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

**Security Council

Good afternoon. The Security Council is holding an open briefing this morning on the challenges of post-conflict peace-building, focusing on Guinea- Bissau.

Eveline Herfkens, the Minister of Development and Cooperation of the Netherlands, is chairing the meeting. The Secretary-General was the first speaker.

He said that “peace-building is a multi-dimensional process. Its objective is not merely to dismantle the structures of violence but also to assist in building the structures of lasting peace and in laying the foundation of sustainable development”. The Secretary-General shared details of some of the lessons learned in the Guinea-Bissau process.

“In essence”, he said, “peace-building is simply conflict prevention but with additional challenges on an immediate fragile transitional situation”. And he added, “If we needed a reminder of this lesson, Guinea-Bissau provided it last week.”

In another reference to last week’s armed showdown in Guinea-Bissau, the Secretary-General said that “the situation has improved but requires close monitoring”. He urged the Government “to manage the aftermath of the latest crisis within the rule of law and with due regard to democratic principles and national reconciliation”.

At the beginning of the meeting, the list of speakers indicated that all Council members were expected to take the floor, in addition to Guinea-Bissau and three other African countries. The Vice-President of the World Bank, Callisto Madavo, and the Executive Secretary of the Community of Portuguese- Speaking Countries, Dulce Matia Periera, were also to address the meeting.

This afternoon at 3 o'clock, the Security Council will hold consultations on the Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question. The caucus of the Non-Aligned Movement is expected to introduce a draft resolution on the establishment of a United Nations Monitoring Force to be dispatched to the occupied Palestinian territories.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 29 November 2000

**Secretary-General and Day of Solidarity

This morning the Secretary-General addressed the Committee on the exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

In his address, the Secretary-General pledged to continue his efforts at finding an “equitable and peaceful” solution to the question of Palestine with all the means and resources at his disposal.

He also highlighted the severe and damaging effects on the Palestinian economy caused by the ongoing events on the ground. To that end he called on donors to provide the necessary means to the United Nations agencies who are working with the Palestinian people. “Donor assistance”, he said, “is especially vital now at a time of crisis and economic hardship”.

In concluding, the Secretary-General assured the delegates that “the United Nations would continue to provide the various forms of assistance to the Palestinian people until a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the question of Palestine is achieved and peace and prosperity prevails in the region of the Middle East”.

**Ethiopia and Eritrea

The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea has opened the first access route through the frontlines.

The mission’s Force Commander, Major-General Patrick Cammaert, yesterday travelled in a two-vehicle convoy by road from Adi Keyh in Eritrea and proceeded along the Adigrat road into Ethiopia. The convoy returned to Eritrea via the same route.

The event is a positive step in the ongoing effort to peacefully resolve the dispute between the two parties. In addition to reducing tensions between them, access routes are essential for the effective deployment of the peacekeeping force, which will be positioned between the two armies.

The next step in this process is the opening of two additional land routes and air routes in the weeks to come.

Meanwhile, the mission reported that more than 800 persons of Ethiopian origin had left Eritrea for Ethiopia under escort of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC). The first substantial release and repatriation of Ethiopian internees in Eritrea was reported by the ICRC.

**UNDP/Zimbabwe

The Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Mark Malloch Brown, will be travelling to Zimbabwe this week at the request of the Secretary-General to explore the prospect of establishing a sound technical process to take forward the Government’s planned reform initiative.

He will examine the prospects of the United Nations Development Programme using a report prepared last month by a team of independent consultants to help set in motion a broader process to reopen dialogue between all stakeholders, leading to implementation of a credible, internationally supported land reform programme.

During his mission, from 30 November to 2 December, the Administrator will be meeting with President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and other Government officials, as well as with a wide range of concerned groups including commercial farmers, civil society organizations and other political actors.

The mission follows a meeting in New York in September on the land reform issue among the Secretary-General, the Administrator and four Southern African Presidents, Dr. Balkili Muluzi of Malawi, Sam Nujoma of Namibia and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and President Mugabe.

