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:

It’s nice to see my predecessor, Joe Sills, sitting in the back of the room.  A visiting guest today.

** Earthquake in El Salvador

We’ll start with the earthquake in El Salvador.

A six-member United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team has arrived in El Salvador and is assisting the Government and the United Nations Disaster Management Team in that country.  As you know, a severe earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale devastated parts of El Salvador on Saturday resulting in over 380 deaths and 780 injuries, and there are still some 1,300 people missing.  These numbers are expected to change as rescue teams continue to search for the missing.

Within 24 hours of the earthquake, the World Food Program (WFP) began distributing food to over 13,000 affected people.  WFP is also conducting an emergency food assessment mission in order to launch a larger appeal for relief and rehabilitation later this week.  The agency says it has enough food in country from development programmes to feed 15,000 for two weeks.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which is affiliated with the World Health Organization (WHO), estimates that 40 to 50 per cent of the population does not have access to potable water due to damage to the water system.  The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is collaborating with PAHO on the provision of safe water and sanitation to affected areas.

The Secretary-General issued a statement over the weekend extending his deepest condolences to the Government and people of El Salvador for the loss of life and property that has occurred.

** Mongolia Crash

Efforts to assess the humanitarian impact of severe weather conditions in Mongolia will continue, despite a tragic air crash yesterday.

A Mongolian Government helicopter leased by the United Nations crashed on Sunday, killing nine of its 23 passengers, including four members of a United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team.

The helicopter was ferrying the 10-member team to the Province of Uvs, about 600 miles west of the Capital, Ulan Bator, close to the Russian border.  They were preparing a needs assessment after the second year of summer drought followed by

heavy winter snow, which has been decimating the livestock population, posing a serious threat to the largely nomadic population of the country.

Also killed was a member of the Mongolian Parliament and two other Mongolians -- a photographer and a helicopter technician -- as well as a two-person crew from NHK Japanese television.

Carolyn McAskie, the Disaster Relief Coordinator ad interim, cut short her visit to China in order to proceed to Ulan Bator where she arrived today.  Additional staff from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, accompanied by a stress counsellor from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), left Geneva for Mongolia today to finish the assessment mission begun before the tragedy struck, and to comfort the survivors.

The Secretary-General, in a statement issued yesterday, said he was deeply saddened by the event and saluted the dedication of the members of the Disaster and Coordination team.  He also called on the international community to respond generously to the appeal that the United Nations will make once the assessment is completed.

The team members who were killed were its leader, Sabine Metzner-Strack of Germany; Matthew Girvin of the United States, who was with UNICEF; Gerard Le Claire of the United Kingdom, a volunteer disaster expert; and B. Bayarmar of Mongolia, who was a local employee of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

** Kosovo

In Kosovo today, Hans Haekkerup took up his duties as the new Special Representative of the Secretary-General, meeting with the staff of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and with senior Kosovar officials.

He discussed his general priorities for Kosovo, noting in particular the task of creating a legal framework so as to schedule general elections as soon as possible.  He said, "We have to know what powers an elected assembly and provisional government should have before we call elections.  Work is already ongoing, but we need to speed it up".

We have a press release from Pristina with additional information.

A WHO team of experts is scheduled to travel to Kosovo this week to set up a research and testing programme at Pristina Hospital on the effects of depleted uranium.

Further details are available in today’s briefing notes from Pristina.

** Central African Republic

In his latest report to the Security Council on the work of the United Nations Peace-building Support Office in the Central African Republic, which is on the racks today, the Secretary-General notes the tensions in recent months between the ruling party and the opposition in that country.

The Secretary-General calls the lack of dialogue between the country's main parties "a serious obstacle to the sustainability of the democratic institutions established barely a year ago", and he expresses his hope that President Ange-Felix Patassé will take the necessary measures to reduce tensions between the Government and the opposition.

He also notes the impact of the conflict on the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, from which some 8,000 refugees have fled to border towns and villages in the Central African Republic.

** Security Council

The Security Council is not meeting today.  However, tomorrow morning the Council will hold a public meeting, to be chaired by the Foreign Minister of Singapore (Professor S. Jayakumar), on ways to strengthen cooperation with troop-contributing countries.

** Ethiopia-Eritrea

The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) today opened a direct high altitude air access route between Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Asmara, Eritrea.  The air route was established with flights between the two capitals by United Nations G-222 fixed-wing aircraft.

