23 October 20002

PRESS CONFERENCE BY UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR INTERNAL OVERSIGHT SERVICES

AND UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS

An investigation by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) had not confirmed allegations of widespread sexual exploitation of refugees by humanitarian aid workers in West Africa, Under-Secretary-General Dileep Nair told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this morning.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF CÔTE D’IVOIRE

An agreement signed last Friday between rebel soldiers and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) provided for an end to hostilities in Côte d'Ivoire, Philippe Djangone-Bi, that country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said at a Headquarters press conference this morning.

PRESS CONFERENCE ON INTERNATIONAL DAY TO ERADICATE POVERTY

     At a press conference held today as part of the Headquarters commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the Talamanca Initiative of Costa Rica, the largest exporter of organic products in Central America, represented 27 communities throughout the world being recognized with Equator Awards for their work in reducing poverty while protecting biodiversity.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY CHAIRMAN OF NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT BUREAU

The Non-Aligned Movement would urge the Security Council to allow inspectors to return to Iraq as soon as possible, Dumisani Shadrack Kumalo of South Africa, Chairman of its Coordinating Bureau, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this morning, as he briefed them on the Council debate, requested by the Non-Aligned Movement and scheduled to begin tomorrow, 16 October.

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS

If the worst scenario happens, a huge humanitarian crisis may break out in Ethiopia and Eritrea, as both countries have suffered serious droughts and a complete crop failure, according to Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Kenzo Oshima, who has just returned from a mission to both countries, and to the Sudan.

PRESS BRIEFING BY CHAIRMAN OF EXPERT GROUP ON DISARMAMENT EDUCATION

There was a tremendous need for education on disarmament in the face of widespread ignorance about and indifference to the issues involved, Miguel Marin Bosch, Chairman of the Group of Governmental Experts that produced a United Nations study on the subject, said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF CÔTE D'IVOIRE

At a press conference at Headquarters this morning, Philippe Djangone-Bi, Permanent Representative of the Côte d'Ivoire Mission to the United Nations, said the current conflict in Bouake was an attempted coup d'état.  Since the national armed forces of Côte d'Ivoire had begun a counter-attack in Bouake, the government now had a better grasp of the attackers' true motivation.

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED NATIONS SECURITY CHIEF

PRESS CONFERENCE BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT

It was important that the sensitive and complex matters before the Security Council in October would be treated in a spirit which protected the unity of the Council and fostered consensus, the new President of the Council, Martin Belinga Eboutou (Cameroon), told correspondents this afternoon at a Headquarters press conference.