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.

The Secretary-General will be down here in just a few minutes, and I thought that I could make good use of this time by doing my briefing quickly. He will announce an appointment, as I said, at the Under-Secretary-General level. It's the new Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, or ESCWA, and he will bring the candidate with him. He has said that he has nothing to say to you about the Middle East. I told him you would be eager to ask a question or two. You can give it the old college try, if you like, but he has nothing to tell you.

**Security Council

In the Security Council, there are no scheduled meetings this morning. The Council members are scheduled to have their monthly meeting over lunch with the Secretary-General today. Their next scheduled meeting as of now is an open briefing on Monday on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

On Ethiopia and Eritrea, some of you were taken by surprise yesterday, as we were, but in any case, they did meet yesterday afternoon in informal consultations to hear briefings by the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, on both Burundi and the Middle East. Following those briefings, they then went into a formal session adopting a Presidential Statement on Ethiopia and Eritrea, underlining the important role which confidence-building measures could play in dispelling the remaining distrust between those two countries. The Council encouraged the parties to agree on the immediate release of interned civilians and prisoners of war, under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); to open land and air corridors for the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE); to exchange maps showing mined areas; and to place a moratorium on expulsions. The Council also called on both parties to cooperate with the United Nations mission in fulfilling their obligations under international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law.

Copies of the Presidential Statement are available at the Documents Counter, and we also have the transcript of the press conference of Special Representative Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, which was given in Asmara today.

**Kosovo

From Kosovo, early this morning in Pristina, just before 5 a.m., a bomb blast destroyed the residence of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's representative in Kosovo, Ambassador Stanimir Vukicevic, killing one person and injuring two others. Other nearby houses, including the residence of a United Nations official, were also damaged by the blast.

The Kosovo Force, or KFOR, which has been participating in the investigation, said that some 5 to 10 kilograms of explosives were used in this attack.

The Secretary-General's Special Representative in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, condemned the attack and said in a statement we have available upstairs, "This was not a random act of violence; it was well prepared and very carefully executed. This was a professional job, and the perpetrators were willing to take enormous risks to achieve their ends."

He said the "wave of violence" was a warning that "the extremists are now ready to step up their targeting of the Serb community". But he added that the United Nations mission would not be deterred from its efforts to bring peace and security to Kosovo.

Is the Secretary-General there? Okay, I'll finish my briefing after the Secretary-General makes his introductions, and his guest, by the way, will also be available to answer your questions after he has introduced her.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

[****See separate Press Release SG/SM/7637 on Secretary-General's introduction]

We have Ms. Tallawy's bio available in my office, if you are interested.

Just finishing up.

**East Timor

Today in East Timor, a group of 405 East Timorese refugees arrived safely at the port of Com, where they were welcomed by officials from the United Nations Mission, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The refugees, as I noted yesterday, included 379 people who were former employees of the Indonesian armed forces or their family members. The returnees are now being transported to their respective villages by the IOM.

We have further details in today's press briefing notes from East Timor. Also today, we have on the racks the report by the Security Council mission that traveled last week to East Timor and Indonesia, which reported back to the Council on that trip on Monday.

**Afghanistan

The latest weekly assistance update from Afghanistan notes United Nations concern about the closure of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and says that Afghanistan would face an increase in the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) if that border were to remain closed. At present, there are an estimated 200,000 internally displaced persons in Afghanistan, and the United Nations estimates that some 11,000 families have been displaced recently following fighting in the north-eastern region of the country. The update also notes the continuing effects of the severe drought, with some 45,000 IDPs becoming dependent on food aid in the city of Herat.

**Habitat

We have a press release from the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, better known as Habitat, which outlines the just-concluded series of regional preparatory meetings for the Istanbul+5 conference, which will be held in New York next spring. These meetings were conducted by Ms. Anna Tibaijuka, the new Executive Director of Habitat.

**Press conferences

Fifteen minutes from now in this room, Judge Claude Jorda, President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, will be here to brief you. You will recall that he briefed the Security Council yesterday on the work of the Tribunal.

That's all I have for you, any questions?

Question: Did Mr. [Benon] Sevan [Executive Director of the Office of Iraq Programme] receive a response from Iraq and Syria?

Spokesman: Yes. Apparently, the Iraqis deny that they are exporting oil through the newly reopened pipeline to Syria, saying that they are simply taking the necessary measures to get it ready for the eventual export of oil. The Syrian Mission informed the Iraq Programme that they are not importing oil through the pipeline.

Question: Is it a test? It doesn't make any sense.

Spokesman: I can only tell you what they told him.

Question: Is it a border deal because it doesn't make any sense?

Spokesman: You heard what I said.

Question: Is Iraq putting oil into the pipeline and Syria just hasn't taken it out at the other end?

Spokesman: We haven't gone to the pipeline to see what's happening, what's in the pipe or not in the pipe. We asked the two governments. Those are the responses that we got from the two governments. We can't go beyond that right now. It was one response from Iraq, which I gave you, and then one from Syria, they said they are not importing oil through this pipeline.

Question: Is it a violation of sanctions for Iraq to supply oil that does not go through Mina Al-Bakr?

Spokesman: You'll have to ask the Sanctions Committee, but the current regime authorizes only two ports from which the oil may be exported. Anything else?

Question: Would it be possible to go back to Mr. Sevan's office and just ask, because if oil is flowing in the pipeline...?

Spokesman: This wording is what I got from Mr. Sevan. You may call him directly. In John Mills' absence, he said he would speak to journalists directly, so good luck.

Question: The Monday morning meeting with the Mitchell Panel, is that here at Headquarters?

Spokesman: I assume it will be here at Headquarters. I'll double check for you.

Question: I understand there was a shooting incident in Gona‹ves [Haiti] involving a United Nations vehicle, any casualties?

Spokesman: That wasn't today, right? That was a day or two ago. There were no casualties. I would have to go back to the cable and see what was said, so if you want, I can say there were no casualties as a result of that incident, and if you'll check with me after the briefing, I'll tell you what's in the cable. Nicole, you have another question?

Question: Yes, about the Mitchell meeting on Monday. Apparently, Israel informed the United States that now would not be a good time for the inquiry to get going with the violence continuing. How does the Secretary-General feel about a potential delay on Israel's part?

Spokesman: That's a matter between Israel and the United States. On the Sunday/Monday confusion, the Secretary-General said that Senator Mitchell would be meeting with the members of the panel on Sunday, and then he and the four other panel members would be coming to the United Nations on Monday morning to be briefed by the Secretary-General. The Secretary-General's position on the record is that the sooner this committee deploys to the region, the better, because he feels it could be a stabilizing influence on the situation there.

Question: (inaudible) [Where will the Committee be meeting on Sunday?]

Spokesman: He didn't say, and I don't know. You'll have to check with the United States Mission.

Question: Has the Secretary-General expressed any opinion about Donald Trump's victory in court to put up his building next door? Spokesman: It's up. I think it's a reality, but I haven't checked with the Secretary-General, and I don't know if he has any comment on the latest legal manoeuvres. Okay. Thanks very much.

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