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

Briefing by Deputy Spokesman for Secretary-General

Good afternoon.

**Middle East

To update those of you who could not follow the weekend, the Secretary- General arrived at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Saturday after having spend the better part of last week shuttling between the Palestinian Authorities, Israel, and also Lebanon.

While in Sharm el-Sheik and in advance of today’s summit, the Secretary- General met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his Foreign Minister Amr Moussa. In addition to those meetings, the Secretary-General remained in constant telephone contact with all concerned parties.

He did have a few press encounters over the weekend. The transcripts are available in our office for your reference, as well as on our Web site.

The Middle East summit at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, started today. I'll have the sequence of events involving the Secretary-General there today for your information. The Secretary-General went to the meeting site at 10 o'clock this morning, where he met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The Prime Minister briefed him on Israel's position at the opening of the talks.

He then conferred with Javier Solana, the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy. As you know, Mr. Solana represents the European Union at the summit.

After that he met with Yasser Arafat, the President of the Palestinian Authority, with whom he discussed their ideas for the summit.

The United States Ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, then called on the Secretary-General before he went into a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan who, as you know, is also a summit participant.

The Secretary-General then met with United States President Bill Clinton. They discussed the objectives of the summit and plans for a fact-finding inquiry into the events of the past weeks and the way ahead.

While these meetings were going on, at noon, the Foreign Ministers met to discuss the summit agenda.

The summit plenary, co-chaired by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and United States President Clinton, got under way at 1 o'clock this afternoon local time. Five other principals attended -- Prime Minister Barak, President Arafat,

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 16 October 2000

King Abdullah II, Javier Solana, and the Secretary-General. Presidents Mubarak and Clinton made remarks and then the plenary adjourned.

The principals were then hosted at lunch by President Mubarak. After lunch, the Foreign Ministers were to convene again. While the Ministerial Meeting was under way the principals were to meet with each other in a series of bilaterals.

The Secretary-General left the conference facility to return to his hotel after lunch, leaving behind his special envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen and Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast to attend the Ministerial Meeting and to stay in touch with the parties.

While the outcome of the summit hung in the balance, the mood of most delegations was grim determination, summed up by President Clinton, who echoed comments by the Secretary-General, saying, “We cannot afford to fail.”

**Security Council

The Security Council is meeting this afternoon at 3 p.m. in consultations on the report of the 11-member Security Council mission to Sierra Leone and West Africa, which returned to New York late last night.

The head of the mission, Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, of the United Kingdom, will brief the Council. Prior to his briefing to the Council, he will brief you, correspondents, here in room 226 on an embargoed basis. The embargo will be lifted as soon as Council consultations are over, later in the afternoon, and we’ll squawk that to you. We hope to have the English version of the mission's report also available this afternoon.

**Iraq

Tomorrow morning will see the start of a two-day meeting convened on progress and problems in implementing the “oil-for-food” programme.

The Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, will open the meeting, which covers topics from the humanitarian situation in Iraq, the work of the 661 Sanctions Committee, reports to the Security Council, financial issues and the security of staff.

The meeting brings together senior officials from all agencies involved in the programme -– from both their headquarters and from Iraq. The head of the United Nations' Office in Iraq, Tun Myat, is at Headquarters and we will invite him to join the noon briefing sometime later this week. You can obtain more details on the programme of this meeting from the Iraq programme office.

**Ebola Outbreak in Uganda

The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed the first ever outbreak of haemorrhagic fever caused by the Ebola virus in Uganda. The outbreak has occurred in the Gulu district in northern Uganda. As of today, 71 suspected cases have been reported, including 35 deaths.

The WHO is coordinating the international response to support the Ugandan Ministry of Health in containing the virus and tracking possible contacts.

A press release is available upstairs and an updated fact sheet is expected shortly from Geneva.

**World Food Day

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is today observing World Food Day with the launch of The State of Food Insecurity in the World. A report is being launched simultaneously in cities around the world.

The FAO Director-General, Jacques Diouf, said there was no time to waste to achieve the commitment, made at the World Food Summit in 1996 and reaffirmed during the recent Millennium Summit, to halve the number of undernourished in the world by the year 2015. Mr. Diouf added that the elimination of hunger and malnutrition should be adopted as a primary goal of national economic and social development.

World Food Day will be marked in New York on Wednesday by a ceremony beginning at noon in Conference Room 2.

The FAO report has been issued in English, French, Arabic and Italian and it is available on their Web site. A limited number of copies, in English, are available in the Spokesman's Office.

**Report on UN Mission of Observers in Prevlaka

The Secretary-General's latest quarterly report to the Security Council on the UN Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP) is out on the racks today, and, in the report, the Secretary-General describes the situation in the Prevlaka peninsula, which is located as you know between Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as calm and stable. Despite the prevailing calm, however, the Secretary-General reports that there has been no progress during the past three months towards a political settlement. He adds "it is to be hoped that recent developments in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the installation of a new leadership in Belgrade will now facilitate an early resumption of negotiations". The Security Council is expected to discuss the report in closed consultations on Wednesday.

