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 press briefing by responding to a question from yesterday's concerning the mission of Thomas Hammarberg, the Secretary-General's Special Representative on human rights in Cambodia.

Mr. Brandt said that Mr. Hammarberg was expected to hold separate meetings tomorrow with King Norodom Sihanouk and the country's Prime Minister, Hun Sen. He would also meet with Government officials, representatives from non-governmental organizations and members of the diplomatic community. He was preparing a report on extra-judicial executions committed in Cambodia since the coup. The report was now in the hands of the Government and would make its way later to the General Assembly and to the Commission on Human Rights.

The Security Council began consultations this morning on its programme of work and was expected to hear Secretariat briefings on the Democratic Republic of the Congo and on the situation in Sierra Leone, Mr. Brandt said. The briefing regarding Congo/Brazzaville was to be given by Hedi Annabi, Assistant Secretary-General for Peace-keeping Operations, while Alvaro de Soto, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, was expected to deliver the briefing on the latest information concerning the Secretary- General's investigative team for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In anticipation of questions, Mr. Brandt said that the investigative team had not yet received a letter from Laurent Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He understood that there were some coordination problems at the Government's end preventing the letter's delivery to the team. The team, however, was "ready and eager" to start its job in the field, and would do so as soon as the letter was delivered.

Mr. Brandt drew attention to the annual report of the Security Council Committee established by resolution 661 (1990) to monitor the sanctions against Iraq. In addition to humanitarian sales applications under the "oil- for-food" programme, the Committee in the past year processed more than 11,000 other communications, most of which concerned humanitarian sales that were exempt under Security Council resolution 687 (1991). The Committee acknowledged receipt of 96 foodstuff notifications and took note of 178 voluntary notifications of medicines to Iraq -- which together had a combined worth of $1.225 billion. The Committee also approved, under its no-objection procedure, 5,203 requests to send other categories of commodities to Iraq, with an estimated value of $8.5 billion.

A two-day regional summit on the crisis in Burundi was scheduled to open tomorrow, 4 September, in the United Republic of Tanzania, Mr. Brandt said. It was convened by President Benjamin Mkapa, Chairman of the Great Lakes

Regional Group, following the failure of talks in Arusha on 25 August which the President of Burundi had refused to attend. Among the regional dignitaries arriving for the summit were: Presidents Laurent Kabila, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pasteur Bizimungu of Rwanda, Frederick Chiluba of Zambia, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda. The Joint United Nations/Organization of African Unity (OAU) Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, Mohamed Sahnoun, was already in Burundi and was expected to participate in the consultations along with envoys from Belgium, the European Union, South Africa and the United States on the sanctions imposed on Burundi on 31 July 1996.

Mr. Brandt had just received a press release from Arusha indicating a plea of "not guilty" filed by a former Minister in the Government of the late President of Rwanda. The Minister of Women Development appeared before Trial Chamber 1 in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha. The not-guilty plea was entered in response to charges filed against her in connection with the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The date of the trial would be scheduled following the convening of a status conference. The former Minister's son, who also appeared before the Chamber, declined to plead to the charges against him because his assigned counsel was not present. On 5 September, an extremely urgent motion made by the defence for orders for protective measures for defence witnesses to the crime alleged in the indictment against another individual would come before Trial Chamber 2. The press release, available in the Spokesman's Office, contained additional details.

The following statement, read out by Mr. Brandt, was attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General:

"The Secretary-General this morning called President Liamine Zeroual of Algeria to discuss the situation in that country and to continue the dialogue they had initiated at the Harare Summit last May. The Secretary-General indicated his extreme concern for the level of violence and reiterated the long-standing United Nations condemnation of terrorism. It was important that an urgent solution to the problem be found.

"President Zeroual indicated to the Secretary-General his own constant preoccupation with the situation in his country and stated that he was using all democratic means to reach a peaceful settlement. In this connection, he referred to the election in June and the local elections planned for October. He stressed that Algeria had strong institutions which were capable of leading the country out of the crisis. He said that all democratic forces were working with him and urged others to join in his efforts to bring about national reconciliation.

"The President indicated that, given the pressing problems at home, he would not be able to attend the fifty-second session of the General Assembly; however, the President and the Secretary-General agreed to seek the earliest

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possible opportunity for a meeting. The Secretary-General will continue to support all efforts to bring peace to Algeria."

The Associate Spokesman said that the Secretary-General had arrived yesterday afternoon in Norway for a three-day official visit where he met with the Prime Minister for a host of political talks. The Secretary-General briefed the Prime Minister on United Nations reform, and the Prime Minister in turn pledged to make every possible effort to ensure passage of the reform package at the forthcoming General Assembly session, which he would himself attend. Also discussed was the work of the Diplomatic Conference on Land- mines, which had begun on 1 September in Oslo, as well as the following topics: the status of the operation of the Stabilization Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR), the follow-up of the special session of the General Assembly on implementation of Agenda 21 held in New York in June and the forthcoming Kyoto meeting of the States parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

At a working dinner hosted by the Foreign Minister, the discussion again focused on the Secretary-General's reform package, Mr. Brandt said. Once more, the Foreign Minister pledged his strong support for those proposals. The Foreign Minister and the Secretary-General then had an extensive tour d'horizon of international issues, including questions of Africa, the Middle East, East Timor, Cyprus, Western Sahara and the Great Lakes region of Africa. This morning, the Secretary-General discussed the reform process with former Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. A meeting with the Speaker of the Norwegian Parliament was followed by discussions with the Foreign Affairs Committee, at which time the Secretary-General was given strong assurances that there was no disagreement between the position of the Government and the Parliament regarding his reform initiative.

