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
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Jan Fischer, Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly.
Good Afternoon.
**World Trade Organization Meeting
I just got off the phone with Rubens Ricupero, the head of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, who said from Geneva a few minutes ago that he welcomes the breakthrough at the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting, which adopted within the last hour an agreement to launch a new round of global trade talks.
Mr. Ricupero especially welcomed a separate declaration in which WTO affirmed that nothing in the agreement on intellectual property rights should prevent developing countries from taking measures to protect public health.
The United Nations system worked closely with WTO to raise awareness of this public health issue, which Mr. Ricupero says is an outstanding achievement for the WTO and the world.
**Afghanistan –- New York
The Security Council is holding consultations on Afghanistan this morning.
Lakhdar Brahimi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan gave an update on the situation on the ground and other developments. A draft resolution on transitional arrangements for Afghanistan is being discussed for possible adoption. We don’t know whether that would come by the end of today or possibly tomorrow.
As you know, Mr. Brahimi mentioned in yesterday’s Security Council meeting that there will be a meeting of the so-called “Group of 21” here on Friday. Members of the Group and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) have been invited for that meeting, which is now scheduled at 10 a.m. here at United Nations headquarters. The group first met in November 1996 at the invitation of the then Secretary-General, Boutros-Boutros Ghali. They are a group of States from the region and other States with influence on Afghanistan. The last time they met, by the way, was October ’98.
**Afghanistan -- Field
From the field, we have the following update today.
Preparations are underway for the visit by Francesc Vendrell, Mr. Brahimi’s deputy, and Michael Sackett, the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator, to Kabul as soon as security conditions permit. More information is expected out
of Islamabad on this tomorrow. Meanwhile, agencies are preparing for the return of their international staff to Afghanistan.
The United Nations today dispatched the first barge load of relief supplies into Hairaton, Afghanistan, from Termez in Uzbekistan. The supplies, intended for the most vulnerable people of northern Afghanistan, include wheat, winter clothes and water containers.
A United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff member who crossed to the Hairaton side of the river met with Afghan colleagues from the UNHCR sub-office in Mazar-i-Sharif who advised that the town was generally calm, although pockets of insecurity were reported in some surrounding areas.
The United Nations Children’s Fund is temporarily suspending aid convoys that use commercial transport, to Afghanistan from neighbouring countries, following reports that one or possibly two drivers of a commercial transport company affiliated with the agency may have been killed in the Mazar-i-Sharif area.
The situation in Kabul today is calm so far. The Northern Alliance authorities promised to put guards around UN offices, and today this has been done. Staff of the United Nations in Afghanistan met briefly with Northern Alliance authorities, and received reassurances that United Nations staff and property would remain secure.
The United Nations remains very concerned about reports of new mines being laid by the retreating Taliban forces. The Mine Action Center has named Herat as one of these sites. Meanwhile, UNHCR said its office in that western Afghanistan town was re-opened by local staff today.
The World Food Programme (WFP) reported that a convoy of trucks carrying about 1,200 tonnes of food left Turkmenabad for northern Afghanistan.
**Secretary-General’s Trip to Ottawa
This Saturday night, the Secretary-General will be in Ottawa to attend a unique dinner with the Committees of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to discuss the global economic outlook following the September 11th attacks on the United States, and in particular the impact on the poorest.
For the first time ever, the Secretary-General was invited by the Chairs of those two organizations’ Development Committee and International Monetary Finance Committee (who are, respectively, Indian Finance Minister Yaswant Sinha, and United Kingdom Chancellor Gordon Brown) to exchange views with the members of those Committees in a Saturday evening dinner session.
In addition to the post-11 September economic environment, he will discuss plans for the forthcoming UN Conference on Financing for Development, to be held in Monterrey, Mexico, next March. He will also take questions from the attendees, who are to include 45 Finance Ministers who are attending the weekend meeting.
Earlier on Saturday, the Secretary-General is also expected to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien. He will be back in New York the following day.
**Democratic Republic of the Congo
At a press conference held this morning in Kinshasa, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Amos Namanga Ngongi, said the recently adopted Security Council resolution on the DRC (1376) provides the United Nations mission with the road map which will guide its actions in the coming months.
