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 noon briefing by reading the following statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General (also issued as Press Release SG/SM/6302):

"The Secretary-General is disturbed at reports of renewed hostilities in southern Lebanon. He is particularly concerned at the targeting of civilians, notably the killing of two youths by a roadside bomb in Kfar Houne and the subsequent shelling of the town of Sidon, with six reported killed and many more injured. The United Nations has been in touch with both sides and urged them to do their utmost to prevent a further deterioration of the situation and, in particular, to refrain from targeting civilians." The statement would be available in the Spokesman's Office.

The twenty-fourth report of the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL) (document S/1997/643) had been issued today, Mr. Brandt said. In it, the Secretary-General stated that the Liberian peace process had come to a successful conclusion during the reporting period, with the holding of presidential and legislative elections on 19 July, as scheduled, and the installation of the new Government on 2 August. With the establishment of a democratically elected Government in Liberia, UNOMIL's principal objective had now been achieved.

The report stated, further, that UNOMIL's mandate would expire on 30 September, Mr. Brandt said. The withdrawal of the Mission's personnel was already under way and should be substantially completed by that date, leaving a small team to complete the usual liquidation and closing processes. Pending further consultations with the Liberian Government, the Secretary-General intended to recommend the establishment of a peace-building support office to succeed UNOMIL after 30 September. The Secretary-General intended to submit a further report shortly, before the end of the UNOMIL mandate, which would contain proposals for the structure, staffing and functions of a United Nations presence in Liberia after UNOMIL.

The Associate Spokesman then announced that closed consultations would be held among Members of the Security Council and troop contributors on the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) at 3:30 p.m. today in Conference Room 1.

Referring to an announcement last week of the detention of four suspects in Arusha by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the extension of the detention, Mr. Brandt said his office had just received a press release on the matter from Arusha. That release provided the names of the four persons whose detention would be extended for another 30 days and the details of another case, as well as the comments by the Prosecution and the Tribunal's President.

Mr. Brandt then made reference to an announcement last week about fabricated, bogus documents that had prompted Justice Louis Arbour to issue a statement in The Hague about the forgery. A press release from the United Nations office in Vukovar on the matter was now available in the Spokesman's office. The Deputy Permanent Representative of Cambodia to the United Nations, Ouch Borith, would hold a press conference at 11 a.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, 19 August, in room 226, Mr. Brandt said. French/English interpretation would be available. A correspondent asked what was the evidence recovered in the police station in Banja Luka with regard to human rights abuses. Mr. Brandt said he would inquire. The correspondent was invited to come to the Spokesman's office for the information. Asked if Diego Cordovez, the Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Cyprus, would brief the Security Council shortly, Mr. Brandt said he was expected to do so at about 10:30 a.m on Wednesday, 20 August. He would see if Mr. Cordovez would come to the noon briefing that day or if he would speak with correspondents outside the Council after he met with the Council. However, he did not think Mr. Cordovez would be able to add much to what he had already said during his press briefing in Geneva on Friday. Asked if correspondents could have a briefing from Lakhdar Brahimi, the Secretary- General's Special Envoy for Afghanistan, when he returned to Headquarters, Mr. Brandt said he had already approached both Mr. Brahimi and Ismat Kittani, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Somalia, to speak to the press. When asked if the Secretary-General had been apprised of the information contained in the book review today in The New York Times on the massacre in Srebrenica, and if he was, what had been his reaction, Mr. Brandt said he did not know if the Secretary-General had seen the article on a book by David Rohde -- a journalist from the Christian Science Monitor who had been detained for some time in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mr. Brandt added that if he received a reaction from the Secretary-General he would pass the information onto correspondents. * *** *

CORRECTION:The correction at the end of the Daily Press Briefing notes of 14 August 1997 (referring to the notes of the previous day) was in part erroneous. The words after "military mission the Organization planned to send to the Republic..." should be deleted. The final paragraph of the 13 August briefing notes was correct in the original version, viz. "Asked whether President Laurent-Desire Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo had responded to the Secretary-General's letter on the investigative team on human rights, Mr. Brandt said that the Secretary-General was going ahead with the mission. The team members were being briefed in Geneva and were meeting with those concerned with the matter, such as the Officer-in- Charge of the Office of the Human Commissioner/Centre for Human Rights, Ralph Zacklin, and representative of non-governmental organizations. The team would hold a press conference next week before leaving for the Democratic Republic."

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 18 August 1997