PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

[Incorporates briefing by Spokesman for General Assembly President]

Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, informed correspondents at the start of today's briefing that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, who was briefing the Security Council, had been invited to talk to them afterwards.

The Council would also be hearing from General Manfred Eisele of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations on the continuing crossover shelling from Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo, to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

President Emomali Rakhmonov of Tajikistan had met with the Secretary- General early this morning and had been the first speaker in the general debate, the Spokesman continued. On the ground in Tajikistan, there had been some progress in the implementation of the peace process. All four subcommissions of the Commission on National Reconciliation -- political, military, refugees, and legal -- had adopted their work programmes and timetables. The Commission had also appealed to all armed groups to indicate their affiliations, with the Government or with the United Tajik Opposition, by 16 November. After that date, they would be considered illegal.

On the oil-for-food programme, said Mr. Eckhard, the 661 Committee, overseeing the sanctions on Iraq, last week approved 13 humanitarian contracts, bringing to 16 the total of such contracts under Phase II of the programme. By the end of last week, $305 million had been deposited from the Phase II oil sales and by the end of today an additional $191 million was expected to have been deposited. That would bring the total oil proceeds to half of the $1 billion ceiling authorized by the Security Council.

Available in the Spokesman's Office, in Spanish and English, was a communique on the presentation of the seventh Human Rights Situation Report of the United Nations Human Rights Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA), Mr. Eckhard continued. The report stated that the steady drop in the number of violations by public officials of those human rights that the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights considered to be of prime importance represented significant progress in the implementation of the general commitment regarding human rights.

Mr. Eckhard then noted that the rebuilding of the Ottoman Bridge in Mostar had been announced in Sarajevo. The famous bridge, built in 1566, was destroyed in 1993. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO) was behind the project. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would provide the engineering help; yesterday, they lifted the first stone out of the river.

He also announced that the United States yesterday paid $93.5 million against its peacekeeping arrears. It had also paid an additional $5 million for international tribunals. Those figures lowered the country's indebtedness from $1.5 billion to $1.4 billion.

He also announced that Major-General Stanislaw F. Wozniak of Poland, who had served with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) as its Force Commander since April 1995, today left the post to return to Poland. Major-General Jioje Konousi Konrote of Fiji would take over, with effect from tomorrow, 1 October. The Secretary-General had extended his appreciation to General Wozniak for his distinguished service with UNIFIL.

The first report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) on the proposed programme budget for the biennium 1998-1999 had arrived on the racks yesterday, Mr. Eckhard said. It contained conclusions and recommendations arrived at by the ACABQ on the basis of the Secretary-General's proposals for the programme budget for 1998-1999.

The Secretary-General had designated David Stephen as Head of the United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS), effective 1 October 1997. He would assume duties on 9 October in Nairobi, where the Office was currently located, in view of security conditions in Mogadishu. A national of the United Kingdom, Mr. Stephen had been Chief Speechwriter in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. Between June 1996 and February 1997, he was Director of MINUGUA.

Mr. Eckhard drew attention to a press release from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which stated that, along with Italian Television RAI, it had today launched the Telefood Global telecast, which would link 60 countries on 19 October to the "Food for All Campaign". The press release noted that the telecast was a follow-up to last year's World Food Summit. The purpose of Telefood was to involve people everywhere in the fight against hunger. The Press Release was available in room 378.

Lewis Nelson, the award-winning American designer, would be at Headquarters today to meet with United Nations officials, Mr. Eckhard continued. He had been selected to design the Dag Hammarskjold Medal, which was approved by the Security Council last July as a tribute to the sacrifice of those who had lost their lives as a result of service in peacekeeping operations. Mr. Nelson would be providing the service on a pro bono basis for the United Nations. He is also a representative for the United States Committee for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), a task he has shared with his wife, American folk singer Judy Collins, who is a special representative for the performing arts, the Spokesman added.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 30 September 1997

Also available to correspondents today was an advance copy of the Secretary-General's statement on the occasion, tomorrow, of the International Day of Older Persons.

From the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, and also available in the Spokesman's Office, was a press release on the environmental emergency in South-East Asia.

On press conferences, Mr. Eckhard reminded correspondents that at 12:45 p.m. in room 226, President Emomali Rakhmonov of Tajikistan would be present. Tomorrow at 11:15 a.m., President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone would be present.

The United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) would host a representative of Taliban, Abdul Hakim Mujahadin, at the UNCA Club today at 2 p.m.

The Spokesman pointed out that today marked the end of the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL). It was the first peacekeeping mission deployed with a regional peacekeeping force, the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG), which completed its four-year mission successfully today. Its main mandate had been to support the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Liberian Transitional Government to implement the peace agreements in their entirety, culminating in successful elections. The task was now to sustain the peace, which had been achieved through repatriation, resettlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction. United Nations agencies would focus their activities on those aspects. The Secretary-General and the Liberian Government had agreed to set up a United Nations Peace-building Support Office to mobilize international support for reconstruction in Liberia. Background information on UNOMIL was available in room 378.