He stressed that the goodwill and efforts made by the United Nations would not suffice in insuring the successful implementation of the resolution: the belligerents themselves will have to meet certain prerequisites, most notably in the demilitarization of Kisangani and the withdrawal of foreign forces from the country.
Ngongi announced that at Kamina, the Mission has undertaken the screening operation of the former Rwandan combatants. More than 1,500 men were presented to the United Nations mission in the presence of the Minister of Security and Public Order and the United Nations Force Commander, Major-General Mountaga Diallo.
“The disarmament as well as the repatriation will be voluntary,” the Special Representative said. “MONUC will not forcibly impose and will not condone any method which does not enter into the terms of its mandate.”
The full text of his introductory remarks is available upstairs.
On a related subject, we expect the report of the panel on the illegal exploitation of natural resources in the Congo to be out on Friday. We are trying to organize a briefing for you.
**Palestine
Today, at a ceremony in Amman, Jordan, presided over by King Abdullah II, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, known as UNRWA, received the King Hussein Humanitarian Leadership Prize for its 50 years of services to Palestine refugees, and its emergency work in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip over the last 13 months.
In his acceptance speech, Peter Hansen, the UNRWA Commissioner-General, said that over the decades the organization has embodied the international community’s commitment to Palestinian refugees.
However, the events in the Occupied Territories since October of last year have posed an unprecedented challenge to UNRWA, he said, as large numbers of refugees in the West Bank and Gaza strip continue to fall below the poverty line.
A press release and the full text of the Commissioner-General’s speech are available in my Office.
**Western Sahara
The Secretary-General, in a letter to the President of the Security Council that is out on the racks today, says that his Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, James Baker, has been consulting with the parties involved in the Western Sahara dispute to discuss the draft Framework Agreement. However, he has informed the Secretary-General that he would need additional time for these consultations.
Accordingly, the Secretary-General proposes that the Security Council authorize a technical extension of the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), which is set to expire at the end of this month. That would be for another two months, until the end of January 2002.
The Council is expected to hold consultations on Western Sahara next week.
**Sierra Leone
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Sierra Leone, Oluyemi Adeniji, yesterday opened the National Consultative Conference in Freetown, which brings together Government officials, civil society representatives and political party members to chart the way forward for democracy and development in that country.
Adeniji appealed to all Sierra Leoneans to emphasize what they can achieve collectively, and said the success of the three-day Conference depends on what it can yield for fostering democratic values in Sierra Leone.
We have more information in a press release upstairs.
**East Timor
The gradual reduction of the military component of the United Nations Mission in East Timor began today with a ceremony to mark the departure this coming Friday of the Kenyan contingent.
This is the first in a series of downsizing moves that will reduce the peacekeeping force from its current level of almost 8,000 troops to 5,000 by East Timor’s independence on 20 May next year.
We have a briefing note from Dili.
**Signings
On the signings front, a number of actions are taking place today. We have a complete list upstairs, but I’ll highlight a few. This morning, Palau acceded to four of the conventions on terrorism and Guinea-Bissau to three. This afternoon Belize will accede to four treaties and ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Yesterday, among the signings, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya became the 100th country to sign the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.
**Budget
Guatemala today became the 127th Member State to pay its 2001 regular budget contribution in full with a payment of $279,000. At this time last year, 137 Member states had paid their dues in full.
**Press Releases
The World Food Programme (WFP) announced in a press release today that the first relief operation in decades in the Nuba Mountain region of the Sudan has taken place. One hundred tonnes of food were airdropped today as part of 2,000 tonnes to be delivered in the coming weeks. A four-week period of tranquility had been negotiated to allow humanitarian assistance to reach some 158,000 people impoverished and displaced by years of war.
In another press release, WFP warns that it may face a break in the humanitarian operation to feed thousands of destitute and vulnerable people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, unless more contributions are received immediately. The emergency operations in this region require 100,000 tonnes of food, and because of the lengthy procurement processes, donors are urged to pledge their contributions as soon as possible.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) ended the 31st session of its Governing Council yesterday. We have a press release with some of the highlights of the session, which saw the admission of four new members -– Monaco, Nauru, Uzbekistan and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
**Press Conferences
Press conferences scheduled for today. At 3:15 this afternoon, Mrs. Soledad Alvear Valenzuela, the Minister for External Relations of the Republic of Chile.
