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 press briefing that the Security Council was holding consultations on the situation in the Central African Republic.

Specifically, the Council was taking up the second periodic report of Member States participating in the Inter-African Mission to Monitor the Implementation of the Bangui Agreements (document S/1997/684). The report describes developments in the situation in the Central African Republic from 21 August to 3 September. When the Council last took up that item, it took note of the first periodic report. Under other matters, Under-Secretary- General Iqbal Riza was briefing the Council on the latest developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Mr. Brandt reminded correspondents that the report by Thomas Hammarberg, the Secretary-General's Special Representative on human rights in Cambodia, was released today in Phnom Penh, Geneva and New York. It was a memorandum addressed to the Government of Cambodia and entitled, "Evidence of Summary Executions, Torture and Missing Persons since 27 July". Mr. Hammarberg held a press conference this morning in Phnom Penh, where he addressed questions on the report. Copies were available in the Spokesman's Office.

Also available on the third floor were copies of the latest briefing notes by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on the situation in the Great Lakes region of Africa, Mr. Brandt said. He drew attention to the fact that top officials of UNHCR were urgently reviewing the basis for the Organization's operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after yesterday's expulsion of refugees there. Mr. Brandt reminded correspondents that a statement had been released yesterday on the situation by Sadako Ogata, the High Commissioner for Refugees. Mrs. Ogata was holding consultations with the Secretary-General today and would travel to New York next week to brief the Council on the crisis surrounding the refugees in the area.

The Associate Spokesman said that UNHCR staff in Kigali were continuing to register Rwandan and Burundian refugees and asylum seekers expelled from Kisangani. The UNHCR staff in Kisangani were attempting to find out if they would be allowed in the refugees' centre. Meanwhile, UNHCR had been permitted access to the arrivals in Kigali and was able to provide blankets and biscuits to some of those refugees who remained overnight at the airport. After the usual registration procedures, the refugees were expected to be sent to the communes.

Mr. Brandt announced that Benin today had become the eighty-fourth Member State to pay in full its staff assessment for the 1997 regular budget. Benin's contributions totalled $106,508 and its payment was welcome. The

level of outstanding contributions was more than $2.6 billion, out of which $700 million was for the regular budget and more than $1.9 billion was for peacekeeping operations.

The Secretary-General had arrived yesterday in Reykjavik, Iceland, for an official visit representing the last leg of a Scandinavian tour that also took him to Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, Mr. Brandt said. Upon his arrival in Reykjavik, the Secretary-General went directly to the University of Iceland which had organized a lecture with the United Nations Association of Iceland. The Secretary-General addressed the group on United Nations reform, and yesterday evening attended an official dinner hosted by the Prime Minister in his and his wife's honour.

Continuing, Mr. Brandt said that the Secretary-General this morning had had a series of meetings with the Icelandic Government, including with the Prime Minister. His reform process along with the latest developments in the Middle East -- which he was following very closely -- had been discussed. The Secretary-General also met with the Vice-Presidents of the Icelandic Parliament as well as with other members of the Foreign Affairs Committee. He briefed the group on his reform package, particularly his new management proposals, human rights, fights against crime and drugs, and the development and humanitarian aspects. Also discussed was the question of the increase in the membership of the Security Council as well as changes in the scale of assessments.

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament welcomed the far- reaching proposals of the Secretary-General, Mr. Brandt reported. In a question-and-answer session, various issues of the Secretary-General's proposals were discussed, particularly the effect of sanctions, and the environment. The Secretary-General also discussed with that group the latest developments in the Middle East region.

Mr. Brandt said that the Secretary-General had also reviewed his reform proposals at a working luncheon hosted by Iceland's Foreign Minister. The Foreign Minister expressed his strong support for those proposals and assured the Secretary-General that he would cooperate within the Nordic group at the United Nations to push for their passage. Also examined were issues relating to the law of the sea, during which the Foreign Minister reiterated the crucial importance that Iceland gave to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and to environmental issues; Iceland's contribution to the Bosnia operation in the medical field; its assistance to developing countries, particularly in the field of fishery; and the question of the reform of the Security Council.

The Secretary-General would attend a private dinner tonight in his and his wife's honour, hosted by the Prime Minister, said Mr. Brandt. He was scheduled to leave tomorrow for Switzerland, where he would begin his official

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visit to Bern on Monday, 8 September. He would be back in his office on Tuesday, 9 September.

