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, Acting Deputy Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan, began today's noon briefing by announcing that the Secretary-General, currently on a visit to Sweden, had received a crucial endorsement for his reforms from Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson. The endorsement took the form of a formal statement of support from 16 nations led by Mr. Persson's predecessor, Ingvar Carlsson, who founded the Group of 16 to encourage reforms in 1995, during the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations. The 16 heads of State and Government welcomed the Secretary-General's 16 July proposals as timely and as deserving of Governments' full support.

The 16 States in the Group are Australia, Brazil, Canada, Côte d'Ivoire, the Czech Republic, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa and Sweden.

"There is an opportunity to take real and substantial steps forward; that opportunity should not be missed", Mr. Brandt cited the leaders as saying. "Now is the time to go from words to deeds. Let us all empower the United Nations to confront, through collective action, the global challenges of the twenty-first century."

The Secretary-General had thanked Mr. Persson for the statement, which he saw as a sign of growing government support for his reform proposals, Mr. Brandt said. The Secretary-General was scheduled to see Mr. Carlsson later tonight, Swedish time. The Group's statement would be made available in the Spokesman's office.

When the Secretary-General met with Mr. Persson yesterday, they had engaged in a tete-a-tete during a boat ride at the Prime Minister's summer residence in accordance with a tradition that began in the 1960s, Mr. Brandt said. The Prime Minister rowed the boat for the duration of their ride and handed the Secretary-General the report of the Group of 16.

The two leaders then held a more substantive meeting at the Prime Minister's residence, where they discussed United Nations reform, the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and other matters. Also in attendance were the Foreign Minister of Sweden, Lena Hjelm-Wallen, and the Defence Minister. A more detailed description of the subjects of the meeting would be made available by the Spokesman's office. Later in the day, the Secretary- General had dinner with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister.

The Secretary-General had begun his busy day today by meeting with the former High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Carl Bildt, Mr. Brandt said. He also met with Foreign Minister Hjelm-Wallen and with the Minister

for International Development and Cooperation, Migration and Asylum Policy, Pierre Schori. The "tour d'horizon" discussion began with issues on development and ended with an examination of various political issues.

The Secretary-General then addressed a press conference, at which he was asked questions about his predecessor, Dag Hammarskjold, as well as on United Nations reforms, Cyprus, the situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and genocide, Mr. Brandt said. To questions on the late Mr. Hammarskjold, the Secretary-General said his predecessor "is always with us and will always be with us." Mr. Annan told reporters of a trip he had taken earlier this year to Bailundo, Angola, in the midst of very bad, stormy weather that prevented the travellers from locating the airport through the clouds and the rains. Turning to the Secretary-General, a reporter for the British Broadcasting Corporation had said that thinking of his predecessor and that "for the United Nations to lose one Secretary-General in Africa was tragic. For Africa to lose two, it would be irresponsible". The Secretary- General had said he was relieved when his aircraft's pilot decided to return to Luanda.

Also in response to questions, the Secretary-General had stated that efforts to supply food to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea should be stepped up. Asked about genocide, he said: "All of us are responsible for this", adding that "the United Nations is you and me, and genocide is a tragedy we should not see again".

The Secretary-General had then left for Uppsala, where he laid a wreath at Mr. Hammarskjold's tomb, Mr. Brandt said. He then took part in a seminar on "New Challenges for the United Nations", chaired by Dag Hammarskjold Professor of Peace and Conflict Research, Peter Wallensteen. The seminar, with a capacity crowd attending, featured interesting exchanges of ideas, followed by questions from journalists and members of the audience. The texts of Mr. Annan's remarks at both occasions would be available later. The Secretary-General then went for a meeting with Mr. Carlsson before heading for dinner hosted by the current Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.

The Acting Deputy Spokesman then briefed correspondents on the second round of talks on Cyprus, being held in Glion, near Montreux, Switzerland. The Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot negotiating teams were accompanied to the talks by the Secretary-General's Special Adviser, Diego Cordovez, as well as by his Deputy Special Representative, Gustave Feissel, and the Director of the West Asia Division of the Department of Political Affairs, Raymond Sommereyns. Except for a brief photo opportunity at the beginning of the talks, there would be no press briefings until the end of the week or the beginning of next week, when Mr. Cordovez was to meet with the press in Geneva.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 11 August 1997

Weekly Report No. 25 on the implementation of the "oil-for-food" programme was available from the Spokesman's office, Mr. Brandt announced. Last week, four humanitarian sales contracts had been approved, one was blocked and eight were put on hold. To date, 576 sales contracts had been approved. However, a definite word on new oil contracts was being awaited from United Nations Overseers. Any further details would be passed on to the media.

In Angola, the Joint Commission -- made of representatives of the Angolan Government and of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) -- had issued a statement last Friday, 8 August, Mr. Brandt said. The Commission appealed to both sides to make every effort to reduce tension in the country and to remove hindrances to the work of the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA). The text of the Commission's statement would be available in the Spokesman's office. Meanwhile, UNITA had not met the demands the Security Council made in its resolution 1118 (1997) of 30 June. A progress report on Angola requested in that resolution would be issued by the end of the week.

He went on to say that the Council would be briefed on the situation in Angola -- possibly by Assistant Secretary-General in the Department of Peace- keeping Operations (DPKO), Hedi Annabi-- tomorrow, Tuesday, 12 August.

At 10:30 a.m. today, Syria became the first country to sign the Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Use of International Watercourses, which was adopted by the General Assembly on 21 May, Mr. Brandt said. Open for signature for three years, the Convention will enter into force when it receives 35 ratifications. The treaty deals with the responsibility of States for international watercourses with respect to environmental uses, management of watercourses, protection and preservation of the marine environment, and the management of installations in watercourses.

On the Organization's finances, the Acting Deputy Spokesman said that Barbados and Hungary had paid up their dues for 1997, with respective payments of $106,508 and $1,491,111. Their action brought to 80 the number of States that had paid their assessments in full, compared to 84 who had done so by the same time last year. Outstanding contributions to the United Nations now stood at more than $2.5 billion, of which under $700 million was for the regular budget and over $1.8 billion was for peace-keeping.

Mr. Brandt announced that Mongolia on Friday, became the sixth State to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The other five are Fiji, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Japan and the Federated States of Micronesia.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 11 August 1997

Turning to the activities of the Secretariat itself, he said the Executive Committee on Peace and Security would be meet at 3 p.m. today, chiefly on Africa. The Committee meets every first and third Monday of the month, with today's meeting being its second since the Committee was convened by the Secretary-General in July.

Mr. Brandt reminded correspondents that the Secretary-General had established executive committees in four main areas last January: peace and security; economic and social affairs; development cooperation; and humanitarian affairs. They are to sharpen the contributions each unit makes to the Organization's overall objectives and to serve as instruments of policy development, decision-making and management.

Mr. Brandt went on to say that the latest monthly summary of troop contributors, as of 31 July, was available in the Spokesman's office. It contained the breakdown of 20,527 troops -- the lowest number of peace-keeping soldiers in the past six or seven years.

Mr. Brandt then made himself available for questions. After a slow count to three, and in the absence of any, he thanked correspondents and wished them a good day.

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