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 Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Susan Markham, Spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly.

Briefing by Spokesman for Secretary-General

We have visiting journalists from the Western Hemisphere who are here as part of a State Department programme. Welcome to the noon briefing.

**Security Council

On the Security Council this morning, the Council is being briefed by the Secretary-General on his recent visit to the Middle East. In his remarks to the Council, the Secretary-General reiterated his appeal to all the parties in the region, as well as the international community as a whole, to weigh their words carefully as words can calm or inflame an already volatile situation. We expect him to come to the stake-out after the Council consultations are over. We think that would be in about an hour. Then this afternoon, he will address the General Assembly, which is meeting in its tenth special session. He will also be briefing them on his Middle East trip.

**East Timor

From East Timor, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General there, Sergio Vieira de Mello, announced today in Dili the composition of the new National Council of East Timor. It will have 36 members, 13 from political parties, 13 representing each of the East Timor Districts, seven from civil society organizations, and three from religious groups. All but two of the seats have been filled and incumbents will be officially sworn in on Monday.

The National Council is yet another step towards the Timorization of transitional institutions in East Timor. It replaces the National Consultative Council, which used to have 15 members; four of those 15 were expatriates. The new council, with parliament-like functions, is exclusively Timorese, reflecting the diversity within East Timor. Members of the National Council were appointed as a result of a very wide selection and consultation process throughout the country.

More details in the Briefing Note from Dili, which also tells you about the rehabilitation of schools and you can pick that up in my office.

**Human Rights Reports

We have human rights reports out today. On the racks is one on the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that was prepared by Special Rapporteur Roberto Garreton, and asserts that none of the parties to the country's conflict has respected the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 20 October 2000

The report criticizes the human rights records of all the parties, saying that torture, the detention of political prisoners and lack of due process are problems shared by all sides, and summarizing freedom of expression in the country by saying, "There is none". The report recommends that all parties fully implement the Lusaka Agreement, cooperate with the United Nations mission and put an end to all forms of impunity.

Among other reports on the racks today are two others that deal with human rights; one on the elimination of all forms of religious intolerance by special rapporteur Abdelfattah Amor, and one on the right to development by independent expert Arjun Sengupta.

**Food Aid

The World Food Programme says it has made the first food delivery to Daru, a town surrounded by rebel RUF forces in eastern Sierra Leone after more than three months of absence because of insecurity in the region. Access to Daru can only be made by air. We also have a fact sheet produced by the World Food Programme (WFP) on food aid delivery in North Korea.

**Inter-Agency Appeal for Viet Nam

This morning, an Inter-Agency Appeal for Emergency Relief and Initial Rehabilitation for Viet Nam was launched in Hanoi and Geneva. The appeal seeks over $9 million for an estimated six-month period to assist the Government in its ongoing relief and rehabilitation efforts in the flood-devastated provinces of the Mekong River Delta. The floods have affected some 5 million people. Over 670,000 people have been or are in need of urgent relocation and 340 lives have been lost. The floods have destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of crops and seeds for next season and economic losses have been estimated at $240 million. The Government has already released over $5 million and the international donor community has been responding generously. We have copies of some press releases in room 378.

**Afghanistan

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports today that Afghans continue to stream into Pakistan amid reports of intense fighting in the northeast part of the country.

In other news from Afghanistan, the country's Mine Action Programme announced its intention to study how to use mine-sniffing dogs in the country's demining operations. Both press releases are in my office.

**UNICEF

And finally the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announces a four- day visit to the Sudan and Kenya by its Executive Director Carol Bellamy and that is to launch a polio immunization campaign.

**The Week Ahead at the United Nations

The week ahead, you can pick up the full programme in my office but on Sunday, the United Nations High Commissioner for refugees (UNHCR), Sadako Ogata will visit Moscow. She will be there through to October 25 and that is to discuss the situation in the Northern Caucasus with President Vladimir Putin and other senior officials. And on Monday, the first ever meeting of the United Nations Messengers of Peace and Goodwill Ambassadors will take place here at United Nations Headquarters, and the Secretary-General will meet with the messengers and the ambassadors gathered for the day-long programme. The attendees are expected to discuss the role of celebrity advocacy at a forum at 10 a.m. in the Economic and Social Council Chamber.

Then at 2:45 p.m., Youssou N'Dour, the United Nations Children's Fund Special Representative for the Performing Arts and a member of the United Nations Development Programme's Working Group on HIV/AIDS in Africa, will hold a press conference to launch the Joko Project, an initiative to build Internet access centres and cultural content Web sites in Africa.

Then Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs -- this is still on Monday, Jayantha Dhanapala -- and the Head of the United Nations Department of Public Information Kensaku Hogen will join United Nations Messenger for Peace Michael Douglas, and the three of them will open a new exhibit on disarmament, that will be on the third floor of the General Assembly Building and will take place at 3 p.m. The exhibit will be included as part of the guided tour of United Nations Headquarters. The Secretary-General that evening is to attend the annual gala of you, the United Nations Correspondents Association.

I will just mention one other thing, at the end of the week at 1 p.m. on Friday, Nane Annan, the wife of the Secretary-General, will present her book "The United Nations: Come Along with Me!" at the United Nations bookstore and she will be available to sign copies of the book. All proceeds from the book will go to UNICEF. I think that's aimed at 8 to 11 year olds, something like that. That's all I have. Any questions before we go to Sue. Yes, Steve.

Question: Is the Secretary-General concerned at all that movements within the General Assembly are undermining his efforts in the Middle East?

