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 announcing that the Secretary-General had appointed Robin Kinloch of the United Kingdom as his Special Representative for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, effective today -- 14 July. Mr. Kinloch is currently Director of the Office of Human Resources at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in New York. A biographical note on him was available in the Spokesman's Office.

Mr. Eckhard told correspondents that the spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly, Samsiah Abdul-Majid, had a list of the 26 speakers for tomorrow's resumed tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly on "Illegal Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory". The session, which would begin at 10 a.m tomorrow, was expected to continue in the afternoon. A 15-Power draft resolution had been issued. Copies were also available from Ms. Abdul-Majid and in the Spokesman's Office. The draft text is expected to be considered in the afternoon.

The Spokesman said that his office had issued a statement yesterday, which said that the discussions on the new national distribution plan in the context of the "oil-for-food" plan in Iraq had ended inconclusively. However, the talks had resumed subsequently and he was now reporting that the discussions in Baghdad had concluded successfully. The text was now being finalized and translated into Arabic by the Iraqi Government. It was expected that the process would be completed in Baghdad by next Monday, 21 July. The distribution plan would then be submitted officially by the Government of Iraq to the Secretary-General for consideration and approval.

The Security Council this morning had adopted two resolutions on Croatia -- on the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) and on the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP), Mr. Eckhard said. A presidential statement on civilian police in peace-keeping missions had also been read. In addition, the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Cyprus, Diego Cordovez, had briefed the Council on the Troutbeck talks. The Council was also briefed on the situation in Angola by the Assistant Secretary-General for Planning and Support in the Department of Peace-keeping Operations, Manfred Eisele.

Among his appointments today, the Secretary-General met with the Minister for External Relations and Cooperation of Burundi, Luc Rukingama, at 11 a.m., Mr Eckhard said. This afternoon he would meet with the Policy Coordination Group, the senior officials of the Secretariat and of the United Nations funds and programmes, to brief them on the reform proposals he would be reporting on to the General Assembly on Wednesday.

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 14 July 1997

Mr. Eckhard then informed corespondents that Ghana had ratified the Chemicals Weapon Convention, bringing the total number of States parties to 97. There were currently 165 signatories. The summary of outstanding contributions for regular peace-keeping operations and international tribunals was available in the Spokesman's Office. A police contributor's meeting for the International Police Task Force (IPTF) in Bosnia and Herzegovina would take place in Conference Room 3 at 3.30 p.m. today, he added.

On behalf of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Mr. Eckhard said that at 12:45 p.m. tomorrow, UNICEF's Executive Director, Carol Bellamy, would open an exhibit, entitled "Summitry Works: Words into Action", in the General Assembly's main gallery area in the public lobby. The exhibit would be on view until 7 September. He also said that a UNICEF press release on malaria was available. It reported that the disease had reached epidemic proportions in many regions of the world and continued to spread unchecked. More than one third of the global population lived in malaria-endemic areas. Every year the disease caused the deaths of 1 million children under five in Africa alone, a death toll that far exceeded the mortality rate from HIV/AIDS.

A press release from the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, which informed of the sentencing of Dusko Tadic, was also available, Mr. Eckhard said.

He also said that the Foreign Minister of Sweden, Lena Hjelm-Wallen, was at Headquarters today. She had presided over the Security Council meeting this morning and would address the press "at the stake-out" outside the Security Council at 12:45 p.m. in her capacity as Foreign Minister.

Mr. Eckhard also announced that Burundi's Minister for External Relations and Cooperation, Luc Rukingama, would hold a press conference at 10:15 a.m. tomorrow. At 4:30 p.m. today, senior United Nations officials would hold a background briefing in room 226 on the reform proposals which would be introduced to the General Assembly by the Secretary-General on Wednesday, 16 July.

Mr. Eckhard's briefing was followed by a press conference by Diego Cordovez, Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Cyprus (Mr. Cordovez's briefing is being issued separately.)

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