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 briefing by reading the following statement, attributable to the Spokesman of the Secretary-General:

"In his report to the General Assembly, entitled "Renewing the United Nations: A Programme for Reform", the Secretary-General stated, inter alia, that the management of the Iraq Programme, established by the Security Council resolution 986 (1995) will be handled by a special unit within the Secretariat (document A/51/950, para. 187).

"Accordingly the Secretary-General has decided to establish the Office of the Iraq Programme and to consolidate the management of United Nations activities pursuant to Security Council resolutions 986 (1995) and 661 (1990). He has also decided to appoint Benon V. Sevan, a national of Cyprus, as the Executive-Director of the Iraq Programme, effective 15 October 1997. Mr. Sevan will report directly to the Secretary-General."

In Iraq yesterday, Mr. Eckhard said, a German aircraft transported medical equipment into the country under Security Council resolution 986. That shipment of supplies, which was too delicate to be brought in overland, marked the first time that humanitarian goods had arrived by air directly to Iraq, a flight that had been authorized by the Sanctions Committee. The shipment was of 30 tons of magnetic imaging resonance equipment, purchased from the Siemens Company, and had been received by officials of the Iraqi Ministry of Health in the presence of World Health Organization (WHO) observers. The United Nations would ensure follow-up observation on its installation.

Still on Iraq, the Spokesman told correspondents that the weekly report on contracts and oil sales under Security Council resolution 986 had arrived just before the briefing began, and was available in room 378.

The Security Council was not meeting today or tomorrow, Mr. Eckhard said. Tomorrow the General Assembly would elect the new, rotating members of the Council. On Wednesday, the Council was expected to take up Western Sahara, and possibly, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Turning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General had met with the five permanent members of the Security Council late on Friday. Following that meeting, United Nations officials would be meeting with the military observers of the Permanent Five and African members of the Council tomorrow, to discuss the contingency planning for a peacekeeping mission to Congo-Brazzaville. The Spokesman pointed out that that would be the first time that a meeting between the military observers of the permanent members of the Security Council and the African members would

take place. In addition to those meetings, there would also be a meeting of potential troop-contributors to discuss those contingency plans.

The Joint United Nations/Organization of African Unity (OAU) Special Representative to the Great Lakes Region, Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun, had been in Paris today, on his way back to Libreville. While there, he had consulted with the French authorities on Congo-Brazzaville.

Mr. Eckhard also said that Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, Bernard Miyet, would be in Haiti today through Wednesday to evaluate the current situation there, and to prepare the Secretary-General's next report on the United Nations mission in that country. That report, which was due at the end of the month, would contain the Secretary-General's recommendations on what would happen at the expiration of the current mandate in November. Mr. Miyet was expected to meet with President Rene Preval tomorrow afternoon. He would also meet with the Chief of the Haitian National Police as well as the leaders of all major political parties during the course of his visit.

Mr. Eckhard noted that the Secretary-General would be meeting today with President Martti Ahtisaari of Finland. (He recalled that Mr. Ahtisaari was formerly the Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management here at Headquarters.) The Secretary-General would be hosting a luncheon in his honour, after which President Ahtisaari would appear outside the Security Council to make a short statement and take questions from correspondents. (There would be some Finnish reporters there, the Spokesman added, and President Ahtisaari was expected to switch to Finnish for their benefit after he had concluded his exchange with United Nations correspondents.)

Mr. Eckard announced that the Executive Committee on Peace and Security would meet this afternoon at 3:30 p.m., primarily to discuss the priorities of the United Nations for 1998. This would then be taken up at the Senior Management Group which had begun discussing that same subject last week.

He also announced two press releases from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The first said that an American nun had received the 1997 Nansen Medal for her outstanding work with Guatemalan refugees for the past 15 years. The High Commissioner for Refugees, Mrs. Sadako Ogata, presented the medal to 63-year old Sister Joannes Klas of Belgium, Wisconsin, at a ceremony at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The Secretary-General had delivered a message through the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Yves Berthelot. (See Press Release SG/SM/6356-REF/1160).

The second press release was in connection with the forty-eighth Annual Executive Committee meeting of the UNHCR, and contained the statement that Mrs. Ogata had given to that group. (In it, she had appealed to governments to respect humanitarian principles, and called UNHCR's commitment to defending and promoting the fundamental rights of refugees "non-negotiable".) Both press releases were available in room 378.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 13 October 1997

Mr. Eckhard also told correspondents that the Department of Humanitarian Affairs had issued its first report on "Hurricane Pauline", which had affected primarily the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Guerrero. It included a request by the Government of Mexico to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for certain relief supplies. The report was also available in the Spokesman's Office.

Also available in that Office, from the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, was an update on the status of contributions to the United Nations Consolidated Inter-Agency Humanitarian Assistance Appeals, of which there were currently 13.

From the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, continued Mr. Eckhard, was a press release which, noting that external development assistance to agriculture had continued to fall for the ninth consecutive year, stated that 150 countries would observe World Food Day on 16 October, with a variety of events underlining the theme "Investing in Food Security".

The Spokesman also drew attention to a press release which had arrived late on Friday from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The President of the ICAO Council, Assad Kotaite, had announced the conclusion of an historic air traffic services agreement between the Democratic Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea. It would permit, for the first time, the use by any State of air routes between Democratic People's Republic of Korea- controlled and Republic of Korea-controlled airspace. The agreement would take effect on 28 February 1998. That press release was available in English and French in room 378.