Spokesman: He respects 100 per cent the right of these bodies of Member States to discuss matters that under the Charter they are authorized to discuss. He has delivered a message as I mentioned yesterday and which he repeated to the Security Council this morning to everyone -- to leaders in the region, representatives here and elsewhere -- to be conscious of the language they use when the situation on the ground is as tense and as delicate as it is now in the Middle East, so that words don't further inflame the situation.

Question: What are the Secretary-General's views on the Commission of Human Rights resolution calling on Mary Robinson to travel to the region and six special rapporteurs to go to the region? Do you have any idea on whether Mary Robinson will go?

Spokesman: I don't know. We were in touch with her office this morning. I don't know if it's her intention to go. I think she'd better speak for herself. And seeing that the Secretary-General is going to be coming to the stakeout right after this Council meeting, I don't think I need to speak for him on that subject. I'll let him speak for himself.

Question: On the question of Timorization, doesn't the word “cabinet” imply transitional government rather than council and also the term “foreign secretary”. Spokesman: The intention of the United Nations mission there is to move East Timor gradually towards self-government, and the Council that they created today is really the first step towards a parliament. Elections won't be held until sometime next year, there isn't a date yet, but it's not too far away. Everything the mission is doing is to prepare the East Timorese to stand on their feet.

Question: Did the question of Jerusalem becoming an international city come into the talks involving the Secretary-General in the Middle East recently?

Spokesman: Not that I am aware. The elements that had been on the table for the peace talks really were not discussed at Sharm el-Sheikh because the process had been pushed back so far that all they were talking about was first restoring calm; second, steps that could be taken to increase stability; plans for a fact-finding committee; and then the hope was that after a certain amount of time they could resume peace talks. So I personally am not aware of any discussion of the peace talks agenda in Sharm el-Sheikh other than the intention to get the talks going again as quickly as possible.

Question: Were there any new incidents in the Middle East that prompted the Secretary-General to repeat his message of how words can inflame or calm?

Spokesman: No, it's a central theme since Sharm el-Sheikh that he has been emphasizing and restating, and he felt it was important enough to restate it this morning.

Question: Any new indications on the choice for the next United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees?

Spokesman: We tentatively expect to make that announcement next week along with the Head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). We think both the nomination of the High Commissioner, which then goes to the General Assembly for approval, and the appointment of the Head of UNFPA, which is his choice to make on his own -- both those are expected to be announced next week. Sue?

Briefing by Spokeswoman for President of General Assembly

Thank you. The plenary this morning took up the issue of cooperation between the United Nations and the Council of Europe and as I left they were hearing the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe speak. There will be a resolution, but I don't know whether they have adopted it or not as we have been sitting here. And then following that they were going to take up the issue of cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The Deputy Director General of that organization was suppose to address the General Assembly this morning, as well.

This afternoon, the General Assembly will hold the resumption of the tenth emergency special session on illegal Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory. We have 48 speakers listed and as Fred mentioned we expect the Secretary-General to be the first speaker there. The draft resolution we expected to have this morning but I had not received it when I came to the briefing. So if we receive it before the meeting we will give it to you. In the Committees this morning there was the introduction of two draft resolutions in the Second Committee: one on the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people over their natural resources and the second concerning a high-level dialogue on globalization to be held for two days prior to the general debate next year. The themes would relate to generating new financial resources for development and facilitating access for developing countries to information and communications technology. This is the second such high-level dialogue that's been held.

In the Third Committee there were three resolutions introduced this morning: one relating to the girl child, which would request Member States to do more to ensure that girls can enjoy equal human rights and that they take action against violations of their rights; a second on the improvement in the status of women in the United Nations, which reaffirmed the urgent goal of reaching a 50-50 gender distribution in all categories of posts in the organization and expressing concern that there are five departments which still have less than 30 per cent women as part of their staff. The third resolution concerned States that encountered difficulties in attending meetings in Geneva of the Committee on the Elimination Racial Discrimination.

The First Committee continues its discussion on thematic issues and has a great number of draft resolutions which they will be acting on early next week. So we could give you copies of those and more information if you wish. And the Sixth Committee this morning continued its discussion on the establishment of the International Criminal Court. Actually I'm not sure if it was this morning or this afternoon, I'll have to look at the agenda.

As you may know, yesterday Cambodia announced that it was signing the treaty on the International Criminal Court, which brings the count up to 115 countries that have signed. So far, 21 have ratified, and we require 60 to bring the treaty into force. The calendar of the upcoming meetings of the Committees and the plenary and the themes they will be discussing and the actions they will be taking is available upstairs in the Spokesman's Office. We update that every week. Thank you.

Question: Does the resolution for the special session today have to be completed before they begin the session or could they negotiate through the next couple of days while its going on. Is the session likely to go on through the weekend to start up again on Monday?

Spokeswoman: To take your second question first, the scenario as I understand it is that they really hope to be able to finish today at 6 p.m. and if there are speakers remaining they would continue on Monday. That was what the President said this morning. But I believe he is in the hands of the Member States depending on how they wish to go. And in terms of the resolution, I had hoped that we would have it for you by now but it could be negotiated right up until the end of the tenth session. There is no reason that it has to be done now unless the Member States wish that.

Question: You mentioned something about a committee taking up the issue of natural resources. What's that all about and do you know how many different committees around the United Nations system or in the General Assembly are taking up issues related to the Middle East?

Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 20 October 2000

Spokeswoman: Well this was coincidental that the Second Committee had this agenda item at this particular time. As you know, the committees plan their work agenda ahead of time and this was scheduled for now. The draft resolution that was introduced, and I can give you copy afterwards, as I said, was about the sovereignty of the Palestinian people over their natural resources including water and land -- resources of that nature.

Spokesman: Is that it? Good, thank you very much. Have a good weekend.

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