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 Manuel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman of the Secretary-General, and Susan Markham, Spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly

Briefing by Deputy Spokesman for Secretary-General

Good afternoon. Sorry for being slightly late.

**Middle East

In light of the events in the West Bank and Gaza today, the Secretary- General cut short his stay in Lebanon, and as we speak he has just arrived back in Jerusalem.

This morning, New York time, the Secretary-General issued a statement in Beirut, where he called the most recent outburst of violence “chilling.” “I appeal to all”, he said, ”leaders and citizens alike -— to stop and think about what they are doing today and what kind of tomorrow they want for their children. Violence breeds violence. I urge you to opt for restraint”.

He concluded his statement by saying: “I want to express my deep sadness at the suffering and loss of so many victims of this chaos, and once again call on all to respect life, renounce violence and return to rational discourse.”

Earlier in the day, the Secretary-General spoke briefly to the press in Beirut. He told journalists that he remains in constant touch with both Israeli and Palestinian officials. He also said that he hoped the meeting of the tri- lateral security commission would still take place.

Copies of the statement are available upstairs, as well as the transcript of a press encounter in Beirut. We also have available upstairs the statement issued yesterday where the announcement was made of this tri-lateral security meeting.

While in Lebanon, the Secretary-General met with President Emile Lahoud in Beirut. During the meeting the Secretary-General briefed President Lahoud on his ongoing efforts in the region. They also discussed the situation along the so-called Blue Line: the Secretary-General again urged the Lebanese to deploy additional security resources along the line as a way of promoting stability in the area.

Following his meeting with the President, the Secretary-General met with Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi who is also visiting Beirut. Before returning to Israel and Gaza, the Secretary-General flew to Naqoora, site of the headquarters of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). There he was briefed by the United Nations Force Commander on the situation along the line.

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**UNICEF

This morning, the Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) issued a statement on the situation in the Middle East, where she says that in recent days, 27 children have been killed and more than 1,200 have been injured.

“Until the adults in the region take responsible action,” Bellamy said, “children and youth will continue to suffer injury, loss of life and lasting trauma”.

**Sierra Leone

Moving now to the African Continent. The Security Council mission to West Africa wrapped up its 72-hour stay in Sierra Leone this morning with a press conference in Freetown, which the mission's leader, Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock of the UK, began with a statement. Copies of the statement are available in our office upstairs.

Greenstock noted that the UN Mission in Sierra Leone has been through a period of crisis, but had moved on, and he affirmed that the Council was determined to make the Mission as effective, capable and robust as possible. He said, "We have seen first-hand very impressive peacekeeping and peace- building work by each and every one of the units we visited".

On the proposed special court for Sierra Leone, he noted the mission had heard views from children, civil society groups and various government and non- government agencies and would take those views, and the Secretary-General's recommendations, into account as the Council discusses the court.

Greenstock added that the Council's mission to the region will continue, and that the team is looking to the leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to act on their individual and collective responsibilities. The team then left for Conakry, Guinea, where they are scheduled to meet President Lansana Conteh. After that, they are scheduled to fly to Bamako, Mali, later today to meet with President Oumar Alpha Conaré, the head of ECOWAS.

**Myanmar

Razali Ismail, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Myanmar, concluded his four-day mission to Myanmar today, Thursday. During his stay in Yangon, he held a series of discussions with Myanmar authorities, including Senior General Than Shwe and Lt.Gen Khin Nyunt of the State Peace and Development Council.

The Special Envoy also held two meetings with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the General-Secretary of the National League for Democracy. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi appeared to be in good health.

The Special Envoy underlined the necessity for national reconciliation in Myanmar and, towards this end, has urged both the Government and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to initiate a process of political dialogue as soon as possible.

He will report the results of his mission to the Secretary-General when he visits New York next week.

**Angola

The Secretary-General's latest report on Angola went to the Security Council yesterday, and is out on the racks today. It provides an update on the work of the United Nations Office in Angola and on the overall situation in that country, which the Secretary-General describes as "unstable."

