DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19970114
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Fred Eckhard, Acting Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by announcing that United Nations security and other United Nations staff had worked all through the night to inspect a backlog of some 80,000 pieces of mail. By midnight, they had found two more live letter-bombs, making a total of four collected throughout the day.
The letter-bombs were all pretty much identical in format and were addressed to the Al-Hayat newspaper, Mr. Eckhard said. The New York City bomb squad disposed of all of them. This morning, United Nations security briefed journalists at Headquarters, alerting them to the risk of letter-bombs and other explosive devices, and advising caution.
Mr. Eckhard said that this morning the Security Council had extended the mandate of the peace-keeping mission in the Prevlaka peninsula in southern Croatia. It had extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP) until 15 July, by resolution 1093 (1997). Tomorrow, the Council was expected to consider the situation in Somalia, and it would take up the question of Sierra Leone on Thursday, 16 January.
When the Secretary-General met with members of the Security Council yesterday over lunch, he informed them of new procedures by which he would be briefing the Council, Mr. Eckhard went on to say. Those procedures went into effect today. The Secretary-General was sending a letter outlining them to the President of the Council, as well as to the heads of the Department of Political Affairs, the Department of Peace-keeping Operations and the Department of Humanitarian Affairs.
First, the Secretary-General was discontinuing the function of the Special Representative to the Security Council, Mr. Eckhard said. Ambassador Chinmaya Gharekhan, who held that post, would remain with the United Nations system and his next assignment would be announced later this month, along with other appointments.
Second, he continued, the Department of Political Affairs would continue to have the main responsibility for briefing the Council and monitoring its work, which it would coordinate with the Departments of Peace-keeping and Humanitarian Affairs regarding specific briefings for the Council.
And third, he added, the Department of Political Affairs would coordinate the submission to the Council, every Wednesday, of a briefing paper on significant trends in field operations. The paper was to be no longer than three pages.
Lansana Kouyate, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, was leaving today for Nigeria and Liberia, to consult on the Liberian elections scheduled for 30 May, Mr. Eckhard said. An electoral assistance team had visited Liberia last December. On the basis of their report, the United Nations had prepared draft recommendations covering an electoral mechanism, presidential elections, an electoral commission, registration of refugees, and other matters. He added that Nigeria was chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which provided the military observer group -- Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG) -- in Liberia. That group, in turn, was monitored by a United Nations mission. Mr. Kouyate would meet with Nigerian officials on Thursday and Friday, 16 and 17 January. He would then meet with Liberian officials over the weekend.
Mr. Eckhard announced that Suriname this morning had signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). That brought the number of signatories to 139 States.
"Because of the bomb business yesterday, we had quite an irregular day", Mr. Eckhard said. As a result, a press release on the Chemical Weapons Convention was being issued one day late. The fourth anniversary of the Convention had been yesterday, 13 January. Having achieved the required number for ratifications, the Convention will come into effect on 29 April this year. The press release contained background information on the Convention.
Mr. Eckhard went on to say that Berhanu Dinka, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Sierra Leone, was at Headquarters today for consultations. Madeleine K. Albright, former Permanent Representative of the United States, would be paying a farewell call on the Secretary-General at 4:45 p.m. The Secretary-General's appointment schedule was available.
He then mentioned a series of "bullet points":
-- The Special Rapporteur of the Commission of Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the former Yugoslavia, Elizabeth Rehn, was in Serbia today and would visit Kosovo tomorrow;
-- The Secretary-General would be meeting with Lakhdar Brahimi at 12:30 p.m. on the situation in the Great Lakes region of Africa;
-- It was also announced today in Geneva that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Sadako Ogata, would visit the Great Lakes region from 6 to 15 February;
-- Liechtenstein had become the fifth Member State to pay its 1997 regular budget dues ahead of schedule, joining the Federated States of Micronesia, Finland, Kuwait and Sweden;
-- Copies of Image and Reality, a publication by the Department of Public Information (DPI) aimed at setting the record straight on a number of primarily financial and administrative matters, were available at the documents counter on the third floor.
"We know that the first bomb made it through the X-ray", a correspondent said. Had the other bombs also gone through the X-ray process? Mr. Eckhard said they were all X-rayed. Last night, the letters were fed through X-ray machines in the Visitors Lobby, in order to have some extra capacity. All the mail was brought up there, where work continued all through the night.
"The reading that you get on these cards is similar to what you get in one of these singing greeting cards that has some kind of electrical device in it", Mr. Eckhard. "And so, it's something you really have to be on the look for to spot. But in addition to putting them through the X-ray last night, they were also looking at virtually every piece of mail."
Asked if they had finished, Mr. Eckhard said they were continuing the work in the basement today. "You know, 20,000 pieces of mail come in every day, so it's an ongoing process." As Michael McCann, Chief of the United Nations Security and Safety Service told correspondents yesterday, he would be looking for ways to enhance the security of the process. He would probably need some additional people and maybe some additional equipment.
