DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE 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 the Spokesman of the Secretary-General

Good afternoon. I'd like to welcome to the briefing David Morrison, the President of Netaid.Org Foundation, which as you know is a foundation created in partnership by the United Nations Development Programme and Cisco Systems, and he'll be talking to you shortly about Netaid's project to assist several countries dealing with the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

**Côte d'Ivoire

I have the following statement attributable to the Spokesman on the situation in Côte d'Ivoire.

"The Secretary-General is dismayed by the decision of the Ivorian Supreme Court to disqualify Alassane Ouattara from participating in the 10th of December elections which has led to a decision by the Rassemblement de Republicains to withdraw from the elections. He has throughout been of the view that only an election with the broadest possible participation will serve the cause of democracy and stability in Côte d'Ivoire.”

**Iraq

The Secretary-General’s latest report on the implementation of the “oil- for-food” programme is on the racks today. This is the 180-day report for phase VIII which began on 9 June.

The report notes that the humanitarian situation in Iraq has generally improved since the start of the United Nations oil-for-food programme. However, the lives of the ordinary Iraqis have not improved commensurately. The absence of normal economic activity has given rise to the spread of deep-seated poverty.

The Secretary-General has urged the Government of Iraq to consider increasing the allocation of resources aimed at meeting the needs of the most vulnerable groups, including children, the disabled and the poorest strata of the Iraqi population.

In the report, the Secretary-General again expresses his serious concern over the excessive number of holds placed on applications to the Security Council’s sanctions committee on Iraq, especially in such sectors as electricity, water and sanitation and agriculture, which impact adversely on the poor state of nutrition in Iraq.

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 1 December 2000

He has similarly appealed to the Government of Iraq to expedite the contracting of humanitarian supplies. With less than one month to the end of phase VIII, only $2 billion worth of contracts signed by the Government of Iraq had been received by the Office of the Iraq Programme, representing only just over 28 per cent of the funds budgeted for that phase. Not a single contract had been received for either the health or the education sectors under the current phase.

In his conclusions, he reiterates words he recently spoke on Iraq: “I deeply regret the continuing suffering of the Iraqi people and I hope that the sanctions imposed on Iraq can be lifted sooner rather than later. But this demands that we find a way, somehow, to move the Iraqi Government into compliance with Security Council resolutions”.

**UNMOVIC

The third quarterly report from the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission, or UNMOVIC, has been published.

The report, which covers the period from 1 September to 30 November of this year, outlines the recent discussions of the College of Commissioners of UNMOVIC, the activities of the Executive Chairman Dr. Hans Blix, training and recruitment of staff and other activities.

Since his last report, Blix writes that “it is evident that UNMOVIC has increased its readiness to carry out its mandated activities.”

Also on Iraq, the United Nations Compensation Commission issued a press release this morning announcing their next meeting, which opens Tuesday, 5 December in Geneva and will end on 7 December. The release and a background note are available in my office.

**World AIDS Day

The Secretary-General marked World AIDS Day today with a message saying that AIDS should not be dismissed as “someone else’s issue” and that we should “open our arms to people living with HIV/AIDS and give them our solidarity”. In Geneva, he and his wife, Nane Annan, will join a solidarity march and attend an ecumenical service in observance of World AIDS Day.

The Day is being observed here at Headquarters with a town hall style meeting on the theme “Men Make a Difference” at which Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette was one of the speakers. She said that the turn of the millennium was an occasion to think carefully about the future, adding that decisive action must be taken “to turn back the progress of this terrible disease”.

We also have many press releases from the specialized agencies, funds and programmes on their observances of World AIDS Day.

**Sierra Leone

We just spoke to a member of a team from the United Nations mission in Sierra Leone who travelled to the town of Mile 91 in the central part of the West African nation to meet with a senior delegation of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).

In a two-hour meeting, the United Nations side emphasized the urgent need to hold a face-to-face meeting with the highest level of RUF leadership to discuss implementation of the Abuja cease-fire agreement. The United Nations side delivered a letter from the Secretary-General’s Special Representative Oluyemi Adeniji addressed to the RUF interim leader Issay Sesay on this subject.

