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
20001211The 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. Robert, thank you for showing up.
**Secretary-General Arrives in Palermo, Italy
The Secretary-General is in Palermo, Italy, today, where he intends to work the phones before attending an official dinner hosted by Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention. The dinner will also include the heads of State and government who are attending the signing conference for the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, which will begin in Palermo tomorrow. By last night, 145 countries had confirmed their participation in that conference.
Before he left for Palermo on Saturday, the Secretary-General had met in Asmara with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and other senior Eritrean officials. In a press conference after his meeting with the President, the Secretary-General said they had agreed on the critical need to address the situations of the internally displaced, refugees and prisoners of war. He said, "We should do whatever we can to get these people back to their homes, to pick up their lives and give them support in building their shelters, going back to till the land and develop agriculture."
He then met with United Nations staff in Eritrea, as well as with donors, non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies. At a press conference afterwards, the Secretary-General told journalists that leaders in Ethiopia and Eritrea "are determined to make peace, determined to honor their commitments and their engagements", which will be formalized in Algiers on Tuesday.
The Secretary-General intends to fly from Palermo tomorrow, after his speech at the signing ceremony, to Algiers to attend the signing of the peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea. He is then expected to fly back to Rome in the evening. Although the Secretary-General, because of the trip to Algiers, has had to cancel his visit to Corleone, Italy, which had been scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, he would be represented there by Pino Arlacchi.
**Iraq to Sign Extension of Oil-for-Food Memorandum
Early this afternoon we expect the Permanent Representative of Iraq to come to Headquarters to sign with the United Nations an extension to the May 1996 Memorandum of Understanding on the implementation of the oil-for-food programme. This extension covers Phase IX, which went into effect 6 December for a period of 180 days.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 11 December 2000
**Security Council
This morning the Security Council met in closed consultations to take up three items.
They started with a briefing from the Secretary-Generals Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto. The Council will then discuss the Secretary- Generals report on the United Nations peacekeeping mission on the island -- UNFICYP -- which was issued last Tuesday.
They are then expected to receive a briefing from the Under-Secretary- General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, on the increasingly violent situation in Guinea, along the border with Sierra Leone and Liberia.
The last item on the Councils agenda is the resumption of consideration of the draft resolution, sponsored by the Non-Aligned Movement countries, on the establishment of a United Nations Monitoring Force in the Palestinian Occupied Territories.
**Prosecutor Files First Indictments for Crimes against Humanity in East Timor
Today in East Timor, the office of the Prosecutor-General filed the first indictment concerning crimes against humanity committed last year, accusing 11 people of a range of crimes -- including murder, torture, deportation and forcible transfer of civilians -- that took place in Los Palos between last April and September.
The group, most of whom were members of the militia group "Team Alfa", is accused of committing at least 13 murders, including an attack on clergy and church workers that took place on 25 September. The indictment -- also for the first time -- accuses an Indonesian Army officer, Lieutenant Sayful Anwar, of torture and murder, and the Dili Court's Special Panel for Serious Crimes is to issue a warrant for his arrest.
Of the other 10 accused, nine are detained at Becora and Gleno prisons in East Timor; one militia member is still at large. We have more details in the briefing notes from Dili.
**Knutsson Makes Farewell Calls with Lebanese Officials
The Secretary-Generals Personal Envoy for Southern Lebanon, Rolf Knutsson, had a number of farewell calls with Lebanese officials today, including President Emile Lahoud.
As you know, we announced last week that Knutsson would be replaced in Lebanon by Staffan de Mistura, the current director of the United Nations Information Centre in Rome.
Following his meeting with President Lahoud, Knutsson issued a statement in which he said that the Government of Lebanon has already taken some courageous steps towards the restoration of its authority in the south, but more needs to be done and will hopefully be done promptly by the Government of Lebanon, in order to assume full control all the way down to the Blue Line.
He added: At the same time, Israel must of course also respect the Blue Line on the ground and, equally important, in the air. In short, all sides must fulfil their side of the bargain in order for peace to stand a chance.
We have the full text of his statement if you are interested.
**122 Countries Conclude Negotiations for New Anti-Pollution Treaty
Yesterday in Johannesburg, South Africa, diplomats from 122 countries met in negotiations, organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), at which they finalized the text of a legally-binding treaty to require governments to minimize or eliminate persistent organic pollutants, such as pesticides and industrial chemicals. The treaty sets out control measures that are intended to deal with the production, import, export, disposal and use of an initial list of 12 chemicals, including DDT.
Klaus Toepfer, the Executive Director of UNEP, said, "This is a sound and effective treaty that can be expanded over the coming decades to maintain the best possible protection against persistent organic pollutants."
We have the UNEP press release upstairs.
**Mary Robinson Launches Newsletter for Racism Conference
High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson marked Human Rights day in Geneva today with the launching in Geneva of the newsletter of the Conference against Racism entitled Durban 2001 - United against Racism.
