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

Good afternoon, our guest at today's briefing will be Caroline McAskie, the Emergency Relief Coordinator ad interim of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. She will be briefing us on her recent visit to the Russian Federation, including the Northern Caucauses, as well as on tomorrow's launch of the Consolidated Appeals.

**Secretary-General

The Secretary-General met this morning with former United States Senator George Mitchell and three other members of his fact-finding Committee on the Middle East. The other members were the former Turkish President Suleyman Demirel; the European Union High Representative, Javier Solana, and the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Thorbjoern Jagland. Another member of the committee, former United States Senator Warren Rudman, was not present.

The Secretary-General briefed the committee members on the current situation on the ground, and offered the support of the substantial United Nations presence in the region. Senator Mitchell described the meetings he had over the weekend with his team, as well as with representatives of the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The Secretary-General argued that the committee should go into the region sooner rather than later, as they could have a calming influence. The Senator responded that he expected to go to the Middle East "in the near future". They discussed the technical support staffing for the committee as well as its mandate.

The committee members then returned to the Waldorf Hotel, where they gave a press conference.

**Southern Lebanon Statement

We have a statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary- General on the events yesterday in Southern Lebanon.

“The Secretary-General was alarmed to learn about yesterday's violations of the ‘blue line’, when a roadside bomb was detonated causing Israeli casualties, followed by retaliatory strikes by Israeli forces against targets in southern Lebanon.

“The Secretary-General insists that all parties cease violating the ‘blue line’ identified by the United Nations in May of this year, for the purpose of confirming the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, and which all relevant governments agreed to respect.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 27 November 2000

“The Secretary-General urges all parties, including Hezbollah and the governments of Israel, Lebanon and Syria to show restraint at a time when even small military actions have the potential to cause a serious escalation of tensions and hostilities in the region.”

Following yesterday’s incident, Rolf Knutsson, the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative for Southern Lebanon made some comments expressing his serious concern at the situation. And we have those comments in my office.

**Human Rights

In Geneva this morning, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, presented to the Bureau of the Commission for Human Rights and the General Assembly her report on her recent visit to the Middle East.

She also spoke to reporters following the presentation of the report, which is available in my office.

The High Commissioner told journalists that every effort should be made to explore the feasibility of establishing an international monitoring presence in the occupied Palestinian territories. She added: “It is vital that both parties renew their efforts to halt the current escalation”.

Among the recommendations in her report, the High Commissioner says the construction of new settlements should cease and those found in heavily populated Palestinian areas should be removed. The High Commissioner also calls for all cases of the use of force, on both sides, to be investigated and prosecuted.

As I mentioned, the report is available upstairs.

**Security Council

At 3:30 this afternoon, the Security Council will hold a private meeting -- that is a formal meeting, which only Council members and invited guests can attend -- to discuss the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question. The Council will hear from a delegation of Foreign Ministers from the Organization of the Islamic Conference, led by the Foreign Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani. The Foreign Ministers of Iran, Malaysia, Morocco and Senegal will also attend. The entire delegation is meeting the Secretary-General in his conference room right now.

Also from the Council this morning, they began work with a briefing by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi on recent incidents that have taken place in Kosovo and in the Presevo Valley area in southern Serbia. That briefing was at the request of the Russian Federation.

**Kosovo

In Pristina today, the Kosovo Force, or KFOR, reported that the violence in the area had diminished in recent days but that the situation still warranted continued vigilance.

Meanwhile, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports out of Pristina today that more than 2,000 people -- both Albanian and Serbian civilians -- have fled from their villages in the tense area of the Presevo Valley into Kosovo and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The UNHCR said that persons who were crossing reported that the Serbian military buildup continued today and that they feared attack.

After the Kosovo briefing, the Council is also expected to discuss the Secretary-General's latest report on the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights, or UNDOF, which was put out late last week. In that report, the Secretary-General recommended a six-month extension for the mission, the current mandate of which expires this Thursday. Joachim Hutter, the Director of the Asia and Middle East Division of the Peacekeeping Department, will brief the Council on UNDOF today.

**Burundi

We have this statement concerning an appointment in connection with the Burundi peace process. I will read excerpts from it. The full text is available in my office.

The Secretary-General has decided to appoint Berhanu Dinka, his Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, as Chairman of the Implementation Monitoring Committee, or IMC, which is connected to the Arusha Peace Agreement on Burundi.

