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 the start of today's press briefing that the Secretary-General's appointment schedule was full of meetings with ministers and heads of State and government. He had met with the Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic this morning, followed by the Prime Minister of Andorra, and the Foreign Minister of Portugal.

The Secretary-General would also meet with the Presidents of Guatemala and Paraguay, and the Foreign Ministers of Togo, France and the Dominican Republic. He would later have a meeting with the Foreign Minister of Norway in the newly-refurbished Security Council Chamber, a gift of the Government of Norway, which the Foreign Minister would present at 6 p.m. A press release from Norway on the subject was available. The Secretary-General would finish his day at a dinner to be hosted by the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine).

From the podium of the General Assembly, Mr. Eckhard went on, there continued to be endorsements of the Secretary-General's reform proposals. Among those endorsements, he cited the following:

-- Jose Miguel Insulza, Foreign Minister of Chile, had welcomed the Secretary-General's report and agreed with his proposals aimed at transforming the leadership and management structure of the United Nations;

-- Arnoldo Aleman Lacayo, President of Nicaragua, had congratulated him on his dynamic vision and thanked him for the report;

-- Leonid Kuchma, President of Ukraine, had said, "We should begin without delay concrete work on the proposals of the Secretary-General, without dividing the package into separate fragments";

-- Mohamed Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, had said his country would, as always, support all initiatives for the realization of the objectives set out in the Charter. "We support the process of reform in the United Nations."; and

-- Robin Cook, Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, said "the United Nations should have a bigger role than ever before. The United Nations should modernize. The outstanding leadership shown by the Secretary-General is an important start. His proposals for institutional reform will retain what is

best in the United Nations system, and give it the flexibility and efficiency it requires to respond rapidly to the new challenges of a new century".

There had been questions from journalists this morning concerning the Secretary-General's response to the latest massacre of 85 civilians in Algiers, Mr. Eckhard said. The Secretary-General condemned that brutal act of terrorism, as he had condemned terrorism anywhere it occurred.

Turning to Iraq, he said that since the implementation of phase two of the "oil-for-food" programme in June, the Security Council Committee established by resolution 661 (1990) to monitor the sanctions against Iraq had last week approved the first three humanitarian supplies contracts, according to "Weekly Report No. 31", which the United Nations gave to Iraq yesterday. The contracts involved the sales of wheat and other foodstuffs, and the first had gone to an Australian company for $47.5 million; the second, for tea, to a Sri Lankan company, for $6.3 million; and the third, for infant formula, to a Tunisian company, worth $2.3 million.

In addition, three more contracts had also been approved yesterday, involving wheat, sugar and powdered milk, and all going to French companies, he added. The wheat contract was worth $9.1 million; the sugar contract, $11.2 million; and the powdered milk contract, $21.8 million. So far, 20 humanitarian sales applications had been received, of which six had been submitted to the Committee. All six were approved yesterday.

Mr. Eckhard then told correspondents that tomorrow, 24 September, would be the first anniversary of the opening for signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) at United Nations Headquarters. The Treaty Section had produced a status of signature and ratification of the CTBT, which was now available in the Spokesman's Office.

He announced that the International Court of Justice had deferred, from Wednesday, 24 September, to Thursday, 25 September, at 10 a.m. local time, its judgment on the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Project Case between Hungary and Slovakia, concerning dams on the Danube River.

The Spokesman also announced that the Russian Federation had today made a partial payment of its arrears to the peacekeeping budgets, of $60 million, about a quarter of its arrears.

Mr. Eckhard further told correspondents that news of an exodus of up to 20,000 refugees from conflict-zones in Cambodia into Thailand had been received from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva. Details were contained in the UNHCR's "Briefing Notes", available in the Spokesman's Office. The Notes also included news on the return of Congolese refugees from the United Republic of Tanzania.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) had today announced that five new pesticides had

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 23 September 1997

been added to the international voluntary watch list so that their trade could be better monitored and managed, Mr. Eckhard said. The list now included 17 harmful pesticides and five industrial chemicals, which were part of what was known as the Prior Informed Consent Procedure, or PIC, jointly monitored by the FAO and UNEP, in which 154 countries were currently participating. The idea was that those dangerous substances should not be imported without the prior agreement of the importing country. Negotiations were under way to transform the voluntary PIC procedure into a legally binding convention, and the next round of negotiations on that subject would take place at the FAO headquarters in Rome between 20 and 24 October.

Mr. Eckhard informed correspondents that the Department of Humanitarian Affairs produces a monthly summary of the United Nations response to natural disasters around the world. The August report was now out, and his Office was making it available to give them an overview of the Organization's work in the area of natural disasters, from heavy rain in the Seychelles to the volcano in Montserrat to typhoon Winnie in China.

The World Chronicle television programme would today feature Karl Sauvant, Chief, Research and Policy Analysis Branch, Division on Transnational Corporations and Investment, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Air time was 2:30 p.m. on in-house channel 6 or 38.

Also available now was a summary of the press conference by Denis Halliday, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, given in his office in Baghdad.

Regarding Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Eckhard drew attention to her appointments for yesterday and today, available in the Spokesman's Office.

He also reminded correspondents of a photographic exhibit in the Secretariat Lobby outside the cafeteria, the work of United Nations photographer Evan Schneider. "They are very pretty, I recommend them to you", the Spokesman added.

