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

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good Afternoon.

**East Timor Declared Independent at Midnight

Early this morning, as midnight struck in East Timor, tens of thousands of East Timorese gathered at a massive site near the capital, Dili, to celebrate the birth of their new nation.

The Secretary-General addressed the crowd just minutes before the UN flag was lowered, and the East Timorese flag was raised, to mark the birth of the country.  He told the thousands gathered, "Your identity as an independent people will be recognized by the whole world.”

He said, “I still recall the day, 45 years ago, when my own country Ghana attained its independence.  Tonight, I am as excited as I was then."

Then, after the Timorese flag was raised at midnight, Parliament President Francisco Guterres declared East Timor's birth as an independent nation, and then swore in Xanana Gusmão as East Timor's new President.  Gusmão told the crowd, “Today we are a people standing on equal footing with all other people in the world.”

Later on Monday morning, the Government of East Timor was sworn in, and the National Parliament held its inaugural session, in which it adopted a resolution seeking UN membership.  The Secretary-General told the Parliament at its first session that he would be honoured to pass its resolution on to the Security Council, adding that, in light of the support he had witnessed, “I do not anticipate any obstacle to your membership.”

Also in the morning, the Secretary-General dedicated the new UN House in Dili, saying, “Now that independence is achieved, the challenge of nation-building remains.”

On Sunday, when he arrived in East Timor, the Secretary-General held a press conference in which he pledged continued UN support for East Timor.  He told the press, “For us, this is not the end of the road, we are not saying goodbye.  It’s a new beginning, and we will be here to work with the Government.”

Prior to the Sunday evening independence ceremony, he also held several bilateral meetings.  They were with Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Lafer.

He just recently arrived in Singapore, where he will stay overnight before traveling back to New York via London.  Upon arriving at the hotel in Singapore, he was welcomed by that country’s Deputy Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong.

On Saturday morning, the Secretary-General wrapped up his official programme in Indonesia by meeting with Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda in Jakarta.  He thanked the Foreign Minister and the people of Indonesia for their cooperation in dealing with East Timor, saying that he looks forward to a “very strong relationship” between Indonesia and East Timor.

We have the transcripts of the Secretary-General’s various statements and press comments during the weekend’s events upstairs.

**Security Council

The Security Council today began a public meeting, presided over by Singapore's Foreign Minister, Professor S. Jayakumar, to commemorate East Timor’s independence.  There are more than 30 countries on the speakers’ list.  A presidential statement is expected to be adopted at the end of the meeting.  The Deputy Secretary-General spoke first.  She said in her remarks that East Timor’s independence was a moment of inspiration for the international community and that its people had set an example for other nations in their “steadfast adherence to the core values of the (UN) Charter -– to reconciliation and the creation of democratic institutions that can safeguard human rights”.

The Deputy Secretary-General paid special tribute to the peacekeepers and UN staff who had died while trying to help East Timor in its hour of need.  She also urged the international community to remain committed to East Timor in the future. 

We have the full text of her remarks upstairs.

**East Timor Independence Events

To commemorate the independence of East Timor today, the United Nations Postal Administration issued a set of commemorative stamps.  You see two of them here.  The stamps, two in each currency of the Postal Administration, feature photographs of East Timorese artifacts.  We have a limited number of colour contact sheets available upstairs, as well as the Philatelic Bulletin, which has more information on the stamps.

Just as a reminder, there are other events taking place here at Headquarters today to commemorate East Timor’s independence.  At 2 p.m., the Portuguese Club will present a film in the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium called “East Timor: Betrayal and Resurrection Part 1”.  And then at 5 p.m., the Department of Public Information will open an exhibit on East Timor in the Public Lobby.

**Statements Attributable to Spokesman

The following brief statement is attributable to the Spokesman on the subject of India/Pakistan: 

"The Secretary-General is very concerned at the high level of casualties due to persistent firing along the Line of Control and the working boundary in Jammu and Kashmir.  He calls on both sides to exercise maximum restraint to avert a further escalation of tensions."

And this statement is on the Middle East:

"Regarding the suicide bombings in Israel of yesterday and today, the Secretary-General reiterates his unequivocal and long-standing condemnation of all terrorist acts from whatever quarter; attacks on innocent civilians are morally repugnant and contrary to international law."

**Sierra Leone

The UN Mission in Sierra Leone reports that President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah received 70 per cent of the vote in last week’s general elections and was re-elected for a five-year term.  Kabbah’s Sierra Leone’s People’s Party won 83 seats of the 112 seats contested in Parliament.  The official results were announced Sunday afternoon by the National Electoral Commission, and Kabbah was sworn in on the same day.

**World Food Programme

The Executive Director of the World Food Programme, James T. Morris, warned today in a press release issued in Rome that severe funding shortages are threatening two of the agency's largest emergency operations, in Afghanistan and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Addressing WFP's Executive Board in Rome for the first time since his appointment, Morris warned that the agency's Afghan reconstruction programme

has a 46 per cent shortfall, while lack of donations for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea this month stopped WFP from feeding 1 million people.

In this climate of funding shortages, Morris told WFP's Executive Board that he would use his five-year tenure to widen the agency's fund-raising efforts into the private sector to tap corporations, foundations and individuals.