**Kosovo/KFOR

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that there was a reduction in the number of people crossing from southern Serbia into Kosovo yesterday. Since 20 November, more than 3,400 people have entered Kosovo from southern Serbia, but the movement of people into Kosovo has begun to decrease, and some of the new arrivals have told the Office of the UNHCR that there is an increase in the number of checkpoints along the main Presevo-Bujanovac road.

Additional details are in today's briefing notes from Pristina, which also mentions the visit by the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Bernard Kouchner, to an Ashkalija and Roma camp, that is a Gypsy camp, in Plementina, where he expressed his condolences over the recent murders of four Ashkali males.

Among the documents out on the racks today is the monthly report on the activities of the Kosovo Force -- that’s KFOR -- transmitted by the Secretary- General to the Security Council, which covers events through 22 October.

**World AIDS Day

This Friday, World AIDS Day will be observed with a town hall style meeting on the theme “Men Make a Difference”, and the Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, will make opening remarks. She will be joined by the President of the General Assembly, Harri Holkeri, and the Representative of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Elhadj Sy, as well as representatives of the South African national HIV prevention programme, LoveLife.

Also on Friday, a new documentary, “Staying Alive 2”, hosted by pop star Ricky Martin, will be aired on MTV. The documentary was produced by MTV Europe in association with UNAIDS and the World Bank.

Tomorrow, in this room following the noon briefing, there will be a press briefing on World AIDS Day by Elhadj Sy and Judi Nwokedi of LoveLife.

There are press releases available on the racks with more information.

**Press Releases

Other press releases today -- Pakistan will provide Swaziland with agricultural experts and field technicians as part of a three-year programme created by a tripartite agreement between the two countries and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Under the agreement, Pakistan will provide five experts and 45 field technicians to assist with projects ranging from water control to increasing food crop production and new crop rotation. The agreement falls under the FAO's Special Programme for Food and Security which operates in 61 countries worldwide.

Then, as part of the Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for the year 2001 which was launched yesterday, the World Health Organization is appealing for $60 million, or less than $2 per person, to safeguard the health of 35 million people affected by natural and man-made disasters.

In humanitarian crises of all types, more lives are lost as a result of epidemics and other health problems. Early intervention is essential to saving thousands of lives, as demonstrated in East Timor where, despite high-risk conditions, there have been no epidemics of infectious diseases.

We have more information in a press release available upstairs.

**Press Conferences

Press conference, this afternoon in this room at 2:30, the United States Mission is sponsoring Mark Thiessen, Press Spokesman for the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Steve Radamaker, the Foreign Policy Aide for Congressman Ben Gilman, who is Chairman of the United States House of Representatives International Relations Committee, to discuss the International Criminal Court. 2:30 p.m. in this room.

And then one press conference so far for tomorrow, apart from the UNAIDS one I have already mentioned, is at 11 a.m. again in this room, Nafis Sadik, the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, will introduce the Fund’s newly-appointed Goodwill Ambassador and “Face to Face” Campaign Spokesman for Germany, Alfred Biolek. A media advisory with more information on this press conference is available in my office.

Any questions before we go to Sue?

Question: Regarding the report of the Secretary-General requesting that the mission in Haiti be discontinued, should we assume the United Nations is washing its hands of the situation?

Spokesman: No, I don’t think that was the intent of the report. The Secretary-General felt, and he must also have consulted a number of other major contributors and other Member States interested in Haiti and the Caribbean region in particular, concerning this decision and felt that the time was right to recommend the end of the mission. That is not the end of the involvement of the United Nations in Haiti. There are many more ways the United Nations can provide support to a country other than by maintaining a political mission.

Question: Shouldn’t it be the reverse, that when a country is facing problems that the United Nations should then become involved and try to solve the problem instead of leaving because of the problems?

Spokesman: The United Nations has spent a lot of time and a lot of money in Haiti. It has been winding down its operation there from a peacekeeping mission to a peace-building mission and, in the current circumstances, the Secretary-General decided the peace-building mission can come to an end. I don’t think I can say any more than that.

Question: What happened to all the promises that were made about the Secretary-General going to Haiti to try to solve the problems?

Spokesman: The Secretary-General goes where he feels his presence can make a difference. I don’t think he feels that that’s the case with Haiti today.