In this meeting, Mr. Brandt said that the Secretary-General discussed aspects of his proposals dealing with economic development, humanitarian programmes, human rights, and drugs and crime, and answered a series of questions by the Parliamentarians on the future of peace-keeping operations, along with the situations in Bosnia, Serbia and Burundi. He then had a private audience with the King of Norway, followed by a luncheon hosted by the King and Queen in his and Mrs. Annan's honour. In the afternoon, the Secretary-General addressed the Oslo Conference and tonight he and Mrs. Annan would be the guests of honour at a dinner hosted by the Prime Minister.

The text of the Secretary-General's speech had been available in the Spokesman's Office since this morning, Mr. Brandt noted. In his speech, the Secretary-General said that the Ottawa Conference would be "a historic event in the peacemaking efforts of our time", and was proud to say that he would be attending the signing ceremony in Ottawa on behalf of the United Nations. He also said that the tragic accident on Sunday in Paris which killed Diana, Princess of Wales "has robbed our global cause of one of its most compelling voices", adding that the Princess had "showed the world that one voice

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speaking as part of a global grass-roots movement can truly make a difference". The Secretary-General also said that the fight against land- mines had become "a model of international cooperation and action", and that "we must bring to the struggle against land-mines the same determination and the same sense of mission that brought an end to chemical weapons. We must make land-mines, too, a weapon of the past and a symbol of shame".

Responding to press inquiries concerning film screenings shown the Secretary-General at the Venice Film Festival, Mr. Brandt said that between 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. today, correspondents were invited to a screening of the following four films in screening room 4 in the basement: "Asimbonanga", "A Cyber-Tale of Three Cities", "Secrets in the Sand" and "UN Peace-keeping: Situation Report".

He reminded correspondents of two briefings today sponsored by the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) and scheduled in the UNCA Lounge: at 1:30 p.m., the Permanent Representative of the United States, Bill Richardson, would discuss, among other subjects, his country's presidency of the Security Council during September. At 2 p.m., 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 brief correspondents on the task force's report.

In a further announcement, Mr. Brandt said that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was sponsoring a press conference tomorrow at 11:15 a.m. in room 226 on the appeal by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates for a culture of peace and non-violence. They would also discuss efforts to have the fifty-second session of the General Assembly declare the year 2000 as international year for the culture of peace and 2000- 2010 as the decade for the culture of peace and non-violence. Participants in the press conference would include Nobel Peace Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mairead Corrigan Maguire, as well as Ambassador Chowdhury of Bangladesh and representatives of UNESCO and the International Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Asked if the Secretary-General would attend the funeral of Princess Diana, Mr. Brandt said that he had tried to do so, in answer to an invitation he had received from the family, but that his schedule precluded him from attending. To a follow-up question about whether a representative from the United Nations might attend, he said not to his knowledge.

To a question about whether the Secretary-General had responded to a letter from Rosemary Waters of the Staff Committee concerning reform of the Department of Public Information, Mr. Brandt said he would have to check.

Asked for clarification on communications between President Kabila and the Secretary-General, specifically whether Mr. Kabila ever sent a reply to a

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letter sent him some two weeks ago by the Secretary-General, Mr. Brandt reiterated the Spokesman's announcement from yesterday indicating that on Sunday the Secretary-General had a telephone conversation with the Foreign Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo which basically served to clear up what the Spokesman characterized as some misunderstandings over the role and the composition of the investigative mission. That had been clarified. The Foreign Minister indicated in no uncertain terms to the Secretary-General that the mission was, from his Government's point of view, ready to go. The Secretary-General asked that clarification be put in writing. Such a letter had not yet been received.

On the question of a previous letter from President Kabila to the Secretary-General, did a non-answer to a letter imply disagreement? the correspondent asked. Mr. Brandt said "no, not necessarily". In that case, everybody understood the fact that the mission was going forward. On that, he would check on whether there had been indeed a previous letter sent to the Secretary-General by Mr. Kabila.

Asked for an update on the situation in Angola, the Associate Spokesman said that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Angola, Alioune Blondin Beye, had an audience yesterday afternoon with Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. The discussion, which lasted more than an hour, covered the present state of the peace process, with specific reference to Security Council resolution 1127 (1997) of 28 August and the obligations of the Government within the framework of the final stages of the Lusaka Protocol.

A correspondent asked if there was any movement on the stalled UNCA fellowship granted a Vietnamese journalist. Mr. Brandt said that apparently yesterday was a holiday in Viet Nam so it was difficult to reach anyone there. Attempts made today by the Under-Secretary-General Iqbal Riza to persuade the authorities in Viet Nam to grant the journalist the proper visa to come to New York were unsuccessful. The UNCA had indicated that barring any new developments, it would be forced to select someone else for the fellowship. Mr. Brandt hoped that the situation could be resolved.

Asked if the dispatch by the Government of the United States of 65 additional military personnel to Haiti was any cause for concern by the United Nations, Mr. Brandt understood that it was routine, according to an American programme of rotating such personnel. For confirmation, the correspondent might ask Mr. Richardson at his briefing in the UNCA Lounge this afternoon, he added.

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