**Myanmar: Human Rights Report

There is available today, on the racks, the latest report on human rights in Myanmar, prepared by the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, Rajsoomer Lallah. Lallah, who has not been authorized to visit Myanmar, reports the suppression of the exercise of political rights and freedom of expression continues in Myanmar, and is particularly directed against the opposition National League for Democracy. He also mentioned reports that torture, arbitrary detention, forced labour and forced relocations in minority areas continue to occur.

**New Documents

Among other documents out on the racks today is a letter from the President of the Security Council to the Secretary-General, confirming the extension of the mandate of the United Nations Office in Angola until 15 April of next year.

There is also a note by the Secretary-General transmitting a brief update on the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by its Director-General, Mohamed El Baradei.

**Disarmament and March of Women 2000

At 5:30 p.m. today, in Conference Room 4, the Departments of Disarmament Affairs and Public Information are sponsoring a screening of a 55-minute video on small arms, titled "Armed to the Teeth". The Deputy Secretary-General will attend the screening and deliver a message. Media interested in attending this screening can pick up an invitation in Sonia Lecca's office, in room 250.

And finally, tomorrow afternoon, the Deputy Secretary-General will address a panel discussion organized by the Canadian Mission and the World March of Women 2000. Before making her opening remarks, the Deputy Secretary-General will receive from the World March of Women 2000 a sampling of a petition collected by the organization which, they say, has over 10 million names.

The petition calls for the United Nations and Member States to work towards the elimination of poverty and an end of violence against women.

The event, which will be open to the press, will take place in Conference Room 1 at 1:30 in the afternoon. For more information, please contact Elizabeth Ruzicka-Dempsey in the Department of Public Information at extension 3-4742.

Are there any questions before we move on to Sue?

**Questions and Answers

Question: You mentioned that the Secretary-General had said "that we can't afford to fail", is there any particular plan from the United Nations on the table in Sharm el-Sheikh?

Deputy Spokesman: This Summit is co-hosted by President Mubarak and President Clinton, so any of the substantive discussions on the agenda, I would have to refer you to those two countries.

Question: Just two follow-up questions: Is there any indication as to how long the Secretary-General is planning to stay in the Middle East with these negotiations? And as a follow-up to your Iraq note, I assume that this meeting on Iraq is private with closed doors and no part of it is open.

Answer: I will start with the last question. That would be my assumption as well; however, I will have to refer you to the Office of the Iraq Programme, since they are the ones handling that. No, I don't have a time-frame for the Secretary-General yet. It is very open-ended as it was last week.

Question: Are you aware of any specific written agenda before the summit. Is it possible that they might extend the summit to tomorrow, have you heard anything about that?

Answer: I don't have any agenda to share with you of the Summit. The Foreign Ministers have discussed the agenda and I have no more details than that. And I don't have a time-frame, I think it is all open-ended. Sue?

Briefing By Spokeswoman for President of General Assembly

Thank you. This morning the General Assembly met very briefly -- less than half an hour to conduct some elections. There were no secret ballots because the number of candidates was equal to the number of seats to be filled. There was an election of seven vacancies for the Committee for Programme and Coordination, and there were 17 members elected to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. There was one appointment of a member to the Committee on Contributions as a result of another member resigning earlier. I have details if anyone wants those.

Earlier, before the plenary began, the General Committee met and agreed to recommend that there will be three new items on the plenary's agenda this year. One would be "Follow-up to the Millennium Summit", and in this regard there will be informal consultations on 27 October, under the Chair of the President of the General Assembly. Another new item relates to the reunification of the Korean peninsula, and a third item relates to the cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and an agreement will be signed on 17 October on this. The General Committee's report will be taken up tomorrow afternoon as the first item when the plenary meets to discuss the report of the Security Council.

As you probably know the item on Bethlehem 2000, which was scheduled to be discussed today, has been postponed. As Manoel mentioned, today is World Food Day. The President of the General Assembly will attend a luncheon honouring the Millennium World Food Prize laureates at the Rainbow Room. And on Wednesday, at the observance of the World Food Day here in New York, he will be the keynote speaker. We will provide an advance text on that.

In the Committees this morning, the Fourth Committee took up the issue of the peaceful uses of outer space. The Second Committee is continuing its discussion on sustainable development issues and the Fifth Committee is discussing procurement reforms and outsourcing practices. This afternoon the First Committee will continue its thematic discussion on disarmament issues and consideration of draft resolutions. The Third Committee will have the introduction of draft resolutions relating to the advancement of women and it will take up the issue of indigenous people. The Sixth Committee is discussing international law relating to the new international economic order and the review of the Statute of the Administrative Tribunal.

Thank you.

**Questions and Answers

Question: Is there any word on when the General Assembly emergency session on the Middle East will be held.

Spokeswoman: No, not as yet. It obviously won't be today, and probably not tomorrow, but there is no schedule fixed yet. The President of the General Assembly has been discussing the timing with Member States.

Question: Is the 27 October meeting with the General Assembly in conjunction with the evaluation of the implementation of the conclusions of the Summit?

Spokeswoman: It is what the President of the Assembly has been working on up to now -- how will the General Assembly follow-up to implement the declaration that was agreed to by the Millennium Summit? There is now being proposed that there be a separate agenda on the follow-up to the Millennium Summit and the negotiations on 27 October will discuss what the General Assembly should do on this item.

Thank you so much, have a nice afternoon.

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