16
May 2001
The following is
a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Manoel de Almeida e
Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
**Secretary-General
in Moscow
Good
afternoon. I’ll start with the
Secretary-General’s programme in Moscow, which is quite a busy day. I’ll try to summarize it for you. The day started this morning, when the
Secretary-General went to Manez Square in Moscow, where he laid a wreath at the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. From
there he went to the Duma, or, the Lower House of Parliament, for a meeting with
the Speaker, Guennady Seleznev.
They discussed the role that Parliamentarians can play in support of the
United Nations. The
Secretary-General briefed them on the Legal Framework for Kosovo. The Secretary-General also outlined his
views on the Middle East. They also
discussed Chechnya and in the course of that discussion, the Chairman of the
Foreign Relations Committee, Dimitry Rogozin, outlined the possible legal
framework for a settlement in Chechnya.
As
the Secretary-General was meeting with the Speaker of the Lower House, Mrs.
Annan met separately with women members of the Duma for a presentation on how
women Parliamentarians advance women’s interests in Russia. At mid-day, she had a private lunch with
Liudmila Putin, wife of the President.
They talked about AIDS, education and children.
The
Secretary-General then had talks with Russia’s Foreign Minister, Igor
Ivanov. The Foreign Minister
expressed Russia’s support for the goals set at last year's Millennium Summit
and for the United Nations itself.
The Minister also went into some detail on a subject that, in the
meetings held yesterday, they had not touched, which was the United States
proposal to build an anti-ballistic missile system. The Minister said he was leaving for
Washington tomorrow and laid out Russia’s views on this subject. They then touched briefly on a number of
issues including Georgia, Nagorny Karabakh, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Sierra
Leone, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They also discussed Iraq and the latest
policy reviews on the “oil for food” programme taking place in the different
capitals. On the Balkans, they
exchanged views on the legal framework for Kosovo and the security situation in
the region as a whole.
In
the programme we gave you in advance of the Secretary-General’s visit to Moscow,
there was a meeting scheduled with the Minister for Civil Defense and Emergency
Situations, Sergei Shoigu. That
meeting did not take place because the Minister had to go because of an
emergency, being the Minister of Emergencies, to Siberia, to deal with a grave
flood situation there.
The
Foreign Minister and the Secretary-General then gave a press conference. The transcript is not here yet but as
soon as we have it we’ll make it available to you. (The transcript was later
announced as available.) The
Foreign Minister said that “Russia highly appreciates the personal contribution
of the Secretary-General to the strengthening of the role of the United
Nations”. He also said that “Russia
will support the candidacy of Kofi Annan for a second term as
Secretary-General”.
In
the afternoon the Secretary-General joined his wife’s programme for a meeting
with representatives of AIDS/Infoshare and the Women’s Information Network. These are two
non-governmental organizations promoting awareness of HIV/AIDS in Russia, where, according to some
sources, close to one million people are infected with the disease, most between
the age of 18 and 25. Mrs. Annan
then went to the Russian Academy of Fine Arts, where she was awarded an honorary
degree, and she accepted the tribute “on behalf of all the artists of the world,
especially women artists”.
The
Secretary-General then, in the afternoon local time, met with Russia’s Prime
Minister, Mikhail Kassianov. They
had an extensive discussion on the turnaround in the Russian economy and the
growth in the private sector. In
that context the Secretary-General talked about the Global Compact. The Secretary-General then left for the
Federation Council of the Upper Chamber of Parliament. He met with the Chairman, Egor Stroev,
and other Parliamentarians. They
discussed the Balkans, globalization and terrorism, among other issues. Not in the programme and rather a
surprise, the Chairman awarded the Secretary-General the Peter the Great Prize
in a ceremony attended by many of the 100 members of the Federation
Council. The Secretary-General told
the press afterwards that he thanked the Chairman very much, on behalf of the
United Nations and all the staff who work for the Organization, because, he
said, “I think that through me he was honouring them, the
staff”.
The
Secretary-General was then rejoined by his wife for a visit to the United
Nations staff in Moscow. That was
the end of the programme for today.
In about an hour or so, the Secretary-General and his delegation will be
leaving Moscow for Geneva with a stopover in Amsterdam. The stop in Amsterdam is just for the
night and then they proceed tomorrow morning to Geneva.
