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, told correspondents at today's noon briefing that the Secretary-General's investigative team for the Democratic Republic of the Congo arrived Sunday morning, local time, in Kinshasha and started work immediately.

The team had a working session today with representatives of United Nations funds, programmes and agencies in Kinshasha, he said. A meeting was planned with the Government's designated counterpart, Etienne Biya, the Minister for National Reconstruction and Emergency Relief. The time and date for such a meeting was not yet set, as Mr. Biya's return to Kinshasha from the south of the country was awaited. One element still to be sorted with the Government was the role and the composition of the liaison committee which it would appoint.

Mr. Brandt said that he spoke this morning with Myriam Dessables from the Spokesman's Office, who was with the group in Kinshasha. She had been receiving telephone calls non-stop on her mobile telephone (243-880-0896), and was very happy to be able to relate even small bits and pieces of information about the team's activities there. Her presence in the region would be of great help to all at Headquarters.

The Associate Spokesman turned to an update from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today in which the UNHCR had issued calls for a halt to violence in the Great Lakes region, in particular, condemning the attack which killed 148 people in a camp in Rwanda last Friday. The High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, expressed shock and outrage by the attack against the Mudende Camp in Rwanda's Gisenyi province. Mrs. Ogata said that she was "extremely sad that these refugees who fled from violence and persecution" had now "fallen victim to such an act of barbarism in their country of refuge". Mrs. Ogata, who recently held consultation with the Organization of African Unity (OAU), called on all parties involved in the conflict to do their utmost to avoid violence against refugees. The update was available in the Spokesman's Office.

Turning to Bosnia, the daily briefing by Liam McDowall, United Nations Deputy Spokesman in Sarajevo, indicated the Organization's pleasure over the formal inauguration ceremony for the Posavina Cantonal Police force. The inauguration, which had taken place at 1500 hours, local time, in Orasje today, marked the half-way point in the restructuring of the Federation's Police force, with the Posavina Canton being the fifth of the Federation's 10 cantons to be formally inaugurated. Mr. McDowall was confident that the others would be formally restructured in the coming weeks. Thirty Republika Srpska officers elsewhere in Banja Luka completed the two-day United Nations International Police Task Force (IPTF) yesterday, according to Deputy Spokesman McDowall, and 30 more would enter the programme today. Investigations

into allegations of serious human rights abuses committed by the police were continuing by United Nations officers, who were maintaining their 24-hour round-the-clock presence at five police facilities in the city.

Mr. Brandt said the Security Council had no plans to meet today, and did not meet on Friday. On Tuesday, it was scheduled to take up the situation in Angola and the issue of the Central African Republic. A document on that item was available (S/1997/652). Referring to his remark on Friday that the Council was working on a draft resolution on Angola, he added that he was not aware that such a resolution had yet been tabled.

The Secretary-General's Special Envoy on Somalia, Ismat Kittani, was back in New York following his recently concluded mission in Africa, and was working on his report for the Secretary-General. Mr. Brandt said he hoped to bring Mr. Kittani to the briefing sometime this week.

Referring to questions last Friday about a meeting due to take place in Geneva today concerning allegations by the Cuban Government that it had been the target of "biological aggression", the Associate Spokesman said the latest information -- according to a telephone call he received just three minutes prior to the briefing -- was that the meeting adjourned a very short time ago, and would resume at 3:30 p.m., local time, in Geneva on Wednesday, 27 August. Until then, the chairman of the talks would hold consultations.

Concerning the sale of oil in Iraq, Mr. Brandt said that three more oil contracts were approved last Friday, bringing to 24 the total number of approved contracts out of 27 received. The three contracts just approved involved 1.8 million barrels for a German company; 1.8 million barrels for an Algerian company; and 1 million barrels for a Russian company. The grand total volume approved so far was 107.93 million barrels of oil. The oil pricing formula for September was approved for most of the destinations last Thursday, 21 August. A deadline of 4 p.m. today was set for one remaining destination. As previously announced, the new Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Denis Halliday, would attend the noon briefing on Tuesday, accompanied by his predecessor, Staffan de Mistura.