The report notes the continued fighting between the Government and the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), which is resorting increasingly to guerrilla-type operations. The Secretary-General warns that, "if the present trend continues, the situation in Angola could worsen the security and humanitarian problems, especially in the border regions of the neighboring countries, Namibia and Zambia".

The report also notes that some 2.7 million people have been displaced from their homes by the end of August, with millions of other people affected by the use of force against civilians and deployment of landmines.

The Secretary-General adds that the United Nations Office in Angola has played an essential role in assisting the Government and in mobilizing humanitarian support, and he recommends its extension by the Council for another six months, until April 15, 2001.

**Yugoslavia/Kosovo

Carl Bildt, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Balkans, is beginning a visit to Belgrade today to talk with the Yugoslav authorities.

The visit is intended to follow-up on the Secretary-General's message delivered over the weekend to Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, asking the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to consider applying for membership in the United Nations. The Special Envoy will also discuss human rights, and will meet United Nations and other representatives in order to assess the humanitarian needs during the next few months. He plans to stay in Yugoslavia until Saturday.

In other news in the Balkans, the Secretary-General's Special Representative in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, has urged Governments where Kosovo Albanian refugees are based to stop any forced or induced returns until the spring, because of the lack of adequate accommodation in Kosovo. Some 82,000 Kosovars had returned by the end of September, nearly 9,000 of whom had been repatriated forcefully.

Also, Kouchner today opened a resource center on detainees and missing persons in Pristina, which is designed to serve families of missing persons or detainees who have been held in Serbia. We have additional details available in a press release which we have in our office upstairs.

**Security Council

The Security Council today began its work with closed consultations on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on which the Council is considering a draft resolution that would extend the mandate of the United Nations’ Mission to that country by two months, until December 15.

This afternoon, the Security Council will hold a private meeting -- that is, a formal meeting open only to Council members and their invited guests -- in the Council chamber to hear from the Foreign Minister of Indonesia, Alwi Shihab. He is expected to discuss the steps being taken to deal with the security situation in West Timor, which, as you know, is part of Indonesia.

As I was coming downstairs here, a couple of your colleagues asked me whether the Council was going to take up the Middle East situation, and we have not yet heard anything on that. As soon as we do, we will let you know.

**Special events on East Timor

The United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) will be presented with the Elie Wiesel Ethics Award at a ceremony this evening in the Trusteeship Council Chamber. The Deputy Secretary-General will attend the ceremony on behalf of the Secretary-General. As you know, UNAMET was the United Nations Mission in charge of organizing the popular consultation held in East Timor on 30 August last year.

To commemorate the first anniversary of the popular consultation in East Timor, United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor has published a book entitled,"Timor Lorosa'e: One momentous year" with photographs and anecdotes by staff chronicling the last year. The Department of Public Information has also published a booklet, "The United Nations and East Timor: Self-determination through popular consultation". Copies of both books are available in our office upstairs, room 378, and I would also like to note that the editor and the person responsible for the publication of “Timor Lorosa’e: One Momentous Year”, Brennon Jones, is here and will be available after the briefing to answer any questions on the publication.

Included in the programme of events is the screening of the film, The Diplomat, featuring Nobel Laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, followed by a panel discussion on the United Nations and East Timor. Details of the programme are also available in our office upstairs.

**Human Rights

I am about to finish the briefing, but I want to tell you that we have several important human rights documents on the racks today, in which the Secretary-General transmits the reports of the special rapporteurs or representatives of the Commission on Human Rights dealing with Iraq, Rwanda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

**Press Releases and Reports

We also have available a new note to correspondents from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with details of the simultaneous launch of the State of Food Insecurity in the World, which is a report scheduled for Monday in London, Washington, Nairobi, Bangkok and other cities.

And NETAID, a United Nations Development Programme project, announces an Internet initiative to help reduce school dropout rates in Peru, called Two-for- One Learning for Life. It gives Internet users the opportunity to make contributions online and volunteer time to a programme which helps children from extremely poor families in Lima stay in school. More details are available in a press release in our office upstairs.

