DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

(Incorporates briefing by spokesman for General Assembly President.)

Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's press briefing by telling correspondents that the United Nations Transitional Administrator for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium, William G. Walker, was briefing the Security Council at about the same time. He would, however, be joining the Spokesman's briefing to talk to correspondents if his Security Council assignment ended in time.

Concerning Congo-Brazzaville, he said that a ceasefire agreement had been negotiated last month in Libreville by the International Mediation Committee headed by President Omar Bongo of Gabon. With the assistance of the Joint United Nations/Organization of African Unity (OAU) Special Representative to the Great Lakes Region, Mohamed Sahnoun, a ceasefire declaration was signed on 28 September by President Pascal Lissouba, and the new Prime Minister, Bernard Kolelas, the former mayor of Brazzaville. They had then asked President Bongo to try to persuade the former president, General Denis Sassou N'guesso, to sign the ceasefire. Ambassador Sahnoun had this morning informed the Secretary-General that General N'guesso had signed the ceasefire agreement in Brazzaville. A statement on the issue, attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, was available in room S-378, Mr. Eckhard added. It reads:

"The Secretary-General has been informed today by Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun, the Joint United Nations/Organization for African Unity Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, that General Denis Sassou N'guesso has just signed the ceasefire document drawn up last month during talks in Libreville overseen by President Omar Bongo of Gabon and Ambassador Sahnoun. President Pascal Lissouba and his Prime Minister, Bernard Kolelas, had already put their names to the same document.

"The Secretary-General warmly welcomes this positive development and calls on the Security Council and the international community at large to take all the necessary measures to help consolidate this ceasefire declaration and its implementation on the ground.

"Ambassador Sahnoun who is currently in consultations in New York is returning to Libreville to continue his support to the mediation efforts to President Bongo aimed at finding a peaceful and durable solution to the conflict in the Republic of the Congo."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, was back in New York, Mr. Eckhard said. She had travelled back to Geneva briefly, but had been at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel last night to receive the

Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights Award, presented each year by the group for advocacy on human rights. The Secretary-General and Mrs. Annan had also been present at that ceremony. Mrs. Robinson had agreed to join last night's other winners of the award today in the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) Club at 5 p.m. to brief correspondents.

Turning to Angola, the Spokesman noted that in phase I of the extension of State administration throughout Angola, there were 172 areas under the control of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) that had been scheduled to be brought under the administration of the Government of Unity and National Reconciliation. By the end of September, 103 had been incorporated, 69 short of the target. In October, there was an additional 171 areas to be incorporated, which meant an outstanding new total of 240 remaining such areas. Putting the picture in context, Mr. Eckhard said that, while there were only a couple of weeks left in October, bringing all those areas under the Government of Unity and National Reconciliation looked "like a tall order".

Available to correspondents in the Spokesman's Office, he continued, was the statement that the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Bernard Miyet, would deliver in Virginia today at the memorial service for the American victims of the helicopter crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mr. Eckhard drew attention to the appointments of the Secretary-General for today, noting that Luciano Pavarotti would be "dropping in". He explained that the singer was the lunch guest of the Assistant Secretary-General for Public Information, Samir Sanbar, and was only paying a courtesy call on the Secretary-General.

He announced a report, available in the Spokesman's Office, from the World Health Organization (WHO) concerning the recent attack on WHO premises in Baghdad.

Also available, he continued, was the outstanding contributions report for the end of September. Nothing had changed, he said; $2.4 billion remained outstanding.

The Spokesman also announced a press release from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which had published a new edition of their "World Atlas of Desertification". It estimated that 130 million hectares worldwide could no longer be used for food production. That was the size of France, Spain and Italy combined, Mr. Eckhard pointed out.

The spokesman for the Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, Eric Falt, had begun a weekly briefing in Baghdad on the humanitarian activities of the United Nations in that country. Today's briefing had focused on the implementation of the "oil-for-food" plan, and he had said that despite the recent shooting incidents affecting the security of United Nations

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personnel, the current restriction of movement applied only to the northernmost parts of Dohuk Governorate, which was a small portion of the territory where humanitarian supplies were being distributed. All efforts were being made by the United Nations to continue implementation of the programme, and "food supplies were getting through".

Mr. Eckhard said that tomorrow at 11:15 a.m., a press conference would be held by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Barbados, Billie Miller. He would introduce Barbados' candidate for Director- General of the WHO, Sir George Alleyne, and give the candidate the opportunity to talk to correspondents about his vision for the WHO. The Spokesman also announced that at tomorrow's press briefing the Secretary-General would introduce his newly appointed Special Representative to study impact of armed conflict on children, Olara Otunnu. The Spokesman also drew the attention of correspondents to an announcement in today's Journal that a briefing on the United Nations Stand-by Forces High-Readiness Brigade (SHIRBRIG) would be held on 20 October at 3 p.m. in the Economic and Social Council Chamber. It would be hosted by Denmark.

Asked to explain how the publication of the Human Rights Watch report on the Democratic Republic of the Congo would affect the investigative mission, he said he did not think it would have an impact on United Nations planning, but would merely be one more report indicating that there was a problem there that needed to be documented. The non-governmental organizations that had conducted those reports had been very supportive of the idea of a United Nations investigation to verify and amplify what they had already discovered themselves and documented. "In a sense, it underlines the importance of a United Nations mission getting under way, and we continue to be hopeful that will happen", he added.

Pointing out that Human Rights Watch had said that the attacks were "very different" from other massacres, and had been authorized by Rwanda and "given a wink and a clean slate by the United States Government", the correspondent asked whether the United Nations had any comments on the "specific nature" of the problem. "No", replied Mr. Eckhard, noting that the United Nations had yet to get into the field for its investigations. "Whatever comments we have will be after we have conducted an investigation, if we are able to conduct an investigation."