The Associate Spokesman announced plans by the Secretary-General's Military Adviser, Major-General Franklin van Kappen, to head a team of United Nations personnel attending a peace-keeping simulation exercise this week at the Brazilian Army Command and General Staff College in Rio de Janeiro. Some 400 military and civilian personnel from six countries were participating in the exercise, entitled "Fuerzas Unidas-Peacekeeping Operations '97 South America". It was hosted by the Government of Brazil, and co-sponsored by the United States Southern Command, and scheduled for 20 to 29 August.

Continuing, Mr. Brandt said that Major-General van Kappen would attend from 27 to 29 August, to join in two panel discussions on United Nations peace-keeping and observing the simulation and final review of the exercise.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 25 August 1997

According to Major-General van Kappen, this was the first time that United Nations personnel were active participants in that type of peace-keeping training. Major-General van Kappen was expected to participate in a press conference scheduled for 29 August at 11 a.m. local time at the Command and General Staff College in Rio de Janeiro. A note containing contacts and telephone numbers was available in the Spokesman's Office.

"Thank you very much, Mexico", the Associate Spokesman said. With a check for $3,814,123, Mexico paid in full its 1997 regular United Nations budget assessment, becoming the eighty-first Member State to fully pay its 1997 contribution. More than $2.5 billion was still owed the Organization: $0.7 billion for the regular budget, and $1.8 billion for peace-keeping operations.

Mr. Brandt had issued a statement made today by Vladimir Petrovsky, Director-General of the United Nations Office in Geneva, on behalf of the Secretary-General, to the International NGO meeting/European NGO symposium on the question of Palestine. Mr. Petrovsky said in that statement that the Secretary-General indicated his firm commitment to strengthening partnerships between the United Nations and non-governmental organizations. The statement also expressed the Secretary-General's view that the meetings which had taken place in that context had been very useful in bringing non-governmental organizations together with Palestinian Authority officials, donor countries and United Nations entities, contributing to a better assessment of the needs on the ground. (See today's Press Release SG/SM/6306-PAL/1841.)

Concerning questions last Friday about the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Mr. Brandt said that a statement issued by Carol Bellamy, the Executive Director of UNICEF, clarifying a number of points in relation to staff cuts there, was available on the third floor. Further questions should be referred to Anna Wright, UNICEF Division of Communication, at 212-326-7566.

To a question about a conference on Burundi in Arusha today, Mr. Brandt said that the conference was still under way, though unfortunately without the participation of President Pierre Buyoya who chose not to participate. He understood that Mohamed Sahnoun, the Joint United Nations/OAU Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, was there, and had made some comments to the press, which Mr. Brandt was not obligated to repeat until he received official confirmation. He regretted the fact that the talks were not going to take place in the presence of the Burundian side.

Asked what was expected by the creation of a liaison committee with the investigative team in the Democratic Republic of Congo and whether problems were expected, Mr. Brandt said that "so far we have no reason to think that we will not get all the cooperation that is needed for this exercise". It was hoped that the team would be able to do its job, and provide the Secretary- General with a full report on the situation there before the end of the year.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 25 August 1997

Referring to the re-issuance of a Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) document concerning access to the optical disk system, another correspondent asked about the prospects that the system would be made available to the press. The correspondent said that the document expressed the hope that the views and needs of non-governmental organizations, such as the press and libraries, would be eventually taken into account. Mr. Brandt that the situation regarding the difficulties faced by some groups in accessing the optical disk -- a very useful tool providing up-to-date official documentation of the United Nations -- was ongoing. The Organization was still trying to make the optical disk available to as many people as possible, but it was very expensive to do so. The financial consideration was, basically, the only obstacle.

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