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.
Spokesman for the Secretary-General
Good afternoon.
**Secretary-General Meets Ariel Sharon
The Secretary-General met for just over an hour this morning with the Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon.
The Prime Minister briefed the Secretary-General on his recent visit to Washington. He outlined his Government's policy concerning the Palestinians, discussed regional stability, including the local and regional threat of terror, and talked of the prospects for resuming peace talks.
On the subject of talks, the Prime Minister emphasized he would remain flexible, but said he would not compromise on the subject of the security of Israeli citizens.
The Secretary-General raised the issue of settlements, and the Prime Minister responded that his policy as publicly stated was there would be no new settlements. The Secretary-General then raised the issue of the reported expansion of existing settlements, such as at Har Homma.
The Secretary-General then discussed the situation in Lebanon, and asked the Prime Minister about the Syria track of negotiations. He advised the Prime Minister to ease the economic restrictions on the Palestinian Authority as a way of easing tensions.
The Secretary-General also urged the Prime Minister to cooperate with the Mitchell Commission. The Prime Minister said he would meet with members of the Commission this weekend.
**Security Council
The Security Council held consultations this morning on Georgia and on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). They discussed the draft text of a presidential statement on Georgia and a draft resolution on the FYROM. Following consultations, they moved to the Council Chamber for a private meeting on Georgia.
Anatoliy Zlenko, Foreign Minister of the Ukraine, is presiding over the session. He is now briefing Council members on the outcome of the third meeting on confidence-building measures between the Georgian and Abkhaz sides. The meeting, on which we reported to you last week, was held in Yalta on 15 and
16 March.
In addition to Council members, the Foreign Minister of Georgia, Irakli Menagarishvili, and the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Georgia, Dieter Boden, were expected to take the floor. The Representative of Sweden, Ambassador Pierre Schori, will also speak on behalf of the European Union.
The Security Council is expected to hold consultations at 4 p.m. today on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to continue their discussion of a draft resolution.
**Racism
Today, on the International Day on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, some 400 teenagers are gathered downstairs in Conference Room
1 to discuss ways to combat racism and promote tolerance in their lives.
In addition to an open discussion hosted by MTV video host Ananda Lewis, the participants viewed public service announcements against racism and intolerance produced by television stations from the United States, France and South Africa.
From the UN side, the participants heard from Shashi Tharoor, the interim head of the Department of Public Information, as well as Mary Robinson, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who spoke via video line from Geneva.
In her traditional message to mark this day, the High Commissioner said that she wanted to pay special tribute to the people of South Africa who had suffered for so long under apartheid for their generous decision to host the upcoming World Conference Against Racism.
In the message, the High Commissioner said: "While apartheid has been defeated, racism and intolerance are still common all over the world. To fail to recognize this fact is to obstruct the search for remedies; facing up to it is the first step towards taking positive action”.
We have the full text of her statement upstairs.
On this day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, we have, of course, a message from the Secretary-General. In it he says that “This day was fixed on 21 March to commemorate the massacre at Sharpeville, South Africa, where police shot and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid “pass laws” in 1960. We must all rejoice that apartheid is now a thing of the past. This year, delegates from all over the world will assemble in a free South Africa for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, to address the various forms of racism that continue to plague our world.
“These forms of intolerance are often less visible than apartheid, but no less insidious. Throughout the world, refugees, indigenous peoples, and asylum seekers still suffer the indignities of racial discrimination. Ethnic minorities continue to be disproportionately poor, disproportionately affected by unemployment, and disproportionately less educated than dominant groups. They are under-represented in political structures, while over-represented in prisons. They have less access to quality health care and, thus, a shorter life expectancy.”
**ICTY
Today at The Hague, the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Judge Claude Jorda, and Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte held a joint press conference with Momcilo Grubac of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's Ministry of Justice and Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic.
Del Ponte said that the Yugoslav officials had given all necessary authorization for the Tribunal's prosecutors to open an office in Belgrade and to conduct investigation activities in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Batic also confirmed to her that the Belgrade authorities would take measures to expel non-Yugoslav citizens indicted by the Tribunal.
