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
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.
Briefing by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
We're experimenting with new microphones here.
**Noon Guest
The guest at the briefing, although it looks increasingly likely that she will not make it, is Carla del Ponte, the prosecutor for the two tribunals on Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia. She's in the Security Council now. If she finishes in the next 10 minutes she'll come here. If not, we'll have to reschedule a press briefing for her afterwards.
**Afghanistan
On Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, the Special Representative for Afghanistan, today opened talks bringing together representatives from four Afghan groups aimed at forging a new future for their country.
In an hour-long plenary session at the historic Petersberg Hotel outside Bonn, overlooking the Rhine, Mr. Brahimi read a message from the Secretary-General urging the Afghan leaders to seize the opportunity and avoid repeating the mistakes made in 1992.
“Let us hope that history will record this day as the beginning of a new age for Afghanistan”, he said.
He went on to say that a critical responsibility for this government will be to respect and uphold the human rights of all its citizens -– men, women and children. He added that it will be necessary to ensure that previously excluded groups, particularly women, are full participants.
After an hour-long opening session made public to diplomatic observers and reporters, during which German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, Mr. Brahimi and the four Afghan delegations spoke, the Afghan and UN delegates went into a closed plenary session.
In the afternoon, bilateral discussions amongst the groups began. The talks are expected to break up into four groups, representing the four Afghan groups present. Mr. Brahimi and his deputy Francesc Vendrell are expected to be shuttling back and forth between the groups as needed. Once a consensus is reached, the plan is to go to a plenary and formalize it.
The participants have agreed to a three-point agenda. Item one is entitled “structure and duration of the transition”, which comprises the formation of a Cabinet-style interim administration and of a larger parliamentary-style interim Supreme Council, as well as the convening of an emergency Loya Jirga, the
traditional assembly of elders. Measures to ensure security for the people of Afghanistan is the second item on the agenda, and the third is simply other matters.
We have for you the agenda, an updated list of participants from the four delegations, which now includes names of all the alternates and advisers. We have also the text of the Secretary-General’s message, delivered by Mr. Brahimi, as well as Foreign Minister Fischer’s remarks. The transcript of the 2 p.m. briefing, that’s Bonn time, by spokesman Ahmad Fawzi, will be made public and posted as soon as it is ready.
We also have a summary of a telephone call to the talks from Sayid Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun leader from southern Afghanistan, in which he describes the talks as “the path towards salvation”.
**Afghanistan -- Humanitarian
Humanitarian agencies on the ground today said the security situation in the northern part of the country, particularly in Mazar-i-Sharif, remains a cause for concern.
Due to continuing violence, the UN Security Officer in Mazar was forced to withdraw to Termez, Uzbekistan. The UN regional humanitarian coordinator’s office said it was considering different access routes into the north from Turkmenistan due to volatility in the north and redeploying staff elsewhere.
Due to continuing insecurity, the roads from Herat to Kandaha, as well as from Spin Boldak to Kandahar, still remain largely inaccessible. As a result, no trucks carrying relief goods have left Quetta for Afghanistan during the past two weeks. As many as 238,000 people trapped in Kandahar depend on food supplies.
Meanwhile, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Asian Development Bank opened a three-day meeting on Afghan reconstruction in Islamabad to a packed audience of about 330 people this morning. Delegates were urged to put the future of Afghanistan front and centre of their agendas. The conference is being attended by a large number of Afghans from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the assistance community and civil society.
Calling for innovative approaches and a high degree of flexibility, the UNHCR on Tuesday unveiled an updated regional plan of action aimed at easing the immediate plight of displaced and vulnerable Afghans, while laying the groundwork for longer-term solutions to one of the world’s most protracted refugee situations.
**Secretary-General to Washington
The Secretary-General will go to Washington, D.C., tomorrow where he will meet with President Bush and his top advisers in the morning and with Secretary of State Colin Powell in the afternoon.
He will meet with World Bank President Jim Wolfensohn and then with the IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler to discuss reconstruction in Afghanistan.
He will have meetings on Capitol Hill with both Senate and House leaders.
And he will give two speeches while he's in town. Over lunch, he will address the American Academy of Diplomacy, where he will receive the Excellence in Diplomacy Award. That will take place at the Department of State.
And then in the evening, he will deliver a speech at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will present the Secretary-General with the W. Averill Harriman Democracy Award. That award will be shared with Peter and Linda Biehl, founders of the Amy Biehl Foundation in Africa.
