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, told correspondents at today's press briefing that the Foreign Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bizima Karaha, had informed the Secretary-General by telephone yesterday that his investigative team for the Democratic Republic of the Congo could begin its work. The objections raised in a letter to the Secretary- General, signed by two ministers of the Congolese Government had been dropped. A written confirmation of that fact was still being awaited, but the team was now preparing for an immediate resumption of its work.

Regarding some reactions over the weekend to the Secretary-General's statement on Friday concerning the events in Algeria, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General "has consistently condemned all forms of terrorism wherever they might occur". The Secretary-General did not say, as was reported by one news agency, that the matter could no longer be regarded as an internal affair. But, he felt that he had to "raise a moral voice against the bloodshed", and invited dialogue to that end.

The Secretary-General was in Norway today after completing his programme in Denmark at approximately 3 p.m., local time, Mr. Eckhard said. A transcript of Monday's press conference given jointly in Copenhagen by the Secretary-General and Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen was available in the Spokesman's Office. Also available were the following transcripts by the Secretary-General: his address to the Danish Foreign Policy Society; his remarks today to the Nordic-United Nations Peace-Keeping Management Seminar; and his remarks today at the opening ceremony for the Planning Element of the Multinational United Nations Stand-by Forces High-Readiness Brigade -- known by its acronym, SHIRBRIG.

Mr. Eckhard said that upon the Secretary-General's arrival in Oslo late this afternoon, he was meeting with Prime Minister Thorbjoern Jagland. A joint press conference and dinner would follow. Briefly touching on tomorrow's programme, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General would meet Gro Harlem Brundtland, the country's former Prime Minister, in the morning, followed by a meeting at Parliament with the President of the Parliament and the Foreign Affairs Committee. Then, on to the Royal Palace for an audience with His Majesty the King and a luncheon with the King and Queen. In the afternoon, he would address the Conference on the Total Ban of Anti-Personnel Land-mines, following a meeting with Jack Selebi, Ambassador of South Africa and President of the Oslo Conference. The rest of the programme would be announced on a floating basis throughout the week.

The Spokesman said that very late on Friday -- following "the lid" -- his Office had received a communication from the talks in Lisbon on Western Sahara between Morocco and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el- Hamra and Rio de Oro (POLISARIO). The Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for

Western Sahara, James Baker III, said that the parties had reached a compromise agreement on the questions of containment of troops, prisoners of war and political detainees. Those talks, under Mr. Baker's direction, were making rather substantive progress, and really picking up momentum. The next round of talks would take place from 12 to 14 September at a location within the United States.

The Spokesman drew attention to a statement issued by his Office over the weekend concerning the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. In the statement, the Secretary-General paid tribute to the voice the Princess gave in support of the campaign to end the production and deployment of anti- personnel land-mines. She had also been in discussions with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), which had invited her to be the Honorary Vice-President of its Global Business Council at the suggestion of the Honorary President, Nelson Mandela. "She had close ties to us and, of course, we very much regret her passing", Mr. Eckhard added. He understood that the Secretary-General had been invited by the Government of the United Kingdom to attend the funeral. He would inform correspondents whether the Secretary-General would be able to accept that invitation.

Turning to the situation in Congo-Brazzaville, the Spokesman said that negotiations had resumed in Libreville, Gabon, yesterday and were continuing today. Mohamed Sahnoun, the Joint United Nations/Organization of African Unity (OAU) Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region -- facilitating the talks together with Gabon's President, Omar Bongo -- had reported that they were still waiting for a response from Congo's President, Pascal Lissouba, on their latest proposals relating in particular to the role of the Prime Minister. Meanwhile, fighting was continuing in Brazzaville.

The Spokesman said there was a briefing note from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) concerning a voluntary repatriation programme for some 74,000 Congolese refugees in the United Republic of Tanzania, which began yesterday. There was also an item on Bosnia.

At a meeting in Kingston last week, the International Seabed Authority authorized the issuance of contracts for the first investors to explore the deep seabed for mineral wealth, Mr. Eckhard said. The Secretary-General for the International Seabed Authority, Satya Nandan, called the move a "milestone" in the history of the law of the sea.

Mr. Eckhard said there would be a United Nations radio feed of the Secretary-General's press conference in Oslo, which would be announced later today.

