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

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.

It’s a slow news day.  We can start the briefing late, right? Everyone’s relaxed.

**Secretary-General

Good afternoon.  The Secretary-General is in the air somewhere between Amsterdam and New York. He’s scheduled to arrive this afternoon.  You asked me earlier this week whether he’ll be in Monday or Tuesday.  Apparently he’s got a full programme for Monday so he should be in at the normal time.

**Bosnia and Herzegovina

On Bosnia and Herzegovina, we’ve received reports from our Mission there of some violence today in heavily Croat parts of that country, including some sketchy accounts that international personnel have been attacked and vehicles -- including those belonging to the Stabilization Force (SFOR) -- have been damaged.  The problems started at around 7:30 in the morning, local time, following the appointment by High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch, of a provisional administrator of the Herzegovacka Bank.

SFOR personnel and members of the United Nations International Police Task Force were on hand as bank branches were seized in Mostar and other parts of Herzegovina, as the provisional administration moved to seize records in connection with allegations of corruption, and funding for illegal parallel organizations, by the bank.

Outside the bank's headquarters and other branch offices, Bosnian Croats demonstrated against the seizures, throwing rocks at international staff and damaging SFOR vehicles.  Such actions have been going on now for several hours, and the UN Mission is trying now to gather further details about the chaotic situation.

**Ethiopia/Eritrea

The Military Coordination Commission chaired by the Force Commander of the UN mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Major-General Patrick Cammaert, bringing together senior military representatives from the two parties, held a one-day meeting in Djibouti today to discuss military and technical issues relating to the peace process.

The Eritrean delegation said that its defence forces resumed the repositioning yesterday, 5 April, as previously announced.  The exercise is part of the process to establish a Temporary Security Zone between the two forces.  We have a press release with more details.

**ICTY

Hans Holthuis, the Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, today ended his two-day visit to Belgrade, where he had met with the Ministers of Justice for Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) to discuss the authorities' obligation to transfer former President Slobodan Milosevic to The Hague.  He provided the Yugoslav Justice Minister, Momcilo Grubac, with an arrest warrant for Milosevic, and Grubac gave his commitment to serve the warrant, along with the Tribunal's indictment, to Milosevic.  The officials also discussed Belgrade's investigation of Milosevic and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's draft law on cooperation between Belgrade and the Tribunal.

**Kosovo

We have a read-out of the meeting yesterday between Hans Haekkerup, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Kosovo, and Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica.

During the talks in Belgrade yesterday, described as constructive, the two sides discussed Serb participation in the committee on the so-called legal framework to provide substantial self-government for Kosovo.  It was agreed that Kostunica would urge Kosovo Serbs to participate in this committee and in the elections due to be held later this year.  In response to the call for the release of all Kosovo Albanian detainees in Serbia, Kostunica indicated that this would happen soon.

Haekkerup agreed to use his best efforts to determine the fate of 3,000 persons missing in Kosovo, 1,300 of whom are Serbs.  DNA testing on unidentified remains was mentioned as an option.

**Democratic Republic of the Congo

The remainder of the 260-strong Senegalese guard unit has arrived in Kananga, one of four sectoral headquarters for the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).  The first half of the unit arrived earlier this week, as we reported to you.  The deployment today brings to nearly 500 the number of troops on the ground in the [Democratic Republic of the] Congo.  The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the DRC, Kamel Morjane, was in Lusaka today to attend a meeting of the Political Committee, the signatories of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement.

**Sierra Leone/Guinea

Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette, on the second full day of her visit to Sierra Leone, has on her agenda a visit to the peacekeepers in Lunsar, one of two previously Revolutionary United Front (RUF)-held towns where the United Nations mission is now deployed.

Meanwhile, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that it was stepping up its efforts to move tens of thousands of refugees away from volatile border zones in south-western Guinea to safer sites in the interior of the country.  The UNHCR said it has been regularly broadcasting radio messages, warning people of the hazards of walking back to Sierra Leone, including reports of abductions, rapes and other abuses by armed groups operating in the border region.  It said the only organized return to Sierra Leone is by sea from Conakry.

**UNDP/Senegal

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) held a meeting of donors yesterday to discuss the peace process in the Casamance region of Senegal.  Several donors have signaled that they will support a United Nations plan of assistance to Casamance, and UNDP is considering establishing a special trust fund to manage donor contributions for such a plan.  Demining, demobilization, reinsertion and reintegration of former combatants are the first priorities to be identified.

Within the framework defined in two peace agreements that were signed on March 16 and 23 of this year, an assessment mission will be deployed to Senegal tomorrow in order to prepare for a larger, multi-agency and donor mission to take place by early May.  The effort to assist Casamance has come in response to a request for assistance made by the Government of Senegal to the Secretary-General last October.

**Afghanistan

The humanitarian situation in western Afghanistan continues to deteriorate as summer approaches.