In response to another question, Mr. Eckhard specified that the work was done at the Visitors Lobby at the north end of the building, where there were X-ray/metal-detector-type machines. Asked if all four bombs had been "of this musical greeting card type", he said they were all pretty much identical in format. Asked if mail was still being delivered to the United Nations by the United States Postal Service, he said "as far as I know, it is". Mail came into the building through the back entrance, was checked and delivered. It might be going a little more slowly than usual right now.
If 15,000 to 20,000 pieces of mail or parcels came in every day and there was now a backlog of 80,000 pieces, did that amount to some four days worth of mail? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said the figure of 15,000 to 20,000 was the normal rate. However, "I said yesterday that, in recent days, we were getting up to 40,000 pieces, because we had quite a number of petitions that were generating a large volume of mail." The number of pieces screened yesterday and through the night was 80,000 -- about two days' worth at current levels.
A correspondent, citing today's safety briefing, asked whether there was concern that other journalists might be targeted. Also, had anyone called the United Nations or the Al-Hayat office to claim credit for the incident? Mr. Eckhard said no one had called to take responsibility. "We are concerned, in general, about, first, the journalists who are in residence here and who
receive mail through the United Nations distribution system." Security had therefore wanted to brief them on what to look for and what precautions to take.
"If you do find a suspicious item, what do you do with it?" a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said the correspondent should call security right away. "Don't open it. Don't handle it unnecessarily, and let them come up and take a look at it."
Another correspondent said it was her understanding that there were French mercenaries fighting in the Great Lakes region. What was the United Nations attitude towards mercenaries? she asked. Mr. Eckhard said the United Nations attitude towards resolving such conflicts by military force was "negative". The United Nations had also received information about irregular fighters in the area, as reported by the press, but he had no further comment.
Was all the mail X-rayed every day when it came into the building? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said it was. So how were the screening procedures carried out yesterday and today extraordinary? the correspondent continued. Mr. Eckhard said some of the mail was being screened for a second time. In addition, all of the mail was being given a closer look, piece by piece.
Had other security measures been affected by the incident? a correspondent asked. Had there been frisking of visitors, special security for cars coming into the garage, and so on? Mr. Eckhard said he suspected there was more rigorous enforcement across the board, as well as longer-term planning by security on how to improve and enhance existing procedures.
Asked if the additional X-rays machines were being used because they were more sophisticated than those in the mail rooms, Mr. Eckhard said he believed they were the same technology and were being used to increase capacity. Asked how long the enhanced security measures could continue, he said they were really straining existing resources. "We had people who didn't sleep last night, including the Chief of Security, so there's a limit to how long this can go on. But I think it will probably have to continue, and somehow the staff resources will have to be found to make it sustainable beyond just 24 or 48 hours."
A correspondent asked what special efforts were being made to protect the security of the Al-Hayat office and its correspondent, Raghida Dergham. "As a matter of principle -- and we've violated this principle pretty totally the last couple of days -- we don't discuss security matters, because that reduces their effectiveness." All he would say was extra steps had been taken to screen the mail and to enhance the security of that particular office and also of the press area in general.
In what respect were the letter-bombs similar to musical greeting cards? a correspondent asked. Were they musical greeting cards which had been rewired or something? Mr. Eckhard said their signature in the X-ray machine was similar to one of those musical greeting cards.
A correspondent said he had read on the wires that, following the letter bomb sent to Al-Hayat's office in Washington, D.C., the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was screening letters to that newspaper's office at United Nations Headquarters. "Did that happen?" Mr. Eckhard said he was not aware that it did and would have to check. What had initiated United Nations security surveillance of Al-Hayat's mail was the call from the correspondent following the explosion in London.
Was that something which could happen, that mail sent to the United Nations building could first be seen by the FBI? the correspondent continued. "No, it would be seen by United Nations security", Mr. Eckhard said. Then, if there was something suspicious which required more sophisticated detection equipment, or actual bomb unit techniques for disposal, the Organization would rely on the host country.
Before mail came to the United Nations building, it went to the United States post office, the correspondent said. When they saw that a letter was addressed to that newspaper at the United Nations, "couldn't it be checked there, before it even came to the United Nations?" the correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said he did not know what procedures they were following -- "you'd have to ask them".
"This morning I saw a mail truck turned away from the United Nations garage", a correspondent said. Was the mail still being sorted here? Mr. Eckhard said he was not aware of that and would have to inquire about it.
"The plastic explosives like the semtex that was reportedly found in one of the letter bombs is not detectable through an X-ray", a correspondent said. "Are the X-rays sensitive enough to pick up some sort of a detonator, or are you going to have to call in sniffing dogs?" Also, she said the letter to the Washington, D.C. office was postmarked from Alexandria. Was that the case in that instance as well?
To the first question, Mr. Eckhard said the Chief of Security was looking into what additional investments the United Nations might have to make to enhance security in the building, "rather than to be relying as heavily as we are on the host country". He could not prejudge the outcome of that review, whether the money would be available to purchase more sophisticated equipment, to bring in dogs, and so on. On the Alexandria postmark, he said United States officials had now apparently confirmed that postmark on at least some of those four envelopes in question.
