DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000830The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
**Security Council
Good afternoon. The Security Council began its work this morning with closed consultations on the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- General Abubakar please come right up here -- as I was saying the Council had held closed consultations on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on which it heard a briefing by General Abdulsalami Abubakar, here on my right, who is the Secretary- General's Special Envoy for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and who visited the region last week.
The General told the Council about his meetings with Democratic Republic of the Congo President Laurent Kabila, in which he stressed the importance of granting real and complete freedom of movement to the United Nations Mission and permitting the Mission to deploy armed troops to several locations in that country. He also urged the Government to participate in the inter-Congolese dialogue and to cease all hostilities and maintain a ceasefire.
Since then, the Special Envoy noted, the Democratic Republic of the Congo Government had relaxed some restrictions on the United Nations Mission's freedom of movement and said that it would allow some United Nations troops to deploy to Mbandaka, Kananga and Kisangani. However, he added, while those developments are welcome, the concessions announced were only part of a package of measures that the Special Envoy had requested.
The Council has proceeded to discuss the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and it may issue a statement to the press after these discussions.
I wonder if I can interrupt the briefing at this point and turn immediately to the Special Envoy. We'll take your questions on the Democratic Republic of the Congo after he makes some opening comments, and then well go back to my briefing. So, welcome to the briefing, General.
[Following General Abubakar's briefing, the Spokesman resumed his noon report. General Abubakars briefing was issued separately.]
After the discussions in the Council on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there were consultations on Sierra Leone. First, the Council will be briefed -- or is now being briefed -- by the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hédi Annabi, on the recent capture of 11 British and one Sierra Leonean soldiers by the West Side Boys rebel faction. Negotiations for their release are continuing.
Then it expects to discuss the Secretary-General's report on Sierra Leone, which came out on the racks on Monday. That report recommended, of course, an expansion of the United Nations Mission there to 20,500, from its current troop ceiling level of 13,000. The Council will have to consider any changes in the mandate of the Mission before 8 September, when the present one-month mandate extension expires.
**Inter-Parliamentary Union
This afternoon at 3 p.m. in the General Assembly Hall, the Secretary-General will deliver the keynote address at the first-ever Conference of Presiding Officers of Parliaments.
The Conference, which is organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), runs for three days and is being attended by more than 150 speakers of national parliaments.
In his speech the Secretary-General is expected to tell the delegates that, as legislators, they are in a unique position to promote democracy, and that good governance relies on the stability and security of parliaments.
The full text of the Secretary-Generals speech is available on an embargoed basis in my office.
**Ethiopia-Eritrea
Yesterday, the Secretary-General sent to the President of the Security Council a letter providing a list of 19 countries who might be included among the initial troop contributors to the new United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).
That Mission, you'll recall, has so far posted five military liaison officers in each country, both Ethiopia and Eritrea, and intends in the coming weeks to deploy 100 military observers there. Under the Security Council's "no- objection" procedure, the Council expects to reply to the Secretary-General's letter by tomorrow morning -- that would also be at 10:30 a.m. -- after which the letter and the Council's response can be circulated.
**Kosovo
This Saturday in Kosovo, the United Nations Mission's Victim and Identification Commission will sponsor a major burial operation in the area of Makoc, outside Pristina.
About three weeks ago, a British forensic team, working under the auspices of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, exhumed 83 bodies of civilians of the Kosovo conflict so it could identify them. Now, the Victim and Identification Commission, following discussions with several of the victims' families, will rebury the exhumed bodies, and will be assisted by the Kosovo Protection Corps, which will provide 300 coffin bearers.
Details are in the briefing notes today from Kosovo.
**Croatia
We also have available today from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia a press release commenting on the reported murder of a Croatian citizen, Milan Levar, at his residence in Gospic, Croatia, on Monday.
Mr. Levar was interviewed by the office of the Tribunal Prosecutor during 1997 and 1998. Following those interviews, the Tribunal offered to provide him protective measures. Instead, he told the Tribunal that he wished to remain in Croatia and wanted the Prosecutor to approach the Croatian Government to ask them to provide protection for himself and his family.
The Prosecutor responded to that request on 1 April 1998, by writing to the Croatian Government and requesting that protection be provided to Mr. Levar as a potential Tribunal witness. The Government responded on 15 April that it would accept that responsibility, after which there was no further contact between Mr. Levar and the Prosecutor's Office.
He died in an explosion on Monday at his home in Gospic, which is south of Zagreb. He had been a witness in providing testimony about Croat reprisals against Serb civilians in the Gospic region. The Prosecutor's Office said in the release that it regretted his death.
