DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

9 January 1997

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

19970109 FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY

Fred Eckhard, Acting Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said the Secretary-General had addressed the staff this morning in the General Assembly Hall, and there was "a full house". Mr. Eckhard then read out the excerpts from Mr. Annan's address, as follows:

"The next five years must, above all, be a time of healing, we must heal the financial crisis of the Organization. We cannot be expected to move forward if the Organization is dragged down by the burden of unpaid bills. However, it is up to us to prove to the Member States that their contributions are used wisely and efficiently for the implementation of programmes which they have mandated. We must heal relations between the Secretariat and Member States, and every staff member has a part to play in this effort."

"I know that these have been difficult and challenging times, but we must carry on, secure in our ideals, moved by the strength of our convictions. The next five years are not going to be a period of convalescence, but of resurgence. It is up to Member States to define what they want the United Nations to be and to do, and to outline their vision of the goals they want us to attain and to set new priorities."

Mr. Eckhard noted that was a theme the Secretary-General had repeated on a number of occasions.

He then continued to read from the Secretary-General's speech:

"But it is up to us, the Secretariat, to shape this instrument of peace and progress to fit that new identity, to chart a route towards those goals, to develop the skills required to meet these challenges. That means we will need to reform. Reform is not an end in itself, it is a tool to create a more relevant and effective organization. It is not reform, when for lack of funds, we have to turn our backs on massacres and suffering and the collapse of civil society. Real reform will enable us to put in place new mechanisms for confronting the world's political and economic crises promptly, courageously and efficiently. Real reform requires an ongoing search for excellence, and I expect from each and every staff member, at all levels, a total commitment to excellence."

The issue of reform was another theme the Secretary-General had been stressing, Mr. Eckhard noted as he concluded summarizing Mr. Annan's speech.

"In that vein", he continued, "the Secretary-General is disturbed at press reports of mismanagement" within the Registry of the International

Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. "The moral weight of the work of this body is enormous, and those responsible for carrying out that work must meet the highest ethical and professional standards", Mr. Eckhard quoted the Secretary- General as saying.

Mr. Eckhard said a detailed investigation of the failures of the Registry of the Tribunal had been conducted by the Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, Karl Theodor Paschke, and his report was now being circulated within the Secretariat for comments. The Secretary-General would take decisive action once the report had been completed and he had had a chance to review it carefully. But even before that process had been completed, changes had and would be made in the administrative area of the Tribunal, including the sending in December of an acting chief of administration. A new chief of personnel was about to be sent there.

On a related matter, Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General had consulted with the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna and the Executive Director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, Giorgio Giacomelli, concerning the case of Cheickh Mohamed Tidyane Bangoura who had been accused of mismanagement and misconduct. Mr. Giacomelli had placed Mr. Bangoura on administrative leave and his contract, which would expire at the end of January, would not be renewed.

Regarding implementation of the "oil-for-food formula", Mr. Eckhard said the pricing formula for the January and February loading of Iraqi oil had been approved by the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 661 (1990) which is monitoring the sanctions against Iraq. No Committee members had objected to the pricing by the deadline of 4 p.m. yesterday. As of this morning, 26 oil contracts had been approved.

Mr. Eckhard then announced that the United Nations University would hold a roundtable discussion on peace and security in the twenty-first century from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. this afternoon in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium.

A list of the appointments of the Secretary-General today was available in room 226, he added.

Replying to a question on why Mr. Bangoura's contract would not be renewed, Mr. Eckhard said the action was taken because of misconduct and mismanagement. In reply to a further question by the correspondent as to why the action had not been taken earlier, Mr. Eckhard said, "That is a valid question." He added that the idea was not to railroad people out of the system because of allegations, but to carefully and fairly weigh charges against any individual and if any misconduct had occurred, then to act "fairly and swiftly". Mr. Eckhard noted that today was only the Secretary-General's sixth day on the job.

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The Secretary-General had acted four days after a story on the matter in The Washington Post, a correspondent said. Was the article a "helpful boost" for his action? he asked. "Yes", Mr. Eckhard replied, adding that that case had not come to the attention of the new Secretary-General until the newspaper article was published.