This air access route is in addition to the three helicopter access routes that were opened on 18 December in each of the Mission area’s three sectors, with the agreement of both the Ethiopian and Eritrean authorities, and two additional air routes that were opened on 11 January .  The United Nations has also opened five land access routes since 28 November.

We have a press release upstairs with additional information.

** Lebanon

Staffan de Mistura started work today as the Secretary-General's Personal Representative for Southern Lebanon by meeting with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.

The meeting between the President and De Mistura took place in a warm, constructive and friendly atmosphere, and covered political issues, as well as economic and social development work in the south, and concerns about landmines.

De Mistura, who replaces Rolf Knutsson, today took charge of coordination of United Nations activities in southern Lebanon and regular diplomatic and political liaison with the Lebanese Government.

The Personal Representative is also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Rafik Hariri tomorrow and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday, before visiting the Headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Friday.

We have a press release from Beirut with more details.

** Secretary-General’s Trip

We told you that the Secretary-General is leaving today for West Africa, where he will attend the France-Africa summit in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and from there he begins a trip that will take him to China, Japan, Switzerland and Sweden.

And we have the abbreviated version of his programme available for you in my office.

** Budget

This morning Singapore became the sixteenth Member State to be paid in full for 2001 for its contribution to the regular budget, which was just over

$4 million.

** Monthly Summary of Troop Contributions to Peacekeeping Operations

And in my office you can get an update on the number of peacekeeping troops who were serving with 16 United Nations peacekeeping operations as at the end of December 2000.  There are a total of 37,733 military and police personnel from

89 countries.

** Housekeeping Matters

On a housekeeping note, I sent you all a little survey questionnaire concerning your customer satisfaction with the services provided by my office.  I asked you to submit them today.  If you need a few extra days, please, take it, but I would like to know your views.  Any questions?

** Questions and Answers

Question: Do you have any specific information on why the helicopter crashed or what caused the incident?

Spokesman: We don’t.  There’ll be a full investigation into that.  It is normally done.  But at this time we don’t have any information.  We did, initially, think that the survivors had suffered serious burns, but we were told today that the 14 survivors who were hospitalized, in fact, were in relatively good condition, and not as seriously injured as we believed yesterday.  But, as for the cause, that will take a rather long and technical investigation.  Anything else?

Question: As you know, there’s a new Government in Yugoslavia and a few months have passed.  The new Government has not taken steps to release thousands of illegally detained Albanians.  Is the Secretary-General doing anything to force the Government to release these prisoners?

Spokesman: There has been an ongoing dialogue, both with the previous government and now with the new one, through the United Nations Office in Belgrade, to win the release of these prisoners.  It’s unfortunate that we don’t have any progress to report to you at this time, but we’ll continue those efforts.  [He later announced that about half the political prisoners of Albanian ethnicity

had been freed by both governments, and that the new Government was working on an amnesty law that could apply to the remainder.]

Question: Has the United Nations tried any mediation between ethnic Albanians and the Serb Government over the Presevo Valley?

Spokesman: We are monitoring that situation again from our office in Belgrade.  We understand that KFOR troops and NATO have been talking to the Yugoslav Government about more effective ways to deal with the threats to stability in the Presevo Valley.  I think that is as far as it goes, right now.

Question: Has the United Nations, on its own, discovered any places where depleted uranium is present, apart from the information submitted by KFOR?

Spokesman: No.  The latest information is what I gave you just a few minutes ago, concerning the WHO mission that will be going later this week [to Pristina].  And, as you know, last week we announced that Dr. Kouchner had said that he would be marking all the sites in Kosovo where this ammunition was used and he also offered screening to Kosovars through Pristina Hospital.

Question: Do you have an update on the Cambodia international trial legislation?

Spokesman: We saw press reports this morning that the Cambodian Senate has now approved legislation that had been adopted by the Lower House last week or the week before.  We don’t have an authorized text -- in fact, we don’t have any text -- of what the Senate approved.  Hans Corell, the United Nations Legal Counsel, was attempting to get in touch with his counterpart, Sok An, in Cambodia, concerning this legislation.  So we are in no position to say whether the legislation adopted today reflects any of the suggested changes Hans Corell submitted in a letter to Sok An following the adoption of that legislation by the Lower House.  Okay, thanks very much.  

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