DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Juan Carlos Brandt, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's press briefing by announcing that the joint United Nations/Organization of African Unity (OAU) Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, Mohamed Sahnoun, would brief correspondents in room 226 following his briefing to the Security Council. Mr. Brandt asked representatives of delegations to be patient in light of the importance of the issue about which the Ambassador would speak, because the briefing might take some of the delegations' 12:30 p.m. briefing slot.

The Security Council was holding consultations today on Congo- Brazzaville, and would hear the briefing by Ambassador Sahnoun on the situation there, Mr. Brandt said. It would also discuss its programme of work and would hear from Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahima Fall on activities of the Joint Investigative Mission of the Commission on Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mr. Brandt would say more on that subject later in the briefing.

Mr. Brandt then said he had received questions earlier today from correspondents who had perhaps misunderstood comments made at yesterday's briefing regarding the Cyprus talks. "Let me be absolutely clear", he said. Diego Cordovez was the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General in the implementation of his mission of good offices for Cyprus. Mr. Cordovez's task during the upcoming talks to be held in Troutbeck, a conference centre near Amenia in Dutchess County, New York, would be to try to assist in the process of finding a comprehensive solution by listening very carefully to the leaders of the two communities, by making suggestions and generally by chairing the private talks on behalf of the Secretary-General following the opening session on 9 July.

In that connection, Mr. Brandt asked the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) to let him know later in the day whether a briefing on non- substantive, logistical issues would be useful and of interest to correspondents. If so, the Spokesman's Office was quite prepared to hold such a briefing, much like a briefing held some years ago prior to the Governors Island talks on Haiti. In that advance logistical meeting, the Spokesman's Office and UNCA had discussed a wide range of issues, including transportation arrangements, transmissions, what to expect in general, and so on. If UNCA felt that such a meeting would be useful, the Spokesman's Office would gladly arrange it for some time on Monday afternoon.

Mr. Brandt then announced that the United Nations had received a cheque from Turkey for its payment in full of the current year's regular budget, in the amount of $4,063,947. To date, 72 Member States had honoured their budgetary contributions for 1997. "Turkey, thank you very much for this cheque", he said.

The Spokesman's Office had received from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) new estimates about the number of Rwandan and Burundian refugees in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. Brandt said. According to that report, 213,400 Rwandan refugees and 35,500 Burundian refugees remained unaccounted for. Those numbers did not factor in violent and non-violent deaths. The UNHCR report was available in the Spokesman's Office.

The Secretary-General's report on the situation of democracy and human rights in Haiti had been released, Mr. Brandt said. That report covered the period from the end of last year through June. It described a deterioration in the political situation since the Secretary-General's 2 December 1996 report. In the latest report, the Secretary-General had recommended that the General Assembly extend the mandate of the United Nations International Civilian Mission to Haiti (MICIVIH), the joint United Nations/Organization of American States (OAS) human rights mission in Haiti, for five months, until 31 December. The report (document A/51/935) was available on the racks.

The Secretary-General, the President of the General Assembly, Razali Ismail (Malaysia), and many others were in Geneva, following the meetings of the Economic and Social Council, Mr. Brandt said. Upon arrival in Geneva yesterday evening, the Secretary-General had met with the Director-General of the United Nations Office in Geneva, Vladimir Petrovsky. They had discussed the impact of United Nations reform on Geneva as well as matters before the Conference on Disarmament.

Today, the Secretary-General had begun his day with a working breakfast with Ministers attending the high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council, Mr. Brandt continued. The list of those attending the working breakfast, which also included senior staff members, was available in the Spokesman's Office. At 10 a.m., the Secretary-General had made his opening statement to the Economic and Social Council. That text was available in the Spokesman's Office and would be issued as a press release. At 10:45 a.m., the Secretary-General had participated in the Economic and Social Council's high- level segment, held under the theme of "Fostering an enabling environment for development: financial flows, including capital flows; investment; trade".

