DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20001109The 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 Spokesman for Secretary-General
We have as guest for the noon briefing today Dileep Nair, the Under Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, who will join us after Susan's part of the briefing. [Mr. Nairs briefing is being issued separately.] And I will start the briefing with an update for you on the Secretary-General's activities in Geneva.
**Secretary-General in Geneva
This morning the Secretary-General met separately with United States and United Kingdom envoys on Cyprus to discuss a paper he presented to the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides yesterday on the way forward. He met at 10:30 a.m. with Ambassador Alfred Moses, the United States Presidential Envoy for Cyprus, and 11:30 a.m. with Sir David Hannay, the United Kingdom Special Envoy for Cyprus.
Also on Cyprus, at 5 this afternoon Geneva time, the Secretary-General met with Ambassador Philippe Petit of France, representing the Presidency of the European Union. In between these meetings, the Secretary-General met with his own Special Adviser on European issues, Ambassador Bernard Mérimée, to review progress made by the Ambassador in establishing a mechanism to facilitate the flow of funds from the European Union to the United Nations agencies.
**Security Council
Moving here to New York, this morning the Security Council has been meeting in closed consultations for a brainstorming session on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which began with a briefing given by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi.
In his presentation on the military, diplomatic and humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Annabi told Council members there were still severe difficulties standing in the way of deployment of United Nations troops throughout the country.
The main problems remain the possibility of further violations of the ceasefire, uncertainty over the status of the Lusaka Accord and the lack of freedom of movement for United Nations personnel in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A recent study showed that in a three-week period in October, the Government had cancelled 21 out of a total of 32 flights by the United Nations Mission in the country.
Prior to the debate on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Council discussed the possibility of holding a meeting tomorrow with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and also with a representative of Israel. The exact time and format are still being worked out by Council members.
Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 9 November 2000
**Mary Robinson in Middle East
Staying on the Middle East, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, is on the first full day of her visit to the region. Today she met with a number of Israeli officials, including the Justice Minister, Yossi Belin, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Aaron Barak.
**East Timor
The Security Council mission to East Timor and Indonesia will leave New York tonight. It is expected to arrive in Dili late on Saturday afternoon. The delegation, led by Ambassador Martin Andjaba of Namibia, will meet a number of senior Timorese and United Nations officials on Sunday.
On Monday, they will go to the Suai region in the western part of East Timor to have first-hand contact with the United Nations Mission operations in the border area with West Timor.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the delegation will be in West Timor, in the provincial capital Kupang and in Atambua -- the town where on 6 September three United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) staff members were killed. Wednesday late afternoon, the delegation will fly to Jakarta.
While in the Indonesian capital, they will hold meetings with the highest Indonesian authorities, led by Vice-President Sukarnoputri Megawati. The delegation is not expected to meet with President Wahid because he will not be in the country during the visit of the Council ambassadors. The delegation is expected to be back in New York on 18 November.
**Sierra Leone
The Secretary-General's Special Representative for Sierra Leone, Oluyemi Adeniji, is in Abuja, Nigeria, today for a scheduled meeting bringing together the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Government of Sierra Leone, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and the United Nations.
As of mid-afternoon in Abuja, the RUF delegation had not yet arrived. Arrangements had been made for the RUF team to be flown from Monrovia to Abuja.
According to an ECOWAS announcement, "the meeting will discuss modalities for the renewal of dialogue between the Government of President Ahmed Tejan Kabba and the RUF to end the long-running insurgency in the country".
**Kosovo
Moving now to Europe, in Kosovo, farmers who lost everything in the war have been given a chance to restart their lives. A joint World Bank and Government of the Netherlands project, administered by the Food and Agriculture Organization, (FAO), has distributed around 2,500 head of cattle to poor farmers in the worst- affected areas. In addition to the provision of cattle, the project will help to repair or replace farm machinery and improve veterinary services.
The first phase of the project has provided $12.3 million of aid, and as more funding becomes available, the project will be expanded. The FAO Emergency Coordinator for Kosovo, Daniele Donati, said that the project has moved from "emergency assistance to rehabilitation".