If semtex did not register on X-ray machines, how had the letters in question caused the kind of response associated with a musical greeting card? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said he had not commented on semtex, which was mentioned in a newspaper this morning. That kind of technical detail was for the United States authorities to investigate and to determine the nature of the explosive. "I was told that these cards have a similar X-ray imprint to a musical greeting card. So that's all I can tell you."
If Raghida Dergham had not called security, would the letter have gotten through to the Al-Hayat office? a correspondent asked. "Who knows? I really can't say", Mr. Eckhard replied. There had been some enhanced security in place since the beginning of the year, when that sort of mail began arriving in the United States, but he could not hypothesize.
A correspondent said he had been told by a security guard that the number of visitors to the building had diminished dramatically and there were hardly any school children. Asked for details, Mr. Eckhard said he did not have the numbers, but it was logical to assume people would stay away at such a time. "That's lost revenue for us, of course."
Would the United Nations want the United States authorities to check mail addressed to Al-Hayat before it arrived at the building? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said he would have to inquire about that.
Since letter-bombs had already been mailed to the Al-Hayat office in Washington, D.C. why did it take the explosion in London yesterday to enhance security here? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said increased vigilance had begun at Headquarters around 1 January. Then, with the events in London, efforts zeroed in on the mail going to Al-Hayat.
"But I understand it was Raghida who told security, 'Look, there's been an explosion in London. Are you checking my mail better?'" the correspondent continued. Mr. Eckhard said that when Ms. Dergham contacted security on the events in London, surveillance had again been ratcheted up, particularly on the mail going to Al-Hayat.
"Was security aware of the events in London before the correspondent brought it up to them?", the questioner continued. Mr. Eckhard said he did not know the answer to that question. "It's possible that they were not", he said. "I mean, we're talking about a few hours' difference."
A correspondent asked if any messages had been found inside those greeting cards. Mr. Eckhard said he did not know. That was a matter of investigation. It was the bomb squad that deactivated them and then took them away to conduct an investigation.
Asked if all four letters were addressed to the same correspondent, Mr. Eckhard said the correspondent was not named. The letters were addressed to the newspaper itself. Asked if the current procedure for the double-screening of mail was expected to continue indefinitely, he said "we will do double-checking and triple-checking for the foreseeable future". Longer-term means of enhancing mail security were also being explored.
Were the envelopes properly addressed? a correspondent asked. Did they have the room number, or were they just addressed "United Nations"? Mr. Eckhard said he did not know.
While it was only a matter of hours between the London bombing and security's reaction here, it was a matter of two weeks since the letters to Al-Hayat in Washington, a correspondent said. It was obvious that Al-Hayat was being targeted, and their only other office in the United States was at the United Nations. "Was the mail being checked, specifically mail to Al-Hayat, over the last two weeks, or only yesterday when Raghida pointed this out?"
"No", Mr. Eckhard said. "There was increased surveillance of the mail since the beginning of year." Asked for clarification, he said that meant "all mail".
Asked for clarification about mail delivery at the United Nations, Mr. Eckhard said mail came into the building at the third basement, where it was screened and then there was a preliminary sorting. Mail then went to particular stations in the building. The first station, for the first five floors, was on the second floor. That was where the first letter-bomb was found.
If the four envelopes received here were identical in form, were they also identical to those received in Washington and the other offices? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said he could not say they were "identical", which was a matter for the New York City police or the United States federal authorities to answer. "But I believe there were similarities, at least."
"You wouldn't tell us where the other ones not postmarked from Alexandria were postmarked from, would you?" a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said he believed that, in at least one of the cases, the postmark was not fully legible.
A correspondent asked for clarification on how the letters were disposed of or rendered safe. "They were taken to the third basement of this building, they were surrounded with sandbags, and they were shot with water cannon, which either explodes the device or renders it inactive", Mr. Eckhard said. "In this case, all four were rendered inactive; there were no explosions."
Asked if the envelopes were addressed by hand or typewritten, Mr. Eckhard said he did not know. Asked if it would be possible to get a photograph of one of those envelopes, he said he did not think so, but that would be for the United States authorities to provide. Asked if the letters would still be legible after being blasted with water, he said they might not be. "But photographs were taken before they were blasted", he added.
Had the incident resulted in any sort of interruption in the United Nations work today or in the arrival of staff members? a correspondent asked. "Not to my knowledge", Mr. Eckhard said. To another correspondent, who said he understood there was no messenger service today, Mr. Eckhard said he was not aware of that.
A correspondent asked for information on the situation in Guatemala following China's veto in the Security Council. Mr. Eckhard said it was for Member States to decide what to do now that the Council had been unable to approve a military phase of the operation. He did not wish to comment on that at present. The Secretary-General met yesterday with the Permanent Representative of Guatemala and would be meeting today with the representative of China -- "although I can't say that Guatemala is on the agenda, although it could well be". Mr. Eckhard said he was not sure a consensus had yet emerged among governments on where to go from here.
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