Did the new Secretary-General hope that Member States will pay their dues within the next five years or maybe earlier? a correspondent asked. "I am not sure we can survive at the current rate of withholding for another five years", Mr. Eckhard said. The Secretary-General wanted to turn that situation around in his first year and his visit to Washington, D.C., on 23 January was coming just as the United States Government was preparing its budgetary submission to Congress. Therefore, the timing of the trip was fortuitous, Mr. Eckhard added.

Answering a request for more information on the Secretary-General's schedule for his Washington trip, Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General would stay over on in the United States capital until 24 January, when he would probably address a National Press Club luncheon. He was also likely to meet with the heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Full details of his schedule would be made available as it was confirmed.

Mr. Eckhard said he did not yet know if he would be accompanying the Secretary-General to Washington, adding, "In fact, I haven't even asked him about that."

A correspondent asked what changes had already been made to the International Tribunal for Rwanda. Mr. Eckhard said an acting chief of administration was sent to the seat of the Registry in Arusha in December. Mr. Paschke's investigation had begun in October and had been completed in mid-December. In response to the draft of his report, a new chief of administration had been appointed. The administration, personnel and finance sections of the Registry had been investigated. So far, one of the heads of those sections had been replaced and the head of personnel was likely to be replaced soon. In reply to a question on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Mr. Eckhard said he had no further information concerning that Tribunal today.

Referring to the Secretary-General's comments in his address to the staff of the practice of Governments subsidizing their own nationals in the Secretariat, a correspondent asked how pervasive the practice was and how the Secretary-General intended to end it. Mr. Eckhard replied that it was going to be difficult to end the practice. On one hand, international civil servants were accused of earning lavish salaries and, on the other hand, some advanced developed countries felt they had to subsidize the United Nations salaries of their nationals just to attract the right quality of people because the salaries were not competitive.

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Only a relatively small number of countries subsidize their national's salaries, but the problem had been around for at least a decade, Mr. Eckhard continued. Former Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar had sent a letter to all Member States asking them to end the practice, but it still continued even today. It violated the spirit of independence of the international civil service. But that was not the intent of the governments that practised it. They were, in fact, trying to do the opposite and ensure the best people from their country came into the Organization. They were not abusing the practice, but rather the practice itself was contrary to the principle of independence, Mr. Eckhard added.

Was the group of high-level advisers that the Secretary-General was putting together a kind of transition team? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said the group was made up of senior and experienced people the Secretary-General hoped to call on, from time to time, when he needed advice in any area. The names of the people, who would not be on the United Nations payroll, would be released when the group was finalized.

Would the Secretary-General be naming former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Bruntland to the group? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said he could not comment on that. The Secretary-General would meet tomorrow with Ms. Bruntland, who happened to be visiting the United States. He had mentioned her as one of the people he would like to call on for advice from time to time.

In reply to a question as to whether former Under-Secretary-General Brian Urquhart would be a member of the group, Mr. Eckhard said that he had been mentioned publicly by the Secretary-General as someone he would also like to seek advice from.

What about United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Sadako Ogata? another correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General would consult with her in the normal course of his duties as she was part of the United Nations system.

Would those advisers form a board or would the Secretary-General see them individually? another correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General would probably not see them collectively as a board of advisers, but his intention was to call on them individually.

A correspondent said he would meet with Mr. Eckhard privately on a matter of press freedom in the building that he still wanted placed on the public record. While his television crew had been trying to get United Nations staff reaction to the Secretary-General's speech this morning, a member of the Department of Public Information (DPI) stood with the crew at all times and inhibited discussion with comments in French to staff approached for an interview, such as "be careful with what you say". The correspondent said that was "awful behaviour, typical of some totalitarian regimes. I am

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sure that is not what the new Secretary-General wants". No one should be accompanying reporters doing their job even if it is television. It was up to staff if someone did not want to say something, they were not being harassed and no one needed a warning, he added.

Mr. Eckhard said he agreed with the correspondent on the matter and he had asked the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) to meet with him at their earliest convenience and put all matters of concern on the table. The Secretary-General would listen very carefully to what they had to say.

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