We also have further details in the weekly press briefing from the Office of the Tribunal.
**East Timor
From East Timor, more than 10,000 people gathered in Dilis main square today to celebrate the first anniversary of the Popular Consultation, which was held on 30 August 1999, when almost 80 per cent of the East Timorese voted for independence.
The celebrations began in the morning with a mass celebrated by Bishop Belo at the Dili Cathedral. Thousands of people gathered in and around the Cathedral and heard Belo urge the East Timorese to forgive those who resorted to violence and to work towards reconciliation.
Addressing those in Dili's main square, the United Nations Special Representative, Sergio Vieira de Mello, delivered the message the Secretary- General sent to the Timorese people, and which we distributed yesterday. He also made an appeal to the militia who entered East Timor, saying, "I am not going to use bellicose words towards you today. I wish to appeal to you to lay down your weapons and to surrender."
For more details on the events in Dili today, please pick up a copy of today's briefing note in my office.
**Trial of Former Indonesian President Suharto
At the invitation of the Government of Indonesia, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Dato' Param Cumaraswamy, will be in Jakarta tomorrow to observe the opening of the trial of former President Suharto.
The Special Rapporteur said his interest in the trial stems from the principle that leaders of governments should not enjoy any form of impunity from investigation and prosecution for crimes alleged to have been committed by them while in office.
There's a press release from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on that subject.
**Afghanistan Weekly Assistance Update
The office of the United Nations Coordinator for Afghanistan has issued its weekly assistance update, which shows, among other things, a continued increase in internally displaced people in the western provinces due to the growing effects of a severe drought.
The update also announces a donation from the United Kingdom of $550,000 to World Food Programme (WFP) food assistance projects for Afghan refugees in Iran.
You can get that document in my office.
**Colombia
The WFP today issued a press release renewing its appeal for donations aimed at providing food for Colombias internally displaced people.
In the release, WFP expresses the concern of the humanitarian community that the renewed crackdown on the countrys drug traffickers may lead to fresh outbreaks of violence that will push even more civilians from their homes.
The WFP project in Colombia aims at distributing food assistance to some 230,000 internally displaced. It has, so far, received only one donation -- from the United States -- amounting to about 25 per cent of the project needs.
Please see the press release for more details.
**Millennium Forum
I'd like to draw your attention to a document out on the racks today, which transmits the final document expressing the views of the civil society organizations that gathered here at the United Nations on 22-26 May at what was called the "Millennium Forum". You'll recall that the Secretary-General had proposed that civil society groups organize such a forum in order to help the United Nations continue to play a vital role in the century ahead. The report includes recommendations from the non-governmental organizations on how the United Nations can do just that.
**Payments
The payments keep rolling in. We have a small avalanche today. Four more countries became paid in full for their regular budget dues for the year 2000. They are Ecuador, with a payment of $271,000, Malawi and Mongolia each with about $21,000, and Zimbabwe with more than $188,000.
The latest status of contributions to the United Nations budget, which came out yesterday, shows that the United Nations is still owed about $3.3 billion, including some $700 million for the regular budget and $2.5 billion for peacekeeping.
**Press Conferences
Press conferences -- no more today. Two tomorrow. At 12:30, Avraham Burg, Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, which is the Israeli parliament, and head of the Israeli delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments, will take your questions in this room.
And then at 2 p.m., also in this room, the IPU will hold a press conference to update you on the proceedings of their conference.
That's all I have for you. Any further questions?
**Questions and Answers
Question: The Secretary-General's identifying the 19 potential troop contributors, is this a new departure? It sounds like the sort of thing that the Brahimi report was recommending.
Spokesman: In what sense a new departure?
Question: Is this the sort of thing the Secretary-General has done before?
Spokesman: I think it's standard procedure, but let me double check for you. It's to notify them, not to get their express approval, just to get an indication of whether there would be any objections.
Question: Regarding the Millennium Summit, you said that your office was going to put copies of the speeches on the Internet. But now its come to my attention that the organizers will be cutting down the number of passes for the people from the Department of Public Information going to the General Assembly. So maybe Robin and other people would not be able to be there on time, and we, the journalists, will be the victims. Can you look into that?
Spokesman: Yes, we've already alerted Conference Services that Robin's office, which is the documents office, would need access, and we hope they would get speedy service when they go down to get those texts, so that we can get them onto the Internet for you as quickly as possible. I'll look to see if there are any further problems. Thank you.
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