Tomorrow at 11:00, Ambassador Bagher Asadi, the Chairman of the Group of 77, will brief on the outcome of the Marrakesh Conference on Climate Change, and the Kyoto Protocol.
And then at 12:45 Koffi Panou, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Republic of Togo, is scheduled to address you in this room.
That’s what I have.
**Questions and Answers
Question: What is the agenda and who is chairing the combined G21 and OIC meeting on Friday? And what is the latest progress in terms of thinking of the composition, timing and command structure of a potential multi-national force in Afghanistan?
Spokesman: I don’t have any details on the Group of 21, but it’s not difficult to imagine what it will be. This is a larger group of Member States with a special interest in Afghanistan. It includes the eight members of the Six Plus Two and they’ll be talking about the situation generally in Afghanistan.
On the composition, etc., of a military force that might go into Afghanistan, the United Nations is not doing the recruiting, and the United Nations will not be paying the troops. This would be an effort that would have to be led by one or more Member States, so I have no information to give you on that.
Question: Abu Dhabi Television says that the government has agreed to a United Nations request that the conference Mr. Brahimi mentioned yesterday should be held in the United Arab Emirates. Can you confirm that?
Spokesman: No, I can’t. There was still discussion this morning on the best place to hold it. I did mention yesterday that Mr. Brahimi was favouring a location closer to Afghanistan, possibly in the Middle East. But we do have as a backup either Vienna or Geneva, our two major European headquarters locations, which could provide the facilities for such a meeting.
At this point, we haven’t yet made a decision. Mr. Brahimi, I think, will call you together when a decision has been made in order to announce it.
Question: How come the Northern Alliance moved into Kabul when I thought they were supposed to stay outside. Was there a change of orders, did they break their orders? I realize this isn’t a United Nations problem, but it’s certainly caused one.
Also, you referred to intellectual property rights, and I didn’t realize they were covered -- HIV drugs. But I’d hardly call them intellectual property.
Spokesman: On your first question, its not for me to comment on any arrangements that might have been made by the Northern Alliance and other States as to their pledge, if there was such a pledge, not to enter Kabul.
On your second question, I’m referring to the TRIPS, which is an intellectual property arrangement. And the main issue is how that would apply to medication that could apply to HIV/AIDS. So this separate declaration adopted by the WTO reaffirms the right of developing countries to protect public health first and respect the TRIPS second.
Question: What would be the scenario if Osama bin Laden were to turn up in a country outside Afghanistan? We spoke to the Pakistani Prime Minister earlier today. He said if Pakistan ends up with Osama bin Laden, they’d turn him over to the United Nations.
Spokesman: Under the Security Council resolution, I think every Member State is obligated not to provide refuge to terrorists. If Osama bin Laden is captured by a national authority, they would be obliged to turn him over.
Whether that would be done under a national authority, or whether they would go through the expensive and complicated procedure of establishing a new Tribunal, I don’t know. I haven’t heard what the inside thinking is by members of the Council, so I invite you to talk to Member States.
Question: So, basically what you’re saying is that the United Nations would do nothing until the Security Council gave some sort of authorization?
Spokesman: If we had an international criminal tribunal, we’d have a place to send someone like Osama bin Laden, given the charges against him. We don’t have that yet. So either we have to create an ad hoc tribunal or rely on some national judicial system that could give him a fair trial.
Question: Following up on that, the Bush Administration proposal for a U.S. military tribunal for bin Laden or anyone connected with him. This would seem to contradict a national tribunal or United Nations ad hoc arrangement. Does that strike the United Nations as a viable option to try …?
Spokesman: I don’t have guidance on the point, Jim, and I don’t have legal advice either. So I’d have to defer my answer until I could get guidance.
Question: Following up on the multi-national force, you said that’s up to the Member States, but following precedent, it would be up to the Council to authorize a multi-national force to move into place, so there must be some discussions going on in the Council on how this might be done.
