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.
Good afternoon.
**Liberia
The deployment of a Nigerian battalion to Monrovia from the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) started as scheduled this morning. More than 140 troops were deployed. The pace of that deployment is expected to accelerate as the process proceeds.
Hedi Annabi, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, will brief you here shortly on this subject as our guest at this noon briefing.
As you know, the Security Council on Friday evening authorized a Multinational Force to support implementation of the 17 June ceasefire agreement; using “all necessary measures”.
Adopting resolution 1497 in a vote of 12 in favour to none against, with three abstaining, those were France, Germany and Mexico, and acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the Council also authorized UNAMSIL to extend logistical support for up to 30 days to the forward elements provided by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for the Multinational Force.
The Multinational Force’s mandate will include maintaining security in the period after departure of the current President Charles Taylor, and the installation of a successor authority, securing the environment for delivery of humanitarian assistance, establishing conditions for initial stages of disarmament and demobilization, and preparing for the longer term United Nations peacekeeping force to relieve it.
The Council requested the Secretary-General to submit recommendations for the size, structure and mandate of the Force preferably by 15 August.
We are expecting an official statement from the Secretary-General, who after the Council vote told reporters that he was pleased that the resolution had been passed and that he hoped this implies a new political will, which he said had been absent among the international community. He went on to say, “I hope we will move ahead with urgent and determined action to help the Liberian people.”
**Liberia -- Humanitarian
Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) has launched an emergency operation to fly critical food aid supplies into Monrovia, where hundreds of thousands of people are in desperate need of assistance following two weeks of fighting.
The first consignment of half a ton of high energy biscuits arrived in the city on Saturday from Sierra Leone, enough to provide an emergency ration to around 4,000 people. Another 11.5 tons will be flown in over the next few days.
**Kosovo
Yesterday evening in Kosovo, a UN civilian police officer from India, Satish Menon, was shot and killed by an unknown sniper while driving from the village of Leposavic towards Mitrovica. The UN Mission in Kosovo has begun an intense criminal investigation following the killing.
The Secretary-General’s Acting Special Representative in Kosovo, Charles Brayshaw, condemned the killing, which he called “a direct attack on international forces of law and order”, and asserted that “those responsible for this attack will not succeed in distracting the police from its duties”. We have copies of his statement upstairs.
**Security Council
The Security Council held consultations on its programme of work, and on Guinea-Bissau, with a briefing by the Secretary-General’s Representative to that country, David Stephen. A press statement is expected.
The consultations are being followed right now by an open meeting on Côte d’Ivoire to consider a draft resolution on a six-month extension of the French-led multinational force there.
Then, the Security Council President for the month, Syrian Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe, will be coming to this room to brief you on the programme of work for August.
**Iraq
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, is in Turkey today, where he met in the capital, Ankara, with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. They had a long and fruitful discussion on the ways in which Turkey can help to support Iraq’s political, humanitarian and economic reconstruction. They discussed the debate going on in Turkey about any military contribution that the country may make in Iraq, as well as ways to ensure the voluntary return of all refugees to and from Iraq.
Over the weekend, Vieira de Mello was in Kuwait, where he met on Saturday with Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah in Kuwait City. The two discussed the UN role in Iraq, assistance by neighbouring countries in Iraq’s reconstruction and support for the newly-created Governing Council. Vieira de Mello also met with the Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammad Sabah
al-Salam al-Sabah.
The Special Representative emphasised in his talks that “Iraq needs its neighbours and its neighbours need a stable, sovereign and peaceful Iraq”. The visits are part of Vieira de Mello’s efforts to consult with the leaders of Iraq’s neighbouring countries. We have a press release upstairs with more details upstairs.
**Afghanistan
With the facilitation of the UN Mission in Afghanistan, the Mazar Multi-Party Security Commission held an extraordinary meeting today to address longer-term solutions to the problems of the Dara-i-Suf district, which has experienced a spate of tensions and skirmishes in recent months.
The UN Mission in Afghanistan said that all the parties showed up at today’s meeting except the Jumbesh faction. The Commission has requested a meeting with the head of Jumbesh tomorrow to discuss their absence.
The Security Commission decided on 30 July that all factional commanders in Mazar-e-Sharif must report daily to the UN Mission. The Mission said that although the registration process so far has not yielded the needed results, it is a start and at the very least will provide one way for the Commission to ascertain which commanders have remained in Mazar.
Also in Afghanistan, the Food and Agricultural Organization today said that it has helped to treat over 123,000 hectares of farmland, mainly with conventional pesticides. In spite of the current locust outbreak, which started in 2001 and has been the most severe in living memory, damage to the wheat crop was kept to a minimum.
