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 saying that although the appointment of Olara Otunnu as the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict had been made in August, the Secretary-General wanted to make a proper introduction of him. The Secretary-General would, therefore, be coming to the briefing with Mr. Otunnu, who would make a short address and answer questions. (Mr. Otunnu's briefing is being issued separately.)

The United Nations Headquarters had been pretty busy this morning, the Spokesman continued, concerning the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Describing it as "a good day for the forces of good", he said that the video of the Secretary-General's phone conversation with Jody Williams, the coordinator of the coalition of non- governmental organizations that had been awarded the Peace Prize, had been aired earlier. He then read the following statement, attributable to the Secretary-General:

"I was really delighted by the announcement today to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. This well- deserved honour is a victory for every child and mother and for all those vulnerable people who have been killed or maimed by these silent weapons. It also shows that when civil society and non-governmental organizations come together and work with governments, a lot can happen in a relatively short time. I urge all governments to sign on to the anti-landmine convention." (Press Release SG/SM/6354)

Mr. Eckhard said that the International Campaign to Ban Landmines had been formed only in 1992, and it was coordinated by a steering committee of nine organizations that brought together over 1,000 organizations from 60 different countries concerned with human rights, humanitarian, children's, peace, veterans, medical, development, arms control, religious, environmental and women's issues. They worked locally, nationally, regionally and internationally to ban anti-personnel landmines. Ms. Williams was the campaign coordinator with the Viet Nam Veterans of America Foundation. Also available to correspondents in the Spokesman's Office was a list of contact people they might wish to talk to about the work of the United Nations in the area of landmines.

Turning to Congo-Brazzaville, he said that following the signing of the ceasefire document yesterday, the Joint United Nations/Organization of African Unity (OAU) Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, Mohamed

Sahnoun, would leave New York later today on his way back to Libreville, Gabon, to support the efforts of President Omar Bongo to complete negotiations on a political framework agreement. While the fighting had continued on the ground today, the United Nations was still hoping that with the signing of that document, the ceasefire would gradually take hold. Meanwhile, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations was reviewing the contingency plan it had been undertaking concerning the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping operation for Congo-Brazzaville.

Drawing attention to the Secretary-General's appointments for today, Mr. Eckhard noted that he would be meeting with representatives of the permanent five members of the Security Council at 5 p.m.; the subject was Congo-Brazzaville.

On Iraq, the Spokesman said that in addition to the report of the United Nations Special Commission, the fourth consolidated progress report on Iraq by the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would be issued shortly, probably on Monday. It was a lengthy document with many annexes, which was now being translated into all official languages.

Mr. Eckhard said that the report contained a factual summary of the activities undertaken by the IAEA since its last report in April, and also provided an overview of the technically coherent picture of Iraq's clandestine nuclear programme that had been put together as a result of the IAEA's inspections and investigations since 1991. The Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission, Richard Butler, and the Director-General of the IAEA, Hans Blix, were both expected to brief the Security Council on 16 October concerning their respective reports. Mr. Blix would brief not only on Iraq, but also on IAEA's "strengthened safeguards system", the situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and illicit trafficking in radioactive materials.

Mr. Eckhard then announced a press release from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) on matters relating to the "oil-for-food" plan based on the report of their joint assessment mission to that country. While the "oil-for-food" deal had improved the overall food situation in Iraq, malnutrition had remained a serious problem. The joint mission had found considerable evidence of widespread malnutrition and an overall poor food and nutrition situation as a result of supply shortages over the past seven years. The joint mission had warned that there was now concern that emergency assistance to vulnerable groups might be curtailed due to the widespread perception among donor countries that malnutrition problems had been solved following the implementation of Security Council resolution 986 (1995). On the contrary, the mission had observed that the need for feeding vulnerable groups remained essential, as the Security Council resolution basket did not meet the special nutritional food needs of vulnerable groups, such as children and nursing mothers. That press release was available in room S-378.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 10 October 1997

Mr. Eckhard also drew attention to "Briefing Notes" from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva today, which said that the UNHCR had now been asked to cease operations in South Kivu Province, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They had earlier been shut out in North Kivu. The UNHCR had been assisting Rwandan and Burundian refugees, as well as Congolese returnees in that province. As a result of those developments, the UNHCR would also be reducing its presence in that region over the coming days.

Malawi had become the ninety-second Member State to pay in full its contributions to the 1997 regular budget, with a cheque for $106,508, Mr. Eckhard said. The total outstanding contributions was now $2.3 billion.

The "Friends of Georgia" were meeting today in New York, Mr. Eckhard said. It had been announced this morning in Geneva that the talks between the Georgian and Abkhaz sides, scheduled for 13 to 16 October, had been postponed. In the final stages of preparation for next week's meeting, it had become clear that not all participants were ready to engage in another round of negotiations at this time. In order to allow more time for such preparation, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Georgia, Liviu Bota, had decided to postpone next week's meeting until a date in November which had not yet been announced.

Asked to confirm the information, concerning Congo-Brazzaville, that General Denis Sassou N'guesso and President Pascal Lissouba had yesterday signed "different agreements", and what exactly they had agreed to, Mr. Eckhard said that Ambassador Sahnoun had been told by President Bongo that the agreement signed by General N'guesso was on a different piece of paper, but was not a different agreement. "The information we have is that they have agreed to the same terms, but signed different pieces of paper."

In response to a question, Mr. Eckhard said that the situation might have arisen due to the politics of recognition concerning the incumbent president: by signing the first sheet of paper, General N'guesso would have been acknowledging the legitimacy of President Lissouba, which he was not prepared to do.

Asked for a response to the reported criticism by President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda of the United Nations human rights investigative team to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Spokesman said that it seemed that there was a misunderstanding about the scope and the nature of the investigative team's mission. First, he said, the period covered by the investigation had already been extended by the Secretary-General back to March 1993, and that had been agreed to in July. The allegations of gross human rights violations and genocide in Rwanda and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had already been addressed. He cited the example of Roberto Garretón, Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, who became persona non grata in President Mobutu's Zaire for his investigations into the attacks on

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 10 October 1997

the Banyamulenge, the Rwandese Tutsis settled in that country. The Spokesman also pointed out that the international community did set up the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to deal with the perpetrators of genocide in Rwanda.

Mr. Eckhard said there also seemed to be some confusion about the nature of human rights missions. "We do not negotiate with governments on the terms", he said. For the independence of those investigations, they must follow their mandates, not negotiate them with governments.

A correspondent asked if the postponement of the Georgia-Abkhaz talks was a positive development, as it sounded as though the talks were having problems. The Spokesman said it sounded as though they just had a few things to work out, adding, "you can't characterize it as positive or negative".

Also asked to confirm that the IAEA report would be out on Monday, Mr. Eckhard said that was likely.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), said the Assembly President was gratified to learn that the International Campaign to Ban Landmines had been awarded the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. Every landmine removed from an old battlefield translated into scores of lives saved, he noted, and that was especially significant since those unseen and silent weapons posed a deadly threat to innocent and most vulnerable members of war-ravaged societies as they strove to restore peace and normalcy to their lives. The awarding of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize to a coalition of more than 1,000 non-governmental organizations in more than 60 countries was a recognition of the important role that civil societies and non-governmental organizations played in helping the international community cope with vital issues of peace and security.

Mr. Taukatch said there was no plenary meeting of the General Assembly today, but the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) had begun a meeting in the morning, while the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) was holding informal consultations. On Monday, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) would begin a general debate on a wide range of disarmament initiatives.

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