In progress at UNHQ

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

1 September 2000



Press Briefing


DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

20000901

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of the today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon. The large attendance here bears no relationship to the news quality of the briefing. We have a group of broadcasters and journalists who are here for a Department of Public Information (DPI) training programme.

**Spokeswoman for Co-Chairs of the Millennium Summit

Let me start by announcing -- I think you all know Therese Gastaut on my right, a Director in the Department of Public Information. But, as of today, she is the Spokeswoman for the Co-Chairs of the Millennium Summit. That is Sam Nujoma, the President of Namibia, and Tarja Halonen, the President of Finland. So, she will also have some Millennium-related information for you after I've done my briefing.

And then on my left is Mahbub Ahmad, also of the Department of Public Information. He's the Chief of Information Technology, and he is going to introduce you to the new facelift we've given to the United Nations homepage. That's the old one. And when we push a button, you'll see what the new one looks like. We'll get to that in just a minute. (Both briefings were issued separately.)

**Human Rights

We'll start with human rights today. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, today appointed Ambassador Henrik Amneus of Sweden as her Special Envoy on persons deprived of liberty in connection with the Kosovo crisis.

The Special Envoy's main focus will be on seeking a comprehensive solution to the problems of detainees and missing persons in Kosovo and elsewhere in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The Secretary-General's Special Representative in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, welcomed this appointment, saying: "We hope that Ambassador Amneus will be instrumental in tackling the issues which have devastated the lives of so many families in Kosovo and which have been a serious stumbling block on Kosovo's road to democracy".

Ambassador Amneus has been in the Swedish diplomatic service since 1961. Among many assignments, he has served as Sweden's Ambassador to Iraq as well as its Ambassador for Human Rights. In addition, Ambassador Amneus has participated in various United Nations missions and missions of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

For more information, check the briefing notes from Kosovo that are available in my office, as well as a press release from Mary Robinson's office.

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 1 September 2000

**East Timor

On East Timor, concluding his visit to Jakarta, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, met today with President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia, who reiterated his support for ending the security and refugee problem and for maintaining good relations with East Timor.

In a separate meeting with members of the Indonesian Cabinet, a comprehensive plan for the speedy return of the refugees in West Timor was discussed. The plan is based on the time-frame of three to six months put forward by Jakarta. The United Nations representatives said that East Timor is ready to quickly absorb these refugees if they are willing to return.

The return this month of some of the approximately 2,600 civilian Timorese recruited by the Indonesian Armed Forces as reservists, with members of their families, was also discussed.

Tomorrow, the United Nations Civilian Police are kicking off a "Fun Run" in Dili to raise funds to support projects for widows and orphans in East Timor.

And for more details check the briefing note.

**Sierra Leone

Yesterday in Sierra Leone, the United Nations Mission's Nigerian troops deployed at Port Loko. They received a visit by the country's President, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, who was visiting the area for the first time since he came to office in 1996. Kabbah also traveled to the town of Bumbuna and addressed people and Sierra Leonean Army soldiers there.

The visit to Bumbuna was also marked by the arrival of a United Nations helicopter carrying relief supplies for internally displaced persons in that area.

In his speeches at both places, the Sierra Leonean President urged the people to forgive former combatants of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) if they show remorse.

There's not much news about the six British and one Sierra Leonean soldier who remain detained by the "West Side Boys" as they're called -- the rebel faction. Talks are continuing today on their expeditious release, and the United Nations Mission continues to provide any necessary security and logistical assistance. All hostages are reported safe.

**Afghanistan

On Afghanistan, today in Islamabad, Pakistan, the Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan announced that it would have to cut, or it will have to cut down, its operations by half in response to a major shortfall of funding.

The Programme has a workforce of over 4,800 people, mainly local mine workers, and has been forced by this shortfall to send operational teams on two months of unpaid leave during the latter part of this year. They're also reducing or freezing salaries. Also, the Programme plans to put all its operations on hold during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, at the end of the year.

Polly Brennan, Mine Awareness Adviser to the Mine Action Programme, warned, "Any reduction in mine action automatically has severe repercussions for communities. Civilian mine and unexploded ordnance casualties, already estimated as at least 300 per month, can be expected to increase."

Also from Afghanistan, the World Food Programme (WFP) said today that 3,000 people had arrived in the western city of Herat in an effort to escape the devastating effects of the continuing drought.

It is estimated by the WFP that close to 10,000 people are now living in very poor sanitary conditions in camps built on the outskirts of the city.

For more information on these two items, we have a press release from the Office of the United Nations Coordinator for Afghanistan as well as from the WFP.

**Security Council

The Security Council is holding consultations today on their programme of work for the month of September. They will continue discussions on the draft outcome document of the meeting the Council will have on 7 September at the level of Heads of State.