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan reports today that the six camps for displaced persons in Herat now hold 110,000 people, and that truckloads of families have again begun arriving in the provincial capital.  On average, about 1,000 displaced persons are arriving each day, fleeing drought, conflict, or both.

Various governments, including the United States, Norway, and Japan, have carried out airlifts of supplies to the area, but our people tell us that need is outstripping supply.  Too few tents are available for incoming families, and the aid community is coping with this shortfall by assigning two families to each one-family tent.

**East Timor

Next week, a delegation led by the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) will visit several refugee camps in West Timor, to hold a dialogue with the refugees and inform them of the actual situation in East Timor.  The delegation, led by the United Nations Mission's chief of staff, will bring with them a special Easter message from the two bishops of East Timor, appealing for them to return home.  The delegation's visit to the camps has received the full support of the Indonesian authorities.

The Mission also is planning later this month to send a ship to Kupang in West Timor, to pick up refugees who want to return to East Timor.  You can get today's briefing notes from Dili for more information.  The notes also mention that next Monday's election of a new speaker of Timor's National Council, to replace Xanana Gusmão -- who resigned last week -- will be conducted by secret ballot.

We also have upstairs a statement delivered yesterday in Geneva by the Secretary-General's Special Representative for East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, to the fifty-seventh session of the Commission on Human Rights.  In that speech, Vieira de Mello welcomes the recent proposal by Indonesia's Parliament to establish an ad hoc tribunal to deal with human rights abuses committed in East Timor in 1999.

**Myanmar

We just have in from Geneva highlights of the press conference today by Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar.  Mr. Pinheiro said that his mission to Myanmar between 3 and 5 April was an exploratory visit to build confidence.  He met with several Government officials, ambassadors, local non-governmental organizations, religious leaders and representatives of United Nations agencies.  He said that his impression after his three-day visit was that something was up, but nobody knew what.  Copies of the full text are available upstairs.

**World Health Day

Tomorrow is World Health Day, which is dedicated to mental health. The Secretary-General, in his message on the day, said the slogan, “Stop exclusion, Dare to care,” captures “the need for the world community to address mental health concerns openly and honestly.”  He called on governments to allocate resources and establish policies to meet mental health needs.

In a press release, the World Health Organization (WHO) said many of its member States are “ill equipped and unprepared” to cope with a worldwide rise in mental disorders.  The organization’s Project Atlas is collecting information on mental health resources and has revealed that 78 of 191 member countries of the WHO have no mental health policy and 69 have no community care facilities.  The WHO has also issued a revised fact sheet on mental health resources.

**Signing

This morning, the Bahamas signed the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its two Protocols.

**Press Releases

Three press releases to flag for you: the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced that FAO Ambassador, the singer Miriam Makeba, today presented new fishing boats and nets to fishermen and women whose livelihoods were severely affected by floods and a cyclone in Mozambique early last year.

And then from the Geneva briefing notes, also on Mozambique, Carol Bellamy, the Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), began the first round of a global schedule of vaccine delivery and promotion of immunization.  That would be against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and hepatitis B.

And finally, on the racks today you’ll see a media advisory by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), on a three-day workshop in Abuja, Nigeria.  This is part of Habitat's global campaign for urban governance.

**UNCTAD Questionnaire

If you look around my office today, you’ll see that the Press Unit of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has put out questionnaires in English, French and Spanish to help them update their mailing list and Web site.  They want your views.  You’ll help them to help you better if you fill out a questionnaire and I urge you to do so.

**Press Conference

Finally, a press conference at 1 o’clock today in this room, Prafullachandra Bhagwati of India, Chairman of the Human Rights Committee, and Nisuke Ando of Japan, member of the Committee, will talk about the work of the Committee’s seventy-first session, which ends today.  Considered during this session were reports from the Governments of Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Uzbekistan, Croatia and Syria on their implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

**Week Ahead

We have the week ahead for you.  I won’t read any of it but you can pick it up in my office.

**Questions and Answers

Spokesman:  Anything on a sleepy Friday?

Question:  Will you keep us updated on what you find out on this Bosnian situation?

Spokesman:  Yes.  We’ll be watching it through the afternoon.  (It was later announced that a Press Release from the Mission was available in the Spokesman’s office regarding a statement by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Jacques Klein, in which he condemned the violence that occurred in Bosnia and Herzegovina today.  At the time of the announcement, no United Nations personnel were reported to have been injured.)

Question:  Other than the commitment to deliver the arrest warrant and indictment to Mr. Milosevic, can you characterize any response from the Belgrade Government in terms of the timetable or process that might be begun to deliver Milosevic?

Spokesman:  No, I don’t think we know yet what their plans are in terms of a national trial.  They haven’t yet, to my knowledge, announced the charges that they plan to bring against the former President.  I think we need to see how that plays out in Belgrade, before we would get any sense of when and if they might turn him over to The Hague for trial.

Happy Weekend!

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