More details are in a press release by the FAO available in our office upstairs.
And I would also like to tell you that the Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Kosovo, Jeanne Boisclair, is here at Headquarters today and available for interviews. If you would like to contact her, you can do so through Rosa Malango of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on extension 3-2380.
**International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia
Among the documents available on the racks today is a letter from the Secretary-General to the Security Council transmitting a report submitted by Judge Claude Jorda, President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The letter is on compensation for victims of crimes under the Tribunal's jurisdiction.
The Tribunal's judges have agreed that the Security Council may take up the issue of compensation, in order to determine some mechanism -- including, possibly, the creation of an international compensation commission -- to address the sufferings of victims of crime in the former Yugoslavia. However, the Tribunal judges do not believe that the Tribunal itself should handle compensation issues, Jorda added.
In addition to the report, we also have available in the Spokesman's Office a transcript of the weekly press briefing from The Hague on the Tribunal's activities. In it, the Tribunal's Deputy Prosecutor, Graham Blewitt, notes that the Prosecutor's Office is looking forward to discussing aspects of cooperation with the Tribunal with Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica and his Government, but adds that the Office has not yet received a response about a meeting with Kostunica.
**Press Releases
And my last note of this briefing is to tell you that we have a press release by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) where its Executive Director, Klaus Toepfer, is calling on next week's Conference of Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change in The Hague not to forget how vulnerable poor people are to the impacts of climate change.
"The economies of Africa and other developing regions are highly dependent on farming and natural resources, the very sectors that are most at risk from global warming", he said.
The UNEP has also announced the launch of the Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting Operational Manual for use at the national level. The manual addresses the environmental concerns of both industrialized and developing countries.
More details are in the press releases available upstairs in our office. Any questions for me before we move on to Sue? If not, Sue.
Briefing by Spokeswoman for President of General Assembly
Thank you. This morning in the plenary there is a discussion concerning the agenda item on the United States embargo against Cuba and we expect the vote on the resolution this morning.
In answer to questions that were raised before the briefing, I can confirm that the vote last year on this item was 155 in favour to 2 against, and 8 abstentions.
Tomorrow in the plenary four items will be taken up, one relating to cooperation with Central African States. We expect a resolution on that. Another item is on a new agenda for development of Africa and implications of Y2K computer problems and a note on that. They will adopt a resolution which would end the discussion on that agenda item -- so that would be the second agenda item that we finish in this General Assembly. So that's two less items for next year. The previous one was on Bethlehem 2000, you will recall, a few days ago.
Also tomorrow, the General Assembly will take action on the resolution relating to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that was postponed from a few days ago.
**President's Luncheon
At lunchtime the President will speak at a luncheon honouring the 12 female ambassadors at the United Nations. Of the 189 countries that are members of the United Nations, 12 are represented by women ambassadors.
In his statement, Mr. Holkeri emphasizes the importance of girls' education as a way of opening opportunities for their meaningful participation in economic and political life.
As you know the President has made education for girls a personal priority, and he has spoken on a number of occasions about this. The full text of his remarks is available in the Spokesman's Office and of course on the Web site. And also we can make available the list of who the 12 female ambassadors are, if you are interested.
**Third Committee
For this afternoon's action, look at the Third Committee, where 13 resolutions would be adopted, we assume, on human rights-related issues. Some of these include resolutions relating to the human rights situations in Iran, Iraq, Haiti and Afghanistan, and on the issues of enforced or involuntary disappearances and arbitrary executions. There were a couple that were not acted on yesterday that will also be taken up again this afternoon. And that's all I have for you today. Thank you.
Deputy Spokesman: Yes, Betsy?
Question: How much approximately did the Organization spend on Y2K preparedness?
Spokeswoman: I don't have a clue but maybe the Under-Secretary-General would know? No, well we'll have to find out for you.
Spokesman: We'll have to look into that for you, Betsy. Any other questions for Sue? If not, may I now invite Under-Secretary-General Dileep Nair to join us, and he will be talking to you about the annual report of the Secretary-General on the activities of the Office of Internal Oversight Services.
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