DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's press briefing by introducing Bernard Ntegeye, the United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Angola, who was present to talk to correspondents about the Organization's efforts in the country on the peace-building phase involving the lifting of land-mines and other activities. (Mr. Ntegeye's briefing is being issued separately.)

He then announced that the Commander of the Stabilization Force (SFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina had informed the United Nations in writing that at about 9:30 a.m. today, the SFOR had detained and indicted war criminal Milan Kovacevic at the hospital in Prijedor. The detention had taken place without incident. In a separate detention action today in the area, an attempt had also been made to arrest indicted war criminal Simo Drljaca, the former police chief in Prijedor. He opened fire on the SFOR soldiers as they approached and challenged him; one SFOR soldier was wounded in the process, and Drljaca was killed when fire was returned in self-defence. Both men had been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague for complicity in genocide against Bosnia's Muslims and Croats in the municipality of Prijedor between 29 April and 31 December 1992.

On the question asked yesterday about the resumed tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly, to which the Spokesman had answered that the Assembly President was consulting with Member States about 15 July for that event, Mr. Eckhard pointed out that that date had been confirmed in today's Journal.

Turning to the Secretary-General's appointments for today, Mr. Eckhard noted that the Secretary-General would meet with Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the First Prime Minister of Cambodia at 4:45 p.m.; correspondents would have a chance to talk to him at 2:30 p.m. at a press conference in room 226. Prince Ranariddh had met with the President of the Security Council at 9:45 a.m. and the President of the General Assembly at 11:30 a.m.

The Secretary-General would also meet with Karaha Bizima, the Foreign Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. Eckhard said. They would discuss the situation in Congo-Kinshasa, and presumably also international relief efforts. The Secretary-General would also be raising with him the question of the human rights investigative mission. In a telephone conversation he had had with the Foreign Minister from Washington, D.C., yesterday, the Secretary-General received reassurances that the Congolese Government was prepared to cooperate with the human rights investigative mission.

Mr. Eckhard said that four Foreign Ministers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) were at Headquarters today and would meet with the Secretary-General at 12:30 p.m. on the subject of Sierra Leone. The Foreign Ministers were also expected to meet with members of the Security Council under the Arria formula at 3:30 p.m. When the location of the meeting was certain, the Spokesman would let correspondents know. [The Arria formula is a very informal consultation process initiated by Diego Arria of Venezuela, which affords members of the Security Council the opportunity to hear persons in a confidential, informal setting. These meetings are presided over by a member of the Council as service facilitator for the discussion and not by the President of the Council.] In addition, the Members of the Historical Clarification Commission in Guatemala would meet with the Secretary-General at 3:30 p.m. The Commission was established under the Guatemala Peace Accords with the aim of investigating and clarifying human rights abuses committed throughout the 35-year conflict; it had a mandate of six months, renewable for another six.

The Spokesman also told correspondents that the Secretary-General would be consulting with delegations on Cambodia throughout today, leading up to his meeting with Prince Ranariddh later in the day. The Secretary-General continued to follow the situation in that country with considerable concern, Mr. Eckhard said. He had continued to receive information from Phnom Penh. The representative of the Secretary-General remained blocked in Bangkok, but there was a United Nations international staff at the office in Phnom Penh. That office had continued to function, he added.

Mr. Eckhard said that members of the Security Council had been briefed by the Secretariat earlier this week, the third time since March that the Secretariat had briefed the Security Council on Cambodia. Under the Paris Agreements of 1991, the non-Cambodian signatories undertook to consult with a view to adopting all appropriate steps in case of violation of the accord. The Secretary-General had been consulting a number of interested States over the last few days; in that connection, he was pleased to note that there were initiatives afoot by Member States or groups of States. In particular, he had been informed of decisions taken earlier today by the Association of South- East Asian Nations (ASEAN), including deferring the consideration of Cambodia as a member of ASEAN. The organization had also decided to send two Foreign Ministers, from Indonesia and the Philippines, to Beijing to meet with King Norodom Sihanouk. Discussions were taking place among some members of the Security Council as well concerning a possible presidential statement.

The Security Council was today taking up the 120-day periodic sanctions review of the measures imposed on Libya under resolution 748 (1992), Mr. Eckhard said. This morning, they also had the two items on Croatia that he had mentioned yesterday: the report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP), concerning which it was expected to take action to extend the mandate of the mission for six months;

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 10 July 1997

and the report of the Secretary-General on the situation in Croatia. Under other matters, the Council would consider a letter from Nigeria requesting an open meeting on the subject of Sierra Leone.

The Spokesman drew attention to a press release from the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES), saying that next Tuesday, 15 July, UNTAES would bid farewell to the battalions from Jordan and Pakistan, and a company from Argentina. Their repatriation would mark the first phase of the reduction of UNTAES military force, and would reduce the troop strength from 5,000 to about 3,000.

There was also a press release from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) available in the Spokesman's Office, stating that about 350,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon were on the brink of despair as they were forced to cope with a growing social and economic crisis which could only be averted by the quick action of the international community. Launching UNRWA's Special Emergency Appeal for Assistance to Palestine Refugees in Lebanon at a press conference today in Geneva, the statement said, Commissioner-General Peter Hansen had called for $11 million in additional contributions from the international community to meet the needs for 1997-1998.

Mr. Eckhard also drew attention to the earthquake in Venezuela. Initial accounts were that 36 were dead and 162 injured, but that estimate was expected to increase. The UNDP and the Department of Humanitarian Affairs were following up the situation and consulting with government authorities.

The Spokesman noted that his office had received a lot of requests on humanitarian questions, but many of the answers were available on the Internet. Since 1996, the Department had maintained a very active relief site, Reliefweb. It had now offered to demonstrate to correspondents based at Headquarters how Reliefweb worked and what was in it, and all correspondents were invited to the boardroom of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs on the 36th floor today at 4:30 p.m. for the demonstration.

Mr. Eckhard announced that Diego Cordovez, the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Cyprus, who was chairing the talks in Troutbeck, New York, would be present at the noon briefing on Monday, to give correspondents a read-out on the talks.

A correspondent noted that tomorrow was the anniversary of the fall of Srebrenica, and there was a memorial service planned by the mothers of the massacred. Was the United Nations sending condolences, and what was the status of the exhumations? Mr. Eckhard said he would look into the exhumation question. He was not aware there was anything going on here, but would check.

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