Spokesman: That would be discussions among Governments, wouldn’t it. Until the Council collectively takes action, it wouldn’t be for me to say what country A is saying to country B about possible arrangements.
Question: On the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is there a Special Representative, anything about phase three of the operation?
Spokesman: I don’t know that it was specifically mentioned in the comments he made this morning, so I’d have to invite you to look at the full text, which I didn’t have time to do. [It was mentioned.]
Question: Is the United Nations ready for phase three?
Spokesman: Yes, the Secretary-General has recommended that we move to phase three.
Question: I’m trying to go through my memory to recall perhaps a success story that may have come from creating a government from various different tribes or different factions in the history of the United Nations. Where might I go to come up with a couple of potential models for the arrangement that Mr. Brahimi described yesterday?
Spokesman: Mr. Brahimi has said he doesn’t think there are any models for Afghanistan. He says every situation is different. But if you wanted to look through the archives to see the kinds of things the United Nations did in Cambodia, East Timor or tried to do in Somalia, that would be a place to start.
But those are not models. In fact, Cambodia and East Timor are specifically not models because of what both the Secretary-General and Mr. Brahimi said yesterday. They don’t think a United Nations administration for Afghanistan is the answer. They both are strongly urging an Afghan solution, a home-grown solution. We’re ready to provide technical assistance and advice, but it’s for them to provide a government and for them to run their country.
Question: If I wanted to come up with an example of an attempt to get domestic factions, lets say different tribes etc., together to form a government, the first thing that comes to my mind would be Bosnia and Kosovo. Is there any similarity in what the United Nations tried to do to bring people together, to create a government, a multi-faceted government, in any of those countries?
Spokesman: No, in Kosovo as in Cambodia, you had a very strong United Nations role in running the country. And that, we said, is not what we want to do in Afghanistan. If you want to talk about warring tribes and groups, maybe you want to look at Somalia, which is not something we relish remembering, but which might have some lessons learned for all of us.
Question: Could we look at the model of Lebanon in 1978, when the multi-national force came to Lebanon, Beirut and all through the area? Is it a model also?
Spokesman: I don’t want to comment on the multi-national force that went into Lebanon.
Question: It would be something European –- Italian, French, Spanish? It would be this scenario?
Spokesman: I don’t want to comment on Lebanon ’78.
Question: Do you expect Mr. Brahimi to move his headquarters from here to the area?
Spokesman: No, I think the long-term plan is to have Mr. Brahimi set up headquarters here. He has Mr. Vendrell and Mr. Sackett in the field. The two of them are expected to go to Kabul as quickly as they get a green light that the security level would warrant their move in from Islamabad. There’s been no change in those plans.
Jan.
Briefing by the Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly
Good afternoon.
**Meetings of President
This morning, General Assembly President Han Seung-soo presided over the opening of the fourth day of the General Debate. If everything is going according to plan, the President will just have had a meeting with the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, whereupon he will meet with the Foreign Minister of Spain. In the afternoon, he is scheduled to meet with the Prime Minister of Bulgaria and with the Foreign Ministers of Croatia, Israel, the Czech Republic, Gambia and Iran.
**Speaker’s List
The speaker’s list for tomorrow, Thursday, has not changed significantly from version 6. The first eight speakers follow the list, but the last six speakers will be in the following order: Angola, Cameroon, Sudan, Yemen, Singapore and Kazakhstan. There are no changes in the first ten speakers for the afternoon, but the last four will be: Equatorial Guinea, Papua New Guinea, Denmark and Thailand.
**Treaty Signings
Fred is keeping you up to date on treaty signings, and we’ll see if we can provide you with an overview of the signings and ratifications on Friday. I will also try to give you a breakdown of the number of speakers and the level of representation and other statistics we can come up with for you. Fred just announced a speaker on Friday, so we may not have time for that, but if we cannot find time, we’ll put it out in writing for you. We’ll get together as much as possible for you.
Are there any questions for me?
Question: Just a follow-up on the treaties. While you’re doing the compiling, just one thing I hope you could flag. Could you let us know of any more ratifications on treaties that have not entered into force, or if there are enough ratifications to trigger the entry into force?
Spokesman: We’ll do that.
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