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 Says Not Enough Done to Protect Civilians in Conflict
The Secretary-General's second report to the Security Council on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, which follows up on a report he wrote in September 1999, is out on the racks today, and presents 14 new recommendations for Council and General Assembly actions to help protect civilians.
The Secretary-General warns that, as internal armed conflicts have proliferated, civilians have become the principal victims, and yet both Member States and the United Nations have often been unable to respond to their need for protection and assistance. What is needed, he says, is a "culture of protection" involving all major actors, including governments, armed groups, the private sector and international organizations.
He also notes that, although some 18 months have passed since his last report to the Council on this subject, only a few of the 40 recommendations contained in the earlier report have been implemented so far.
We will have with us shortly in this briefing Carolyn McAskie, the Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, to talk further about this report.
**Security Council
During Security Council consultations this morning, Ibrahima Fall, the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, briefed the Security Council on the United Nations inter-agency mission to West Africa. The mission visited the West African subregion between 7 and 26 March.
In its forthcoming report to the Secretary-General, Mr. Fall, who led the Mission, will make recommendations on a coordinated and coherent United Nations response to the multifaceted problems confronting West Africa. Mr. Fall has agreed to talk to you at the second floor stakeout when he is through with the Security Council. We will inform you through the PA system when he is ready.
Also, following consultations today, Council members will have their monthly luncheon with the Secretary-General.
**Two Killed in KFOR Chopper Crash
Yesterday, we reported on a British helicopter crash in Kosovo near the border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Two British officers, the pilot and navigator, were killed and the five others suffered injuries. Today, KFOR says that the aircraft was conducting operations in support of efforts to secure the border and eradicate the extremist activity that has threatened to destabilise the region.
The weather at the time was poor with low cloud and heavy rain. At this stage, KFOR says, the cause of the crash is unknown but there are no indications that it was caused by hostile action from any group. The border region had been relatively quiet over the weekend.
**FYROM President Addresses Human Rights Commission
In an address this morning to the Human Rights Commission in Geneva, the President of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Boris Trajkovski, said the goal of the "armed extremists" operating on the border with Kosovo is to destroy "the model of multicultural democracy" that exists in his country. He charged that the rebels are an export from Kosovo, "governed by racist ideology" and by interest in "trafficking in drugs and women".
He urged KFOR and the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to exercise more energetic and consistent control of the border area. We have copies of his address if you are interested.
**Office of Iraq Programme
According to the weekly update from the Office of the Iraq Programme (OIP), Iraqi oil exports under the oil-for-food programme surged to an average of 2.29 million barrels a day in the week leading up to 6 April 2001, from the previous week’s average of 1.8 million barrels a day.
The sale of 16 million barrels of oil generated an estimated €356 million (Euro) in revenue at current prices. The total value of contracts placed on hold by the Security Council’s 661 Sanctions Committee decreased slightly, standing at 3.43 billion dollars, of which about 2.99 billion is contracts for humanitarian supplies, while another 438 million is for oil industry spare parts and equipment. You can pick up the weekly update upstairs.
**UNHCR
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today expressed alarm at the recent acts of violence that have taken place against Bosnian Serbs who have attempted to return to their homes in the Croat-controlled parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Last Friday, an explosive device was thrown at the house of one Serb who had just returned to a village near Grahovo, 150 kilometers west of Sarajevo. Also last week, a school that had been rebuilt in another village in the Grahovo area was blown up, in an attack which caused no casualties but, UNHCR claimed, was clearly intended to intimidate Serbs from returning home.
UNHCR says that the incidents in Grahovo are "a sad exception in today's Bosnia and Herzegovina", where last year a record 8,723 people returned home to areas controlled by their former foes. Some 3,000 Serbs had returned to Grahovo without incident before last week's attacks.
**UN Economic Report Launched
You just had a press briefing in this room to launch the Global Economic Outlook report prepared by the Development Policy Analysis Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), which includes inputs from the econometric modeling system of Project Link.
The report notes the economic factors at work in the current economic slowdown, in which the growth of gross world product is expected to decline from
4 per cent last year to about 2.4 per cent this year. The current downturn, the report says, is being propelled by retrenchment in major developed economies, including a deceleration in the U.S. economy.
