PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

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. I am going to start with the Middle East.

**Middle East

Before leaving Sharm el-Sheik for New York, via Paris, the Secretary-General issued a statement saying that he was relieved and thankful that Israeli and Palestinian leaders today "have stepped back from the abyss and renewed their commitment to resolve their differences".

The Secretary-General noted that an agreement was secured in three vital areas: on security cooperation; on renewing the peace process; and on a committee of fact-finding to inquire into recent tragic events and how to prevent their recurrence.

He added: "It has not been easy. Feelings run high on both sides, mutual mistrust is deep. There are wounds in the families and communities concerned that may take a generation to heal."

The Secretary-General urged all concerned to "move forward, painful though it is, so that the children and youth of today -- angry and frustrated as they are -- can have a better world to live in". He added that "We need to look beyond the violence and bitterness, the pain and the hurt, beyond even the outcome of today's summit, to a future in which Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in a just and lasting peace."

The Secretary-General concluded by saying: "Silencing the guns, ending the violence, is a real achievement. But language can be violence too. I also appeal to the leadership on both sides, to all Israelis and Palestinians, and to the wider international community to weigh their words carefully. For words can inflame or sooth and everyone needs a restoration of calm and quiet so as to create the best possible atmosphere for a resumption of peace talks."

The full text of the Secretary-General's statement is available in the Spokesman's office as well as in the United Nations' Web site.

I would like now to give you some idea of the sequence of events in this last day of the summit, events involving the Secretary-General.

He began his day with a meeting with President Bill Clinton, who briefed him on the outcome of last night's meeting, which had gone to the early hours of the morning. Afterwards, the Secretary-General met a number of times with, among others, Egyptian President Mubarak, King Abdullah of Jordan, the European Union's envoy to the talks, Javier Solana, President of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 17 October 2000

Shortly after noon, local time, the Secretary-General held a last meeting with President Clinton, President Mubarak and Prime Minister Barak. It became clear after that meeting that a deal was at hand.

Following that, the seven delegations walked to the plenary hall. President Mubarak made opening remarks, President Clinton then laid out the broad outlines of the agreement and thanked each of the principals for their role in achieving it. Of the Secretary-General, he said: "I want to thank Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who has been here now in the region for more than a week, and who has worked tirelessly to bring an end to violence and to make this meeting possible."

**Human Rights

This morning in Geneva, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, spoke at the fifth special session of the Commission on Human Rights.

In her remarks, the High Commissioner said she hoped that “the key to a peaceful and stable future in the region lies in developing a culture of human rights and tolerance”. During this session, the Special Rapporteur, Giorgio Giacomelli, also presented his report on Israel’s violations of human rights in the Palestinian Territories occupied since 1967.

And we have available upstairs both his report as well as Mrs. Robinson's statement.

**Sierra Leone

Moving here to New York, there is no meeting of the Security Council scheduled for today.

Yesterday, the Council held consultations in the afternoon in which it was briefed by the 11-member Council mission that travelled last week to West Africa, which was led by British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock. The team had also prepared a draft version of its report on its trip, which was being finalized last night and is expected to come out as a document later today.

The report suggests priorities for the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, including coordination of the Mission's work with all sectors of Sierra Leonean society and the international community, and the strengthening of the Mission's numbers, effectiveness and capability.

The Mission reports the situation in Sierra Leone as calm, although fighting continues to be reported near the Guinean border.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in its briefing notes today, says that a technical mission visited six refugee camps in Guinea over the The UNHCR added that food distribution has returned to some refugee camps in Guinean border regions, from which the UNHCR and other agencies had been forced to withdraw following a spate of violence last month.

Further details are available in the briefing notes which we have in our office upstairs.

**Iraq

The Deputy Secretary-General, this morning, opened the second inter-agency meeting addressing the work of the “oil-for-food” programme in Iraq.

In her opening comments, the Deputy Secretary-General noted that the popular expression “oil-for-food” had become a misnomer, given the immense revenues now available for Iraq to fund a range of needs beyond food and medicine.

The meeting will end tomorrow afternoon, and the Humanitarian Coordinator in Baghdad, Mr. Tun Myat, will be joining us to talk to you before the end of this week. We will confirm later today when that will happen. We also have upstairs the latest update of the oil-for-food programme.

**Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Yesterday in Belgrade, Eduard Kukan, one of the Secretary-General's Special Envoys to the Balkans, met with Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica for the first time, and they discussed a range of issues on the possibility to enhance the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's participation in the United Nations.

Among the topics discussed were the situation in Kosovo and cooperation with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, the issue of Kosovo Albanian prisoners detained in Serbia, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's membership in the United Nations and other organizations.

**Ebola Outbreak Update

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued an update on the outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever and reports 81 cases, including 35 deaths.

