In progress at UNHQ

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

13 December 2000



Press Briefing


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

20001213

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 for the Secretary-General

Thanks for waiting.

**Missing United Nations Observers Released

We received information just a few minutes ago that the two United Nations military observers belonging to the United Nations mission in Georgia were released at about 8:30 p.m. local time, which is about a half hour ago. They are with United Nations mission staff who had been waiting for them in a village in the upper Kodori valley. They have been missing since Sunday, as you know, and we now expect that they will be picked up in that village in the morning.

**Lifting of Crude Resumes in Iraq

On Iraq, after a suspension of 12 days, the lifting of Iraqi crude oil has resumed. We can confirm that a tanker chartered by the Indian Oil Company is being loaded with crude oil at the southern port of Mina Al-Bakr. The tanker, named the Jade, began lifting the oil before 1 a.m. local time and it is expected to conclude the operation before midnight local time this evening. There is a second Indian tanker awaiting loading at Mina Al-Bakr. As of this time, there are no tankers at the Turkish port of Ceyhan. As we speak there is a closed meeting of the 661 Sanctions Committee on Iraq taking place. Committee members are being briefed on the oil situation by oil overseers from the Office of the Iraq Programme.

**Security Council

The Security Council is meeting this morning in closed consultations to hear a briefing by the Permanent Representative of Argentina, Ambassador Arnoldo Listre, in his capacity as the Chairman of the Afghanistan Sanctions Committee. He reported on discussions which took place yesterday concerning the impact of sanctions on Afghanistan.

The next agenda item is expected to be a discussion of a draft resolution on the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), calling for an extension of its mandate as recommended by the Secretary-General in his recent report, and that would be until 15 June next year.

The Council will then move to the formal chamber for a meeting where they are expected to adopt a draft resolution extending the United Nations Peacekeeping mission in Cyprus (UNFICY). That resolution, which was introduced yesterday, extends the mission’s mandate to 15 June 2001.

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 13 December 2000

**UNAMSIL Recovers Stolen Equipment

As we mentioned yesterday, the Force Commander of the United Nations mission in Sierra Leone traveled today to the Makeni-Magburaka area to recover equipment that had been stolen by the rebel Revolutionary United Front. The mission has reported that the hand-over has begun. So far four armoured personnel carriers have been handed back. We won’t know the total handover amount until later in the day.

**East Timor Cabinet Agrees to Establish Reconciliation Commission

East Timor's Transitional Cabinet today agreed to a proposal to establish a Commission for Truth, Reception and Reconciliation. The proposal, which was presented to the Cabinet by the United Nations mission yesterday, focuses on three areas: facilitating the return of East Timorese refugees, recording human rights abuses, and recommending legal and institutional safeguards to protect human rights in the future. The proposal will now go to the East Timor National Council for its consideration. There are additional details in the report from Dili which is available in my office.

**Accused Bosnian Serb War Criminal Reaches Plea Agreement

Today in The Hague, a plea agreement was announced in the case of Stevan Todorovic, a Bosnian Serb who had been facing 27 counts of crimes against humanity and assorted offences. Under the agreement, which was presented to a trial chamber judge today, Todorovic would plead "guilty" to persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds -- which constitutes a crime against humanity -- in exchange for the withdrawal of the other counts of the indictment against him.

Under the agreement, the Tribunal Prosecutor would also recommend that the Tribunal impose a sentence on Todorovic of not less than five years and not more than 12 years. A hearing of the trial chamber will take place on 12 January to determine whether it is satisfied with the agreement and to enter a finding of guilt if it is so satisfied. We have more details in a press release from the Tribunal.

**UNHCR Marks Fiftieth Anniversary

Tomorrow, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) marks its fiftieth anniversary. (December 14, 1950 is when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Statute of the High Commissioner.)

In New York, UNHCR will commemorate the anniversary with the opening of an exhibition called “Respect Refugees.” United States First Lady and Senator- elect Hillary Rodham Clinton will open the event. The exhibit is part of a series of global commemorations, and marks the conclusion of Sadako Ogata's decade as High Commissioner for Refugees. (LATER: It was learned that Mrs. Clinton would not be present, but would open the event with a video message.)

**Treaty Signings

We have two treaty signings today.