The overall situation in the country remained generally calm on the eve of the arrival of the Secretary-General, who begins a weekend visit to Sierra Leone on Saturday.

As I mentioned, the Secretary-General is in Geneva today, where he is meeting as we speak now with his Special Representative for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kamel Morjane.

**Security Council

There are no scheduled meetings for the Security Council today.

The Russian delegation, which holds the Presidency for the month of December, is holding bilateral consultations today to establish the programme of work for the month.

**Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe today, Mark Malloch Brown, the United Nations Development Programme's Administrator and the Secretary-General's Special Representative to Zimbabwe, met with President Robert Mugabe as part of his continuing discussions to take forward the Government's land reform initiative.

Malloch Brown is also meeting today with other stakeholders, and we expect to have a statement from him on today's meetings later in the day. He is scheduled to end his three-day visit to Zimbabwe tomorrow.

**East Timor

Today in East Timor, a United Nations peacekeeper from Australia was shot in the leg while driving just south of the town of Balibo. Five shots were fired by an unidentified party at a Landrover that had two occupants, including the Australian soldier, who was flown from the scene to the United Nations Military Hospital in Dili.

His condition is described as serious but not life-threatening and an investigation has begun into the shooting incident.

Also today, East Timor's Special Panel for Serious Crimes received the first eight indictments of persons suspected of committing murders in 1999. The eight indictees -- one of whom is still at large -- were accused of crimes committed in Ermera, Bobonaro, Manufahi and Cova Lima between February and September last year.

The General Prosecutor Mohamed Othman said his office is currently finalizing its investigations into five major cases, involving about 140 people, that mainly deal with crimes committed in April 1999, including a massacre at a church in Liquica, the killings of clergy in Lospalos and the attack on the home of Manuel Carrascalão. He said that, when indictments are forthcoming, the prosecution would focus not only on the people who did the actual killing, but also "their commanders and people in commanding positions".

We have more details, including a transcript of a press briefing given today in Dili by Othman, in today's briefing notes from Dili.

**UNDP/Estonia

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reports that, by the end of this month, it will be ending its mission to Estonia, in recognition of Estonia's graduation from being an aid recipient to a donor country.

Patra Lantz, the departing UNDP Resident Representative for Estonia, says the country has experienced a rapid and successful transition to a market economy, and has been a textbook success story, particularly in its use of information technology for development.

She says the UNDP offices, which had at times boasted a dozen staff, will be shut down by 31 December, but a few national staff may remain to implement some ongoing projects over the next year. The UNDP had been in Estonia since 1993.

**Drug Control and Crime Prevention

Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, is on a visit to Brazil, where today he will tour the Amazon Military Command which engaged in interdiction of trafficking of illicit drugs entering Brazil through the Amazon Basin.

**Irish Gift

At 4 p.m. on the North Lawn, the Prime Minister of Ireland, Bertie Ahern, will present a bronze sculpture of a ship, symbolizing the Irish diaspora, to Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette. The sculpture, titled "Arrival" and made by Irish artist John Behan, is 23 feet in length and 26 feet high, and includes 150 human figures on board, representing the Irish who went on to find new lives in other countries.

And we have the weekend review for you which I won't go into. You can get it in my office. That's all I have for you. Anything before we go to Sue?

Question: On the Iraqi decision to stop pumping oil, have they formally informed the United Nations of their intention? Does the Secretary-General have any view? Would he like to encourage them not to do this?

Spokesman: As far as we know the oil is no longer flowing from the two authorized ports and the oil overseers for the United Nations Iraq Programme are continuing their efforts to reach the Iraqi oil authority or SOMO, so far without success, to get agreement on a price mechanism for December. The Secretary-General at this time has nothing to say publicly about this.

Question: Is it the hope of the Secretary-General to actually meet with high-level representatives of the RUF while he is in Sierra Leone?

Spokesman: No, that's not on his programme. I think it's the leadership of the Mission that's hoping to begin this dialogue on the Abuja agreement.

Question: Is there any reaction to a report on the wires about an accusation by Israel that UNIFIL at least passively allowed the hostage-taking of Israeli soldiers in Lebanon?

