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 Returns to Headquarters
The Secretary-General returned to Headquarters today, and was greeted by you, who put to him questions on Afghanistan, the Middle East, the U.S.-China dispute, the Kyoto Protocol and the Hague Tribunal.
On the Middle East, he said, "I know there are those who believe that as long as the violence is going on, one should not talk. I personally disagree with that. I think that is one more reason to talk," he said, "and it underscores the urgency of bringing the parties together."
Asked if he thought it was time for him to get involved in the U.S.-China dispute, he said, "They seem to be talking directly...." He then added, "But if my good offices are needed, I'm always available." When one of you asked as a follow up, "How do two big powers say they are sorry?". the Secretary-General responded, "I think they will find a way."
The complete transcript is available in my office.
The Secretary-General will brief the Security Council on his recent visit to Jordan, Switzerland and Kenya over lunch tomorrow.
**Security Council
After closed consultations on its program of work this morning, the Security Council went into a public meeting to hear a briefing by Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guehenno, on the subject of Kosovo.
Guehenno, who had visited Kosovo last week, told the Council that the United Nations Mission there has continued to move forward with its key priorities, despite the adverse effects of conflicts in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and in southern Serbia.
He said, "Progress on the legal framework should allow the holding of Kosovo-wide elections this year; serious measures to tackle law and order are beginning to bear fruit; and increased cooperation and dialogue with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia authorities will pave the way for progress in the key areas of security and return that have so far blocked Kosovo Serb participation in integrated structures."
He noted that the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Kosovo, Hans Haekkerup, met Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica for the second time last
Thursday, and that they agreed to identify areas where Kosovo Serb returns can be realistically accomplished. Kostunica also assured Haekkerup that outstanding cases of Kosovo Albanians detained in Serbia proper would soon be resolved; last month, amnesty provisions passed in Belgrade allowed for the release of about 218 of the 662 Kosovo Albanians detained in Serbian prisons.
The Council debate is going on right now, and it includes, as a new feature this month, an interactive debate in which non-Council members can have members of the Council bring up their questions during the course of the briefing. The meeting began with a moment of silence to mark the seventh anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda.
Tomorrow, the Council expects to hear a briefing on the situation along the borders of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahima Fall, who just returned from heading a mission to West Africa.
**Bosnia and Herzegovina
The United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina reports today that the situation in the country is calm and quiet, and that all United Nations personnel are back at work throughout Herzegovina, where several areas were the sites of violent demonstrations by Bosnian Croats last Friday.
In those demonstrations, which followed the decision by High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch to appoint a provisional administrator for the Herzegovacka Bank, one United Nations police officer was among the international personnel who were beaten by demonstrators. He was slightly injured. Another United Nations officer was among some international personnel who were briefly detained, and then let go later Friday, by Bosnian Croats in the town of Grude.
The United Nations is continuing an investigation into the performance of local police during Friday's violence. In a statement issued today, of which we have copies upstairs, the Secretary-General's Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jacques Klein, condemned the orchestrated violence. He said, "Instead of supporting the thugs attacking the international officials sent to stabilize the bank and protect the people's money, the police should have done their job and upheld the law." He added that Bosnian Croats "are being manipulated by a leadership that is afraid of losing power and credibility, and seeks to play the nationalist card to mask its own interests."
**East Timor
The United Nations Mission in East Timor reports that Manuel Carrascalão, the business representative in East Timor's National Council, was elected Speaker of that body today -- replacing Xanana Gusmão, who announced his resignation from that post on 28 March.
Carrascalão won the post after he and the other candidate for Speaker of the Council, José Ramos Horta of the National Council of Timorese Resistance, tied each other in a secret ballot among Council members. Each candidate received 13 votes in that secret ballot, with one ballot paper left blank. Following that ballot, Ramos Horta withdrew his name from consideration.
Carrascalão told the Council, following the vote, that he would accept the responsibility and, as Speaker, would act in accordance with the will of the majority. The vote had only been held after an effort to delay it until mid-May failed, with a vote of 11 in favor, 13 against and two abstentions. We have more details from Dili in my office.
**Sierra Leone
The Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the rebel group in Sierra Leone, assured Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette of its desire to cooperate with the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone during a brief meeting in Lunsar on Friday. Lunsar is a formerly RUF-held town where United Nations troops are now deployed.
The RUF also dismantled three checkpoints between Lunsar and Rogberi, just hours after the Deputy Secretary-General urged it to do so to demonstrate its commitment to the peace process. We have a press release on this subject as well as one on a weekend march for peace by women throughout Sierra Leone, including in at least one RUF-held town.