**Security Council
In formal meetings held this morning the Security Council, by unanimous vote, extended the mandates of the UN Mission in Western Sahara by three months and of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force on the Golan Heights by six months. This morning’s vote follows closed consultations on both these missions, held yesterday afternoon.
The Council is now holding a public meeting on the International Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda. Judge Claude Jorda, the President of the former Yugoslavia Tribunal, Judge Navanethem Pillay, the President of the Rwanda Tribunal, as well as Prosecutor Carla del Ponte have briefed Council members on the work of the Tribunals during the past year. The text of their presentations is available in the Spokesman’s office.
The representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and of Rwanda are expected to take the floor.
Carla del Ponte, as you know, will either come here to this briefing, or talk to you afterwards.
Then this afternoon, at 3:30 p.m., the Council will hold a public meeting on Kosovo. Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Hedi Annabi will brief Council members on the elections held in Kosovo on 17 November.
For the record: During closed consultations yesterday afternoon, the Council discussed the next phase of the Oil-for-Food Programme for Iraq. They heard a presentation by the Executive Director of the Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan. The current phase of the Programme is expected to expire on Friday.
And then under other matters, the Council also received a briefing by Hedi Annabi on the situation in the Temporary Security Zone, which separates Ethiopia and Eritrea.
**Kosovo
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Kosovo, Hans Haekkerup, today convened the Interim Administrative Council, congratulating its members on the successful elections of 17 November and discussing procedures that need to be in place when the elected Kosovo Assembly meets. That meeting is scheduled for
10 December.
Haekkerup said that rules to guide how the Assembly carries out its work, and what kind of administrative support it will have, will be needed to assist the Assembly during its first few weeks.
We have a press release from the Mission.
**Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Commissioner of the UN International Police Task Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vincent Coeurderoy, has decided to remove from service three Bosnian Serb police officers who were linked to atrocities against non-Serbs in the town of Foca during the Bosnian war, the UN Mission in that country announced today.
The officers, all of whom served with the Foca Police Service, can no longer participate in any aspect of police work, either now or in the future, anywhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their dismissals are the latest in a series of firings by the International Police Task Force of officers linked to wartime abuses in Bosnia.
**Iraq
The weekly update from the Office of the Iraq Programme shows that Iraqi oil exports plunged from the previous week’s high of 18.6 million barrels to
11.2 million barrels in the week ending 23 November. The week’s exports added another $170 million in estimated revenue, bringing the total estimated revenue in the current phase, which is phase 10 of the oil-for-food programme, to
$4.9 billion. Phase 10 as I said ends on Friday.
We have a full text of the update in my office.
**Sierra Leone
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is preparing to help some 7,500 Sierra Leoneans who had taken refuge in Guinea to return to their homes in the northwestern district of Kambia, starting in early December.
The effort would mark the UNCHR’s first attempt to return Sierra Leonean refugees to their original homes since that country’s conflict began more than
10 years ago, and comes after the Sierra Leonean Government yesterday declared the last chiefdom in Kambia to be safe.
We have more information in the briefing notes.
**Budget
Payments today, Seychelles became the 130th Member State to be paid in full for their regular budget dues for this year, with a payment of about $20,000.
**Signings
This afternoon, Sierra Leone will sign two conventions and three protocols on terrorism. They will sign the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its three Protocols.
**Press Releases
We have a press release from the UN mission along the Iraq/Kuwait border on the handover ceremony between the incoming force commander, General Miguel Angel Moreno of Argentina, and his predecessor, General John Vize of Ireland.
From the United Nations Children's Fund, we have a press release, embargoed until tomorrow, on the link between the spread of HIV/AIDS and the demand for child sex.
And also available upstairs is the Briefing Note from the UN Mission in East Timor, with details on the appointment of the Commissioners of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation.
**Noon Guest Tomorrow
The guest at tomorrow's noon briefing will be Desmond Johns, Dr. Desmond Johns, UNAIDS Representative in New York, who will discuss the launch of the new AIDS Epidemic Update: December 2001.
**Questions and Answers
Question: What's the primary purpose of the Secretary-General's visits to President Bush and Colin Powell?
Spokesman: I think, primarily, he'll be discussing Afghanistan. The Secretary-General has at least two items on his agenda. One will be the Financing for Development conference that is upcoming. The other will be his efforts concerning control of HIV/AIDS. So those are the three topics. On Afghanistan,
I suppose it will be both political, the Bonn process, and reconstruction.
Question: Do you expect Iraq to come up?
