DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000915The following is a near-verbatim transcript of todays noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
It is a good thing we have some visitors, otherwise the room would be almost empty. But thank you for coming, Debbie.
**Timorese Athletes Take Part in Olympics
At the opening of the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, four athletes from East Timor won cheers from the crowd as they marched into Stadium Australia behind the Olympic flag.
The four athletes -- two marathon runners, a boxer and a weightlifter -- were allowed in May by the International Olympic Committee to compete in this year's games, even though East Timor has not yet attained nationhood. The Secretary-General personally requested a special exemption from the International Olympic Committee to allow the athletes to compete.
**Secretary-General Chairs Six-Plus-Two Meeting
The Secretary-General will chair a Six-plus-Two meeting on Afghanistan at the ministerial level this afternoon at 5 p.m. here at United Nations Headquarters. That will take place in Conference Room 8.
All eight countries are expected to be present -- five at the foreign minister level (that is China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, the United States), one at the deputy foreign minister level (Uzbekistan) and two at the ambassadorial level (Tajikistan and Turkmenistan).
The Secretary-General took the occasion of the presence of the foreign ministers in New York to convene the meeting to review the situation in Afghanistan.
There will be a photo op before the official start of the meeting. The meeting, including the Secretary-Generals opening statement, will otherwise be closed to the press.
**Ogata Travels to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran
Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Sadako Ogata has begun an eight-day visit to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. The 2.6 million Afghans in Pakistan and Iran comprise the worlds largest refugee group.
Inside Afghanistan, a team of United Nations and partner non-governmental organizations are looking into the needs of families recently displaced by fighting in the northeastern part of the country.
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**Security Council
The Security Council started consultations this morning on Ethiopia and Eritrea. As you know, a resolution authorizing the deployment of up to 4,200 peacekeepers in the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea is expected to be voted upon in a formal meeting following consultations.
The second item on this mornings consultation programme is Sierra Leone. The Council will be reviewing the measures imposed by paragraph one of resolution 1306. And this is about the prohibition of imports of rough diamonds from Sierra Leone.
Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury of Bangladesh, Chairman of the Sanctions Committee on Sierra Leone, briefed the Council on the work of the Committee. A statement to the press by the Council President is expected.
The last item on the agenda today for the Council is a briefing by the Secretariat, as requested by resolution 1319, on the killing of the three UNHCR personnel in Atambua, West Timor. The briefing will cover developments on the ground since last weeks militia attack on the humanitarian workers.
**Council Holds Private Meeting on Somalia
Yesterday afternoon, the Security Council held a private meeting -- that is, a formal meeting of the Council members and invited guests, closed off to the press and public -- so that it could hear a briefing by Djibouti's President, Ismail Omar Guelleh, on the peace process for Somalia.
Guelleh informed the Council of the results of the conference of Somali leaders and intellectuals in Arta, Djibouti, which resulted in the establishment of an interim Assembly comprising members of all Somali clans and minorities as well as the election of a President, Abdiqassem Salad Hassan. President Hassan spoke at the Millennium Summit last Friday, just two weeks after his election at the Arta Conference, and you will see his name on the speakers list to address the General Assembly this morning.
Guelleh also requested the Security Council give serious consideration to a United Nations post-conflict peace-building operation in Somalia, and the Council noted that request in a communiqué it issued at the end of the private meeting.
**Cyprus
The Cyprus talks resumed normally today. This morning the Secretary- Generals Special Advisor on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, met with His Excellency Glafcos Clerides and his delegation and this afternoon at 3:30 p.m., Mr. De Soto will meet with His Excellency Rauf Denktash.
**East Timor
The United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNTAET) reports that no advances regarding the volatile situation in West Timor were made at the Denpasar meeting
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between Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Special Representative in East Timor, who was accompanied by Xanana Gusmão, the East Timorese leader, and the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs, General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Vieira de Mello and Gusmão emphasized that militias in West Timor must be disarmed and that those responsible for the killings of the three UNHCR staff in Atambua last week must be brought to justice.
The Indonesian side said that a comprehensive plan is being worked out to disarm the militias and to bring the Atambua murderers to justice. This plan has not yet materialized.
During the Denpasar meeting, the United Nations Mission and the Indonesian Government did sign a document establishing a Joint Border Committee, consisting of civilian representatives from both parties.
Under that agreement, both East Timor and Indonesia pledged to seek mutually agreeable solutions to all practical issues or problems of a cross- border nature. These range from the demarcation of the definite political border between East Timor and Indonesia, to the facilitation of people and goods across the border, environmental issues, and cross-border police cooperation.
The establishment of the Joint Border Committee was decided during the third round of negotiations between Indonesia and the United Nations Mission in July.
Meanwhile, it was announced in Dili that the first formal round of negotiations between the United Nations Mission and the Government of Australia on the Timor Gap will take place in Dili between 9 and 11 October.
The negotiations are on the future treaty that will govern the resources or the exploitation of resources in the Timor Gap.
More details on these and other matters are available in the UNTAET briefing note.
**Mine Ban Convention Meeting
Today in Geneva, the second meeting of the States Parties to the Mine Ban Convention wrapped up with the adoption of a final report, including a Declaration reaffirming the countries' unwavering commitment to the total eradication of anti-personnel mines.
The Declaration urged all countries to cease use of anti-personnel mines, and called on those in a position to do so to provide technical and financial assistance to meet the challenges of mine action.