On press conferences for tomorrow, 24 September, he said Makha Sarr, Director, Office of the Special Coordinator for Africa and Least Developed Countries, would introduce UNCTAD's 1997 Report on the Least Developed Countries at 11 a.m. At 12:45 p.m., Hiroshi Hashimoto, spokesman for the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, would brief the press on the speech of the Foreign Minister and bilateral meetings with the Russian Federation, Republic of Korea and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). At 6:15 p.m., Mr. Hashimoto would return to speak on the Foreign Minister's bilateral meeting with China.

Asked if there was a list of the harmful pesticides mentioned in his briefing, Mr. Eckhard said his Office would be happy to contact the FAO's Press or Liaison Office, on behalf of the correspondent, for the full list.

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Another correspondent asked the Spokesman if the unprecedented nature of the terrorist attack in Algiers had changed the view of the United Nations, in terms of possible mediation. He replied that the Secretary-General's position was as he had stated it before; he had nothing to add.

Saying that there was a letter from the Iraqi Foreign Minister claiming that the United Nations had no legal objection to the return of Iraqi planes which that country had sent to Iran during the Persian Gulf War, a correspondent asked if the Organization indeed had such a legal position. Mr. Eckhard said that the Legal Office had no record of having established such a legal position as described by the Iraqi Government. In addition, the aircraft concerned were considered part of the Iraqi frozen assets under Security Council resolution 661 (1990) and other resolutions. It was therefore up to the Sanctions Committee and the Security Council to pronounce themselves on any legal obligation to return the planes.

Also asked about the $1 billion donation by Ted Turner at the weekend, and specifically where the money would be going, Mr. Eckhard said that there was only one Department that was dealing with Mr. Turner's financial advisers, that was Administration and Management. No decision had been made about the legal entity that would be established, how the money would be disbursed or by whom. All those isssues were now being discussed; it was legally "complicated", but the lawyers had their instructions and would work everything out. At this time, he cautioned, "we should not say that (the money) was going to be given to this or that agency, or for this or that purpose".

He added that the United Nations would use the money "wisely and well", for the humanitarian purposes that Mr. Turner had intended, and that were consistent with the Organization's programme of work. He stressed that the letter of the Charter was to the effect that the expenses of the Organization would be borne only by Member States. To that end, if an individual wrote a cheque to pay the dues of a Member State for the regular budget, the cheque would be sent back, or some other use would be found for it. On the other hand, however, the Organization had a lot of voluntary programmes and there were ways for private individuals to contribute to its activities.

Mr. Eckhard was asked if the Secretary-General had any plans to receive the Prime Minister of India, in view of some domestic issues in India, to which he replied that the Secretary-General would see virtually all the leaders who came to address the General Assembly.

Clarifying the payment made by the Russian Federation today, the Spokesman said that it was for peacekeeping arrears, which were also legally binding as assessments but were a separate account from the regular budget.

Asked if, "other than Afghanistan and Cambodia", he could say what other seats were empty or contested in the General Assembly, Mr. Eckhard turned the issue to Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the Assembly, Hennadiy

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Udovenko (Ukraine). Mr. Taukatch explained that it was not correct to say that Afghanistan's seat was vacant, although Cambodia's seat was, owing to the decision of the Credentials Committee to defer consideration of the matter. Asked about Sierra Leone, he said the issue had not come up in the Committee at this time. Continuing, Mr. Taukatch said that the seats of Yugoslavia and Somalia remained vacant but there were different reasons for that. Mr. Eckhard was asked what would happen if there were no funds for peacekeeping, to which he said that there was, indeed, a shortage of funds in that account. The largest obligation in peacekeeping was the reimbursement of troop-contributing States. "We are very much behind in paying troop- contributors for their soldiers, and that is how we absorb the shortfall in the peacekeeping account, and it is also how we borrow against the peacekeeping account, to help finance the regular budget shortfall." A correspondent asked for the meaning of "vacancies", in terms of the General Assembly seats. The Permanent Representative of Cambodia had addressed the press in room S-226 yesterday, he went on, and when asked in which capacity, he had answered that he was doing so as Permanent Representative of Cambodia. "We are talking about the vacant seat in the General Assembly Hall", answered the spokesman for the President of the Assembly, "and until the Credentials Committee makes a recommendation to the General Assembly and the Assembly acts on it, the seat in the Hall will remain vacant." Mr. Eckhard, asked if Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity was affiliated with the United Nations, and whether it would benefit from Mr. Turner's donation, said he did not know. However, when Mother Teresa visited New York some months before her death, the Secretary-General had paid her a visit and spoken to her for about a half hour. The Spokesman's Office would check if there was an official link, he added. Briefing correspondents on the work of the Assembly, Mr. Taukatch said that Mr. Udovenko, the Assembly President, was trying to preside over most of the general debate right now because he wanted to hear, personally, the reaction of Member States to the package of reform proposals put together by the Secretary-General. He was delighted to see that those proposals were eliciting such strong response. In the meetings he was holding, the question of reform always came up. This morning, Mr. Udovenko had met with the Prime Minister of Andorra, Mr. Taukatch said. Later in the day, he would meet with the Foreign Ministers of Austria and of Poland. He would also attend a reception in honour of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Slovakia. At 2:40 p.m., he would meet with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany; and at 4 p.m. with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden. At 7:30 p.m. today, he would host a dinner in honour of the President of Ukraine. The President of the General Assembly was appalled by the news of the latest gruesome violence in Algeria, Mr. Taukatch continued. He regretted the continued loss of life in the country, and condemned last night's act of terrorism, and acts of terrorism anywhere.

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