Question: Is there any concern on the United Nations part on this call for elections in the Middle East? Does the Secretary-General think this might have an adverse effect on an international presence in the region?

Spokesman: Obviously his closest advisers on the Middle East are analysing the current situation to assess its impact on the Secretary-General’s efforts and the efforts of all the other actors who are trying to end the violence there and get a dialogue restarted concerning the peace process. He would not, I think, say anything publicly at this time. He is being advised. He is analysing its impact on his efforts, but he remains engaged.

Question: Are you aware of reports from Bosnia that six United Nations policemen have been sent home because of alleged involvement with enforced prostitution involving 34 women? And if you are aware of these reports, are there any plans for further action against them other than sending them home?

Spokesman: No, I don’t know about this story. But I will look into it. The standard procedure on wrongdoing by any military member of a peacekeeping force is to return the alleged offender to his or her home country, where they stand prosecution. And over the years the United Nations has tried to follow up to the extent it can, to make sure that the countries involved behave responsibly and investigate the situation fully. And of course our mission also has an investigation of any wrongdoing and would make the results of their investigations available to the country conducting the prosecution. That’s as a general principle. I don’t know whether it applies to this specific case, because I don’t know the details yet.

Question: Is the United Nations expecting to host a high-level delegation of Iraqis at the beginning of next year? Is Kofi Annan expecting to meet again with high-level officials from that country?

Spokesman: You know that the Secretary-General met with the Iraqi Ambassador yesterday. The Secretary-General asked for that meeting as a follow- up to the meeting he had in Doha, Qatar, with the Vice-Chairman of Iraq’s Revolutionary Council, Izzat Ibrahim. The Ambassador and the Secretary-General agreed that dialogue should begin as soon as possible. In Doha, you will recall, we reported that the Vice-Chairman expressed an interest in beginning a dialogue with the Secretary-General and so they agreed yesterday they would shoot for after Ramadan, in other words the early part of next year. And I’m not aware that at this moment any other appointments in the intervening time have been considered. What they talked about yesterday was starting the dialogue early next year.

Question: Are there any plans to host them here after Ramadan?

Spokesman: I don’t think we can say specifically where they will take place. I think the Secretary-General indicated to the Iraqi Ambassador that he, the Secretary-General, was willing to host those talks here but he is still waiting to hear back from the Iraqis. In Doha, he asked the Iraqis to consider what shape these talks would take what the agenda might be, and he said that he, too, would give thought to those things and then they would subsequently exchange views.

Question: He would presumably need a mandate from the Security Council or the Permanent 5 of the Security Council, where discussions between the Secretary-General and those key players on Iraq regarding how much leeway they give him and also how the discussion should be framed?

Spokesman: His mandate is rooted in the Charter. So these are his good offices that he is exercising. Obviously he cannot be effective in carrying out this good offices exercise if he isn’t very closely in touch with all members of the Security Council, which he is. So I think he is very sensitive to the views of the various Council members and is proceeding accordingly.

Question: Are there any plans for the Secretary-General to visit South Asia?

Spokesman: To my knowledge there are at this time no firm dates for a visit to South Asia. We tried to schedule such a visit but there could not get agreement among the parties on the dates, so at this time we have no visit to announce. I’m not even aware of any dates being considered, although there could be, but I don’t get involved in that until they are ready to make an announcement.

Question: Can you give us a formulation of what the Secretary-General’s objective is as he goes into these talks with the Iraqis?

Spokesman: He said in Doha that he is bound by Security Council resolutions. That was the opening point he made with the Vice-Chairman. The Vice-Chairman said he understood that, but that they are ready to talk to him, so I think the principle, the requirement, by the Security Council that Iraq comply with all resolutions is a given. I think that the Secretary-General made that clear.

Question: What does he hope to achieve from those talks within the constraints that he is working?

Spokesman: He would hope that Iraq would agree to accept inspectors as the first step towards full compliance with the existing resolutions. Full compliance or the beginning of compliance. Actually, full compliance of course is a pre-condition of the lifting of sanctions. So the Security Council has laid down the conditions. The Secretary-General is trying to get Iraq to agree to those conditions. Whether he will succeed or not remains to be seen.