Two additional WHO epidemiologists have arrived in Uganda with an accompanying shipment of protective clothing for health care workers on the ground. Two of the casualties are reported to have been nurses who contracted the virus before it had been confirmed as Ebola haemorrhagic fever.

A press release and the updated fact sheet are available upstairs and on the WHO Web site.

**East Timor

The United Nations Mission in East Timor informs us that the number of militia members in East Timor has now been reduced to no more than 100. You will recall that some 120 militia members had infiltrated into East Timor -- at least 30 of them have now returned to West Timor, Indonesia.

There are further indications that other militia groups are attempting to return to West Timor.

The Mission also informs us that there is no change in the operational pattern of the militia groups; they continue to avoid contact with peacekeeping forces and only come down from their hideouts in the pursuit of food. The quality of the militia fighters varies: some members are poorly equipped, while others are well-armed and equipped and exhibit some degree of military-like training.

More details on this and other news from East Timor are available in today’s Dili Briefing Notes that is in our office upstairs.

**Drugs

The “International Conference on enhancing security and stability in Central Asia: an integrated approach to counter drugs, organized crime and terrorism” will take place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on 19 and 20 October. The seminar is organized by the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention and the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Representatives from 67 countries and 44 international organizations are expected to attend the Conference. More details are available in a press release issued by the Office for drug prevention.

**International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. As you may have heard from the press conference immediately prior to the noon briefing, the World March of Women, a coalition of non-governmental organizations, will deliver a petition to the United Nations calling for immediate action to eliminate poverty, a more equitable distribution of the world's wealth, and for equality between men and women. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette will address representatives of the March at a special event in Conference Room 1, at 1:30 this afternoon.

Also, at 12:15 p.m., in other words, as we speak, there is a special event sponsored by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the NGO International movement ATD Fourth World in the garden to mark the day.

A press kit containing information on these events, and with background information on the Secretary-General's forthcoming report on poverty eradication, is available in our office.

**Disarmament

The Department of Disarmament Affairs has scheduled a number of events, both this week and next, as part of its annual Disarmament Week series of events; we have a complete schedule available for you in the Spokesman's Office.

Today, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Jayantha Dhanapala, will open a panel-discussion at 1:15 p.m. on "Disarmanent as Humanitarian Action", which will also mark the twentieth anniversary of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR). Please note that the discussion, to which you are invited, is in Conference Room 5 -- not Conference Room 4, as some posters have indicated.

**OPCW

At 12:30 p.m. today, in her conference room, the Deputy Secretary-General will sign an agreement of understanding between the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The Organization is responsible for monitoring implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which so far has been ratified by 137 States.

Further information on the Organization can be found through their Web site, which is www.opcw.nl.

**Human Rights Reports

Five reports on human rights were issued today. Reports on the human rights situation in Iran, Sudan, Haiti and Afghanistan and the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories are available on the racks.

**Press Releases and Reports

The World Food Programme (WFP) has announced a donation of over $10 million by the European Union for relief assistance in Angola. This will enable the WFP to deliver 14,000 metric tons of maize and 1,300 tons of cooking oil to the most vulnerable populations in the country and to continue assistance until January of 2001. More information is available in a press release issued by the WFP.

The Food and Agriculture Organization has announced that audio clips from the World Food Day observations in Rome yesterday are available on the Web site.

There is also a report available on the racks today, which is the report of the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and the report of the Committee for Programme and Coordination.

An updated background note on peacekeeping operations and political and peace-building missions is now available upstairs and on the United Nations Web site. There are now 15 peacekeeping missions with the addition of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea. And there are 14 political and peace- building missions. A total of 38,000 military and civilian personnel are serving in these operations. And the outstanding contributions to peacekeeping were about $2.5 billion on 30 September.

Tomorrow, at 11:15 a.m., there will be a press conference here in this room by Joseph Chaimie, Director of the Population Division; he will talk about the results of the Expert Group Meeting on Policy Responses to Population Ageing and Population Decline. This Expert Group Meeting began yesterday and concludes tomorrow.

The World Chronicle Programme with Mazlan Othman, Director of the Office of Outer Space, will be shown today on in-house television 3 or 31, at 2:30 in the afternoon.

This is all I have for you, before we go to Sue, do you have any questions?

**Questions and Answers

Question: Just three quick housekeeping things before my question. When is the Secretary-General due back? Are we going to get copies of the Deputy Secretary-General's speeches on Iraq and the women's March? And my question is, when the Secretary-General in his statement before leaving Sharm el-Sheik talked about the importance of language, was he particularly directing this to the upcoming General Assembly meeting on this issue among other things?