Spokesman: It might well do. This is not an exhaustive agenda, but these are the things that we expect him to raise in these meetings.
Question: Is the Secretary-General concerned at all about the statement made by President Bush yesterday regarding Iraq, in light of the fact that the Secretary-General seems to feel that it would be -- to use his word -- a disaster if there were an attack on Iraq?
Spokesman: The Secretary-General has no comment on the President's remarks of yesterday.
Question: Can you help me in understanding how these four processes, Cyprus, Rome, have been brought together and how come there is a wide difference in membership? The Cyprus group has got only three delegates, whereas in the Rome group delegation there are about 11 people.
Spokesman: All of this was negotiated before the meeting was convened.
Mr. Brahimi suggested a number of delegates for each of the four groups. They accepted those numbers. You might have heard Ahmad Fawzi say in the Conference Centre today that the mood among the groups today concerning numbers, was that they were no longer important. There will not be any voting, so the numbers are not significant and the four groups seem perfectly relaxed focusing on the agenda and not on the numbers.
Question: Do I understand correctly? Each group is being treated as one unit and consensus has to be amongst the four groups?
Spokesman: Yes. They're meeting as we said this afternoon amongst themselves. They began consulting amongst themselves, and even between groups, on Sunday and Monday before the meeting began. So that’s the idea, the four groups are to reach consensus and any time they get stuck, they will call in Mr. Brahimi or Mr. Vendrell. We are there to facilitate a process, among Afghans.
Question: What kind of press availability will the Secretary-General have in Washington tomorrow?
Spokesman: I believe that at the White House there will be some announcement made on Afghanistan, involving not just the Secretary-General but Ruud Lubbers, the High Commissioner for Refugees, Catherine Bertini, the Director of the World Food Programme, and others. And I believe the press will be brought in for that. There's always the White House press corps, where you have to run the gauntlet to get to your car. There's open press availability at the Capitol and the Senate Office buildings. There will be no questions at either speech event, lunch or dinner, although I think the press can attend those events. What did I leave out? The World Bank, the IMF, I don't know what their press rules are as far as gaining access to their buildings. So yes, you can probably doorstep him, but there'll be no formal press event except for the one at the White House involving United Nations agencies.
Question: Are either Lubbers or Catherine Bertini going to be there?
Spokesman: That’s my understanding.
Question: Is the Secretary-General's meeting with the President a
one-on-one? What's the procedure?
Spokesman: He meets first with the President and a number of the President's senior advisers, and I don't have the individual names. And then they go from that meeting to a larger meeting involving the heads of these agencies where there's an announcement to be made concerning aid to Afghanistan. [He later amended this to say there would be a press availability, not an announcement, after the meeting.]
Question: Will they meet with Secretary Powell at the White House or at the State Department?
Spokesman: I believe Secretary Powell will be in the morning meeting with the President, and then the Secretary-General will go to the State Department in the afternoon to meet separately with Powell.
Question: Will this be mainly related to Afghanistan? Was it something that the White House arranged and invited the Secretary-General to come down?
Spokesman: I think that the Secretary-General had the intention of going back to Washington. I think the Afghanistan agenda has made it more vital that he have these meetings face to face now, but Afghanistan is not the only thing on his agenda. As I mentioned, financing for development, HIV/AIDS, are two other things that he wants to raise with the Americans. He's been wanting to meet with Congressional leaders, so that was set up this time. So for all those reasons, this meeting is happening now.
Question: How many meetings has he had with the President this year, do you know?
Spokesman: No, I don't but we can look that up for you. [The Secretary-General has met President Bush three times thus far this year -- twice in Washington and once in New York.]
Question: Is this meant to be a United States Government announcement regarding aid?
Spokesman: That is my understanding, but it is being made jointly with the Secretary-General and the heads of the UN agencies, but that’s all I know about that right now.
Question: Congressmen and Senators, do you have any meetings confirmed yet?
Spokesman: We don't really. I believe that on the Senate side it will be Senators Helms and Biden, and on the House side I don't have specific names beyond Representatives Henry Hyde and Tom Lantos. Those are two names that I think are confirmed.
Question: Will we get a briefing the following day from whoever is the spokesman on this trip?
Spokesman: Well, I'll be with him phoning into New York, so for the morning's events, including the meeting with the President, you'll get something here at noon. And then we'll do our usual report by the end of the day on the day's activities, which we'll put on the net.
Question: Does the Secretary-General plan soon to have a press conference here with us?