As part of the ongoing consultations with the Cambodian Government on preparations for next year's elections, Francesc Vendrell, the Director of the East Asia and the Pacific Division of the Department of Political Affairs, would visit Cambodia on 11 and 12 September, the Spokesman said.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 2 September 1997

In further announcements, Mr. Eckhard said that the Security Council President for the month of September, the Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, was holding bilateral consultations today and tomorrow concerning the Council's programme for September. Meanwhile, the Security Council Committee monitoring the sanctions against Iraq would be meeting later today at 5 p.m. to discuss the "oil-for- food" programme under Security Council resolutions 986 (1995) and 1111 (1997). The topic of today's meeting likely would be the question of a possible "roll- over" of oil sales from the first 90 days to the second 90 days. It was now projected that the oil sales for the first 90 days -- which started very late -- would fall far short of the $1.07 billion allowed under the agreement. The informal meeting of the Committee, formerly scheduled at the Portuguese Mission for 3:30 p.m. today, had been rescheduled for tomorrow morning.

Available in the Spokesman's Office was a press release from The Hague detailing two hearings before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on defence motions in the Dokmanovic case scheduled on 5 and 8 September, he said.

The Government of China had just paid in full its assessments for the 1997 regular budget with a cheque for nearly $7.9 million -- bringing to 83 the number of Member States that had paid in full, Mr. Eckhard said. Four out of five of the permanent members of the Security Council had now paid in full -- "you know who the fifth one is -- the United States, of course", he added.

The Spokesman offered congratulations to Lansana Kouyate of Guinea, a former Assistant Secretary-General in the United Nations Department of Political Affairs. On Friday, Mr. Kouyate was elected the new Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), effective as of yesterday, 1 September, for a four-year term.

Mr. Eckhard drew attention to a press release from the UNHCR announcing plans by Sadako Ogata, the High Commissioner for Refugees, to travel to Ukraine tomorrow for a three-day visit. Her mission would focus on the re- integration of some 260,000 stateless Crimean Tatars who were deported by the Stalinist regime approximately 50 years ago and were now about to become Ukrainian citizens.

The Spokesman had two notes on United Nations reform: a press release from Geneva concerning the impact of the Secretary-General's programme for reform on the United Nations Office at Geneva; and an announcement from the United Nations Correspondents' Association (UNCA) that Mark Malloch Brown, Vice-President of United Nations Affairs and External Affairs of the World Bank, and former head of the Secretary-General's task force on reforming United Nations information and communications work, would speak to correspondents on the task force's report. The briefing would take place in the UNCA Lounge on Wednesday, 3 September, at 2 p.m.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 2 September 1997

Asked when Princess Diana last visited United Nations Headquarters, Mr. Eckhard recalled a meeting with former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali which he believed was a courtesy call. He would check on the date.

To a question about whether the Secretary-General had been in direct contact with the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Laurent Kabila, concerning the human rights team there, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General had spoken with the Foreign Minister, not the President. But, his earlier understandings with the President concerning the head of the investigative team and the presence of United Nations security guards had been reached in a telephone conversation -- which may have been the reason for the misunderstanding of the Congolese Government ministers who wrote the letter.

A correspondent asked whether the Secretary-General had received a formal letter from the Algerian Government concerning his remarks, and whether there was more information about the letter by the opposition leader, Abassi Madani. Mr. Eckhard said that the Algerian Government had sent "something like a note verbale", in addition to the statement issued by the Government spokesman. The letter from the opposition leader, Mr. Madani, was being translated officially. That letter was received in Geneva over the weekend, handwritten in Arabic. His Office saw reports of the Madani letter on the newswires, including a translation, but it was only now being translated officially.

Asked if there was any news about the mission of Thomas Hammarberg, the Secretary-General's Special Representative on human rights in Cambodia, Mr. Eckhard said he would check.

Another correspondent -- referring to a heated exchange of letters between Maurice Strong, the Executive Coordinator for United Nations Reform, and Pranay Gupte, Editor of The Earth Times -- asked for the Secretary- General's opinion on recent comments by the publication and on the current relationship, including funding, between The Earth Times and the United Nations.

Mr. Eckhard said, "we'd have to go into deep history for that", adding that Maurice Strong was instrumental in getting the initial funding for The Earth Times and that the publication had enjoyed United Nations support of one kind or another ever since. For subsequent international summits, the publication had been contracted to produce daily coverage. He was not aware of any letter that Mr. Strong might have sent to Mr. Gupte. He knew that in the last several months, The Earth Times had been very critical of the Secretary-General's reform proposals and, in fact, had published an "op-ed" piece or two on the subject. As far as the Secretary-General was concerned, those were Mr. Gupte's views, and he had a right to express them.

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