DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000912The following is a near-verbatim transcript of todays noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Susan Markham, Spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly.
Briefing by Spokesman for Secretary-General
Good afternoon.
**Secretary-General Opens General Assembly Plenary
The Secretary-General opened this year's General Assembly plenary by saying that, following last week's Millennium Summit, this is the moment "when we roll up our sleeves and start putting action to the bold pledges that our heads of State and government have made".
He told the Assembly delegations that it is up to them to take decisions that reflect the will of the great majority of Member States, and said that a small minority of nations should not "withhold its consent unreasonably" from decisions.
The Secretary-General said he would submit a plan to the Assembly to implement the recommendations of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, that was chaired by Lakhdar Brahimi, so that it can decide on reforms in United Nations peace operations within a year.
He also drew attention to his Millennium report, and noted that the United Nations is making headway in forging new partnerships with volunteers, corporations and philanthropic groups to provide information technology and medical knowledge to the developing world. We have copies of his speech upstairs.
**Secretary-General Promises Prompt Changes in Sierra Leone Mission
On coming into the Headquarters building this morning, the Secretary- General talked briefly to some correspondents waiting for him there and that was on the situation in Sierra Leone. In response to a question, he mentioned the difficulties of forging a cohesive peacekeeping operation with forces from different countries and said that it is not helpful when there are differences and bickering between commanders. This is a situation that cannot be allowed to fester, he said, and we are going to deal with it effectively and promptly.
In Sierra Leone, the overall security situation remained generally calm but the situation in the Masiaka area in the east was reported by the United Nations Mission today as tense and unpredictable, following the weekend rescue operation by British paratroopers of the remaining British hostages held there.
Nigerian soldiers of the United Nations Mission at Rokel Bridge came under attack by small-arms fire overnight. No casualties were reported and no other details were immediately available.
Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 12 September 2000
Meanwhile, 25 West Side Boys, that is the rebel group, surrendered and handed in their weapons and ammunition to the United Nations Mission in Masiaka yesterday. Four more West Side Boys, including two child soldiers, had turned themselves in by midday today.
The tension along the border with Guinea meanwhile has spawned a new wave of 5,000 to 6,000 internally displaced persons towards Lungi in Sierra Leone, from the border area, according to the United Nations Mission.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees reported that authorities in Guinea have agreed to release all foreigners who have been in detention since Saturday. Police in Conakry had arrested at least 3,000 foreigners over the weekend, following a series of attacks by Liberian and Sierra Leonean rebels on Guinean villages.
The Security Council intends to dispatch a mission to Sierra Leone in the near future. The terms of reference have yet to be decided.
**Militia Members Surrender to UN in East Timor
Two militia members surrendered yesterday to United Nations peacekeeping forces in East Timor in the Ermera District, which is southwest of Dili. They said they were members of a group of 10 that had entered East Timor from West Timor on 31 August.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Sergio Vieira de Mello, after meeting the two militiamen yesterday, said that their defections were clear evidence that the United Nations Missions strategy was working -- that is, an extensive campaign being carried out by the Mission, urging the militia to hand over their weapons in return for guaranteed security and assistance in resettlement.
Also yesterday, another four militia surrendered in the Maunfahi District, which is south of Dili. They said they were part of a group of 38 men who had crossed the border into East Timor, also on 31 August. The two militiamen who surrendered in Ermera were on the brink of starvation and they are now being treated at the United Nations military hospital in Dili.
Also in Dili today, the Transitional Cabinet decided to approve the establishment of a national defence force for East Timor. That decision is based on the third of three options put forward by a Kings College, London, independent study that was released in This option calls for a defence force built upon a base of FALINTIL members with a professional regular corps of 1,500, supported by 1,500 volunteer reservists. These reservists would be based in their home villages and called for training at periodic intervals.
Given the volatile security situation in West Timor and the planned visit of a Security Council mission to Indonesia and East Timor in the coming days, Mr. Vieira de Mello will no longer be opening the Sydney Olympics, or attending the opening of the Sydney Olympics, as we had announced earlier. The Secretary- General has now asked his Chief of Staff, Iqbal Riza, to represent him at that ceremony. For more details, look at the briefing note from Dili that we have available in my office. It mentions, by the way, that East Timor Television, which is being established by the United Nations Mission, will broadcast the Olympic Games live. I dont think you even get that in America.