Del Ponte announced that her office has opened two new investigations concerning war crimes and crimes against humanity. The first involves allegations about the activities, against Serbs and other minorities, of unidentified Albanian armed groups in Kosovo from June 1999 until now. The second involves allegations about the activities of members of the "Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac" in southern Serbia since November 1999.
We have a press release from the Tribunal upstairs.
**Kosovo
We informed you a couple of days ago that the UN Mission in Kosovo was concerned by the closure of the border between Kosovo and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), which had left Kosovo's hospitals short of essential supplies.
The Mission today informed us that, although Pristina Hospital only had a few days of oxygen supplies, it is now expecting a truck traveling today from Croatia through Montenegro to provide about a month's supply of oxygen. However, the Mission still is concerned about some essential drugs that are stuck on the FYROM side of the border, since it only has two weeks' worth of some essential medical supplies.
In other news, the Mission and the Kosovo Force (KFOR) held a press briefing today following the arrests on Monday and Tuesday of five people suspected of terrorist activities in Kosovo including possible involvement in the attack last month on a bus carrying Kosovo Serbs, in which seven people had been killed. We expect to receive a transcript of that press conference later this afternoon.
**Sierra Leone
Today in Sierra Leone, UN Force Commander Lt. Gen. Daniel Opande officially re-opened the Mange Bridge, which connects the towns of Port Loko and Kambia in the north west part of the country.
A deep ditch had been dug at the bridge, which is in territory held by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), but the RUF has recently filled up that ditch, allowing civilian traffic to pass through Mange once more.
After he officially commissioned the road passing through Mange Bridge and crossed it, General Opande proceeded onward to Kambia, an RUF-held town in the north west. He will meet with RUF leaders there before heading back to Freetown this evening.
**Guinea Bissau
The Secretary-General's latest report to the Security Council on Guinea-Bissau, which covers events since last November's failed coup attempt by the late Gen. Ansumane Mane, is out on the racks today. In it, the Secretary-General says that, although direct challenges to the constitutional order by the military have decreased, the overall situation in the country has grown more unstable.
He notes, among other developments, the frictions that have left the ruling party without a parliamentary majority; the Government's military offensive against the separatist Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance; and the report last month of a failed assassination plot against President Kumba Yala.
In the report, the Secretary-General urges all parties in Guinea-Bissau to engage in a constructive dialogue to defuse the current political tensions, and also encourages the Governments of Guinea-Bissau and Senegal to continue their bilateral efforts to normalize the situation along their common border.
The Security Council is expected to take up Guinea-Bissau in their consultations toward the middle of next week.
**Secretary-General’s Speech on Conflict Prevention
This afternoon, starting at about 5:15, the Secretary-General will deliver an address on conflict prevention to the Foreign Policy Association, here in New York, which is located at 730 Third Avenue, as part of a lecture series honoring of former US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance.
The speech will provide some thoughts on what the UN system and Member States can do to practice preventive diplomacy, in advance of a report on prevention that the Secretary-General is to submit to the Security Council about two months from now.
We have embargoed copies of the speech in my Office.
**Budget
The number of Member States which have paid their 2001 regular budget contributions in full now stands at 63 with a payment of over $52 million by Italy.
**Press Releases
A report on water and sanitation, “Water for Health –- taking charge”, has been issued by the World Health Organization to coincide with World Water Day, which is being observed tomorrow. The report says that more than a billion people drink unsafe water each day and that 2.4 billion or 40 per cent of the world’s population are without adequate sanitation.
Also from the WHO, we have received press kits on World Tuberculosis Day, which will be observed on Saturday. The theme for this year’s observance is “DOTS: TB cure for all” and calls for equitable access to TB services for anyone who needs it. And if you want to know what DOTS is, look at the press release.