On assessed contributions, Mr. Eckhard said that The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had become the 93rd Member State to pay in full for 1997. At this time last year, the same number -- 93 -- had also paid in full. The Spokesman noted, however, that while $2.5 billion was outstanding on this date last year, the figure today was $2.3 billion.

Correcting an earlier United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) announcement, he said the preview of the Court TV documentary on the Tadic trial at the International Tribune at The Hague would be at 5 p.m. at the UNCA Club tomorrow, 14 October.

He also said that the World Chronicle TV programme with Sir George Alleyne, Director of the Regional Office for the Americas of the Pan-American Health Organization and the World Health Organization, would be shown at 2:30 p.m. today on in-house television channel 6 or 38.

A correspondent reminded the Spokesman that when the heads of the human rights investigative team to the Democratic Republic of the Congo were recalled, 15 October had been mentioned as the date by which a decision would be made. Did the date still stand, or would the decision-making be pushed forward based on whether or not the United States appointed an envoy to the

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 13 October 1997

area? Mr. Eckhard said that that discussion had taken place between the Secretary-General, the Foreign Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ambassador Bill Richardson of the United States. The Americans originally wanted more time, he explained, but the Secretary-General said "please try to do your assessment and get back to me by the 15th of October".

He said it was understood that the Americans were close to announcing their choice of an envoy, and that the envoy would be coming to the United Nations in the next few days for consultations with the investigative team, which was still working on its report. "So the date of the 15th is going to have to slide a bit." In connection with that, he said that the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, had been invited to the briefing tomorrow to give correspondents some information on the human rights verification team. "We hope we will also have some more information from the Americans concerning when they intend to send their team."

Mr. Eckhard was also asked if the Secretary-General had "offered the post of Deputy to somebody else after the withdrawal of Mrs. Ogata". Mr. Eckhard told the correspondent there was as yet "no post". He explained that the General Assembly had not yet created the post, so the Secretary- General was not in a position to make any offers, although he had started a formal search and felt that he had a number of very well-qualified candidates. He added that Mrs. Ogata, after talking over with the Secretary-General the "hypothetical possibility" of being offered the job, had decided that she wanted to stay with the UNHCR. That was why the announcement had been made last Friday, before the beginning of her Executive Committee meeting today.

Asked when Ambassador Sahnoun was due back from Congo-Brazzaville, Mr. Eckhard answered that he was not sure that the Ambassador would be returning to New York, although "I suspect he will". However, if the Ambassador arrived in Libreville late today, it would probably take him a few days to assess the situation on the ground. In that event, returning to New York was "perhaps the end of the week or beginning of next week."

Concerning the announcement of Mr. Sevan as Executive Director of the Iraq Programme, a correspondent asked what would be the working relationship between him and the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Denis Halliday. Would Mr. Sevan oversee Mr. Halliday's work? Mr. Eckhard said he would check the official plan. Soon after, he announced that Mr. Sevan would supervise the work of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), said the President had held a meeting with the Chairmen of the Main Committees this morning. It was the third meeting of this kind, since the President felt it was extremely important to meet regularly with what he called the Assembly "Politburo" to keep abreast of the latest developments.

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 13 October 1997

The President of the General Assembly felt that such close coordination was especially important at this session because of the ongoing open-ended informal consultations of the plenary. The President wanted to make sure there was as little overlap as possible with the work of the Main Committees, particularly taking into consideration the concerns of small delegations. The President was determined to ensure the process went along smoothly.

Throughout today, the spokesman continued, Mr. Udovenko would have a series of meetings with ambassadors from different countries in his ongoing process of consultations on the reform issue.

Turning to other issues, Mr. Taukatch said the President of the General Assembly had met this morning with a group of some 20 broadcast annd print journalists from the developing countries who were visiting the United Nations under a programme organized with the help of the Department of Public Information (DPI).

The Spokesman drew the attention of correspondents to an announcement in the Journal today which said that the second and third meetings of the Open-ended Informal Consultations of the Plenary would be held on 15 October at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. in Conference Room 4.

On the Main Committees, Mr. Taukatch noted that the First, Second and Third Committees were beginning their substantive work today. They would do it in slightly different ways: the First and Second would start out by holding general debate, while the Third would move straight into consideration of specific agenda items.

On the subject of elections to the Security Council, about which he had received quite a few questions, Mr. Taukatch reminded correspondents that the election of five non-permanent members would take place tomorrow at 10 a.m. The elections would be conducted by secret ballot, and since according to Assembly rules of procedure it was considered "an important question", the winner would need a two-thirds majority of those present and voting. Being "present and voting", the spokesman pointed out, referred to those who cast affirmative or negative vote; those abstaining were not considered as voting.

On another election-related matter, Mr. Taukatch said that three Member States would be retiring at the end of the year from the African and Asian States Group. That Group had endorsed three candidates to replace them: Gambia, Gabon and Bahrain. From the Eastern European States, one seat would be vacated, and that Regional Group had two candidates vying for it: Slovenia and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. For the Latin American and the Caribbean States, one seat was vacant, and Brazil had been endorsed by that Regional Group as their candidate to replace one retiring Member State. There were no candidates from the Western European and Other States this year because the term for Portugal and Sweden, the current non-permanent members, would not expire until the end of 1998.

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