He added that in the event that the United Nations was not able to get into the field, the work of the Commission on Human Rights on the Democratic Republic of the Congo would continue from outside the country. To that extent, the Organization would try to document the allegations.

Also asked if the human rights investigative team would come to room S-226 to address the press, the Spokesman said they were still debriefing the Secretariat, and would meet with the Secretary-General once more to discuss options. The United States was also understood to be preparing a

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diplomatic effort of their own in support of getting the United Nations mission under way. "For the time being, this team would not be talking to the press", Mr. Eckhard said.

The Spokesman was further asked if the United States had informed the Organization about their diplomatic efforts in the region. He replied that the Permanent Representative of the United States, Bill Richardson, had talked to the Secretary-General about the interest of the United States to send a diplomatic mission, a time-frame for which had also been explored. On that subject, he said that two weeks had been the Secretary-General's preference, but added that whether that would be possible or not was up to the United States to say.

From the United Nations point of view, was the Secretary-General going to decide on a definite date regarding whether to proceed on the mission or not, and how? Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General had himself pursued, quite vigorously, those Member States that had an interest in the region: South Africa and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, as well as the OAU leadership. Now, the Americans had said they wanted to try to negotiate with the Democratic Republic of the Congo to allow the team to go forward. "The Secretary-General's hand is out to President Laurent Kabila on this", stated Mr. Eckhard, "and the question is whether the President extends a hand or withdraws it. A lot of other actors have an interest in seeing those two hands meet."

Would there be a cut-off point, or would this drag on and on again? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said, "It is not going to drag on and on and on. The next step is the American mission."

Recalling a statement made recently by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Republic of the Congo that his country had sent troops to Congo-Brazzaville on account of the fighting there that had begun to affect Kinshasa, a correspondent asked if the United Nations had any idea of the number of troops involved. Mr. Eckhard said that the United Nations did not know, adding, "we do not have a basis to know". To a figure quoted by a correspondent, he said he could not confirm it: "We've just seen reports."

Referring to the 130 million hectares of land reportedly worsted by desertification according to UNEP, a correspondent asked if it had been caused by human factors or by natural disasters. Mr. Eckhard referred the correspondent to the press release, suggesting, however, that both factors might have contributed to that situation.

Also asked if the mandate of the envoy of the United States to the Democratic Republic of the Congo would be the same as that of the Secretary- General, Mr. Eckhard explained that the mission of the United States would try to facilitate an agreement concerning the conditions under which the United Nations team could go into the field in that country. Those were conditions

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which the United Nations team had been unable to reach agreement on in their discussions with ministers of the government.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), reminded correspondents that the Assembly had yesterday begun consideration of agenda item 157 on the subject of United Nations reform. After a brief open meeting, the Assembly had decided to switch to a format of open-ended informal consultations of the plenary. Noting that those who had followed the meeting could see that there was tremendous interest in it, he said that in Conference Room 4, the venue of the meeting, there had been standing room only.

That led one of the delegates to comment on the lack of fresh air in the room, he said. The President of the Assembly had agreed, but expressed hope that it would not negatively affect the emergence of fresh ideas. The spokesman noted that the meeting in itself could be considered a fresh idea because, as far as he could determine, it was probably the first time that the General Assembly had met in the format of open-ended informal consultations of the plenary.

Recalling a correspondent's observation last week that informal consultations "do not make for good television", he said the Assembly President felt that the format made for an effective, democratic, and participatory mechanism for discussion of an extremely important issue that was on the agenda of the session. Mr. Taukatch noted that over the past weeks Mr. Udovenko had met, collectively and individually, with over 100 delegates -- from heads of State and foreign ministers to heads of missions and other high officials -- to discuss the reform item. Naturally, he had not been able to reach everyone and the format of open-ended informal consultations enabled all the delegates who were interested to express themselves.

Turning to another issue, and "perhaps as a sign that elections are coming to the General Assembly", the spokesman said that Equatorial Guinea had made the necessary payment to reduce its arrears below the amount specified in Article 19 of the United Nations Charter. The elections of five non- permanent members of the Security Council were coming up on 14 October, he added.

Concerning the Main Committees, Mr. Taukatch said that the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) had yesterday continued its general debate on decolonization issues. The discussions, in part, focused on a draft resolution, introduced by the representative of Papua New Guinea, concerning a decolonization unit in the Secretariat. Meanwhile, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) had continued discussions on the Secretary-General's report concerning $154 million in budget cuts in the Organization's work. In the Sixth Committee (Legal), discussions had continued on a report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization.

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Noting that a "closed" Assembly meeting, while efficient, also meant a news blackout on what was happening there, a correspondent asked if the Assembly President thought that the approach was helpful for promoting United Nations reform. Mr. Taukatch explained that informal consultations were a regular occurrence in such bodies as the Security Council, where members had a chance to express themselves and to try to find a common position. Some delegations felt that they needed more time to examine the issue and wanted to express their views. The Assembly President strongly felt that the "informal" plenary format provided the opportunity for all delegations to express themselves. He said that everyone had a clear understanding of the need to move quickly on the issue of reform, and as soon as they were able to find common ground they would move on.

Asked who had made the request for that format, the spokesman said that the idea had evolved as a result of the President's discussions regarding the best mechanism for considering a very substantive and wide-ranging report presented by the Secretary-General. The Assembly had just held a general debate where heads of State and government had pronounced themselves and generally expressed wide political support for that report. There was a need to "get down to the nitty-gritty" and to agree on how the Assembly should act on it: it was widely felt that the selected format was the most appropriate way.

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