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
20001206The 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 for the Secretary-General
Good afternoon. It's always a pleasure for me to welcome Peter Hansen, the Commissioner-General for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, better known to the rest of us as UNRWA. He will be talking to you shortly about the work of his programme. (See separate note of Mr. Hansens briefing.)
**End of Conflict in Ethiopia-Eritrea a 'Positive Story for Africa', Secretary-General Says
The Secretary-General, following a meeting this morning with Ethiopia's Prime Minister, Meles Zanawi, told the press he was gratified that the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea had been resolved. "As far as I'm concerned," he said, "the war is over." The end of the conflict, he added, is "a positive story, a great story for Africa".
The peace agreement, brokered by the Organization for African Unity (OAU), supported by the United States, will be signed in Algiers on 12 December. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, the current Chairman of the OAU, led the mediation. The Secretary-General will adjust his current travel schedule in order to attend the ceremony.
The Secretary-General arrived in Addis Ababa from Benin last night. Before seeing the Prime Minister this morning, he met with Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, his Special Representative for the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).
After that, he met with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin. He and the Foreign Minister also addressed the press following their meeting. He said the United Nations is determined to work with the two countries "to ensure that peace will be durable and long lasting." He went on to say, "We started deploying our peacekeepers, and we will work with the parties to do the border demarcation. We do not intend to linger, and as soon as our work is done, we will withdraw."
This afternoon, local time, the Secretary-General visited the offices of the United Nations Mission and addressed the staff there. He then met with OAU Secretary-General, Salim A. Salim, with whom he reviewed a number of African issues.
Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 6 December 2000
This evening, he is scheduled to hold three bilateral meetings -- with President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, President Festus Mogae of Botswana and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda.
**Secretary-General Appoints New Head of Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
The Secretary-General has decided to appoint Kenzo Oshima of Japan as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. That will be effective mid-January. Mr. Oshima will succeed Sergio Vieira de Mello, who will continue his assignment as Special representative of the Secretary-General in East Timor.
Mr. Oshima is currently serving as Secretary-General of the Secretariat for International Peace Cooperation Headquarters, in the Office of the Prime Minister of Japan. In this position, he is responsible for Japan's humanitarian and peace assistance programmes. He has had a long and distinguished career in international affairs, both in Japan and in postings in France, India, Australia and here in New York at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations.
Mr. Oshima, who was born in 1943, is a graduate in law from the University of Tokyo.
**Security Council Holds Open meeting on International Terrorism
This morning, the Security Council started with an open meeting on the implementation of resolution 1269, of last year, on international terrorism. The Under-Secretary-General of Legal Affairs, Hans Corell, briefed the Council on actions taken by the Security Council, the General Assembly and the United Nations Secretariat aimed at eliminating international terrorism. Mr. Corell noted progress made on a comprehensive convention on international terrorism by a working group of the Sixth Committee of the General Assembly.
The Council is expected to issue a Presidential Statement afterwards.
That meeting will be followed by another open meeting to adopt a Presidential Statement on East Timor, in relation to the recent visit by a Council delegation.
The Security Council members will then go into the consultation room for a closed consultation to discuss the draft resolution on a proposed United Nations Monitoring Force for the Occupied Territories.
Yesterday, the Council unanimously approved resolution 1130 (2000), which rolls over the "Oil-for-Food" programme into Phase IX for a period of 180 days, starting today.
The resolution calls for, among other things, the Secretary-General to explore new routes for Iraq to export its oil. There are currently two outlets authorized by the Security Council, Mina Al-Bakr in the south and Ceyhan in Turkey. The resolution also calls on the Secretary-General to make the necessary arrangements to allow Iraq to spend up to 600 million Euros locally for the benefit of its oil industry.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 6 December 2000This roll-over resolution also finalizes the arrangement, whereby the percentage of oil money directed to the United Nations Compensation Commission is reduced from 30 per cent to 25 per cent.
**UNHCR Urges Tajikistan Government to Admit Afghans Marooned on Border Islands
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is urging the Government of Tajikistan to admit up to 10,000 Afghans marooned on islands and peninsulas on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The Afghans are drinking water from the river that marks the border, and some are suffering from diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid and malaria.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees also says it is alarmed by the fate of some 400,000 Liberians and Sierra Leoneans in Guinea, amid renewed rebel attacks and growing local hostilities towards the refugees. Several villages have come under attack, ending a one-month lull in hostilities.
**UNEP Director Toepfer Welcomes Resumption of Stalled Negotiations on Climate Change
In a message issued today, Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), welcomed the informal talks on the stalled climate change negotiations, which are being held in Ottawa, Canada, through tomorrow.
These talks, organized by Canada, are being attended by the European Union, the United States, New Zealand, Japan, Iceland, Norway and Russia.
Mr. Toepfer said it was important and necessary that the developed countries reach an agreement on their outstanding differences remaining from last month's Conference in The Hague. He stressed, however, that the developing countries must be fully integrated in the various ongoing discussions, so as to maintain a high level of transparency. That type of approach should help ensure that a workable climate agreement acceptable to all countries was reached, he said.