**Security
Council
Here
in New York, the Security Council this morning heard a briefing, in closed
consultations, from Joachim Hütter, Director of the Asia and Middle East
Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. This briefing was on the
Secretary-General's interim report on the United Nations Interim Force in
Lebanon (UNIFIL), which was issued about two weeks ago. That report, you'll recall, noted that
the strength of the Force would be reduced through attrition and normal
rotations to some 3,600 military personnel by the first part of next
year.
Yesterday,
shortly after noon, the Security Council adopted a Presidential Statement on
Ethiopia and Eritrea, which noted that the arms embargo placed on the parties
would expire today, 16 May. Under
the current circumstances, the Council said, it would not extend the sanctions
measures, described in Resolution 1298(2000) of last year, beyond today. Accordingly, the sanctions expired at a
minute past midnight. No Council
meeting is scheduled for tomorrow.
The next scheduled meeting is on Friday, when the Council expects to hold
an open meeting on East Timor.
**Security
Council Mission to the Great Lakes
Still
on Security Council news, the 12 ambassadors making up the Security Council
mission to the Great Lakes region of Africa arrived a short while ago in
Johannesburg, South Africa. Upon
arrival, French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, who is leading the mission, told
journalists they were travelling to the Great Lakes region to help parties move
the Lusaka Peace Process forward.
And he added that the Security Council's presence underscores the
importance of the region to the United Nations.
Thursday
in Johannesburg, the delegation will hold separate meetings with the facilitator
of the Inter-Congolese dialogue, Sir Katumile Masire; with former President
Nelson Mendela, facilitator of the Burundi Peace Process; and with President
Thabo Mbeki of South Africa. In the
afternoon, the Security Council delegation will fly to
Kinshasa.
**Sierra
Leone
Still
on the African continent, the Government of Sierra Leone and the Revolutionary
United Front (RUF) agreed on an immediate recommencement of the disarmament
process in a one-day meeting held at the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone
(UNAMSIL) Headquarters in Freetown.
An agreement was also reached on the release of all child combatants and
abductees starting on 25 May.
The
meeting examined the key issues relating to the disarmament, demobilization and
reintegration (DDR) of combatants.
The two parties reached agreement on the simultaneous disarmament of the
government-backed militia, the Civil Defence Force (CDF) and RUF combatants,
which will begin on 18 May in the Kambia and Port Loko districts. There’s a press release from UNAMSIL in
our office with more details.
**Kosovo
In
news regarding Kosovo, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) in Pristina reports today that some 550 ethnic Albanians fled
into Kosovo to escape fighting from the Presevo valley today, bringing to more
than 3,000 the number who have fled since Sunday. UNHCR also reported that ethnic
Albanians were trickling in from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Some 20 had crossed into Kosovo today,
bringing the total to more than 9,000 since early May.
**Lebanon
In
Abu Dhabi today, the Secretary-General's Personal Representative for Southern
Lebanon, Staffan de Mistura, met the chief of staff of the United Arab Emirate's
armed forces, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, to discuss the Emirate's
cooperation with the United Nations and Lebanon in demining southern
Lebanon. The Emirate pledged $50
million in financial support for demining activities under the United Nations
umbrella. In a statement to the
press, Mr. de Mistura expressed gratitude for this substantial contribution,
which will help to restore normal living conditions to southern Lebanon a year
after Israel's withdrawal. On 21
May, the United Nations, the Lebanese Government and the donor community will
participate in a conference on demining Lebanon, beginning with the south. That is to take place in
Beirut.
**Rwanda
Tribunal
Today
in The Hague, Florence Hartmann, spokeswoman for Tribunal Prosecutor Carla Del
Ponte, responded to recent media reports concerning members of the prosecution
team for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda whose contracts were not
renewed. “Ms. Del Ponte”, Ms.
Hartmann said, “has begun to restructure the investigation teams based in Kigali
to make them more efficient”. She
added, "The Prosecutor did not renew some contracts and we were accused of
racism, but the decision was only on the basis of efficiency". She also added that the first person who
did not have his contract renewed was an American of European descent, and said
that the Prosecutor will continue to hire new people, including Africans, on the
basis of competence. Further
details are available in the weekly press briefing from The Hague, which we have
in our office.