The appointment was made in consultation with the Facilitator of the Burundi peace process, former South African President Nelson Mandela. Mr Dinka and the Representative of the Secretary-General for Burundi, Jean Arnault, have just concluded consultations with the Facilitator, the Burundian parties, and member countries of the regional initiative and the Organization of African Unity on the structure and functioning of the IMC and on the role expected of the United Nations as its Chairman. The Facilitator is expected to launch the IMC during the meeting of the Burundi parties in Arusha from 25 to 28 of this month and the IMC is to hold its first meeting under the United Nations Chairmanship during that meeting.

**Secretary-General at Fifth Committee

This morning, the Secretary-General told the Fifth Committee, which is the Finance Committee or Budget Committee of the General Assembly, to act on an emergency request to strengthen the United Nations capacity in peace and security work, in accordance with the recommendations made in the report by the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations headed by Lakhdar Brahimi.

The Secretary-General noted the urgent need for change and said, "If the Committee defers taking action on the emergency package now, it is inevitable that the peacekeeping personnel in the field -- and the peoples they seek to serve -- will be the ones who suffer and that our operational capabilities will be weaker on the ground."

He stressed the two vital objectives to the emergency request, which was issued earlier this month. First, he said, the United Nations must provide more effective and sustained support to the approximately 58,000 peacekeeping personnel now deployed. Second, it must put in place systems to allow the United Nations to cope with crises more effectively.

We have copies of his speech in my office.

**Iraq

The College of Commissioners of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission also called UNMOVIC, will be holding closed meetings here in New York today through Wednesday.

As you’ll recall, UNMOVIC was created by the Security Council in December 1999 to undertake the responsibilities of the United Nations Special Commission, which was charged with monitoring the elimination of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

The Commission’s Executive Chairman, Dr. Hans Blix, will discuss with the 16 commissioners his third report on UNMOVIC’s activities. They will also be touching upon other subjects, such as inspection procedures and sampling policies.

The report is due to go to the Security Council on December 1.

**Suspect transferred to Rwanda Tribunal

Over the weekend, Denmark transferred a former senior Rwandan military officer, Captain Innocent Sagahutu, to the detention facility of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania.

Captain Sagahutu, who was formerly second-in-command of Rwanda's Reconnaissance Battalion, is charged with genocide, complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity -- including rape -- and violations of the Geneva Conventions. He is charged, among other things, with alleged involvement in the killing of the former Rwandan Prime Minister and 10 Belgian soldiers who were guarding her.

The Tribunal has already assigned counsel to advise Captain Sagahutu, and he is expected to appear before a trial chamber shortly. We have a press release that the Tribunal issued on Saturday with more details.

**Deputy Secretary-General

Today in Vienna, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette addressed the Eighth Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or the OSCE, and she detailed the reforms being made at the United Nations, to ensure that the United Nations can respond effectively and rapidly to crises.

She also noted the usefulness of United Nations partnerships with regional organizations, and pointed to the cooperation between regional organizations and the United Nations Mission in Kosovo as an example of "what can be done when all concerned are genuinely committed to partnership". We have copies of her speech in my office.

**International Year of Volunteers

The opening ceremony for the International Year of Volunteers will take place tomorrow in Conference Room 4, starting at 10 a.m., and the Secretary- General will be the keynote speaker.

The International Year of Volunteers will take place next year, 2001, and it is intended to highlight the work that is performed by volunteers throughout the United Nations system. Shortly after this briefing, at 12:45 p.m. in this room, Sharon Capeling-Alakija, the Executive Coordinator of United Nations Volunteers, Mark Malloch Brown, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Astrid Heiberg, the President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, will talk to you about the Year.

Among other related events, the Secretary-General and his wife, Nane Annan, will attend a gala reception to mark the International Year at Lincoln Center tonight at 7:15.

**OCHA Consolidated Appeal for 2001

Tomorrow, the Secretary-General will launch appeals for 19 humanitarian crises, and I think that Caroline will tell us something about this, calling on the international community to contribute $2 billion to provide urgent support for more than 35 million people in the year 2001. The Global Launch of the Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeals will be held in the Economic and Social Council Chamber from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will focus on “Women and War”.

The appeals are available on ReliefWeb and we have a limited number of press kits, embargoed until 11 a.m. tomorrow, available upstairs.

**Climate Change Conference

The Climate Change Conference was suspended on Saturday in The Hague and although progress was made towards outlining a package of financial support and technology transfer, the key issue of an international emissions trading system could not be resolved.