Since the five-day meeting began, six more countries became parties to the Convention. They are Bangladesh, Colombia, Gabon, Kiribati, the Maldives and Moldova, bringing the total number of States Parties to 107.
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Approximately $250 million has been allocated by donors over the past year to address the global landmine problem.
**Secretary General Speaks at G-77 Meeting
The Secretary-General this morning attended the annual meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Group of 77 developing nations, and noted that their leaders brought to last week's Millennium Summit a unified message about the continuing gaps in income and problems in public health.
He told the G-77 delegates, "I believe this cry of anguish did not go unheard". He added, "It is in your interest, and the interest of your peoples, to ensure that last week's Summit does not come to be seen as yet another false dawn, but does indeed mark a new beginning".
The Secretary-General also congratulated Iran, which this morning was elected by acclamation to serve as the next Chair of the G-77, replacing Nigeria. Iran is to take over from Nigeria in January.
Although the meeting is closed, the Secretary-General's comments were open to the press and we have copies of them in my office.
**Commission on Human Rights Meets
Today in Geneva, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, attended a one-day informal meeting of the Commission on Human Rights. In her remarks to the Commission, she outlined some of the items which will be included in her report to the 55th session of the General Assembly (that is the one meeting now).
Among other things, the report will highlight the human rights situation in East Timor, in Chechnya and in Sierra Leone.
Concerning East Timor, the High Commissioner said she was considering the appointment of a Personal Envoy who would examine, among other tasks, the fate of missing persons of East Timorese origin.
On Chechnya, Mrs. Robinson deplored the negligible response of the Russian authorities regarding the alleged serious human rights violations in Chechnya.
The High Commissioner also said her office would work closely with the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations to ensure that the future independent court for Sierra Leone acts in accordance with international human rights standards.
We have the full text of her address upstairs.
***FAO Launches Annual Report
In Paris today, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched the latest edition of its annual report, "The State of Food and Agriculture", which
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says that more than 800 million people -- or about 13 per cent of the world population -- still lack access to the food they need.
Although undernourishment -- especially in Asia -- has diminished, famine remains a major source of concern in Africa, according to the report. FAO says that armed conflict and civil strife remain major sources of food insecurity, causing a loss of agricultural output in the developing world estimated at an average of $4.3 billion per year.
Over the past decade, it adds, economic losses stemming from conflict in developing countries exceeded the total amount of food aid to those countries (with $37 billion lost because of conflict, compared to $29 billion in food aid).
We have a press release available upstairs with more findings from the report, and you can also get more information on the FAO website (www.fao.org)
**Treaties
This morning, Sierra Leone deposited its instrument of ratification for the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, making it the twentieth nation to do so. The Statute needs 60 ratifications before the Court can come into being.
Among other notable signings, Burkina Faso is scheduled this afternoon to sign the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which has already been signed by 84 nations.
**WFP Launches Appeals for Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea
We have available a new press release from the World Food Programme announcing the launch in Rome today of the World Food Programme appeal for new contributions to feed 7.9 million people in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. The World Food Programme hopes to raise $100 million to cover the needs of the vulnerable population for the next four months.
Food will be distributed to schools, patients in paediatric hospitals, pregnant and nursing women, orphans and the elderly. The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea faces its sixth consecutive year of food shortage, and only large-scale food donations have averted a famine in the country.
**Budget
Budget news. Bolivia gave us over $73,000 today, becoming the 130th Member State to be paid in full for its dues for this year.
**Press Conferences
Press conferences. This afternoon, in fact immediately after this briefing, Antoine Kolawole Idji, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Benin, will talk to you about the Fourth Conference on New and Restored Democracies which
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will be held in Benin from 4 to 6 December of this year. I know that is an issue the Secretary-General cares a lot about.
**Week Ahead
And then we have the Week Ahead, which you can pick up in my office. I will highlight a number of items.
Towards the beginning of the week, the Secretary-Generals latest report to the Security Council on the United Nations Mission in Kosovo and also the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea are expected to come out.
At 12:30 p.m. on Monday, there will be a press briefing on efforts to reduce the violence faced by children in Colombia, which will include as speakers the First Lady of Colombia, Nohra de Pastrana, as well as Carol Bellamy, the Executive Director of the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), and Olara Otunnu, the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.
Tuesday, the Council has scheduled consultations on Ethiopia and Eritrea.
On Wednesday, the Council would have a briefing on Afghanistan in which it is expected to hear from the Secretary-Generals Personal Representative there, Francesc Vendrell, and is also intending to hold a formal meeting on the extension of the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone.
At 11 a.m. on Wednesday, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will hold a press conference to launch its State of the World Population Report for the year 2000.
Thursday, the Council will take up the oil-for-food programme in Iraq, and is expected to receive the latest report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Then on Friday, the Council may hold consultations on the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission for Iraq.
**Questions and Answers
That is all I have for you. Any questions? Yes Lee.
Question: Do you have any idea how much [Democratic Peoples Republic of] Korea spends on their military?
Spokesman: Unless they submitted that information to us, and you recall I mentioned we publish the results of the voluntarily submitted information on military expenditure, we would not have that. But check that list just in case the number is there.
Anything else? If not, have a good weekend. Dont forget the General Assembly tomorrow. Thanks.
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