Spokesman: No, unless you want one. What would the theme be? Year-end wrap up?
Question: There are so many topics, but Afghanistan is important, and actually after the meeting in Washington it would be very nice.
Question: It would be really nice if he did one before he goes off to get his Nobel Prize.
Spokesman: OK, his programme is absolutely chock-a-block between now and
7 December, but I'll relay your request.
Question: I understand that three women are participating in the Afghan meeting in Germany. Do you know where they come from and who they represent?
Spokesman: There are four actually sitting around the table this morning. Two were from the Rome Group, which is the King's delegation, one was the Northern Alliance, and one was the Cyprus Group. [He later added that there was also one in the Peshawar Group, for a total of five.]
Question: In Afghanistan itself, you mentioned that the roads are impassable and it's impossible to get food around, that banditry is on the rise. What kind of security improvements can be made?
Spokesman: We can't really affect the security environment. We can just assess it and react to it. Our original plan, you know, was to make Mazar the hub for humanitarian activities in the North. That plan is now on hold. We had been tentatively going in and out of Mazar on a daily basis, not spending the night, and now we've suspended even those daily visits. So until the situation is stabilized there, and that’s a matter of the outcome of war, we will not be able to carry out our humanitarian plan with Mazar based as a hub. We're using alternate routes. The Afghan drivers going in are showing both a canny assessment of the security situation and a bit of bravery. They're going in on alternate roads on a daily basis and thanks to them we're still moving food in, but the secondary distribution is still a problem as it has been for some time. So getting the food from the places we deposit it, out to the outlying areas where many have fled, is still a problem. There are parts of the Mazar area that we're not reaching at all now.
Question: Is there any chance that the Secretary-General will bring this up when he talks tomorrow?
Spokesman: I'm sure that in the context of the aid efforts they will be discussing the security problems currently hindering that effort.
Question: What's the latest status of the Iraq inspectors? Are they dispersed or ready to go?
Spokesman: Well, the best that we can do is to train them. Hire them and train them, which is what we've done. You can check this with the spokesman for UNMOVIK, but my understanding is that they're ready to go should ever there be a green light from Iraq. But they could go back in I think, we would be prepared to respond quickly.
Question: Apart from the United Nations people that you just mentioned, who from this House will be accompanying the Secretary-General?
Spokesman: I do have that, but not under my nose, but I have the delegation list in my office. If you check with me afterwards I'll give you the names.
Ok, Jan, it's your turn.
Briefing by the Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly
Good afternoon.
**General Assembly
The General Assembly met this morning in plenary to discuss the embargo against Cuba. There is a draft resolution out, which would urge States to repeal or invalidate laws and measures that -– among other things -– limit the freedom of trade and navigation. This item was first included in the agenda of the General Assembly in 1991, and the draft resolution recalls the resolutions that have been adopted every year since then.
In the afternoon, the Assembly will continue its discussion of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance. There are six speakers and three international organizations left on the list. After this, the Assembly will turn to the item on Oceans and Law of the Sea. There is a 12-page draft resolution on issues such as the Convention on the Law of the Sea, marine science, piracy, safety of navigation
and on the marine environment. It would also request the Secretary-General to convene a meeting of the States parties to the Convention from 16 to 26 April 2002, and that will be here in New York. Another six-page draft resolution deals with Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks. This 1995 Agreement actually received sufficient treaty actions during the recent treaty-signing event for it to enter into force.
**Questions and Answers
Question: Was the Cuba resolution adopted or is it going to be approved today?
Spokesman: When I left to go down and join Fred we were on the second last speaker, then I think we were going to go to Belgium to speak before the vote, and the United States had requested to speak after the vote. But it's normally passed with a significant number of votes in favour. Last year it was passed by 167 in favour with 3 against and 4 abstentions.
Question: Will you have a readout for us down in the Spokesman's office?
Spokesman: I can do that afterwards, yes.
Question: After yesterday's discussion in the General Assembly it has been the opinion that now there is a consensus that certain people will be put on trial in the Hague Tribunal, and some in the national courts. Is my understanding correct and will there be a vote on this?
Spokesman: Do you mean in the General Assembly? Then that becomes a legal matter that I would have to look into further. I don't think there is anything on that yet, but I can check and see if there have been any ideas behind this suggestion to have local courts take care of some of the many cases that are before the Tribunal.
Question: What is the agenda for the meeting in April next year of the parties to the Law of the Sea convention.
Spokesman: It’s a regular meeting. I think they meet every single year.
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