Spokesman: No, I don't think we would take that seriously. There were some United Nations emblems, patches, I think, number plates found in one of the vehicles that was used in connection with that incident. They were either stolen or bought on the market. I don't see how you make a connection between that and any responsibility on our part for the incident, which we condemned at the time.

Question: I think the accusation was that UNIFIL members knew what was going on at the time when it was actually going on.

Spokesman: No, that is not my reading of the article. And if that's what it said, then I categorically deny that.

Question: Fred, on this meeting on police contributors on UNMIK and for the Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is going on in Kosovo, can you tell us more about it?

Spokesman: No, I don't have anything on that I'm sorry. I'll try to get something for you after the briefing.

Question: Regarding yesterday's resolution in the Security Council for the nomination of 27 more judges for the international war crimes tribunals, when will the Secretary-General make those nominations?

Spokesman: I'll have to get back to you on that. Anything else before we go to Sue? Sue.

Briefing by the Spokeswoman for President of the General Assembly

Thank you. I'm sorry I was a little late. I was waiting to see if I could get the results of the recorded vote on the question of Palestine before I came but unfortunately I couldn't. But we'll give it to you right after the briefing.

The plenary this morning completed its discussion on the situation in the Middle East and took a recorded votes on two resolutions. On the one concerning Jerusalem, the Assembly determined that the decision of Israel to impose its jurisdiction on Jerusalem is illegal and it deplored the transfer of some States of their diplomatic missions to Jerusalem in violation of Security Council resolution 478. It called once more on those States to abide by the relevant United Nations resolutions. The recorded vote was 145 in favour, 1 against and 5 abstentions.

Concerning the Syrian Golan, the Assembly determined that the continued occupation and de facto annexation is a stumbling block to peace, and once more demanded that Israel withdraw from the Syrian Golan to the line of 4 June 1967. The vote on this resolution was 96 in favour, 2 against with 55 abstentions.

On the question of Palestine, which is what is happening right now in the plenary, there are four resolutions concerning the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine, the Information Programme on Palestine conducted by the Department of Public Information, the Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat and the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. And there will be a recorded vote on all of those.

This afternoon the plenary will take up the issue of the role of diamonds in fuelling conflict. There is a resolution on this as well, which we expected to be adopted this afternoon after the discussion finishes. The resolution concerns the creation of a certification scheme for rough diamonds.

This morning the President of the General Assembly made the opening statement at a special event in observance of World AIDS Day. In his statement on how men can make a difference, he said that educating young people about HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases is the best life insurance we can give them. He called on all of us to serve as examples and role models to cultivate the spirit of responsibility, tolerance, non-violence, gender equality and compassion for our children.

He will also speak this afternoon at the event where the Irish Representative is giving a gift to the United Nations.

In the Committees this morning, the Second Committee is taking action on a number of draft resolutions. We expect the Second Committee to complete its work next week. I'm not sure what day yet. Probably the end of the week.

As you know, the Second Committee and the Fifth Committee are still ongoing with their work. The Fourth Committee is in abeyance waiting for the results of the discussion of the Working Group of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping. When they present their report, the Fourth Committee will then discuss it and complete its work.

We've made available in the Spokesman's Office the schedule as we know it now for the remainder of the General Assembly session. As I mentioned yesterday on Monday, we will discuss the Situation in Central America in the morning in the plenary and in the afternoon we have some 13 reports of the Third Committee

Daily Press Briefing - 7 - 1 December 2000

to discuss and adopt. So that will be a long session on Monday afternoon. That's all I have. Thank you.

Spokesman: Any questions for Sue?

Question: How many draft resolutions on Palestine exist so far?

Spokeswoman: Do you mean the draft resolutions of today? There are four. They may be adopted already. I'm sorry I don't know.

Question: On the first vote on Jerusalem, who were the abstentions? Can you tell me?

Spokeswoman: Yes I can. On the resolution on Jerusalem, the five abstentions were Angola, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and the United States, and against was Israel.

Spokesman: Okay. David Morrison welcome to the briefing.

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