Mr. Brandt drew attention to a press release from the United Nations Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Office in Liberia detailing some of the current humanitarian activities by United Nations agencies and non- governmental organizations there. Some of those activities included the procurement by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) of school supplies for thousands of children affected by war, and the delivery of 22 metric tons of assorted foods by the World Food Programme (WFP) for distribution to women and children who were beneficiaries of the "therapeutic feeding programmes".

On the former Yugoslavia, a statement had been issued by the Contact Group which met yesterday in Brussels, Mr. Brandt said. Among other decisions, it stated that municipal elections throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina would proceed as scheduled on 13 and 14 September under the supervision of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The WFP had today issued a press release on an emergency project to help the Democratic People's Republic of Korea avert new floods, Mr. Brandt said. The WFP had organized an emergency food-for-work project to help the country repair the dikes destroyed last month by typhoon Winnie. It would distribute 12,750 metric tons of food rations to 370,000 people and their dependents who were working on the dikes' repairs. The food would come from a 100,000-ton donation by the United States. Copies of the press release were available in the Spokesman's Office.

Mr. Brandt said that according to the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, a successful return movement of some 15,000 displaced persons from Daghestan, in the Russian Federation, to Chechnya, had been completed. The movement of displaced persons was handled by 54 UNHCR convoys, while UNHCR and WFP assembled the food and non-food items that were provided as a "returnee package". The 7,000 people who did not return to Chechnya would be integrated into the permanent population of Daghestan. They were receiving integration packages similar to those given to the returnees. Return movements to Chechnya from other republics were expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Drawing attention to a press release from UNICEF, Mr. Brandt noted the statement made today by Carol Bellamy, the Executive Director of UNICEF, to the Diplomatic Conference on Land Mines calling on China and the Russian Federation to join the effort to ban anti-personnel land-mines by the end of the year.

"Mark your calendars", Mr. Brandt suggested. The new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, would be in New York on 22 September. In spite of a very heavy schedule of meetings, she had agreed to address correspondents at ll a.m. in room 226 on 30 September. Also,

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correspondents wishing to submit requests for interviews should contact the Spokesman's Office.

Mr. Brandt said that a message of the Secretary-General to the Eighth International Anti-Corruption Conference in Lima, Peru, from 7 to 11 September, would be delivered this Sunday by the Regional Director of the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Fernando Zumbado. Copies of that statement were available in the Spokesman's Office.

Also available, from the United Nations Office at Geneva, were copies of a brochure containing all kinds of interesting information regarding the work of that office in the areas of humanitarian affairs, human rights, trade and development, disarmament, research and training, and public information, as well as the activities of the United Nations Compensation Commission, Mr. Brandt said.

He announced the appointment by the Secretary-General of Staffan de Mistura to the position of Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Rome, effective 1 September. Mr. de Mistura -- who recently briefed correspondents at the noon briefing along with the new Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Denis Halliday -- served as the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq from March through August. He was formerly the Director of the UNICEF Division of Public Affairs and the UNICEF Representative in Somalia. A biographical note was available in the Spokesman's Office.

The fiftieth annual Department of Public Information (DPI)/Non- Governmental Organization (NGO) Conference would take place next week from Wednesday, 10 September, to Friday, 12 September, on the theme "Building Partnerships" . The Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly, Ismail Razali, would make statements at the opening session in the General Assembly Hall next Wednesday at 10 a.m. A record number of 2,385 NGO representatives had already pre-registered for the Conference. A fact sheet was available in the Spokesman's Office.

In a note just delivered by a member of his staff, Mr. Brandt said that the Secretary-General's latest report to the Security Council on the implementation of the "oil-for-food" programme would be made available to correspondents later in the day. The report contained information on the distribution of humanitarian supplies throughout Iraq, including the three governorates in the north. Since no humanitarian goods under the second phase of the implementation of Security Council resolution 986 (1995) on "oil-for- food" plan had reached Iraq yet, the Secretary-General expected to report on implementation of the second phase prior to the end of the current 108-day period.

Noting the excellent coverage by United Nations photographer Evan Schneider of the first part of the Secretary-General's trip, a correspondent

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 5 September 1997

asked if there would be similarly fine coverage with the change of photographers during the Secretary-General's visit to the three other Nordic countries. Mr. Brandt informed the correspondent that another United Nations excellent photographer, Milton Grant, was travelling with the Secretary- General. He was certain of the excellency of his work. "You'll see for yourself", he said.

Did the Secretary-General have any plans to visit Latin America? another correspondent asked. Mr. Brandt said that, yes, the Secretary-General was planning to travel to Latin America soon. "In fact, I don't think I'm at risk of losing my job if I tell you that his trip is expected for early November."

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