Asked for information on the human rights investigative team in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and whether he had spoken to them, Mr. Eckhard said he had seen a report from the Pan African News Agency out of Lusaka, based on comments attributed to President Laurent Kabila, who had said he was requesting the Secretary-General to immediately withdraw the United Nations human rights investigative team. There was nothing official from that Government at this time and, as of 11 a.m., EST, the investigative team had not been contacted by the Government in Kinshasa.

Also asked if the United Nations, in retrospect, had any feelings about having appointed as the chief investigator, a Togolese who "had ties" with Mobutu Sese-Seko and whether that could have possibly provoked Mr. Kabila, the Spokesman explained that the man had been taken from a roster maintained in Geneva of qualified human rights experts. There were no second thoughts about that decision, and the judge could not have been the only reason for the objections of the Government of President Kabila to the presence of the human rights investigative team.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 30 September 1997

On the meetings of Prince Norodon Sihanouk and Mr. Hun Sen with the Secretary-General today, Mr. Eckhard would not speculate as to why they had asked to see the Secretary-General, or what they wanted to talk about. The credentials issue, he pointed out, was in the hands of the General Assembly, which had deferred a decision. "I have to assume that the primary subject that they want to speak to the Secretary-General about is the political situation in Cambodia; they requested the meetings, and I assume it will be more than a courtesy call."

A correspondent recalled that yesterday, United States Congressman Chris Smith said he planned to insure that United Nations policy on abortion was reflected in the legislation in Congress dealing with the payment of United States dues. The Congressman had said he was concerned with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Health Organization (WHO), whom, he claimed, were planning to implement abortion services in refugee camps and health clinics. Was there an overarching United Nations policy on the issue of abortion, or were there specific agency policies about whether it was allowed, and what United Nations money could or could not be used for?

Mr. Eckhard replied that there were policies, but pointed out that what Mr. Smith had been referring to was a policy or guidelines concerning refugees. Abortion was permitted in refugee camps, the Spokesman explained, when it concerned the health of the mother and in cases of rape. The guidelines had been developed not just with the two United Nations agencies referred to by the correspondent, but with the full panoply of agencies, funds and programmes that dealt with refugees, and with an even fuller list of non- governmental organizations that also worked on the subject. The guidelines had taken a long time to develop and had very broad, popular support. He doubted however, that as broad as they were, they would satisfy the criteria of Mr. Smith. They were published and were in effect.

On whether abortion had been available to refugees prior "to this", the Spokesman said that the problem was in the definition of abortion, "which Congressman Smith yesterday seemed to extend to morning-after pills". There was something of a theological debate about what abortion was, he added.

Alex Taukatch, Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), said the general debate entered its seventh day this morning with the President of Tajikistan being today's first speaker. The President of the General Assembly had met with the Tajik President just before he went to address the Assembly.

In response to questions about the speakers' order tomorrow, Mr. Taukatch pointed out that Cuba, which had been scheduled to speak in the morning, would now speak in the last slot in the morning session; Vietnam would be the first speaker.

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 30 September 1997

The Main Committees were also becoming busy, Mr. Taukatch continued. Later this afternoon, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) would hold its second meeting. It would deal largely with organizational matters. At 3 p.m. today, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) would begin substantive work. At this session, the Committee would deal mainly with budgetary issues and matters relating to the scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations.

It would be a very busy session for the Fifth Committee, the Spokesman noted. In the context of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 1998-1999, the Fifth Committee would also consider the programmatic and financial aspects of the reform proposals. There were a total of 35 items on the Committee's agenda, he added, pointing out that document A/C.5/52/L.1, the "Status of Documentation of the Fifth Committee" would help correspondents keep track of documents concerning the Committee. He noted however, that it did not contain reports by the Secretary-General that would be presented on budget implications on decisions adopted in plenary or in Main Committees.

In his briefing, ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi told correspondents that following his return last week, he had briefed the Secretary-General on Friday and this morning had also briefed the Security Council on his mission to and around Afghanistan. Tomorrow, at the request of a number of countries, there would also be a briefing of the "Group of 21", countries interested in the situation in Afghanistan. That briefing would be conducted by himself and the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Gustave Speth, who had also recently been in the country.

The Security Council was now in the process of issuing a presidential statement, Mr. Brahimi continued, expressing concern about the continuation of the fighting and the suffering of the people of Afghanistan in the conflict that had been going on for about 20 years. It would also call on the countries that had been fueling the conflict by providing arms and support to the parties to stop doing so.

Speaking about the intense fighting around Mazar-i-Sharif, he said the Taliban had announced they had taken the city, while the opposition said the Taliban were driven back. The true position was not yet known.

Mr. Brahimi was asked if he was optimistic something might be worked out. The Special Representative said something could be worked out with the cooperation of the neighbours -- "all of them" -- and strong support from the big powers.

Also asked if anything had come up at the Security Council concerning the recent detention by the Taliban of the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Emma Bonino, Mr. Brahimi said it would be included in the statement.

On "what next?", the Special Representative said he would write his report to the Secretary-General, who would decide what the United Nations should do in the current situation.

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