Although the report forecasts a rebound of the global growth rate, to about 3 per cent by 2002, it notes that several risks remain, including the possibility of a deeper or more prolonged slowdown in the United States, which it says could be transmitted, through direct or indirect linkages, to many other economies.
The spring meeting of Project LINK -- which brings together the economic work of national LINK centers to prepare short-term and medium-term forecasts on the global economy -- began at United Nations Headquarters yesterday, and will continue through tomorrow.
**Other Announcements
Today's briefing notes from the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) say that about 100 Zambian peacekeepers conducted a long-range patrol to Tongo over the weekend as part of the Mission’s forward deployment into territory held by the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The mission also said that some RUF commanders attended a sensitization workshop on the disarmament and demobilization process in Lunsar.
The World Food Programme (WFP) today announced the launch of a nearly
$90 million emergency operation to feed 2.5 million Ethiopian nomad farmers affected by drought. WFP says that although the overall humanitarian situation in Ethiopia is gradually improving, populations in several regions of the country remain highly vulnerable.
The UNHCR, meanwhile, reported today that it has resumed the voluntary repatriation of Somali refugees from Ethiopia. The High Commissioner, Ruud Lubbers, is in Ethiopia and witnessed a departing convoy carrying 1,500 refugees. We have press releases on these matters in my office.
Other press releases out today: from the Geneva press briefing, news that Kenzo Oshima, Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and the Emergency Relief Coordinator, is in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and met with President Joseph Kabila and other senior officials today. This followed his weekend visit to survey the humanitarian situation in the east of that country, where the needs are significant. Oshima will hold a press conference tomorrow in Kinshasa where he will report in more detail on the outcome of his visit.
Also from the Geneva press briefing, we have an announcement that Dennis McNamara, the Special Coordinator on Internal Displacement, will travel to Afghanistan next week on an inter-agency mission. He will leave for Islamabad, Pakistan on Tuesday and will be in the area for a week.
Finally, we have an embargoed press release from the World Food Programme on the Food Outlook report that will be launched tomorrow.
**DRC Report
There is a letter from the Secretary-General to the Security Council today saying that the report by a panel of experts on the illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be out by April 16. More time was required to complete analysing the voluminous information obtained by the panel, the letter says.
**Press Conference Tomorrow
At 10:15 a.m. tomorrow, Ambassador Carlos Dos Santos of Mozambique, Chairman of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects, will brief you on the outcome of the Preparatory Committee meetings, as well as for the preparations for the Conference which is scheduled to take place from 9 to 20 July of this year.
**UNCA Announcement
The Correspondents Association asked me to tell you that they are organizing a press briefing with the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea, Ambassador Sun Joun-yung, on Wednesday, 11 a.m. in the UNCA Club. The subject of the briefing is prospect for Peace in the Korean Peninsula.
Welcome, Carolyn. We will get to you in just a minute and even sooner if there are no questions.
**Questions and Answers
Question: One housekeeping question. For those of us who can't seem to get enough of the noon briefing, what is the prospect for the re-establishing of your Web-cast?
Spokesman: We haven't heard. We've got no money to do it. We’re kind of looking for another company that is willing to do it for free. The old company said that they will not do it for free anymore. We will check with DPI to see if they have had any luck in the last few days since we announced the end of these Web-casts.
Question: The Congo report, is there any discussion on how it will be distributed to the press? A briefing? Any planned announcement on the 16th or 15th?
Spokesman: I think the Chairman of the panel is prepared to come here to brief you. Whether the other members of the panel could also be here or not, I don’t know, but I think an on-the-record briefing on the day, Monday, that would suit you? We'll try to arrange that.
Question: Dennis McNamara's trip, Afghan trip, do you have any more details about what he will be doing?
Spokesman: No, but if you check with my Office afterwards, or Carolyn?
Carolyn McAskie: As you may know, Dennis was appointed as the coordinator to look at IDP situations and he will be making recommendations to the Secretary-General as to how the United Nations system can best be organized. As part of that, he has been making visits to a number of countries in conflict where there are large numbers of IDPs. We particularly wanted him to see Afghanistan because of the Under Secretary-General's recent trip after the horror story in Herat where numbers of IDPs died because of extreme cold.
