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, began today's press briefing by welcoming Ambassador Richard Butler, Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission set up under Security Council resolution 687 (1991) in connection with the disposal of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. He had returned from his second visit to Iraq last week, and following his meeting with the Secretary-General this morning, the Spokesman invited him to talk to correspondents concerning his Iraqi trip. [Ambassador Butler's briefing is being issued separately.]

The Spokesman then announced the passing away, early today, of Bill Oatis, a correspondent who retired in 1984 after covering the United Nations for 30 years for the Associated Press. He was 83. Before coming to the United Nations, Mr. Eckhard recalled, Mr. Oatis was Prague Bureau Chief for the Associated Press, where he was arrested by the communist government and put in a show trial. In an Orwellian twist, the prosecution attested that Mr. Oatis was "particularly dangerous because of his discretion and insistence on obtaining only accurate, correct and verified information".

In his own tribute, Mr. Eckhard remarked that those correspondents who were at the United Nations at the time would remember Mr. Oatis for being "a quiet and civil reporter, for his dogged persistence in the pursuit of facts, and for his jaunty bow ties".

Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General had this morning rung the Peace Bell and laid a wreath outside the Meditation Room in honour of former Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold who died in a fatal air crash in Zambia on 17 September 1961. He had also gone into the Meditation Room for some brief reflection. He would later this afternoon attend the thirty-sixth anniversary lunch of the Dag Hammarskjold Memorial Fund to be hosted by the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA).

Mr. Eckhard further told correspondents that the Secretary-General would also this afternoon attend the opening of the fifty-second session of the General Assembly at 3 p.m. The Assembly was expected to approve the membership of the Credentials Committee, which would meet tomorrow to take up some of the outstanding controversies on credentials, including Cambodia.

Turning to the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Spokesman said that a written report was being awaited from the Human Rights Verification team in Kinshasa, which today had met with two government ministers. The meeting had not been particularly productive, he continued, as the team was told they could not go to Mbandaka. Once that report was in, it would be assessed here and a response would be made.

Concerning Congo-Brazzaville, he recalled he had stated that a summit of Heads of State in the region was being organized. The summit had indeed taken place on Sunday and Monday, with eight African States participating. They had called for the establishment of a United Nations peacekeeping operation for Congo-Brazzaville; urged the parties to agree on a lasting cease-fire; and reiterated their support for international mediation. The meeting was chaired by President Omar Bongo of Gabon, and was co-chaired by Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun, the United Nations/Organization of African Unity (OAU) Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region. Fighting had, however, continued in Brazzaville.

Mr. Eckhard told correspondents that the United Nations Overseers had yesterday approved two more oil contracts for Iraq. One involved 2.8 million barrels for a United States company, and the other 1.8 million barrels for a Swiss company. They brought the total oil contracts approved so far to 30, and the total volume to 119.83 million barrels; only one contract was now pending. Iraq had submitted a new oil pricing mechanism for the month of October, which, after review by the Overseers, was passed on yesterday afternoon to the Security Council Committee established by resolution 661 (1990) to monitor the sanctions against Iraq. Under the "no-objection" procedure, it had a deadline of tomorrow, Wednesday, 17 September, at 4 p.m.

The weekly report (No. 30) on the implementation of the "oil- for-food" programme was available in the Spokesman's Office. Last week, seven more contracts for the sale of humanitarian supplies had been approved, with none blocked or put on hold. Only 24 sales applications were yet to be circulated to the 661 Committee under phase I of the programme (the first 180-day period).

The Security Council was today taking up the Secretary-General's progress report on Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as his final report on the peacekeeping mission in Liberia.

On the talks on Western Sahara, currently going on in Houston, Texas, Mr. Eckhard said he did not know yet whether there would be anything said today by James Baker III, Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara. The initial expectation, he pointed out, had been that the talks would end today, recalling that he had mentioned yesterday that Mr. Baker hoped the parties would stay on as long as necessary to reach agreement. "We will see if there is anything out of Houston at the end of today", he said.

Mr. Eckhard then drew the attention of correspondents to a front page story in The New York Times today, that the United States Food and Drug Administration had requested the withdrawal from the market of fenfluramine, a diet drug linked to heart defects. He pointed out that the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) had blown the whistle on the drug

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 16 September 1997

in its 1996 annual report released six months ago. "The Board has 13 members, a staff of 25 and a modest budget", he remarked, "a valuable service for the money."

He also told correspondents that a summary of the press conference given today in Vienna by Pino Arlacchi, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna, was available in the Spokesman's Office.

He announced that Saint Lucia had become the eighty-seventh Member State to pay its 1997 contributions in full, with a cheque for $106,508.

The German Permanent Mission was organizing an "Oktoberfest", in the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) Club, to which all correspondents were invited, tomorrow, 17 September, at 6 p.m. Ambassador Tono Eitel, the German Permanent Representative, would take the occasion, after correspondents had "had a few beers", to brief them on German priorities for the forthcoming General Assembly, the Spokesman added.

He also drew the attention of correspondents to a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) press release saying that the American film star Harrison Ford was backing an FAO appeal against hunger. That had come out of the Venice Film Festival, which had also been attended by the Secretary-General.

Another press release, by the World Health Organization (WHO), said that 5 million children's deaths were now preventable, through the increased ability of health workers to detect the onset of the five greatest killers of children under age five. In a second statement from the organization, the WHO Director-General, Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, highlighted the potential of telemedicine.

Announcing press conferences, he said that tomorrow at 11:15 a.m., the Mission of Grenada would host Simon Molina Duarte, Secretary-General of the Association of Caribbean States, who would speak on cooperation between the Association and the United Nations. At 2 p.m., Ambassador Ouch Borith, Deputy Permanent Representative of Cambodia to the United Nations, and Uch Kim An, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cambodia would address correspondents.

On the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo concerning the Human Rights Verification Team, Mr. Eckhard was asked whose call it would be whether they left, and under what circumstances. He said it would be the Secretary-General's call; it was his mission and he would confer with his Political Affairs and Humanitarian Affairs staff, as well as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.

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Were there any consultations on stopping United Nations aid to the country? Mr. Eckhard said he was unaware of any "specific" consultations, but one reason why the Secretary-General had been patient with the Democratic Republic of the Congo was that if the human rights team were pulled out, there could be traumatic repercussions among the international donor community, concerning reconstruction aid.

The Spokesman was further asked what presence the United Nations had in the country, as far as development was concerned. He replied that the Organization had the representatives of "half a dozen or so" agencies in Kinshasa that had been liaising with the Department of Humanitarian Affairs. The Secretary-General had planned to send a needs evaluation team to the country which would have included representatives of the World Bank, he said, pointing out that that was "an unusual and fairly ambitious undertaking". That was now on hold, at the request of the Government, which said it was not prepared to contemplate international multilateral assistance at this time.

Asked if it was possible to obtain any figures on the amount of United Nations aid the Congo had received, Mr. Eckhard said he would look into that.

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