**Democratic Republic of Congo

Out on the racks is an addendum to the Security Council’s report on its recent mission to the Great Lakes region of Africa.  It contains two documents, the first is a non-paper entitled “International Conference on Peace, Security, Democracy and Development in the Great Lakes Region”.  The second is the communiqué issued following the joint meeting of the Political Committee of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement and the Security Council mission.

**ICTY

On Saturday, a Bosnian Serb who was accused of committing abuses against Bosnian Muslims and Croats at the Omarska and Keraterm detention centres was transferred to the detention unit of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague.

The suspect, Dusan Knezevic, is charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, involving the killing, beating and physical abuse of prisoners at Omarska and Keraterm.  We have further details in a press release from the Tribunal.

**Law of Sea

In a report on oceans and the law of the sea, which is out on the racks today, the Secretary-General notes that 20 years after the Convention on the Law of the Sea was opened for signature, it is fast approaching universal participation, with 138 parties to the treaty.  The accomplishments over the past two decades are impressive, he says, but the challenges of implementing the treaty are also formidable.

“Thus”, he writes, “in this anniversary year, the international community should focus its efforts on actions that would contribute to the realization of optimal benefits from the world’s oceans and seas.”  At the same time, nations must minimize the problems that have arisen, including limitations in harnessing marine potential and the degradation of the marine environment.

**Press Releases

The first World Ecotourism Summit opened in Quebec City, Canada, yesterday, and Klaus Toepfer, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme used the occasion to highlight and promote sustainable tourism.  He said the Summit would help towards the development of well managed tourism, and its conclusions would be a valuable contribution to the World Summit on Sustainable Development to be held in Johannesburg in August.  There’s a press release on that.

**Indigenous Forum

The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is continuing its two-week meeting, which will conclude this Friday.  The series of panels on indigenous issues is continuing throughout the week, with the panels taking place at 1:15 p.m. each day in Conference Room 2.  Today’s panel, sponsored by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), will focus on cultural diversity.  Future panels will focus on prior informed consent and its implications for development; intellectual property; sustainable development; and indigenous children.  A copy of the programme is available in my Office.

**Press Conferences

One press conference to announce for tomorrow.  At 11:15 a.m. in this room, two members of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and two indigenous participants will discuss the present and future work of the Forum, its significance and its potential impact on the lives of indigenous persons.

That’s all I have for you.  I know it’s getting off to a sleepy start this week, isn’t it?  Yes?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Fred, Charlie Brayshaw the Deputy Special Representative on Kosovo is today in Washington with Prime Minister (Bajram) Rexhepi.  Do you know why, and can you say, is he coming to New York?

Spokesman:  I don’t know.  I would have to check for you.  I haven’t heard that he was in Washington.  But we’ll look into it and get back to you right after the briefing.  [He later said that Brayshaw and the Prime Minister were in Washington this week for high-level meetings with the United States, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank officials and were not scheduled to come to New York.]

Question:  Fred, what would you say the timing is going to be as the year plays out for the steps for East Timor and Switzerland to become full Members of the United Nations?

Spokesman:  Well, we’ll have to see.  We haven’t at this point received an official request from either country.  It looks like East Timor is taking the fast-track approach, but we’ll have to see.  The prognosis, I’d say at this time, is that East Timor looks like it might get in first.

Question:  Fred, the Iraqi Vice-President today said that the next round of talks with the Secretary-General was going to be held in July.  Can you confirm that?

Spokesman:  I can, but I can’t give you a specific date or a location.  So, early July it is.  It’s probably going to be in connection with, well, coordinated with one of the Secretary-General’s trips.  We’re not ready to announce that trip.

Question:  Is it likely to be in Vienna?

Spokesman:  I am not allowed to say yet.  I’m sorry.  I am sure we will be making this information available soon.  But I’m just not authorized to say today.

Question:  Can I follow up?

Spokesman:  Yeah.

Question:  Do you have any idea when the Iraqi team is arriving to sign the memorandum of understanding, concerning the amendment of the sanctions?

Spokesman:  Yeah.  I don’t have that date.  I don’t know if we have it, but if you check with me right after the briefing, we’ll see if we have it.  Bill?

[So far, there is no date set.]

Question:  I’m sorry, did he ask for specific dates in early July?

Spokesman:  No.  I already said I couldn’t give the specific dates.  This last question was “Do we have a date for the signing of the memorandum of understanding?”

Question:  So there are specific dates, you just aren’t ready to release them yet?

Spokesman:  Yes.

Question:  Two dates?

Spokesman:  I don’t know.  Honestly, I don’t know Bill.

Question:  You also have a specific place.  But you’re not prepared to ...

Spokesman:  That’s what I’m telling you, yes.  They have zippered me up.  I don’t understand why, but that’s ... Yes?

Question:  Does the Secretary-General have any comment on the United States tactics of challenging the resolutions regarding peacekeepers and making clear that they should not be possibly charged in The Hague in the future international war crimes tribunal, as we saw an attempt on the East Timor resolution Friday?

Spokesman:  No.  I don’t have any specific guidance on that.  As of last Friday, of course, that was a matter of debate within the Security Council, with Council members initially divided on the issue.  Although, I think it’s been widely reported that the U.S. dropped its proposed amendment to the resolution on East Timor that was adopted on Friday.  So, I don’t think I am going to get into that without having very specific guidance from him.

Thank you very much.

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