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
This is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon.
**Secretary-General Press Conference
The Secretary-General will give one of his periodic press conferences on Thursday in the morning. He will take questions on any issue of your choice. Also, he apologizes for coming in through the basement this morning, when some of you were waiting for him at the front door. He had a 9:45 a.m. call scheduled with United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, and he was running late.
On a related subject, he will be going to Washington on Friday of this week, to meet with United States President George W. Bush, and he will also meet with Colin Powell. And as it now stands, he will be going down and coming back in the afternoon, so it will be a quick in and out. And those are the only two appointments scheduled thus far.
**Secretary-General’s Trip
And on Saturday, he will leave New York again. This time for a 13-day trip that will take him to Jordan, Switzerland and Kenya. His first stop will be Amman, Jordan, where -– for the first time -– he will address a summit meeting of the Arab League. While in Amman, he will also hold a number of bilateral meetings with regional leaders attending the summit.
He will arrive then in Switzerland for an official visit on Wednesday, the 28th. The first stop will be Zurich, where he will address a group of some
2,000 prominent Swiss business and political leaders.
The following day, he will travel by train to Bern, to meet with senior Swiss officials led by Moritz Leuenberg, the President of the Swiss Confederation. In the afternoon, the Secretary-General will go to Biel, where he will visit an engineering school and engage in a discussion with students on the importance of youth involvement in shaping a better future, and the United Nations as an indispensable instrument in that process.
Then, on Friday the 30th of March, he will be in Geneva to address the fifty-seventh session of the Commission on Human Rights presently meeting in Geneva. Later that day, he will go to the resort of Mont-Pelerin, about an hour's drive from Geneva, to attend the closing session of a week-long seminar organized for his special and personal representatives.
The following day, he will go to Nairobi to attend a two-day meeting of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC). This is the twice-yearly event where the Secretary-General sits down with the heads of all the specialized agencies of the UN system. There will be heads of 26 agencies, funds and programmes expected to attend that meeting.
The Committee's formal sessions will address system-wide support for sustainable development in Africa, as well as responses by the UN system to the challenges of globalization in a follow-up to the Millennium Summit.
And then while in Nairobi, the Secretary-General is also expected to meet with senior Kenyan government officials. And he will return to New York on Thursday, the 5th of April.
**Security Council
The Security Council is holding consultations this morning. The first item they discussed was the draft presidential statement on "ensuring an effective role of the Security Council in the maintenance of international peace and security, particularly in Africa".
As you will recall, this was the sole agenda item of the Council Summit held last September. And just two weeks ago, the Council held an open debate following up on the summit discussions.
The second item this morning was Burundi. Council members heard a briefing by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast. And also this morning, a draft text was circulated on a proposal for a UN observer mission to the Palestinian territories. This morning’s consultations have just adjourned and Council members will come back this afternoon to finish up today's programme, including Georgia and other matters.
**The Balkans
Yesterday afternoon, we issued a statement expressing the Secretary-General's grave concern at the escalation of violence and renewed fighting in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). He condemned the acts of violence by Albanian extremists, and expressed particular concern at the regional dimension of the recent escalation of violence and at the fact that the activities of the extremists have received outside support.
He hoped that the Government of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia would succeed in its efforts to end the violence and to establish conditions conducive to solving all problems through political means.
We have the full text of the statement in case you missed it late yesterday, and it’s also on the Web site.
In related news, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports today that, over the past six days, more than 2,300 ethnic Albanians have crossed the border from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia into Albania. About half of them passed through Albania and then entered Kosovo.
According to the UNHCR, the Albanians seem to be leaving FYROM as a precautionary measure, and, so far, none have asked for aid. The UNHCR estimates that an additional 1,400 people, mostly ethnic Albanian, have crossed from FYROM into southern Serbia, with many saying they are headed for Bosnia and Croatia. Meanwhile, the International Federation of the Red Cross has registered some 3,700 internally displaced persons inside FYROM.
**Sierra Leone/Guinea
We have more information in today's briefing notes from the UNHCR, which also mentions the return over the past weekend of some 900 Sierra Leonean refugees to the town of Daru in Sierra Leone, from the isolated "Parrot's Beak" region in southern Guinea. More returned refugees are believed to be in surrounding villages, and the UN Mission in Sierra Leone is taking the returnees to Kenema, where they can be registered by the UNHCR.
**Kosovo/Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The UN Mission in Kosovo reports today that Russian Foreign Minister Ivan Ivanov has visited Pristina, where he met with the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Gary Mathews, as well as with Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova and Kosovo Serb leader Momcilo Trajkovic.
