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 the daily noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Spokesman for Secretary-General
Good afternoon. Joining me today is Kenzo Oshima, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, who has recently returned from Afghanistan and will brief you on his trip and other matters. I have the following statement attributable to the Spokesman concerning the situation in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
**Secretary-General's Statement on Macedonia Violence
“The Secretary-General is gravely concerned at the recent occurrence of violence in the border area of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. He is particularly concerned that the recent deterioration has resulted in the displacement of civilians in the area.
“He wishes to emphasize that the international community is committed to supporting the stability and security of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, including the enhanced security of its borders. The Secretary-General is encouraged by the fact that a NATO political and military mission is visiting Skopje today to assess the situation on the ground, and that KFOR has stepped up patrols and enhanced monitoring the border between Kosovo and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
“The Secretary-General calls on all the parties to exercise restraint and remains convinced that the situation must be resolved by political means.”
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) meanwhile reports the number of ethnic Albanians who have fled to Kosovo from a mountain village in neighbouring former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has risen to over 500. That is an increase of 200 since Monday.
The UNHCR said the latest group of arrivals fled following an intensive firefight that took place on Tuesday around the mountain village of Tanusevci. Those who have been interviewed state their reason for flight was the increased tension and build up of forces in the area and the firefight.
**Iraqi Talks
The Secretary-General will brief the Security Council this afternoon at 4:30 on his two days of talks with the Iraqi delegation headed by Foreign Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahaf. He considers these talks to have been a positive beginning of a dialogue that he hopes might eventually lead to an end to the current stalemate between Iraq and the Security Council. He suggested to the Iraqi delegation two sets of dates for the next round -- one in mid-April and the other in early May.
The Council is holding closed consultations this morning on the subject of Liberia. Council members are reviewing a draft resolution on sanctions.
**Borneo
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that two missions were fielded yesterday to look into the needs of the population affected by the recent violence on the island of Borneo in Indonesia.
One mission went to two towns in the province of Central Kalimantan on Borneo, where the violence is occurring. The second mission went to Madura and Surabaya on the island of Java, site of the main reception point of those fleeing the violence. Both teams met with local authorities and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The local authorities in Central Kalimantan indicated that the most urgent humanitarian needs were for food and medicine.
The team in Surabaya reported that over 16,000 people evacuated from central Kalimantan had already arrived, and that 8,000 more were expected during the course of today. All register with district authorities and move in with families. It is expected that the influx will pose a burden on the local communities in Madura. Medical treatment and some food have already been made available.
A World Food Programme staff member, Leonard Milich, who is in the town of Sampit, described the conditions at one camp for displaced as squalid, and extraordinarily crowded.
“Today it was raining heavily”, he said, “People are squatting on wet cardboard and defecating in two ditches that run through the camp. I've gone to a lot of camps in Indonesia, but the situation today was far worse than any I've come across”.
The World Health Organization said concerns have already been raised on the health situation of the displaced people, as well as the departure of health personnel, leaving uncertainty on remaining health structures in place.
**Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace
This morning at 9 o’clock, we announced simultaneously here and in Geneva, the Secretary-General's appointment of Adolf Ogi, the former President of Switzerland, as his Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace. The Special Adviser will help the Secretary-General reach out to the world of sport in order to promote understanding and support for the work and ideals of the United Nations. Ogi, whose father was a forester, a mountain guide and a ski instructor, has held a number of prominent sports-related positions, including as Director of the Swiss Ski Federation. We have a full note in my Office.
**United Nations Population Division
The 2000 revision of the World Population Prospects report put out by the United Nations Population Division is out today. And as you’ve just heard from Joseph Chamie, Director of the Population Division, world population could grow to between 7.8 billion and 10.9 billion people by the year 2050.
Under the medium-fertility variant, world population -- which stood at a little over 6 billion by mid-2000 -- could be expected to rise to 9.3 billion by 2050. By 2025, the estimates are that population rates will decline in the world's more developed region while remaining positive throughout the developing world.
The report also notes the effects of HIV/AIDS, with sub-Saharan Africa, which has been particularly hard hit by the disease, showing a lower estimated life expectancy between 1995 and 2000, namely 48.6 years, than the region had
10 years ago, when life expectancy was 49.6. A year more. Copies of the report are available.
**Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Chief of Staff of the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo just informed the mission headquarters in Kinshasa that the five-day Rwandan troop pullout from Pweto has begun, as scheduled. The United Nations mission as you recall, had sent a team of military observers to verify the withdrawal. Meanwhile, United Nations military observers are also positioned to verify the latest announced withdrawal by Uganda.
**East Timor
The East Timor Transitional Cabinet endorsed today the establishment of a Reception, Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Once established, after approval by the National Council, the Commission will be a truth-telling mechanism that will provide a historical record of past human rights violations between 25 April 1974 and 25 October 1999. The draft regulation also establishes a Community Reconciliation Process for dealing with less serious offences that will not be prosecuted by the justice system. We have more details in the briefing notes from Dili.
**Climate Change Talks
Jan Pronk, the Chairman of the Climate Change talks that had been suspended last November in The Hague, announced this morning that these discussions will now resume in Bonn, Germany from 16 to 27 July.
On a related note, we have a joint press release from the United Nations Environment Programme and the secretariat of the United Nations Climate Change Conference calling on governments to recognize the economic and competitive benefits of making an early transition to climate-friendly economies. This call comes a few days before the 5 March release of the third and final report of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change.
**Press Releases
A number of press releases today. First the World Health Organization announced that the Ebola outbreak in Uganda, which was first reported last October 2000, is officially over. The last person to be infected by the virus recovered 42 days ago, twice the maximum incubation period for Ebola to develop. We have a press release with more details.
And then Mary Ann Wyrsch, the acting Commissioner of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, has been appointed the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The High Commissioner, Ruud Lubbers, praised her "very broad and rich management experience". She will start her duties on 1 April. We have a press release with more biographical information on her.
Also out today is the weekly update for Afghanistan, which notes the severe conditions faced by more than 13,000 Afghans who have taken refuge on a small island on the Afghan-Tajik border. Hundreds of the refugees suffer from malaria, tuberculosis and typhoid, and at least 40 have died from hunger, disease or freezing temperatures since last October.
**UNIS/UN
And finally I have been asked to announce that the twenty-sixth annual United Nations International School/United Nations Student Conference will be held in the General Assembly hall on 1 and 2 March with the theme “25 Years of UNIS/United Nations: Problems and Progress Over the Past Quarter of a Century”. The conference will focus on technology, communications and medicine, war and disarmament, ethnic struggle and human rights. And we have a note to correspondents in the back of the room with more details.
Before we go to Mr. Oshima, do you have any questions?
Question: Can you assure us that the Secretary-General will stop after his talks with the Security Council?
Spokesman: We’ve asked him to do that. He didn’t say yes or no. I think we are just going to hope that he’ll do it.
Question: Do you know how long the briefing will be?
Spokesman: It depends if they have any questions or want to get into discussions. I know it’s starting a bit late for you, 4:30 p.m., but its always impossible to predict how long these sessions will last. We’ll have the stakeout all set up and a mult-box there and keep our fingers crossed.
Question: Could you be more specific about the mid-April, early May dates?
Spokesman: No. We don’t want to talk about specific dates. He just gave these in terms of his programme for this period. These are two windows that he has and we’ll wait to see if either of them are suitable for the Iraqis.
Question: Did he actually propose specific dates?
Spokesman: He gave them two sets of specific dates of two or three days period each, and they are taking that back to Baghdad.
Question: Was there any talk of a different delegation coming from Iraq?
Spokesman: There was no discussion of the composition of the delegation for the next round of talks.
Question: Are there any indications on whether the Iraqi group will meet the press?
Spokesman: No. The Foreign Minister last night cancelled the press conference he had scheduled for this morning and we squawked that. I hope all of you heard it in time.
Question: Any indication of an evaluation being undertaken by United Nations bodies of what the Iraqis purport to be evidence that they have no weapons of mass destruction manufacturing going on?
Spokesman: That’s really a matter for the Security Council to take up. I don’t think the Secretariat is going to be evaluating the information that the Iraqis presented to them. It’s a judgement call for the Council to make.
Question: Does the Secretary-General have an opinion on whether Mr. Milosevic should be tried in The Hague?
Spokesman: Oh, he definitely should. Press reports out of the region today say that he’ll be brought before national courts on corruption charges and abuse of power. And that’s fine, we have no comment on that. We don’t want to interfere with that in any way. But his indictment by the Tribunal stands, and the Government of Yugoslavia is obligated to turn him over to the Tribunal for trial.
Okay, Mr Oshima, welcome to the briefing.
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