**East
Timor
From
East Timor, the news is that two of the three newly-appointed international
Electoral Commissioners arrived in Dili today. Michael Maley of Australia and Bong-Scuk
Sohn of Korea will shortly be joined by Charles Rose of India. The two East Timorese Commissioners that
will, together with these three, make up the team of five electoral
commissioners, will be appointed in the coming days.
Mr.
Maley is the Director of Research and International Services at the Australian
Electoral Commission and served as Deputy Chief Electoral Officer for the 1993
elections in Cambodia. Mr. Sohn is
a member of the Election Commission of the Republic of Korea and served on the
Electoral Commission for East Timor’s Popular Consultation in 1999. And Mr. Rose is the former Secretary of
the Election Commission of India and was the United Nations Electoral Officer in
Cambodia. The Commission will
certify election results and transmit them to the Secretary-General through his
Special Representative in East Timor.
The briefing news from Dili has more details on
that.
**UNICEF
The
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today released initial results of a poll
taken between December 2000 and February of this year based on face-to-face
interviews with 15,200 children, between nine and 17 years of age, in
35
countries in Europe and Central Asia.
The preliminary results show that about 60 per cent of children face some
sort of violence or aggressive behaviour in their families and almost half feel
they do not have basic information on HIV/AIDS. Despite this, most children feel happy
most of the time and believe their lives will be better than that of their
parents. One of the most poignant
facts to come out of the poll is that children feel they have the right to be
loved.
The
full results of the poll will be presented to the General Assembly Special
Session on Children, which as you know will be held here in September. UNICEF has a press release with more
detail, which is available in our office.
**ECLAC
The
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), has just issued
a new report which says the sharp decline in the United States’ economy will
slow the region’s growth rate this year.
Current projections indicate that this year’s annual regional growth will
reach 3.0 per cent, down from 4.0 per cent last year. Exports from the region are expected to
rise by only 5 per cent this year as compared to last year’s rise of 20 per
cent. Foreign Direct Investment is
also expected to fall by $10 billion.
We have a summary of report in our office, but the full text in Spanish
is available at the Commission’s Web site.
**International
Day of Families Observed
The
International Day of Families, which fell yesterday and we talked about it here
with you, will be observed here at Headquarters tomorrow. There will be a panel presentation at
Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium on the theme “Families and Volunteers: Building
Social Cohesion”. This will be
followed by a question and answer period.
The programme starts at 10 in the morning. Details of the programme and a
background note are available at the documents counter on the third floor.
**Press
Releases from UNEP and WHO
Addressing
the Third Conference on the Least Developed Countries today, Klaus Toepfer,
Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), stressed
the importance of making linkages between the environment and development policy
as a necessary pre-condition in the fight against global poverty. The full text of his remarks is
available on the racks.
The
World Health Organization (WHO) said today in a new report that an extra $400
million per year would make quality medicines and treatment available to at
least 70 per cent of the world's 8 million new tuberculosis (TB) cases each
year. The report estimates that $1
billion per year is needed to control TB in the
22
highest-burden countries but there is still a $300 million annual shortfall in
funding. The press release is also
available upstairs.
**UNCA
Event
And finally, I
have an announcement by the United Nations Correspondents Association
(UNCA). They’ve asked me to remind
you of a press conference this afternoon on the fourth annual Hip-hop
Appreciation Week. This will be at
the UNCA Club at 4:30 this afternoon.
**Questions
and Answers
Question: I apologize
for coming in late. Relating to
Secretary-General’s trip to Russia and the comments by Foreign Minister Ivanov
on a second term, did you make a statement earlier that’s available
upstairs?
Answer: Since we did
not receive the full transcript yet, I have just the transcript of the portion
where the Foreign Minister makes the statement “Russia highly appreciates the
personal contribution of Secretary-General Annan to the strengthening of the
role of the United Nations and Russia will support the candidacy of Kofi Annan
for a second term as Secretary-General”.
Question: Also on the
trip to Russia and regarding the legal framework, as you put it, for the
possible resolution of conflict in Chechnya, are there any details on
that?
Answer: I don’t have
any details, sorry.
Question: The 3,500
refugees that fled into Kosovo. Is
that a total?
Answer: No, I said
550 fled into Kosovo to escape fighting in the Presevo valley area. This brings the total, since Sunday, to
3,000.