Mr. Ivanov also held a press conference today, in which he stressed the international community's responsibilities in adopting resolution 1244, that’s a Security Council resolution, and in particular the importance of respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Mission expects to put out a transcript of that press conference, either later today or early tomorrow.
In related news, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia announced today the visit by three senior justice officials from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to The Hague, where they are to meet Tribunal President Judge Claude Jorda and Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte.
The three officials are Momcilo Grubac of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic and Belgrade District Prosecutor Rade Terzic. All three are to hold a press conference tomorrow at The Hague, where they will be accompanied by Judge Jorda and Prosecutor Del Ponte.
**Kenzo Oshima in Democratic Republic of Congo
Kenzo Oshima, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, will undertake a mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at the request of the Secretary-General, from 5 to 11 April.
The exact itinerary is still being worked on, but the Under-Secretary-General is expected to go to Kinshasa, as well as various points in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
One of the main purposes of this trip will be to highlight to the international community the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis affecting some
16 million people and to assess the scope of opportunities for humanitarian agencies in light of the recent political developments there on the ground.
In his expected meetings with government and rebel leaders, Mr. Oshima will seek, among other things, guarantees from them on access to all vulnerable populations, as well as protection for civilians and relief personnel.
We will inform you of the exact itinerary as soon as it is firmed up.
**Iraq Oil-for-Food Update
According to the weekly update from the Office of the Iraq Programme, there was a large jump in Iraqi oil exports in the week leading to 16 March. Iraq exported a total of 17.9 million barrels of oil during the week, raising an estimated €367 million (euros) in revenue at current prices. This is the largest volume of oil exported in a single week under the current phase IX, which began on the 6th of December 2000.
The United Nations oil overseers have now adopted a new policy to prevent the diversion and discharge of Iraqi oil cargo to a destination other than that authorized in an approved contract. According to the new policy, the masters of the vessels loading Iraqi oil will now have to sign a notification indicating the authorized destination of the cargo. Any diversion from the authorized destination will be at the liability of the shipping company.
The new policy is in response to an incident in February when an oil cargo of 2 million barrels of Basrah Light destined for the United States was discharged in the Far East, incurring a revenue loss of 8.5 million euros to the Iraq programme. The United Nations Treasury is in the process of collecting this amount from the buyer through BNP Paribas, at the request of the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organization.
If you want to know more about that, look at the weekly update.
**East Timor
More than 6,000 East Timorese were registered over the past three days since the national civil registration started on Friday, 16 March.
Registration sites have opened in all districts but Viqueque, due to last week's security problems, which we reported to you. By the end of this week, however, all 65 sites in all subdistricts are expected to be fully operational.
Civil registration will enable the verification and registration of the identity and residence of East Timor inhabitants. It will also generate data for the issuance of civil documents and the compilation of electoral lists.
The briefing note from Dili has more details on this and other developments in East Timor, including on the Chinese decision to build the future Timorese Foreign Affairs Ministry building and the donation by the Republic of Korea of taekwando material to the East Timor Defence Force.
**Ethiopia/Eritrea
The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) announced today that it has received detailed information from Eritrea on minefields, including details on anti-tank and anti-personnel mines that had been laid by the engineering corps of the Eritrean Defence Force.
UN Force Commander Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert, who received the data yesterday from the Eritrean authorities, welcomed the step. The Mission also received data last week from Ethiopia about the results of mine surveys conducted by the non-governmental organization "HALO Trust." The UN Mission's Mine Action Coordination Centre will use the new data it has received in its work to assist the parties' demining efforts.
**Narcotics Board
In a conference room overflowing with delegates, observers, experts and United Nations personnel, the forty-fourth session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs opened today in Vienna. This year's event is of particular importance because the 53-member body will look at how governments are living up to the goals and target dates called for by the General Assembly at the 1998 special session on the drug problem.
The Executive Director of the UN International Drug Control Programme, Pino Arlacchi, told delegates that: "In the next few days, you will have the important role of determining whether progress is, in fact, being made (in the fight against drugs) on the basis of the reports you have submitted on achievements in the first two years."
Mr. Arlacchi also called the attention of the delegates to the problem of the "balanced approach". The UN Drug Control Programme “needs a strong indication by this Commission to focus more on demand reduction. The time has come to invest more energy and funds towards the objective of reducing the number of abusers of all drugs, if we want to fully achieve a balanced approach and shared responsibility. Too few countries have adopted -- up until now,” he said, “the 50 per cent target in demand reduction within the 10-year period.”