Klaus Topfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, said the conference highlighted both “the importance and the difficulty of making the transition to low-carbon economies”. He added that it was better to suspend the talks now and resume at a later date than to move in the wrong direction.

We have a press release available (issued today as ENV/DEV/554).

**UNAIDS

The report “AIDS Epidemic Update 2000” will be launched tomorrow in Berlin, Germany, by Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS. The report states that some 5.3 million people worldwide were infected with the virus in 2000, and the total number of people living with HIV is now about 36.1 million.

We have embargoed copies of press releases in my office **Press Conferences

And finally, a press conference later today at 4:30 p.m. by members of the Ministerial Committee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. And that will be held in Conference Room 4, immediately after the meeting being held by the Islamic Group. The delegation will be led by Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al-Thani, the Foreign Minister of Qatar.

That's all I have for you. It's a lot I'm sorry. Any questions before we go to Sue?

Question: Fred, with reference to the Secretary-General's speech before the Fifth Committee on the Brahimi Report, how do we reconcile his thoughts with some of the developing countries who think that peacekeeping is moving towards apartheid? The President of South Africa made this statement at a press conference here, referring to the intelligence-gathering unit that Brahimi proposes.

Spokesman: The heads of State who gathered here for the Millennium Summit strongly endorsed the report. As the report moved through the General Assembly, a number of questions were raised which the Secretariat felt were based on a misperception of the intent. You refer to this intelligence-gathering unit -- it’s really just an information unit. We don't have the capacity to gather intelligence from anything but public sources. Basically, we analyse news reports, among other things, and other public documents. So we have been trying to clarify, to set the record straight with the delegations here who have been raising these questions. And we hope we will eventually be successful. I think we still have a ways to go.

Question: You mentioned that the Arab Foreign Ministers are going to meet with the Security Council. Are all the members of the Security Council going to be there or only some of them?

Spokesman: You'll have to ask the Council. I can't predict who will show up but the assumption is that in a private meeting all 15 members of the Council will meet with the OIC guests.

Question: And the nature of the meeting?

Spokesman: I gave it to you in my announcement. They asked to brief the Council to my knowledge. Let me double check that for you. (The Spokesman later confirmed that the OIC had asked for the meeting.)

Question: Elections were held in Florida and in Haiti yesterday, what is the response of the Secretary-General to the elections in Haiti?

Spokesman: I hope there were no more elections held in Florida yesterday, but on the elections for the President of Haiti and part of the Senate, all I can say is that we are glad they went ahead as planned and that was relatively little violence yesterday. All right, Sue.

Daily Press Briefing - 7 - 27 November 2000

Briefing by Spokeswoman for President of General Assembly

Thank you. This morning the General Assembly adopted a resolution supporting the efforts of governments to promote and consolidate new or restored democracies. In the resolution, there is reference to the Fourth International Conference on New or Restored Democracies that's going to be held next week in Benin.

The Assembly then went on to discuss the item on Strengthening of the Coordination of Humanitarian and Disaster Relief Assistance. Two draft resolutions were introduced, one concerning Assistance to Tajikistan and another concerning the Human and Ecological Rehabilitation of the Semipalatinsk region of Kazakhstan. There is a long list of speakers; they may conclude this morning and adopt those two resolutions, otherwise it will be this afternoon.

Tomorrow, the plenary will take up the issue of Assistance in Mine Action.

**Committees

In the Committees today: as Ambassador Holbrooke said this morning in the Fifth Committee, as all the committees are winding down, the Fifth Committee is just reaching its crescendo. So we expect the Fifth Committee to have late nights and a lot more work to do before they finish. The Second Committee is the only other Committee meeting at the moment and they are scheduled to finish this week.

As Fred said, the Secretary-General addressed the Fifth Committee this morning and then there were a number of other speakers as they discussed the Brahimi report.

For those of you who are following this issue, the ACABQ has also been discussing the Brahimi report, and we expect their report to be finalized and sent to the Fifth Committee shortly. The Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations is also finalizing its report.

There are two other things going on related to the General Assembly that you might be interested in. One is the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court which today begins its two-week session. There is a background press release on the racks which explains what this Prep-Com is doing (L/2965 issued on 24 November). And the other Prep-Com is relating to the high-level event on Financing for Development. That will meet this afternoon and we expect it to take action on a draft resolution which would, we assume, postpone this event until 2002. That's all I have. Thank you.

* *** *