The main purpose of all of his visits, whether it was to Burundi, Angola, Ethiopia, Eritrea, or his previous ones, are to assist the country team in properly identifying what the IDP crisis is all about, as every country is different. It is very important that we understand the roots of displacement country by country and that we understand how best the United Nations agencies and the humanitarian NGOs and the bilaterals can organize around providing the right kind of assistance to IDPs.
The big issue in IDPs, in addition to basic assistance, is the whole concept of protection. As you know, refugees are protected by international convention. IDPs are the responsibility of the State under international law, but under the Geneva Convention, international humanitarian law is sufficient to allow for the protection of IDPs. What we are most anxious to do is to find ways in which we can ensure that displaced persons are not, in a sense, used as a tool of war, as well as innocent victims.
Question: When do you expect action by the General Assembly on Mary Robinson's decision to carry on for another year?
Spokesman: I'll have to check. I know I said I'd check on that yesterday and I am afraid that I didn't. Her term expires 21 September, I think? What I didn't know was whether the current Assembly would take action on it or the new session, which starts early September. I'll find out and get back to you. [He later announced that Robinson’s term expired on 11 September, and the current Assembly ends the 10th –- therefore, it is likely to be dealt with by the current Assembly.]
Question: Based upon your conversation with the Secretary-General, has Mr. Annan in any way been approached or had any discussions about his personal involvement in the United States-China dispute? Has there been any contact?
Spokesman: The Secretary-General met with the Ambassador of China, Ambassador Wang, this morning but it was the Ambassador who had asked for that meeting to convey a letter from his President, Jiang Zemin, on the subject of China's ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. That happened at 9:45 a.m. The Secretary-General took that occasion to ask the Ambassador to convey to the President his worry that the current stand-off between the U.S. and China is not in the interest of either country or, in fact, the rest of us. So that was an oral message that he gave to the Ambassador.
Question: Did he offer to play a role in the impasse?
Spokesman: No. I mean, you heard what he said yesterday, that he is always available. I don’t think that was an offer. It is just a statement of fact that any member State that wants to call on him for good offices assistance in a crisis, he is happy to respond. He also said that they are talking directly and he hopes that they will resolve it. What he said today is, they need to resolve it soon.
Question: Has the Secretary-General made similar contact with the United States and if not, is it implicit in the communication with China that the solution or resolution of this problem lies with Beijing and not Washington?
Spokesman: He has had contact with the United States, as well.
Question: With whom?
Spokesman: I don’t want to say. Its part of the regular contacts he has with Washington but he has had a conversation with a senior U.S. official.
Question: Can you say when?
Spokesman: Yesterday.
Question: Last week, the Russian Ambassador sent a letter to the Secretary-General and indicated that a new approach had to be found to resolve the question of Iraq. Did the Secretary-General share that a new approach had to be found?
Spokesman: I think he assumes that all of the Council members agree with that assessment, which is why they approved of his meeting with the Iraqis. He has one meeting in February, as you know. The next meeting we hope would be scheduled for May. In the first meeting, the Iraqis presented a series of grievances and did not want to go beyond that point. He hopes that in the second meeting they can start exploring concrete ways to break the impasse between Iraq and the Council. So, yes, the Secretary-General agrees with the thrust of that letter and he assumes the other Council members do as well.
Question: I am just trying to understand. You have stated very specifically the nature of the Secretary-General's contact with the Ambassador of China conveying a message to the President and the essence of what that message is, but on the other hand, you were very vague about who he has contacted in the U.S. and what the message there might be.
Spokesman: I did not say that he contacted someone. I said he's had contact. So, in the course of a phone conversation that he had on other matters, this subject also came up and a similar message was delivered to United States side.
Question: The Arlacchi meeting. There seems to have been a recent meeting between the Secretary-General and Mr. Arlacchi [Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention]. Can you reveal any subject of this and why the Secretary-General is going to see Traffic tonight?
Spokesman: I think it was Gillian Sorensen's Office that arranged for the free screening of Traffic. It’s taking place here is it? His meeting with Mr. Arlacchi is a routine review of ...
Question: The results of the ...
Spokesman: The OIOS? No, that is still being finalized. That could come up, and in fact, it is likely to come up in the discussions today.