The Department of Public Information asked us to inform you that the World Chronicle programme with Dr. Joseph Chamie, Director of the Population Division of the Department of Economics and Social Affairs, will be shown today on in- house television channel 3 or 31 at 3:30 this afternoon.

And just to remind you that at one p.m. today, Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, the newly-appointed Executive Director of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlement, Habitat, will be here to speak. It is her first press conference since she was appointed, and she will talk to you about the work of Habitat and its programme called “Cities without Slums”.

I am being told here that there is a slight change in the Council programme of activities today. The Security Council will hold consultations this afternoon on East Timor, briefly, and this will follow the private meeting they will have with the Indonesian Foreign Minister, as I announced earlier.

This is all I have. Do you have any questions before we move over to Sue?

**Questions and Answers

Question: In terms of Yugoslavia’s application for United Nations membership. How does it work?

Deputy Spokesman: The country has to send a letter applying for membership. It is as simple as that.

Question: And after that, the General Assembly takes it up?

Deputy Spokesman: Maybe Sue can answer that.

Spokeswoman: There are two possible scenarios, either they will apply one way or another. Either the General Assembly resolution, I don’t have it in front of me, I am sorry, but I can give it to you in my office, can be changed so that the name of Yugoslavia, a current member, but the FRY could not inherent the name or the seat, should I say. So either they can change the name, or they can deem that there is a new country applying and then the old country would not exist any more. We are not quite sure how it will go yet.

Question: And how about the sanctions on Yugoslavia? Is there any move on the part of the United Nations to lift them?

Deputy Spokesman: I have not heard anything regarding that yet. If there are no more questions, Sue?

Question: We have all been watching the television on the situation in the Middle East. Does the Secretary-General feel comfortable in his position as his own representative there, or does he intend to make a call to the Security Council, because he is on his own mission there?

Deputy Spokesman: I don’t know if you have had a chance to look at the statement he issued this morning, where the Secretary-General makes a very strong appeal to all in the region, leaders and citizens, that they have to stop and think about what they are doing -- what’s happening today and what kind of tomorrow they wish to have for their children. Violence begets violence; he has repeatedly pointed that out. Now is a time to stop it. It is time for a truce. He continues to be in contact with all parties. And he has, as I said, gone back to Jerusalem, because he sees there is a great need for the parties, the leaders and the citizens to really stop this violence.

Briefing by Spokeswoman for President of the General Assembly

The President of the General Assembly, this morning, is conducting elections for 18 members of the Economic and Social Council. And as we were sitting here, it was announced that 16 were elected. There remains a run-off for the two remaining seats for the Asia group. So far elected have been Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Georgia, Romania, Andorra, Italy, the Netherlands and United States. So we remain yet to hear about the final two seats from the Asia Group.

The Sixth Committee is continuing its discussion this morning on the report of the Special Committee on the United Nations Charter and on strengthening the role of the Organization. During the discussion, speakers have referred to the need to target sanctions more effectively and to reduce their negative impacts on civilian populations and third states.

The Third Committee is expected to take action on six draft resolutions this afternoon. They relate to crime and drugs and include a proposal to elaborate a new international treaty against corruption. And the discussion on the rights of the child continues in the Third Committee today.

The Second Committee is discussing sustainable development questions today, including preparations for next year’s special session of the General Assembly, to be held in follow-up to the Habitat II Conference. That is scheduled for June next year.

The Fourth Committee continues discussing the effects of atomic radiation, and the First Committee will continue its general debate this afternoon.

We have issued an update on the calender and also have included what is scheduled for November. So you can collect copies of that in the Spokesman’s Office. Thank you, any questions?

**Questions and Answers

Question: Who will replace Indonesia as head of the Economic and Social Council?

Spokeswoman: Indonesia is still the head, but there will be a new president next year.

Question: Do you know who that will be?

Spokeswoman: Yes I think we do, but I am sorry I can’t remember, I’ll have to check and get back to you.

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Thank you very much.

A quick announcement, at 12:30, the representative of the Palestinian observer mission will be talking to the press at the second floor stake-out at the exit of the Security Council.

Thank you.

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