**Kosovo-Cluster Bombs
The United Nations Mine Action Coordination Center of Kosovo reports that two national staff of the non-governmental organization Halo Trust were involved in an incident Friday where a cluster bomb exploded. One of the two workers was killed in the incident in Grebnik in the west. The other was seriously injured and remains in hospital today. Halo Trust says that the problem of contamination resulting from NATO cluster bomb strikes remains a major issue.
**Workshop on Affordable Drugs
A four-day workshop on affordable drugs for developing countries, organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), began today in Norway. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Peter Piot, the Executive Director of UNAIDS and Adrian Otten, the Director of the Intellectual Property Division of WTO, addressed the opening session this morning. The workshop will analyse factors related to the financing and differential pricing of essential drugs. There is more information, if you are interested, on the WTO Web site.
**Kosovo Crash
We just got news in that a British KFOR helicopter went down five kilometers west of Kacanik in southern Kosovo near the border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia about two hours ago. There were seven people on board, all members of KFOR. KFOR says that there is likely to have been casualties, but they have no details yet.
**Press Releases
In our first press release for today, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today released a report called “Food Supply Situation and Crop Prospects in Sub-Saharan Africa”, which states that there are 28 million people facing severe food shortages in Africa. Eastern Africa is particularly hard hit, with
18 million people affected, and food assistance continues to be necessary in East Africa and the Great Lakes region. The report is available on the FAO Web site.
In the second press release, Klaus Toepfer, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), says a more complete picture of the roles and interactions of greenhouse gases, aerosols and ozone is urgently needed. Toepfer was briefed in Kathmandu on the Indian Ocean Experiment and was told that the brown haze, which forms over much of Asia in the dry season, is reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the surface by as much as 10 per cent and could cause health problems and affect crop yield and rainfall patterns.
We have a report today from the Office of the United Nations Coordinator for Afghanistan on food stocks dwindling in north-eastern Afghanistan. Please see the press release on that if you are interested.
**Press Conference Tomorrow
At 11 a.m. tomorrow, the Expert Group on the World Economic Outlook, led by Nobel laureate Lawrence Klein, will give a press conference here to summarize the outlook for the world economy. The Group, also known as Project Link, is meeting at Headquarters starting today through Wednesday.
**DPI
And lastly, the Department of Public Information (DPI) has asked me to tell you that the World Chronicle TV Programme number 822, featuring Derek Yach, the Executive Director of Non-Communicable Diseases at WHO, will be shown today on in-house channels three or 31 at 2:30 p.m.
That's all I have for you.
**Questions and Answers
Spokesman: Richard, don’t ask me how big powers say I am sorry. I don’t have an answer to that.
Question: Are there firm dates yet for the return of the Iraqi Foreign Minister for the second round of talks with the Secretary-General?
Spokesman: We don’t have dates yet. The Secretary-General suggested some dates in early May. The Iraqis suggested some dates later in May and the Secretary-General has gone back to them to ask them if they can agree on a new set of dates. The dates that the Iraqis proposed didn’t work with the Secretary-General's programme. So, as of now, we still don’t have dates for the May meetings.
Question: Does the Secretary-General have to formally re-approve Mary Robinson's rescinding or staying on for one more year, or is that now a done deal?
Spokesman: No, her term, of course, goes through September, so her public statement that she didn’t intend to seek a second term doesn’t have the weight of legislation. And, therefore, when she said she changed her mind and would go for one year, it is up to the Secretary-General then to nominate her for one year of a second term. That nomination goes to the General Assembly. The General Assembly would have to approve it and that should happen. I don't know. The term expires
in September. I don’t know whether the current Assembly or the next one would vote. I will have to look into that for you.
Question: An in-house matter. My biannual re-approach to the allergy season. You have made valiant efforts. What is the latest on the United Nations bureaucracy trying to put a smoking area in the basement for all of the diplomats and miscreants who are torturing us here?
Spokesman: I will have to check with the Buildings Management people who told me six months ago or eight months ago that their plan was to build a smoking lounge somewhere in the lower level. Whether that would get people to stop smoking around here on the second floor area, I am not sure.
I notice people lighting up casually here in the south lounge, outside the Security Council, with no-smoking signs just above their heads. We can't enforce it. We can just politely ask them not to do so. Whether the creation of this smoking lounge downstairs will give you any cleaner air on the second floor remains to be seen. I will get back to you.
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