**Cyprus Proximity Talks Resume
As I mentioned yesterday, the next round of the Cyprus talks begins this afternoon. You will see on the Secretary-Generals programme that he is scheduled to meet separately with Glafcos Clerides and then with Dr. Rauf Denktash. The Secretary-Generals Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, is expected to brief you here in this room at about 5 p.m. We will squawk that once it is confirmed.
**Other Announcements
The weekly update from the Iraq Programme is upstairs. It shows that last week Iraq exported 11.8 million barrels of oil worth about $340 million. Revenue in the current phase (VIII) is now up to $4.6 billion. The update also indicates that the so-called fast-track procedure authorized by the Security Council is starting to work as designed. In the humanitarian sectors, more than one quarter of all contracts approved from Phase V onwards have gone through the fast-rack rather than the Sanctions Committee which, of course, takes much longer.
From Bosnia and Herzegovina, there is a press release out of Sarajevo, describing the press briefing from the United Nations Mission there in which they condemned the continuing effort by Bosnian Croat war veterans to block the Carinski Bridge in Mostar. The Mission voiced its concern at the inaction of the police in West Mostar, who had failed to remove the vehicles that blocked the bridge or to take any action against these veterans. The United Nations Mission and its International Police Task Force are consulting with members of the local police to issue non-compliance reports for failing to address this matter adequately. The blocking of the bridge followed protests over rising fuel prices, and tensions following the arrest by Bosnian Federation Police yesterday of an individual seized in an anti-terrorist operation. If you want more details on that, look at the Mission note.
Belgium today signed an agreement with the United Nations so that, starting today, a team of 24 Belgian forensic experts will travel to Kosovo to assist the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in its investigations there. From today until Saturday, the Belgian forensic team will assist in the exhumation of mass graves and the gathering of evidence. We will have further details from the tribunal.
Drug control officials in Tajikistan have seized almost 600 kilograms of heroine in the first eight months of this year. This represents an increase of some 400 per cent over the same period in 1999. To give you an idea of what this means, the average amount of heroin seized by a Western European country last year was about 370 kilograms. For more details, please pick up a press release issued today in Vienna by the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention. And, by the way, the head of that programme, Pino Arlacchi, will be our guest at the noon briefing on Thursday of this week. His briefing will follow a meeting of the six-plus-two regional group on Afghanistan, that is Russia, the United States and the six contiguous neighbours of Afghanistan. That meeting will be held tomorrow and will discuss the general situation in
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 12 September 2000
Afghanistan as well as a regional plan on dealing with illicit drug trafficking from that country.
**Press Conferences
Finally, press conferences. Today, at 1:15 p.m. in this room, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Austria and our former Chief of Protocol, I might add.
And then tomorrow, two press conferences -- one at 11:15 a.m. in this room, Lamberto Dini, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Italy, and then at 12:30 p.m., right after my briefing, Hubert Védrine, Minister for Foreign Affairs of France, and he would be joined by Javier Solana, the High Representative for Common, Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union.
Any questions before we go to Sue? Robert?
Question: Indonesia has said that they wont agree to see the Security Council mission and that they reject its presence. Can you comment on that?
Spokesman: I think we would want to see the Security Councils reaction to that. I understand that they are meeting at the expert level this afternoon and they are supposed to meet in closed consultations tomorrow, so I wouldnt expect that to be addressed by them until this afternoon, and it is up to them to react. I have no reaction. Chris?
Question: My question has just been answered.
Spokesman: Okay. Anything else? Okay then. Sue.
Briefing by Spokeswoman for Assembly President
I know I promised I wouldnt come unless there was news. Well, the general debate is news, isnt it? I hope so.
As Fred said, the Secretary-General was the first speaker to open the debate and I am pleased to tell you that it started on time today. Yesterday, the President of the General Assembly was very concerned that he was unable to start the meeting for an hour and a half because there wasnt a quorum. After the meeting, he sent a letter to all the Missions reminding them that a 10-minute delay at the start of every meeting at Headquarters would result in a waste of approximately $800,000 a year. He asked everybody to please be prompt. Again I am very happy to say that the meeting started more or less on time this morning.
We have listed seven speakers this morning, including the President of Djibouti, who has already spoken. Eleven speakers are listed this afternoon, including the President of Togo. Tomorrow morning we have eight and 11 are listed in the afternoon. As you know, this may change day-by-day as we go along. At the moment, we have around 183 inscribed on the speakers list. The majority of them are Foreign Ministers, although we do have seven heads of State or government as well. Just to remind you that we will also be working on Saturday because the general debate continues on Saturday.
If you would like to see the Presidents schedule, it is available in the Spokesmans Office. Thank you. * *** *