This morning Uzbekistan became the thirty-sixth country to sign the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, and Nauru became the 120th country to sign the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

**Press Releases and Reports

On the racks today is an addendum to the first performance report on the programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001. The report takes into account the change in performance of a number of currencies resulting in a decrease in net requirements of $53.7 million from the original estimates of $2.174 billion. The revised estimates now stand at $2.120 billion.

The World Food Programme (WFP), in a press release, says it has launched an initiative that will cost $15 million and help 1.3 million people in Tanzania. The population of 11 north and central regions of the country have been affected by four years of drought and floods which have devastated crops. There is a press release with more information.

And in a final press release, UNAIDS announces the two-day meeting of its governing body, the Programme Coordinating Board, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, starting tomorrow. Discussion will centre around the framework for global leadership on HIV/AIDS.

**Noon Briefing Guest

Our guest at the noon briefing tomorrow will be Dr. Nafis Sadik, the outgoing Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and Khadija Haq, President of the Mahbub-ul-Haq Human Development Centre. They will talk about the findings of the report on Human Development in South Asia 2000 which will be launched tomorrow at UNICEF House.

**UN Mourns Prime Minister of Tuvalu

You'll notice that the United Nations flag out front is flying at half- mast. All the other flags are down. That is to mark the official mourning for the late Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Ionatana Ionatana, who passed away on 8 December.

Questions before we go to Sue. Robert?

**Questions and Answers

Question: Could you give us more details of the circumstances under which the two observers were kidnapped or lost in Georgia and how they were freed?

Spokesman: We have very few details. This very spare report came in, as I mentioned, just moments before I came down here. We will see what else we can find out for you as the afternoon progresses. Walter?

Question: There is a letter from Iraq addressed to the Secretary-General saying that the Iraqi Revolutionary Council had decided to set aside 1 billion euros of oil for food money for the Palestinians. Wouldn’t that be something the Security Council had to approve?

Spokesman: Absolutely. Any changes in the way revenue from the sale of Iraqi oil is allotted needs to be decided by the Security Council itself. Sue. . Briefing by the Spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly

There is no plenary today but this afternoon there will be a panel discussion of the Plenary of the General Assembly on Information and Communications Technology in Development. This will be chaired by the President of the General Assembly. The speakers will be Ambassador Makarim Wibisono, the Permanent Representative of Indonesia and also President of the Economic and Social Council; Matts Karlsson, Vice-President of the World Bank; Patrizio Civili, the Assistant Under-Secretary-General of the Department for Economic and Social Affairs, and Mark Malloch Brown, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). There will also be speakers from the floor. The event is expected to start at 2:30 p.m. and last until 4 p.m.

Tomorrow, the Plenary is scheduled to take up the draft resolution on the follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit. The revised resolution should be out later today. Copies of it can be made available to correspondents, if they would like to receive it before it comes out officially.

The plenary is also expected tomorrow to take action on a number of resolutions relating to humanitarian assistance. All those resolutions are listed in the journal. The Office of the Spokeswoman can provide correspondents with copies.

This afternoon, the Fifth Committee, which is the remaining Committee still working, is expected to conclude its discussion on the safety and security of United Nations personnel which it began yesterday. It will also discuss the Brahimi report. It is also expected that the Fifth Committee will take action on draft resolutions relating to the financing of the tribunals on Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia.

The President was sorry to learn today of the untimely death of the Prime Minister of Tuvalu. Tuvalu became the 189th member of the United Nations on 5 September, the same day that the President was elected to preside over the current General Assembly. The Prime Minister had been at Headquarters at that

time, when Tuvalu was admitted. He was also here for the Millennium Summit and the President met with him. The President expressed his condolences to the Government and people of Tuvalu and to the bereaved family. That statement would be available later for journalists who wished to see it.

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NOTE: The first sentence of the penultimate paragraph on the first page of the Daily Press Briefing notes for 12 December 2000 (beginning “The Secretary-General also announced that 25 per cent…”) should be deleted, and replaced by:

“Speaking at the event, the Justice Minister of Italy, Piero Fassino, announced that 25 per cent of the value of all Italian confiscation of illicit assets would be donated to the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention.”

The original text resumes at, “Before leaving for Algiers, the Secretary- General…”

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For information media. Not an official record.