Today is the first day of September, therefore marking the change in the rotating Presidency of the Council. Ambassador Moctar Ouane of Mali replaces Ambassador Hasmy Agam of Malaysia as Council President

**UNHCR/Bosnia

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in its briefing notes today, says that nearly five years after the Dayton Peace Agreement, it's seeing signs of a breakthrough in the return of refugees to their homes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

During the first six months of this year, UNHCR says, nearly 20,000 people went back to their pre-war homes in areas controlled by their enemies -- a number sharply up from the 7,700 people over the same period last year. More than 7,000 Bosniacs and Croats returned to their homes in Republika Srpska in the first half of this year. Nevertheless, the agency adds, more than 700,000 people remain displaced because of the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

The agency also recorded a sharp increase in returns of ethnic Serbs to Croatia since the new Government took office there in January. During the first half of last year, more than 10,000 Croatian Serbs returned home, a number almost equal to their returns during the whole of 1999.

You can get more details in the UNHCR briefing notes, which today also include information on the arrival in Venezuela of some 500 people fleeing paramilitary violence in Colombia. The area of Colombia -- La Pista -- had been under the control of the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia, or FARC, until the middle of last year, when paramilitary forces entered. The people who fled into Venezuela claimed the paramilitaries had shot at them and thrown grenades at them.

**Press Kit on New General Assembly President

We have a press kit -- I can't show it to you because it's embargoed -- on the President of the fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly, who's to be elected next Tuesday. It's available in English and French and is embargoed until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, 5 September.

**Press Conferences

One press conference to tell you about. It's at 1:15 p.m. today, and that's the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and they'll give you the outcome of the Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments.

**Dialogue among Civilizations

We've just been informed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that the press conference of its Director-General, which was to take place on Tuesday, will not happen. However, Koichiro Matsuura, UNESCO's Director-General, is expected to be available to the press at the end of the morning session of the Dialogue among Civilization round table, scheduled for 5 September. We'll squawk when he comes to the stand-up microphone.

**New Member of Spokesman's Office

I want to quickly introduce to you a new member of my office. She's Nanci St. John of Trinidad and Tobago. She'll be specializing in the United Nations specialized agencies, as well as United Nations administration, finance and reform. Welcome, Nanci. She's right here in the front row.

**The Week Ahead

We have the week-in-review for you. It's going to be the week from hell.

Monday is a Labor Day Holiday, which is also a United Nations holiday.

The Secretary-General, however, will be in the building for at least half the day. A number of bilateral meetings have been scheduled for him, and then he is going to take questions from Chatham House, London, where participants in a symposium will be asking him about all sorts of things.

Tuesday, the Secretary-General will give a press conference. We don't know if it will be here or -- if the mob is really great --we'll have to move it down to Conference Room 2. That's 11 a.m. Tuesday on the Millennium Summit, and anything else you want to ask him about.

And Tuesday is also the last day of the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly and the first day of the fifty-fifth session. Among the matters of business will be the election of the new President, as we've already mentioned.

Wednesday then starts the Summit. And Therese will tell you a bit more about that.

**Payments

Budget contributions. They continue to come in. So we have two more countries paid in full for their regular budget dues for 2000. Colombia with a

payment of about $197,000, and Madagascar with more than $20,000. That makes 121 countries paid in full for this year for the regular budget.

Any questions before we go to Therese?

**Questions and Answers

Question: Jesse Helms, the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, has called on Madeleine Albright not to give Fidel Castro a visa for this Summit, alleging that he should answer for mistreatment of United States citizens. I'm just wondering if you can maybe give a reaction to that, and incorporate a bit of an explanation of the understanding the United Nations has about the obligations of the United States to allow leaders to come to a Summit like next week's.

Spokesman: Well, the United States has signed the Host Country Agreement, saying that it will facilitate the entry into the United States of all those who need to come here to participate in official United Nations business.

There is a small caveat to that. If there are overriding national security concerns, visas can be denied. But otherwise, that's a matter between the United States and Cuba, and so I wouldn't want to comment further.

Question: Is there ever a case where an official from a foreign country can be permitted into the United Nations without getting a visa from the United States?

Spokesman: I think those are the immigration rules here. I don't think you get past the tarmac at Kennedy Airport without a visa.

Question: How do the 121 countries that are paid in full compare to this time last year?

Spokesman: We'll have to check that. I don't have that in my head. But it's rolling along nicely. There's still a huge amount owed to peacekeeping, though, much greater than to the regular budget. So this is only part of the picture.

Question: Did the Secretary-General have any response to this report that United States Patriot missiles have been put on alert against a possible missile attack by Iraq on Israel? Is the Secretary-General concerned that this may inflame tensions again in the region?

Spokesman: We saw that press report this morning, but we have no response to it.

O.K., Therese. What do you have to tell us about the Summit?

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For information media. Not an official record.