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 reading the following statement:

"The Secretary-General was outraged to learn of the triple bomb attack today in Ben Yehuda street in Jerusalem in which several people were killed and hundreds wounded, including young children. He again condemns in the strongest possible terms this appalling act of violence and extends his condolences to the Government of Israel and the families of those killed and injured.

"The Secretary-General is convinced that it is time for the Israelis and the Palestinians to sit together and to take stock of the situation on the ground and in their negotiations, to decide what can be done to prevent violence, address its causes and do everything possible to restart the peace talks. He urges immediate action to that end."

Mr. Brandt said his office had just received a statement from Geneva issued by the Officer-in-Charge of the High Commissioner for Human Rights/Centre for Human Rights, Ralph Zacklin, also on news of the bombings in Jerusalem, which he read out as follows:

"I am appalled to learn that there has been another senseless attack on the life and well-being of innocent people in Israel, which has no justification and debases those who commit them.

"Such terrorist acts are clearly designed to derail the peace process, which represents the best hope for safeguarding the human rights of people throughout the region.

"The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights condemns all ideologies which encourage hatred and violence and lead to the constant denial of the most fundamental of human rights: the right to life."

Mr. Brandt said that he was asked by the Secretary-General to say that the Secretary-General was saddened by yesterday's crash of a Vietnamese airplane during its attempt to land at Cambodia's Phnom Penh airport. The crash, which happened yesterday morning, killed more than 60 people. The Secretary-General regretted the loss of life and expressed his condolences to the families of the people who died in the accident.

Mr. Brandt said that the Secretary-General had just arrived in Reykjavik in continuation of his visit to the Nordic countries. Before arriving in Iceland, he had a series of meetings this morning in Oslo, including with the Minister for Defence, the Minister for Development Cooperation, the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and with representatives of non-governmental

organizations. He then had a working luncheon hosted by the Minister for Development Cooperation, after which he left for Reykjavik, where he would be through tomorrow. Additional information on the Secretary-General's meetings in Oslo and in Reykjavik -- which included a press conference at 1715 hours local time -- would be made available by the Spokesman's Office later in the day.

The Security Council just adjourned its consultations, Mr. Brandt said. The Council heard a briefing by Yasushi Akashi, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, on his recently concluded mission to Burundi and Rwanda.

The fourth round of talks on the situation in Western Sahara between Morocco and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (POLISARIO) would be held at the James Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston, Texas, from 14 to 16 September, Mr. Brandt said. The talks were expected to focus on the code of conduct, as indicated by James Baker III, the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for Western Sahara. At the conclusion of the most recent round of talks in Lisbon, Mr. Baker reported substantial progress on other issues.

A press release from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia reported on a decision of 25 August rejecting a motion by the defence in the Blaskic case to block the testimony of certain prosecution witnesses. The motion, filed on 25 June, was based on the alleged violation by the prosecution of the Tribunal's decision in January ordering the prosecution to immediately disclose all previous statements appearing in its file. Further details were available in a press release in the Spokesman's Office.

Mr. Brandt drew attention to a letter by the Secretary-General to the President of the Security Council, dated 28 August, informing the Council President of the appointment of Francis Okelo (Uganda), Deputy Head of the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan, to the position of the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Sierra Leone. Mr. Okelo would replace Berhanu Dinka (Ethiopia), who would be taking up a new assignment. Mr. Okelo would assume his new position in the second half of this month. The exchange of letters between the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council was available on the racks (documents S/1997/680 and S/1997/681). A biography of Mr. Okelo was available in the Spokesman's Office.

Mr. Brandt said that the Secretary-General's Special Representative on human rights in Cambodia, Thomas Hammarberg, had today met with King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia in Siem Reap at 11 a.m. local time and with the Second Prime Minister, Hun Sen, in Phnom Penh at 4:45 p.m. The meeting with King Sihanouk was described by Mr. Hammarberg as cordial and constructive; the King was very supportive of the United Nations human rights efforts in his country. At Mr. Hammarberg's two-hour meeting with Mr. Hun Sen, the Second Prime

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Minister indicated his appreciation for the United Nations report on human rights which signified constructive and positive relations between the Human Rights Office and the Cambodian Government, and enabled his Government to clear up certain unfounded rumours. Mr. Hammarberg was scheduled to brief the Cambodian press tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. local time and the English-speaking press at 1 p.m. on that report, which would be released tomorrow in Geneva and in New York.

A summary of requirements and contributions for the 1997 Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Angola, dated 1 September, from the Department of Humanitarian Affairs was available in the Spokesman's Office, Mr. Brandt said. It was a very interesting paper which contained a breakdown of systems, funding, countries and agencies that were working hard to provide Angola with the necessary elements for its reconstruction.

Mr. Brandt announced a background briefing for correspondents by a senior Secretariat official on the annual report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization. The briefing was scheduled for tomorrow at 11 a.m. in room 226. Also on background, at 3 p.m. also in room 226, Mark Gilpin, Chief of the Contributions Service at the Department of Administration and Management, would brief correspondents on the outcome of discussions on the scale of assessment in the Committee on Contributions. Correspondents were advised to bring their own copies of the Committee's report to the briefing (document A/51/11).

To a question about the meetings in Oslo between the Secretary-General and non-governmental organizations, a correspondent asked which NGOs were included. The Associate Spokesman said they were Norwegian NGOs and he would check on their names.

Asked if there were any further developments on the United Nations investigative team in Kinshasa -- specifically whether a letter by Laurent Kabila, the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, had been received, Mr. Brandt said, "I regret to say, no. We have not heard, or seen, or received any communication yet". "We are waiting", he added.

To a follow-up question about whether there was a problem with putting something in writing, Mr. Brandt said he did not have any indication one way or the other. As he had said yesterday, there seemed to be some coordination problems on the part of the Congolese Government in producing this "reaffirmation" of what was communicated by the Foreign Minister to the Secretary-General by telephone last Sunday. Asked what the team was doing, Mr. Brandt said its members, numbering 20 to 25 people, were ready and waiting. They had prepared extensively in anticipation of the go-ahead for their mission. "Now the time has come for them to move", he said.

Another correspondent asked if copies of the Secretary-General's annual report would be available at tomorrow's briefing. Mr. Brandt explained that

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 4 September 1997

the report would not be released until early Monday morning. Tomorrow's briefing by a senior Secretariat official was "to give you a heads up". News stories on the report should be embargoed until Monday morning.

Was anyone in the Organization attempting to bring the Israelis and the Palestinians into some kind of accommodation? a correspondent asked. Mr. Brandt said he thought that the messages that the Secretary-General had been compelled to deliver were an indication of his growing concern and that of the international community regarding the peace process in the Middle East. There was a system going, there was a process going. The Secretary-General wanted to see that process moving as quickly and as effectively as possible.

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