DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

11 February 1997

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

19970211 FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY

Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by welcoming Peter Fitzgerald, the outgoing Commissioner for the International Police Task Force (IPTF) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Manfred Seitner, his replacement. He said that after his briefing, he would give both men the opportunity to talk to correspondents. (The briefing of the police commissioners is being issued separately.)

The Secretary-General and the Permanent Representative of Iraq, Nizar Hamdoon, had reviewed the implementation of the "oil-for-food" agreement in a meeting held yesterday, Mr. Eckhard said. The Secretary-General raised a number of operational issues, while the Ambassador wanted additional information on such subjects as problems with contracts and amounts of money in the six United Nations contracts. They agreed that maximum transparency in the implementation process was important. The Secretary-General asked Under- Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Yasushi Akashi to set up a mechanism to provide Iraq with the information it was seeking, and Mr. Hamdoon said he would convey to Baghdad the United Nations operational concerns.

The Spokesman told correspondents that with some additional deposits made yesterday, the total proceeds from Iraqi oil sales had reached $386 million. The amount disbursed still stood at $113 million, but some additional amounts were expected to be disbursed this week. As for the sale of humanitarian supplies, the Security Council Committee established by resolution 661 (1990) concerning sanctions against Iraq had approved four contracts, as follows: French wheat ($21 million); Australian wheat ($50 million); Thai rice ($21 million); and Jordanian tea ($5.5 million). The Committee had considered 10 sales applications, blocked one, and put five others on hold. The United Nations Secretariat had received a total of 131 sales applications. The number of applications it submitted for consideration was determined by the funds available for the purchase of humanitarian supplies. The number of oil sales contracts still stood at 26; there were none pending, he added.

Mr. Eckhard said that the Security Council had this morning heard from Hédi Annabi, Assistant Secretary-General in the Department of Peace-keeping Operations, on the situation in Liberia. The Secretary-General had submitted to the Council his report (document S/1997/90) with recommendations on the framework for the holding of elections in Liberia. It was prepared in response to a formal request from the Council of State of the Liberian National Transitional Government last October for United Nations assistance in developing such a framework for the holding of elections in the country by the end of May. On the basis of the findings of the United Nations technical

survey team which visited the country in December 1996 and subsequent consultations with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Liberian parties in general, the Secretary-General had stated the conditions for success of the elections. Those were: a fair and credible political framework; an efficient and well-planned electoral operation; and adequate support from the international community.

The Spokesman added that the Secretary-General had endorsed the recommendation of the technical team for a provisional mechanism that would permit elections on 30 May this year in accordance with the Abuja Agreement. Such an arrangement would take the form of a provisional electoral package which, like the Abuja Agreement itself and the governmental mechanisms it established, would be enacted at a special meeting of the ECOWAS Committee of Nine with the Liberian parties and become an integral part of that Agreement. The arrangement would not involve any change to Liberia's Constitution, but would permit the installation of a government of national unity and the return to constitutional order.

According to the Secretary-General's recommendations, Mr Eckhard went on, the early adoption of a provisional electoral package by ECOWAS and the Liberian parties was the critical next step. If the date of 30 May was to be met, an electoral package would need to be enacted by the middle of February at the latest. "We are right up against the deadline", the Spokesman pointed out, and the Secretary-General had, therefore, recommended that a meeting of the Committee of Nine with the Liberian parties be convened at the earliest possible opportunity.

In Tajikistan, the armed rebels had released the United Nations Austrian Military Observer who was among the 15 hostages they were holding, Mr. Eckhard said. The Austrian was now in Dushanbe and was in stable condition. He was being evacuated for medical reasons when he was taken hostage, he added.

The United Nations/Organization of African Unity (OAU) Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, Mohamed Sahnoun, had arrived in Nairobi yesterday, where he met with the European Union Representative for the Great Lakes, Aldo Ajello, Mr. Eckhard said.

The Government of Austria was holding a three-day meeting on land-mines, attended by experts from over 100 nations, Mr. Eckhard said. The meeting, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), should build on the momentum created by General Assembly resolution 51/458, calling on States to complete as soon as possible negotiations for an effective, legally binding international agreement to ban the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines. That resolution was supported by 155 States, with none opposing, he said, reminding correspondents that over 100 million land-mines were buried in 64 countries, and killed or maimed one person every 20 minutes, or 25,000 victims a year. It was announced by the United Nations in Geneva today that the Director-General of the United Nations Office at

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Geneva, Vladimir Petrovsky, was in Vienna representing the Secretary-General at the event. Also on the subject of land-mines, he told correspondents that the latest volume of Landmines, a quarterly newsletter from the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, was out and that copies would be available later in the day or tomorrow. It contained, among other things, a message from the Secretary-General, as well as country reports on Mozambique and Angola.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, José Ayala-Lasso, would be going to Rwanda by the end of the week or the beginning of the next, Mr. Eckhard said. He would try to obtain the results of the Government's investigation into the killing of the five human rights observers, and to ensure that those responsible for the murders were brought to justice.

Mr. Eckhard added that Mr. Ayala-Lasso had received an invitation from the Chinese Government to visit China. The High Commissioner had accepted the invitation in principle and was now discussing the dates and the programme of the visit.

The Spokesman said it had also been announced in Geneva today that the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the former Yugoslavia, Elisabeth Rehn, would be making her second visit to the region. On 16 February, she would travel to Belgrade to discuss with the Government the opening of a human rights office in Pristina, Kosovo. She would go on to Vukovar, Zagreb and the Krajina, in Croatia.

The Congo today had signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), bringing to 141 the number of nations that had done so, Mr. Eckhard said.

He then announced two press conferences to be held in room 226: the first was sponsored by Chile and would feature Médecins sans frontières -- together with CARE and OXFAM -- following their briefing to the Security Council on the situation in the Great Lakes region, at 1 p.m. tomorrow, 12 February. The second, also tomorrow at 2:15 p.m., would feature the Permanent Representative of Guatemala, Julio Armando Martini Herrera, to announce the laureates of the 1997 United Nations Population Award. He further reminded correspondents of the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) World Wildlife Fund briefing today at the UNCA Club.

In addition, Mr. Eckhard drew attention to the World Health Organization (WHO) press release, available in the Spokesman's Office, concerning model guidelines to facilitate international donations of essential medicines containing narcotic or psychotropic substances that were needed to treat victims of natural and man-made disasters. Such drugs were severely addictive, and hence strictly controlled by national authorities and closely regulated by international conventions. The guidelines would assist national authorities in simplifying their regulatory procedures for such donations.

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Answering questions, he told correspondents that the Secretary-General's recommendations on Liberia were now public, and available in his report.

To a further question, he said the object of the High Commissioner's visit to China would be the same as for any country visit, namely, to pursue constructive dialogue and promote human rights in the country concerned.

Asked if the arbitration was proceeding on schedule for Brcko, he said the deadline was 15 February. There would be an announcement by the arbitrator by the end of the week.

A correspondent referred to what he called an "alarming story" in Time magazine about the United Nations and the United States training thugs in Haiti and asked for comments. The Spokesman said he had not seen it. However, training thugs was certainly not the objective of the United Nations Mission in Haiti (UNMIH), but to professionalize the work of the local police. He would, however, read the article before making any further comment.

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