At around noon, Mr. Brandt continued, the Secretary-General, accompanied by the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva and Secretary- General of the Conference on Disarmament, Vladimir Petrovsky, in his latter capacity and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General for the Conference on Disarmament, had met with the President of the Conference, Ambassador Maria Krasnohorska of Slovakia. In that meeting, the Secretary- General had stressed the unique role played by the Conference as the sole multilateral negotiating body on disarmament issues. The President had informed the Secretary-General about the Conference's latest decisions to appoint four special coordinators for, respectively: the establishment of a

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 3 July 1997

possible mandate on the question of anti-personnel land-mines; the question of the expansion of membership of the Conference; consideration of its agenda; and the improvement of the effectiveness of the Conference's functioning. Regarding the question of anti-personnel land-mines, the Secretary-General had expressed his view that the discussion to take place at the Conference on Disarmament should be considered complementary to the Ottawa Process, until the two processes hopefully merged.

At around 1 p.m., the Secretary-General had had a brief exchange with the press, Mr. Brandt continued. Copies of that transcript were available upstairs. Then the Secretary-General had attended a luncheon hosted by the President of the Economic and Social Council, Ambassador Vladimir Galuska of the Czech Republic. Next, at 3:15 p.m., he had met with the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Uganda, Eriya Kategaya. At 4:30 p.m. the Secretary- General had met with the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Renato Ruggiero. At 5 p.m., he had inaugurated the Geneva Library's "cyber- space", about which a press release had been made available yesterday, as Mr. Brandt had discussed at yesterday's briefing. At 5:30 p.m., the Secretary- General began a meeting with the Officer-in-Charge of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ralph Zacklin. That meeting had been in progress when Mr. Brandt spoke with Geneva just prior to the briefing.

The text of the statement by the Assembly President to the Economic and Social Council was also available in the Spokesman's Office, Mr. Brandt continued. That statement had just been received. He had not read it and so could not answer questions about it but he had heard that "it has some good stuff in it". Also available in the Spokesman's Office was a "Fact Sheet" about the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which contained information about the Tribunal's activities, people involved, who presided, its legal proceedings to date and more.

Next, Mr. Brandt announced that the Swedish Mission had asked him to inform correspondents that they were all cordially invited to a light lunch on Monday, 7 July, at 2 p.m. at the UNCA Club, courtesy of Ambassador Peter Osvald. For further information, correspondents should contact Per or Ann at the Mission. At the lunch, Ambassador Osvald would answer questions regarding the work of the Security Council under his presidency during the month of July.

A press release of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) was also available in the Spokesman's Office, Mr. Brandt said. That release concerned a statement issued today by UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, in which she urged the international community to support efforts to obtain the release of all children abducted in northern Uganda and welcomed the Government of Sudan's promise of action.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 3 July 1997

Mr. Brandt then said that it was with great pride that he announced that the United Nations Radio had been recognized with an award by the New York Festivals international radio competition for two programmes: "The Child Sex Trade" and "A Story of War and Rape in Bosnia and Herzegovina".

A correspondent said that today was the fourth anniversary of the signing of the Governors Island accord on Haiti. Did the report of the Secretary-General reflect a "back-vision" of the Organization? Mr. Brandt replied that the report of which he had made mention concerned MICIVIH and human rights. He referred the correspondent to the report and then to draw his own conclusions. Another report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council concerned the mandate of the United Nations Special Mission on Haiti (UNSMIH). That report would not be issued until after Under-Secretary-General for Peace-keeping Operations Bernard Miyet travelled to Haiti, around 10 or 11 July. Once he returned to New York, his views, opinions and thoughts would be incorporated into the Secretary-General's report and that text then made available to the Security Council.

A correspondent asked Mr. Brandt to repeat the areas for which the four special coordinators had been appointed by the Conference on Disarmament. Mr. Brandt did so.

The same correspondent then asked about the dome on the General Assembly Hall, which he said seemed to be getting a shiny metal covering. Mr. Brandt said he would inquire and report back on any refurbishing of the outside of the General Assembly Hall.

Regarding the human rights investigation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, did the Human Rights Commission have to take a formal decision if Special Rapporteur Roberto Garreton were to be removed from the mission? a correspondent asked. Mr. Brandt said that inasmuch as the Secretary-General was meeting with Mr. Zacklin even at the time of the briefing, it would be imprudent to say anything regarding new or reconfigured missions. After the Secretary-General's meeting transpired, Mr. Brandt would know more. Correspondents could read the Secretary-General's own words on the matter in the text of his exchange with the press today. Most of that exchange had concerned the joint investigative team and the problems it had encountered, as well as the existing differences of opinion. In any case, Mr. Brandt said, no mission would be sent to the country without the necessary guarantees of security that free access would be granted and that the members of the mission would be permitted free movement.