Deputy Spokesman: I have not been able to speak to the Secretary-General, he flew soon after the meeting was over. What I can tell you is what he says in his statement, that he was addressing the wider international community. That goes to all of us. The Secretary-General is expected to arrive in New York tomorrow late afternoon. The Deputy Secretary-General did not have a written speech during the Iraq meeting, she spoke off the cuff on talking points. On the women's group meeting, I have to check what kind of text she had with her.

Question: Given the role played by the Secretary-General in this crisis, is a further commitment of the United Nations in the peace process foreseeable in any way?

Answer: I would not be in a position to advance any speculation to you. The Secretary-General has helped in putting this summit together, which as you know was co-chaired by President Clinton and President Mubarak. He expressed his relief that some agreement was reached today and we will see what comes next. Sue?

Briefing by Spokeswoman for President of General Assembly

Thank you. Tomorrow morning the emergency special session of the General Assembly will be reconvened. As you know, this was adjourned in February 1999 and it will begin at 10 o'clock tomorrow.

The plenary this afternoon will decide on three new agenda items to be included in its agenda. This is in the report of the General Committee, that I mentioned yesterday, and then the plenary will take up the report of the Security Council. There are 32 speakers listed so far.

The President issued two statements today in relation to the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. One has been on the racks for a few days now. In it, he talks about the need for action to eradicate poverty and he noted that the world does not lack good intentions to eradicate poverty, but we have not done enough and the number of poor people is increasing, not decreasing. In relation to the World March for Women that Manoel mentioned is going to be here this afternoon, the President has issued a statement of support in which he points out that women constitute more than 70 per cent of the world's poor and that a key entry point to poverty eradication lies in addressing women's needs, including the necessity to make available economic opportunities, political empowerment and education.

He also said that statistics on physical violence and sexual abuse are chilling. During the time it would take you to read his note, hundreds of women and girls are abused, violated, raped, mutilated and humiliated. And he says, to accomplish true development we need to end discrimination, denial and violence of women and girls. Both those texts are available upstairs.

In the Committees this morning: In the Fifth Committee, Mr. Connor made a statement on the current financial situation of the United Nations, where he pointed out that unpaid assessments are up 23 per cent from a year ago, and as of 30 September, the unpaid assessments for the regular budget, the peacekeeping and tribunals together total $3.094 billion. We can make the full text available upstairs.

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The First Committee continues its thematic discussions on disarmament, the Second Committee is discussing the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people over their natural resources. The Third Committee is discussing activities of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People. And this afternoon, the Fourth Committee will continue its discussion of peaceful uses of outer space.

There is a very interesting note in the Journal concerning the schedule for the introductory statements of the Special Rapporteuse on Human Rights. This will begin in the Third Committee on Tuesday, 24 October, which is next Tuesday. It will follow the dialogue of the High Commissioner for Human Rights who will start the ball rolling in the morning of the 24th. She will be followed by the Special Rapporteurs concerning Afghanistan and executions. And the following day on the 25th, there will be the Special Rapporteuse on Religious Intolerance, the right to development, Sudan, Haiti, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Iraq.

On Thursday the 26th, the Special Rapporteurs on torture, Myanmar and Burundi will speak. And on Friday, the Special Rapporteur on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia will present his report. And the following week, on 1 November, it will be the Special Rapporteurs on Iran and Rwanda. Their reports will be available then, most of them are already. There will be a question and answer period with the Third Committee discussing and questioning those Special Rapporteurs. So that will be something interesting to look forward to. Thank you.

**Questions and Answers

Question: Sue, can you give us some idea what format has been decided on for the resumption of the special session tomorrow?

Answer: I don't have any details yet, it was only just before I walked into the room that I was authorized to announce that we are holding that special session tomorrow. But I assume there will be a list of speakers and we will make that available as soon as we have it. It will be formally announced to the Member States this afternoon, and in the Journal.

Question: Can I take it that that is set in stone, I ask that question because just a short while ago the United States Ambassador, Richard Holbrooke, gave an interview in which he said that they would be doing everything they could to delay that debate in the special session and he also said the General Assembly was a useless body. I don’t know if the President of the General Assembly will have any response to that.

Answer: The President, this morning, did consult with Member States about the scheduling of the special session and indeed he has been consulting over the last few days with Member States and, as far as I am aware, it will be held tomorrow at 10 o'clock.

If there are no more questions, I have an announcement for delegations who follow this briefing through the United Nations TV in room 4, that, exceptionally tomorrow, 18 October, this service will not be available in room 4. Therefore, members of permanent missions who usually follow the noon briefing from that room are invited to watch the briefing from one of the television monitors on the third floor of the Secretariat building. We regret any inconvenience this may cause, but it is just for one day and on Thursday we will resume the normal practice.

Thank you very much.

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