Question: There was an article in a Saudi newspaper mentioning that Iraq had actually told the Secretary-General that they would be willing to accept a very short visit by a small number of inspectors, is there any truth in that? Can you confirm that?

Spokesman: No, I know nothing about that.

Question: Which means that it could be true but you just don’t know?

Spokesman: I can’t say one way or the other. I have no information on that.

Question: On Afghanistan do you …(inaudible).

Spokesman: All I have is that Francesc Vendrell, the Personal Representative, is continuing to press ahead with his efforts to engage the parties, the Taliban and the United Front, in a process of dialogue. Apparently, he is in India today for consultations at the request of the Indian Government and that’s all we have. So we have still no specific date for talks on Afghanistan, although Mr Vendrell is doing what he can.

Question: Is there any concern in the Secretariat on Mr. Vendrell’s part that this imminent move towards further sanctions on the Taliban is not the best timing?

Spokesman: I don’t think we would comment on any efforts within the Security Council or on the efforts of the Personal Representative. They are all working together in theory towards the same goal. Okay Sue.

Briefing by Spokeswoman for President of General Assembly

Thank you. This morning the plenary adopted by a recorded vote a resolution concerning a Zone of Peace and Cooperation in the South Atlantic. This Zone which was declared in 1986 covers the region between Africa and South America. The resolution encourages the cooperation of the States of the Zone in political, economic, scientific, cultural and other spheres. The vote was 119 in favour with none against and one abstention.

In other action this morning, the plenary adopted a resolution on the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World. This decade begins next year.

Also in the plenary this morning, a resolution was adopted on the Implementation of the Outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and on the Special Session of the General Assembly held in Geneva in June this year.

A fourth resolution adopted this morning concerned the Role of the United Nations in promoting a New Global Human Order. The resolution requests the Secretary-General to seek the views of Member States and report back to the General Assembly at its fifty-seventh Session.

The concept of a New Global Human Order was first raised in the Declaration of the South Summit held in Cuba in April this year. Its is aimed at reversing the growing disparities between rich and poor both within and among countries.

In other action this morning, the Assembly appointed five members of the Consultative Committee of the United Nations Development Fund for Women. Appointed were Croatia, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Namibia and the Netherlands. Their term of office is for three years starting 1 January 2001.

This afternoon, the plenary will take up the Question of Palestine. There are more than 30 speakers listed, so I think the debate will go on tomorrow morning and the resolutions, of which there are four, will probably not be adopted until tomorrow. The four resolutions concern the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine, the Special Information Programme on the Question of Palestine, which is run by the Department of Public Information, the Division for Palestinian Rights and the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. And I understand that a vote has been requested on all four of those resolutions.

Tomorrow afternoon, the plenary will take up the issue of the Situation in the Middle East, and there are two draft resolutions on that subject, one concerning Jerusalem and the other concerning the Syrian Golan.

This morning, the President of the General Assembly, Mr. Holkeri, spoke at a meeting in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people. In his statement he reiterated the overwhelming support and commitment of the international community to promote the legitimate rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people. He referred to the resumed tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly held in October, and he also noted that for peace to take root and become viable, social and economic development is essential. In this respect, he said, the international community should step up their effort at providing much needed economic assistance to the Palestinian people. The full text of his statement is available in the Spokesman’s Office.

In the Committees today, the Second Committee is scheduled to begin discussions on Financing for Development, and the Fifth Committee began discussion on specific aspects of the programme budget. So their work continues. Thank you.

Spokesman: Any questions for Sue?

Question: What is the latest in terms of the timetable on the scale of assessments in the Fifth Committee?

Spokeswoman: We have no knowledge of when they are going to complete that or when the resolution is going to be discussed publicly, we don’t know yet. In fact the President of the General Assembly met with the Chairman of the Fifth Committee this morning. He is a bit concerned that the Fifth Committee, as normal, is continuing past the deadline that was established. You many know that yesterday the President mentioned in the plenary that we will not meet the target date for closure and we are now looking at 15 December as the closure. But my understanding is that the Fifth Committee will not even finish by then.

Daily Press Briefing - 9 - 29 November 2000

Question: Which country abstained on the resolution on the Zone of Peace?

Spokeswoman: The United States.

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