A correspondent asked whether resolution 1997/58, adopted by the Commission on Human Rights this year, decreed that the Special Rapporteur was part of the team or could the team's composition be changed through a conversation between the Secretary-General and Mr. Zacklin. The correspondent further asked whether the Congolese Government's request to expand the

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mission's investigation to include the period before President Laurent Kabila's followers came to the area would require a separate resolution. Mr. Brandt replied that as had been said before, resolution 1997/58 was the only mandate from the Commission on Human Rights regarding that mission. The language in that resolution was very clear. The resolution clearly indicated what the mandate was.

The matter at hand was how to make the mission possible, Mr. Brandt continued. The purpose of the mission was to try to uncover the truth about allegations of massacres and about the fate of people who had disappeared. That was what the United Nations was trying to do, that was what the Secretary-General was concerned with and that was what he had said in his exchange with the press. In answer to various questions, the Secretary- General had been very clear. If the current negotiations and meetings in the Democratic Republic of the Congo did not result in agreements on access, the team's composition, and the period of time covered by the mandate of the mission, would the Organization continue its current course indefinitely? Would it allow the stalemate to continue or would it ultimately take action to uncover the truth? Those were the questions being considered right now. First and foremost, however, the United Nations would continue to try to impress upon Congolese officials the need for the mission to proceed as mandated. If that proved to be impossible because of continued disagreement, then something must be done and that was what the Secretary-General was talking about.

Did the resolution actually spell out a time period to which the investigation must be confined? a correspondent asked. Mr. Brandt said the resolution had been clear in that the mission had to start on Monday, 7 July, after the advance team finished its work. The correspondent then clarified that he was asking about the time period under investigation. Had resolution 1997/58 decreed that the mission should investigate crimes and massacres committed only between certain dates, or had the dates been left open-ended? Mr. Brandt said he believed the resolution had indicated a specific period, which was one of the things the Government had not accepted.

Had there been any precedent for the United Nations accepting a Government's veto regarding someone to investigate human rights violations? the correspondent asked. Mr. Brandt replied that he would have to look into that. He seemed to remember that similar situations had taken place in other regions of the world. Was the United Nations "giving in"? the correspondent asked. The United Nations was not "giving in", Mr. Brandt said. He did not accept that terminology. The Secretary-General had been clear when he had answered questions in Geneva today. The United Nations would continue to search for the truth and would uncover the truth about what had happened.

The correspondent said the Secretary-General had not been clear on "the Garreton question", but had rather said that he would wait and see. She then

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said her questions were whether there had been anything like that in the past and whether the human rights Commission resolution specifically mentioned a Special Rapporteur, because Mr. Zacklin had said he would probably have to go back to the Commission on one point or another. Mr. Brandt said he would look into that.

Who had the last word on what do with the mission? Was it the Secretary-General, Mr. Zacklin or the Commission? a correspondent asked. Mr. Brandt said that the last word on the work of the Commission or on any resolution mandated by the Commission was with the Commission.

So the meeting today between the Secretary-General and Mr. Zacklin could not solve the impasse? the correspondent asked. Mr. Brandt said that the purpose of the meeting was to apprise the Secretary-General of the latest information available from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, provide an opportunity for an exchange of views between the Secretary-General and Mr. Zacklin and basically explore the possibility of reaching some kind of resolution to the problem.

In his press briefing, the Special Representative of the Secretary- General for Angola, Alioune Blondin Beye, had been vague about the future of the coalition government in Angola, a correspondent said. Had there been any move by the leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Jonas Savimbi, to comply with the latest Security Council resolution? a correspondent asked. Mr. Brandt said that Mr. Beye was scheduled to meet with the Angolan President later this week, probably tomorrow. He would meet early next week with Mr. Savimbi. It was to be expected that after hearing the views of those two leaders in Angola, Mr. Beye would have a much better sense of where the mission stood.

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