We have the full text of Mr. Arlacchi's statement upstairs.
**Deputy Secretary-General’s Lecture in Finland
In Helsinki, Finland, today, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette delivered a lecture in honour of Helvi Sipilä -- you old timers will remember Helvi Sipilä -- a Finnish diplomat who was the first woman to hold the rank of Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. Fréchette told Sipilä: "You have paved the way for women to the highest positions at the United Nations, and I am proud to walk in your footsteps".
Fréchette noted that women now account for nearly a third of all staff at the level of principal officer and higher, but she added there are many areas -- including peace operations and field missions -- where women are badly under-represented. Despite that, the Deputy Secretary-General added, the United Nations is doing better than many Member States, since women hold only 3 per cent of top executive jobs worldwide, and only 11 of 189 Member States have women as their Permanent Representatives to the United Nations.
We have copies of the speech upstairs.
**Messenger of Peace
This afternoon, the Secretary-General will designate Wynton Marsalis as a new Messenger of Peace. A renowned jazz musician, Mr. Marsalis is Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He will be available for interviews after 4:15 p.m. and you should contact Kevin Kennedy at 3-6821 or Yvonne Acosta on extension 3-7412 for information and interview requests.
**Press Releases
A few press releases today. The United Nations Environment Programme, in collaboration with the Association of South East Asian Nations, has prepared an outline of elements to be considered at a two-day meeting in Kuala Lumpur, which is intended to negotiate an agreement designed to prevent a repeat of the devastating haze from forest fires in the region in 1997 and 1998. Losses from those fires have been estimated at around $9.3 billion and about 10 million hectares of forest in Indonesia were destroyed. As a result of the fires more than 20 million people were exposed to breathing high levels of pollutants.
And the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a new fact sheet on sleeping sickness, which threatens more than 60 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. Sleeping sickness is caused by a parasite borne by the tsetse fly and can be fatal if not treated.
We also have a press release from the WHO, another one, embargoed until tomorrow, on the launch of the new Global Tuberculosis Drug Facility.
All those press releases are all available in my office.
Now to Friday, the United Nations Foundation, the public charity responsible for channelling the contribution made by Mr. Ted Turner in support of United Nations causes, approved a major new round of funding of $72.6 million inclusive of some $26.7 million in co-financing. A total of 39 projects were approved, most of which are in the environment sector.
We have a press release announcing this up in my Office.
**Press Conferences
Press conferences. At 11 a.m. tomorrow, the Swedish Minister for Trade and Globalization, Leif Pagrotsky, will be here to talk about the Everything But Arms Initiative recently adopted by the European Union, and the importance of trade for development.
At then at 1 p.m. tomorrow, Naste Calovski, the Permanent Representative of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, will hold a press conference in this room to discuss the current situation in his country.
**UNCA
And then the Correspondents Association asked me to announce that the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Anatoliy Zlenko, will be in the UNCA club today at 4 p.m. to meet with correspondents. And they will be serving some refreshments as well.
That’s all I have for you.
Question: Welcome back. Can you tell us more about this phone call between Annan and Powell today?
Spokesman: No. I didn’t get a read-out afterwards. We usually tell you about important phone calls and he seems to be consulting rather regularly with the new Secretary of State. It could have been concerning the trip to Washington on Friday or any one of other matters which they consult on regularly.
Question: In terms of the Secretary-General’s schedule on Friday, do you know who he is seeing first in Washington and is there any time scheduled?
Spokesman: I will try to get more details on the programme. I think it’s the President first followed by the Secretary of State and it's in the mid to late afternoon. And as soon as we get specific times, we’ll let you have them. [He later announced that the Secretary-General would meet first with the Secretary of State, from 4 to 4:30 p.m., and then with the President.]
Question: And his press conference on Thursday morning -- is there a time?
Spokesman: Not yet -- 10:30 or 11 a.m. is what we are looking at. (The Spokesman later squawked that the press conference will be held at 11:30 a.m.) And on the Turner Foundation, I see we have Amir Dossal in the back of the room, so if you have any questions about that latest round of grants you can talk to him after the press briefing.
Question: With Ariel Sharon coming here tomorrow, are you going to try and get him to stop at the stakeout or try and do something, so we can try and hit him off for some quotes?
Spokesman: We’ll do that. In fact we already have looked into it and we did not initially get agreement from him that he will come to the stakeout. If we confirm that he will not go then I think you’ll probably have to catch him as he comes in or goes out of the building. And we will conspire with you to announce his movements in the building so that your chances of intercepting him are increased. Thanks very much.
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