From the Office for the High Commissioner for Refugees we have some excerpts from the upcoming issue of their quarterly Refugee Magazine, which features stories about children and UNHCR’s role in topical humanitarian issues.
And finally we have a press release from the Food and Agriculture Organization on the thirty-fourth session of the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease which started today in Rome.
Then at 1 o’clock in this room there will be a press conference by Naste Calovski, the Permanent Representative of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. And that will be on the current situation in his country.
And then a reminder, the Secretary-General will give a press conference here at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow, so there will no noon briefing. Handouts however will be available in my Office and the highlights of the noon briefing will be on the Web site at the usual time. That’s all I have. Any questions?
Question: In this meeting with Prime Minister Sharon, was the Observer Force discussed in any detail and did the SG urge the Israelis to cooperate with such a force?
Spokesman: The Secretary-General did raise that issue and the Prime Minister indicated his I think by now well known position that he would oppose any UN Observers in the Palestinian Territories. I don’t want to go into much detail about what the Prime Minister said, apart from what I have already said. You really should ask the Israelis for further details on his position.
Question: Fred, IPS sent out a story today in their newsletter that talks about a UN Working Group consisting of representatives of staff and management that is implicitly accusing the UN Secretariat of racial discrimination in the improvement and promotion of staff. Is there any response from the Spokesman’s office or the SG’s Office?
Spokesman: No. I’m not familiar with what you are talking about. I don’t want to conduct that in the middle of the briefing. I will look at it later. But I would deny categorically any racism on the part of the Secretary-General in his hiring practices.
Question: Fred, you mentioned that in the meeting with Sharon the SG advised the easing of economic sanctions as a way of easing tensions but you didn’t mention a response. What was the response?
Spokesman: I’m not at liberty to give you everything that the Prime Minister said. I gave you as much as I could. That’s just a flag to you that the Secretary-General said this and that there was discussion on the issue but I can’t go into those details. You will have to ask the Prime Minister if you want to know more.
Question: Is Mr. Sharon avoiding the press?
Spokesman: You’ll have to ask him that. But for security reasons, he entered and left the building without going through any public areas.
Question: The Taliban say that they have invited the UN to come and I guess inspect the country to see that the cultivation of opium poppies -- that they are doing things to wipe out the crops. Has the UN received any invitation like this? Has there been a response or any kind of exchange?
Spokesman: We saw such a report but we checked with the UN Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention just before the briefing and they said that they had not received any such invitation. Whether or not it’s in the pipeline, I don’t know.
Question: Did the Secretary-General address the MTV event on the prevention of racism?
Spokesman: No. There was initially a plan for him to participate in some way and to talk to the students, but once the meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister was set for this morning, it was impossible for him to do so.
Question: So the Secretary-General did not address them?
Spokesman: To my knowledge he did not. As of a few minutes ago, he was still on the 38th floor.
Question: Can you tell us the purpose of tomorrow’s briefing? Should we assume that there is a particular announcement to be made?
Spokesman: No, I don’t know whether you’ve been counting but it’s three months since he did a press conference. His last press conference was December. So he has pledged to meet with you on a regular basis. He said at least once every two months, so he is conscious that he is overdue for a regular press conference. And as you know he has promised that he would go public with his intentions concerning a second term so you might anticipate that he would have something to say about that tomorrow.
Question: Fred, apparently there is some movement in the United States Congress particularly among the Democrats to have the United States rejoin UNESCO after being out for some years. What would be the significance of that to the United Nations?
Spokesman: Well, it would be very important to UNESCO, of course. UNESCO to my knowledge is the only UN agency that the United States is not a member of. [In fact, the United States also pulled out of UNIDO, in December 1996.] That went back to, I believe, the 1980s when they pulled out in protest against what they saw as mismanagement. UNESCO has overhauled its operations considerably. I think it’s considered today to be a well-run UN agency and that the return of the United States is probably overdue. I’m sure they would welcome any serious effort within the Congress to have the United States rejoin. Okay. Thanks very much.
* *** *