In a press release, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that more of Afghanistan’s children are protected against measles today, thanks to a one-month immunization campaign spearheaded by Afghan Ministry of Health, and supported by UNICEF, the World Health Organization among other partners. The campaign, which was held across the country in June of this year, reached more than 5 million children aged nine months to five years. We have press releases on those items.
**Sierra Leone
On Saturday, the Special Court for Sierra Leone released the body of former Revolutionary United Front leader Foday Sankoh to members of his family, after first performing an autopsy to determine his cause of death. After an examination, Sankoh was determined to have died of respiratory failure due to a massive pulmonary embolism.
Sankoh, an indicted suspect of the Special Court, had been in Choithram Hospital in Freetown, under Court custody, since March, having suffered a stroke last August. He died on 29 July.
**Disarmament
Last Friday, the Group of Governmental Experts reviewing the UN Register of Conventional Arms successfully concluded its work by adopting a consensus report, including recommendations to improve the Register’s work and to strengthen the Secretariat’s role in promoting its progress. We have a press release out on the racks on that.
**Gay rights
This evening at 6 p.m. at the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium, a panel discussion presented by the UN Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Employees organization will take place, and UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Mark Malloch Brown, who could not attend, has sent a written statement welcoming it and noting that discrimination based on sexual orientation is “unfortunately still pervasive”.
He says in the statement, which we have upstairs, “Discrimination based on sexual orientation not only violates basic human rights, but also hinders development by immobilizing human capital, stifling expression and limiting freedom of choice”. He adds that many governments are taking progressive action on these issues, while, within the UN system, the issue of domestic partnership is being reviewed.
We have been informed that the Secretary-General will make an appearance at this evening’s event.
**UNEP
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today called for urgent action to be taken to map and protect the World’s Wild Forests, as they are becoming “living museums” of virtually extinct species.
UNEP also said that new research revealed how the fragmentation of wild forests prevents regeneration and that one in 10 tree species is at threat. The wild forests in Chile, which are up to 2,000 years old, have almost been destroyed by fire. You can see the press release with more details.
**Tobacco
On tobacco, Director-General Jong-Wook Lee of the World Health Organization has urged countries to sign and ratify the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) as quickly as possible. He made his remarks on the first day of the 12th World Conference on Tobacco or Health, currently underway in Helsinki, Finland.
Since the unanimous adoption of the Convention by 192 Member States in May, 47 countries have signed and one country –- Norway –- has ratified the treaty. Ratification by 40 countries is needed before it can enter into force and become a legally binding document. You can see the press releases.
**Budget
Finally, on budget news, we understand that Costa Rica has paid more than $30,000 to become the 96th country to be paid in full for its 2003 regular budget contributions.
That’s all I have. Anything before we go to Mr. Annabi? Good, Hedi, welcome to the briefing.
ASG Annabi:Thank you. Thank you, Fred.
Questions and Answers
[Following the Noon Guest’s briefing on Liberia]
Spokesman: Edie?
Question: Fred, if everybody has finished, I had a question to ask you, I am sorry, from the briefing. Does the Secretary-General himself have any comment on the death of the first UN peacekeeper in Kosovo? I know you read the statement from the acting like…
Spokesman: I don’t think this is the first death, UN peacekeeping death, in Kosovo. I believe there was one in 1999. And we did say we expect a statement; it wasn’t quite ready for the noon briefing. The senior staff were wrapped up with the Secretary-General on Liberia this morning, but we do expect a statement shortly. Yes?
[A later announcement clarified that yesterday’s death was the first police officer killed. Before that, a civilian staff member, Valentin Krumov, was killed on 11 October 1999.]
Question: Sorry, also on the briefing. Is it possible to get more details about what work is under way in the UN system on equal rights for gay partnerships?
Spokesman: No, I can’t give you any details, except to say the Secretary-General has been meeting with his senior advisers on this matter. It’s a question of entitlements and benefits. The current rules establish entitlements and benefits for traditional spouses. And now, as a result of the evolution of society, you have less traditional, new forms of partnership not just among gay people, but others as well. We base ourselves to a degree, on the national laws of the staff member in question and there have been a few rulings over the years from the mid-1990s too, I believe, just last year, that kind of point in the direction I think we’ll be going. But, we’re not yet ready to announce a new policy. Member States themselves have divergent and strongly held views on the subject. And so, the Secretary-General is carefully considering how he would move forward on this issue. Yes?
Question: Just a follow-up on that; you’re suggesting then that there is a policy that seems to be emerging to recognize those rights among employees from States that have recognized these unions. Is that correct?
Spokesman: Well, there is no sense saying which way the policy is going; I mean, the news will be when a new policy, if there is one, is announced. But, I did say that our current policy is to factor in the national laws of the staff member involved and every nation has different laws on this matter, as you know. So, we’re weighing all information now, as we contemplate a possible new policy on benefits to staff members who are in something other than traditional marital relationships.
Thank you very much. Thanks Hedi.
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