**Updates on the Work of International Courts and Tribunals
On the racks today are addenda to two reports on the financing of the International Tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda. These addenda contain supplementary resource requirements arising from the approval of additional judges by the Security Council on 30 November.
The International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia announced in a press release that public court sessions in its three courtrooms will be broadcast on the Tribunals Web site. Initially, the audio broadcasts will be available in English and Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian. French will be added sometime in the future.
The International Court of Justice has indicated in a press release that a ruling on the request by the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the case
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 6 December 2000Arrest warrant of 11 April 2000 will be announced on Friday.
Copies of those press releases are available in my office.
**Human Rights Day 2000
Human Rights Day 2000 will be commemorated in New York starting tomorrow with a videoconference in Conference Room 1 at 10:30.
Mary Robinson, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, will address that videoconference, which will link nine cities and will focus on the preparations for the upcoming Conference Against Racism, which will take place in Durban, South Africa, next summer.
Following the videoconference at noon, a panel of human rights experts will discuss the "human rights balance sheet" for the year 2000.
Also, the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) will host its third annual student conference on human rights on Friday in Conference Room 1.
You can get more information in my office.
**UNICEF Calls on African Leaders to Abolish Education Fees in Fight Against HIV/AIDS
Just before the briefing began, we got this note from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF): In a bold initiative to put education at the forefront of the fight against HIV/AIDS, UNICEF Executive Director, Carol Bellamy, today called on African leaders to join a global campaign to abolish all education fees and other costs for primary school-age children.
We have a press release if you are interested.
**Treaty Signing
This morning, Finland became the tenth country to sign the Basel Protocol on Liability and Compensation for Damage Resulting from Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.
**Budget Contributions
It has been a while since we had any budget contributions to announce, but today, Micronesia became the 138th Member State to pay its regular budget assessment for this year, with a payment of just over $10,000.
**Press Conference
Tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. in room 226, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) will be launching a book entitled, "With an End in Sight", which recounts the experiences of women's organizations in Bosnia and
Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 6 December 2000
Herzegovina, Cambodia, Honduras, India, Kenya, Nigeria and the West Bank and Gaza in their work towards preventing and eradicating violence against women. Speakers at the press conference will be the books author, Chewya Spindel of Brazil, and UNIFEM Human Rights Advisor Roxanna Carrillo.
Copies of a media advisory are available in my office.
**World Chronicle
And, finally, another World Chronicle Programme will be aired today. It features Sharon Capeling-Alakija, the Executive Director of United Nations Volunteers (UNV). That will be shown on in-house television channels 3 or 31 at 2:30 p.m.
Are there any questions before we go to Sue and then to Mr. Hansen?
**Questions and Answers
Question: Do you have any comment on reports that Rauf Denktash has said that United Nations representatives will not be welcomed by Turkish-Cypriot officials if the Organization does not recognize the North (of Cyprus) as an independent state?
Spokesman: No. Our position remains the same. Both of these leaders have been invited to return to Geneva at the end of January. The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General will be heading back to the region to meet with them before those talks resume in Geneva. Our hope is that they will both show up. About a week ago, the Secretary-General expressed his confidence that they would both be present.
Question: You read an update on the International Court of Justice as well as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Do you have any information, from the Security Council or elsewhere, on the situation with the International Criminal Court?
Spokesman: No, I have nothing for you today on the Preparatory Committee for the International Criminal Court or its work. [He later announced there would be a press briefing on Friday 8 December on the conclusion of the Preparatory Commissions work.]
Briefing by the Spokeswoman of the President of the General Assembly
Good Afternoon.
This morning, in a brief meeting, the General Assembly adopted the resolution on Assistance in Mine Action. It also approved the report of the Credentials Committee, which recommended the acceptance of the credentials of 28 countries, including those of Somalia. You may recall that Somalia's credentials have not been presented for the past eight years.
Also this morning, on the recommendation of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), the plenary appointed new members to several
Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 6 December 2000subsidiary bodies. Those included five members of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), seven members of the Committee on Contributions, one member of the Board of Auditors, three members of the Investments Committee, three members of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal and five members of the International Civil Service Commission. There are press releases available with more details, if you are interested.
This morning, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) adopted the recommendations of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, concerning the implementation of the Brahimi report. And with that, the Fourth Committee has now completed its work for the current session. The General Assembly is expected to take up the reports of the Fourth Committee on Friday morning.
Also this morning, the President of the General Assembly, Harri Holkeri, made an announcement concerning the special session on HIV/AIDS, scheduled to be held from the 25 to 27 June 2001. There will be no preparatory committee established for the session. This follows a similar procedure to that which preceded the Millennium Summit. The President has appointed two co- facilitators, Ambassador Penny Wensley (Australia) and Ambassador Ibra Ka (Senegal), to assist him in carrying out the preparatory process. In his statement, the President said that both Ambassador Wensley and Ambassador Ka are highly praised for their excellence as mediators and consensus builders, adding also that they both possessed exceptional skills to find solutions to difficult and sensitive issues.
The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) took action on a number of resolutions this morning. We expect them to complete their work on Friday.
This afternoon, the Fifth Committee is expected to take up several items, but we know that they are not expected to complete their work for some time yet.
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