Tomorrow

Press conferences. There are two. At 11 tomorrow morning, one will focus on the Global Summit for Young Entrepreneurs. That will be held in New York from 28 August to 1 September. This press conference is sponsored by the United Nations Women's Fund (UNIFEM).

And then at 12:30 tomorrow, there will be a press conference to alert you to the Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments. That conference will be held here from 30 August to 1 September.

And you can see the notice boards for the details on the participants.

**General Assembly Annotated Agenda

And for those of you who follow in a serious way the work of the General Assembly, an absolutely essential document has come out today. It's the annotated agenda document, which contains the legislative history of each of the items on the Assembly's agenda. So you can pick that up from the document's counter.

That's all I have for you.

**Questions and Answers

Question: Concerning the spiritual leaders, the inter-faith, is there any list of the representatives or the participants available?

Spokesman: Is this the religious leaders or the non-governmental conference?

For the non-governmental organization conference, the Department of Public Information has put out a glossy document and there's a press release today.

The religious summit is -- as we've been emphasizing -- organized privately by a non-governmental organization. I'll have to see whether anyone has a list of participants. You might have to get it directly from the organizers.

Question: Concerning the Summit conference, we'd like to make some videotaped recording, who is responsible?

Spokesman: You're talking about the Millenium Summit? Ivan Stoynov of United Nations Television was here at a press briefing we gave last Friday afternoon. You can talk to him about all feeds from the United Nations camera throughout the Millenium. Ivan Stoynov. I'll give you the number afterwards if you want. Robert?

Question: British soldiers in Sierra Leone. Where have they come from? Because they're not part of UNAMSIL.

Spokesman: My understanding is that they were part of a bilateral -- well, I shouldn't say this without confirming it -- but let me get confirmation. My impression was that they were part of a bilateral training exercise. Whether they were integrated into the United Nations Mission or not I'd have to check for you.

Question: I missed the briefing on Friday at 2:30 p.m. and the report isn't out, but I'm concerned about getting in the building during the Millenium Summit. Do we have to be here at a very early hour to get into the building?

Spokesman: They advised that if possible you get here by 7 a.m. because the Heads of State start arriving at 7:30 a.m. When that happens, there will be intermittent closings of First Avenue. So if you're coming in after 7:30 a.m., and you're in a hurry, you might find yourself standing on a street corner for a certain amount of time while official delegations cars pass by. That's a New York City and Secret Service function as far as when to stop the traffic -- the pedestrian traffic on First Avenue.

So, if you can be here by 7 a.m. you'll be able to walk across the street without a problem. If you're here after that, during the hour and a half, I believe, arrival time that Heads of State come in, you could find yourself held up.

Question: The other part of that question concerns the length of speeches. They're supposed to be five minutes. They would have to be to accommodate all these nations. But, Heads of State generally don't stick to that. What are you going to do?

Spokesman: Well it was the governments' representatives in the General Assembly that decided on the five-minute limit. There will be a president in the chair. He'll have a big gavel in his hand. And our hope is that he'll be able to keep most Heads of State on schedule.

By the way, I should have mentioned if you are a resident correspondent without equipment, you can come in the forty-second street gate. But there will be no closing of the crossing at Forty-ninth Street due to the arrival of delegations. So, I think you would have unhindered access at Forty-ninth Street. But it's still better to get here by 7 a.m. if you can.

Question: On the Democratic Republic of the Congo, when do you expect a letter from Mr. Kabila?

Spokesman: I don't know that any specific time has been mentioned, but I think you can understand the need for something in writing because of the flip- flopping that we've seen recently.

I have clarification here on Sierra Leone. The United Kingdom soldiers are part of a bilateral agreement between the United Kingdom and Sierra Leone. They were involved in a training mission. They are not part of the United Nations Mission. So it's peacekeepers in quotes. Anything else on the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

Question: Just to follow up on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is there going to be any read-out on the Secretary-General's meeting with General Abubakar today?

Spokesman: I don't think so because, as we just mentioned, he's going to be briefing the Security Council on Wednesday, and then you afterwards. So it seems to me it would preempt his briefing of the Security Council if we said anything about the substance of his discussions with the Secretary-General today.

Question: Fred, are you going to have a schedule of speakers for the Millenium Summit?

Spokesman: Yes, I suppose closer to the date. Right now we have a list of expected participants. I believe there's already tentatively an allocation of who will speak on what day. Check in my office and see what we have. Thanks very much.

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