Speaking on the occasion, Mrs. Robinson, who is also the Secretary-General of the World Conference, said the aim of the newsletter was to brief governmental and non-governmental partners, United Nations bodies and civil society about the preparations for the World Conference to keep all concerned in the picture.
I have a little sample of this newsletter, which you can pick up upstairs if you are interested.
**Financing and Development Event at Headquarters
Bankers, investment managers, technology exporters and corporate leaders from the countries of both the North and the South are talking today and tomorrow with the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations financing for development event in March 2002. The meetings, which are taking place in Conference Room 2, are centred on the question of how the finance needs of the world's poor and the developing countries would be met in the new century. Several of the business leaders will attend a press conference tomorrow at 11 a.m. in this room, along with the Preparatory Committee co-chairs. For information, you can call Tim Wall on extension 5851.
**Treaty Signings
This morning, the Permanent Representative of Germany, Dieter Kastrup, deposited Germany's instrument of ratification for the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. That ratification makes Germany the twenty-fifth country to ratify the Rome Statute, which was also ratified by Fiji last Thursday. The statute needs 60 ratifications before it can enter into force.
**Press Conferences
And finally, press conferences. Tomorrow at 11 a.m. in this room, Ambassador Jorgen Bojer of Denmark and Asda Jayanama of Thailand, the co-Chairs of the Financing for Development Preparatory Committee, will be joined by a panel of business leaders at a press conference on the business hearings on finance for development, which I just mentioned is taking place today and tomorrow here at Headquarters.
And then, following the Security Council's open meeting tomorrow on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jacques Klein, the Special Representative of the Secretary- General, will be in this room to brief you and take your questions.
Any questions before we go to Sue. Robert?
**Questions and Answers
Question: What is being done to secure the release of the two observers who were kidnapped in Georgia?
Spokesman: Well, you know our policy is not to pay ransom, so that is out of the question. In fact, we don't, at this point, even know the whereabouts of the two. On Sunday morning, we lost contact with two United Nations military observers in the United Nations Mission in Georgia while they were on ground patrol in the Kadori valley. We believe they were taken hostage and that is really all I can tell you at this point. Yes?
Question: What is the Secretary-General's first day back in the building? Is it Wednesday or Thursday?
Spokesman: He is returning to New York on Wednesday. Typically, he stays out of the office one day after a long trip like this. But, I can't now tell you that he would not be in on Thursday. I am sure he will be in on Friday. Yes?
Question: On East Timor, was anybody in the Indonesian high command involved (in the indictments)?
Spokesman: The high command? Only those people I mentioned, but it is the first time that an Indonesian military officer was indicted. Sue.
Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 11 December 2000
Briefing by the Spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly
Thank you. Today the President of the General Assembly is in Bonn, Germany, where he spoke at the opening of the Fourth Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
In his statement, the President noted the importance of the Convention, which already had 171 countries party to it, and the importance of partnerships in implementing this Convention. He said that he was greatly encouraged that more than 30 national action programmes had already been prepared and, in implementing these programmes, a variety of partners are involved, including the private sector, local communities, womens groups and non-governmental organizations. The full text of his statement is available upstairs and on his Web site.
Yesterday was actually Human Rights Day, although it was observed today in the United Nations and also last week, on Thursday and Friday. The President of the General Assembly issued on a statement on the occasion yesterday. The theme of the Day was Human Rights education. He noted that effective national human rights education strategies have very rarely been developed and invited Member States to ensure that human rights education became an essential component in all educational, training and public information programmes. The full text of his statement is available upstairs and on his Web site.
There was no plenary meeting today. Tomorrow, the plenary will take up the reports of the Sixth Committee, the legal committee of the General Assembly. That would leave the situation of only having the Fifth Committee yet to complete its work and report to the General Assembly plenary. Today, they were having informal consultations. The Committee is expect to take up the Brahimi report tomorrow. As mentioned on Friday, the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) on the Brahimi report is now available.
On Wednesday, in the afternoon, there will be an informal panel dialogue between the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council on the issue of information and communications technology in development. This will be held in Conference Room 1 in the afternoon. It will be chaired by the President of the General Assembly and there will be opening remarks by the President of the Council. There will be participation in the panel by the Division of Economic and Social Affairs, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). There will be more information on that on the day.
Asked if there was any way of knowing when the Fifth Committee would be done, she responded that the official date for the closure of the General Assembly was still 15 December, but that was not going to be met. She had been told informally that the President has asked the Fifth Committee to finish by 20 December, so that the plenary could be completed on 22 December. The Secretariat needed 24 hours to issue the documents and have the resolutions ready in the plenary. If the Fifth Committee finished on 20 December, then it would be possible to close the session on 22 December, but that date had not been formally announced.
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