DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Juan Carlos Brandt, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's briefing by announcing that Oman had paid in full its assessed contributions of $426,032 for the 1997 regular budget. Ninety-four Member States were now paid in full, he noted, adding, "Thank you very much, Oman."

Putting those figures in perspective, he said that on this date last year, 93 Member States had paid in full. Although that meant that the Organization was now technically ahead of the situation last year, he pointed out that the current level of contributions still outstanding was over $2.3 billion. The status of outstanding contributions as of 15 October, which was now available in room S-378, showed that of the total outstanding contributions, $648 million was for the regular budget, $19.5 million was for the international criminal tribunals, and over $1.6 billion was for peacekeeping operations.

Mr. Brandt said an inter-agency rapid humanitarian assessment mission of the United Nations today arrived in Congo-Brazzaville from Kinshasa. It comprised field representatives from the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and representatives of various non- governmental organizations. Its objective was to assess the immediate humanitarian requirements in Brazzaville and its surroundings.

In its first report, Mr. Brandt continued, the team stated that the airport had been severely damaged, with the exception of the control tower which was still functioning. The centre of the town had also been destroyed, looting was ongoing, and bodies were still lying on the streets, some of them in advanced states of decomposition. The mission, which had set up its base in the WHO offices, today visited the Kintele Hospital in the north of Brazzaville. The hospital was reported to be in poor condition, but local authorities in Kinshasa and Brazzaville had given authorization to ship supplies and equipment for the hospital across the Congo River. The Belolo refugee camp still housed about 2,000 refugees, who seemed to be in satisfactory condition. The members of the assessment mission were holding meetings with local authorities to discuss security guarantees for the delivery of humanitarian assistance. They were expected to return to Kinshasa on Friday.

Mr. Brandt said the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Radhika Coomaraswamy (Sri Lanka), was visiting Rwanda on a fact-finding mission to study the issue of sexual violence and rape in situations of armed conflict and its consequences on the status of women in the post-conflict period. Her mission would take place between 22 October and 1 November, beginning with meetings at the International Criminal Tribunal for

Rwanda in Arusha, and she would observe the re-opening of the Jean-Paul Akayesu trial. That was the first trial before the Tribunal involving sexual violence against women committed during the genocide of 1994. The Special Rapporteur would also meet with representatives of non-governmental and women's organizations, women survivors, and relevant United Nations agencies, including the Human Rights Field Operation and representatives from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). A report of her mission would be submitted to the Commission on Human Rights in 1998. Meanwhile, a press release on the mission was being expected today; that would be made available to correspondents later, the Associate Spokesman said.

Turning to the Security Council, Mr. Brandt said it would have consultations on Iraq today at 4:30 p.m. There was also the possibility of a briefing on Congo-Brazzaville by the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast. (Later: It was announced that Security Council consultations would take place tomorrow morning.)

Available to correspondents in the Spokesman's Office was the Weekly Report (No. 35) on the implementation of the "oil-for-food" plan, which had been provided to the Government of Iraq yesterday. Last week, under phase II of the programme, the 661 Committee (of the Security Council) approved eight humanitarian sales applications and blocked one under the 180 days provision. Under phase I, the Committee also approved one application, blocked three, and put one on hold. By the end of last week, $697 million from oil sales had been received in the United Nations-Iraq account under phase II; that amount was expected to rise to $881 million by the end of October.

Mr. Brandt also drew attention to an update on the WHO/UNICEF polio- vaccination campaign in northern Iraq, to which he had referred in yesterday's briefing. It was now scheduled to start on 2 November, he said, adding that the sheep vaccination campaign of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) continued. Now available in the Spokesman's Office was the text of the press conference given yesterday in Erbil by the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, Denis Halliday.

Mr. Brandt announced that the report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) (document S/1997/807) was out this morning. In it, the Secretary-General had recommended a three-month extension of the Mission until 31 January next year, as well as a slight postponement of the withdrawal of the United Nations military units from the country. The Secretary-General also noted that since the issuance of his last report on 24 September, there had been no significant progress in the peace process. "Unless additional concrete steps are taken to accelerate the implementation of the remaining tasks, including the transformation of Radio Vorgan into a non-partisan broadcasting facility, it will be difficult to consider that the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) has taken all steps necessary to comply with the provisions of Security Council resolution 1127 (1997)", the Secretary-General warned.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 21 October 1997

The report also expressed concerns about the presence of Angolan armed elements in the Republic of the Congo, and called on all concerned to avoid any action that could exacerbate tensions in that conflict-torn country.

Also out today was the new report of the Secretary-General on the status of women in the United Nations Secretariat. Mr. Brandt said that the report recalled that the previous goal of 35 per cent representation of women in posts subject to geographical distribution mandated by the General Assembly was met in the Secretariat in 1996. However, the matching goal of 25 per cent of women at the D1 level and above had yet to be achieved. The same applied to the Assembly's current goal of 50 per cent women overall, including senior- level posts subject to geographical distribution by the year 2000.

The report noted that since assuming office in January 1997, the Secretary-General had been faced with the responsibility of reaching those mandated goals within the time-frame set by the General Assembly. He pledged his personal commitment towards meeting that responsibility and assured the Assembly that the issue of geographical representation and gender balance would be given the highest priority in his continuing efforts to bring about a new management culture in the Organization. The report also noted that, in the 12-year period from 1985 to 1997, the representation of women had increased by 13.6 per cent. It also made recommendations with regard to the recruitment/promotion, monitoring and accountability, as well as retention, of women. Mr. Brandt added that the Office of the Spokesman was putting finishing touches to a note that would provide correspondents with some interesting statistics concerning women in the United Nations.

On the Secretary-General's appointments today, Mr. Brandt said he was attending the World Food Day ceremony of the FAO, where he was expected to speak. Advance copies of his remarks (Press Release SG/SM/6362) had been on the racks since 16 October. Following that, he would meet in a working lunch with the Director-General of the FAO, Jacques Diouf. At 3:30 p.m., he would meet with Ambassadors Bill Richardson and Peter Burleigh of the United States Mission to the United Nations, in connection with the human rights investigative team to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Correcting "something we did but were not supposed to do", the Associate Spokesman said that, on 16 October, the Permanent Representative of Chile, Juan Somavia, sent a letter to the President of the General Assembly, asking him to put out a letter as a document (A/52/470). In the processing of the letter, which was in Spanish, being made into a document, the Spanish version had appeared with an incorrect word. "The original word was 'desmantelamiento'", explained Mr. Brandt, "which, translated into English meant, 'dismantle'; unfortunately, however, the Spanish version had appeared with the word, 'mantenimiento' which meant 'maintenance'". He said Ambassador Somavia's letter was in connection with the issue of landmines in the border between Bolivia and Chile. The Government of Chile, which spotted the error, had pointed it out, noted the Associate Spokesman, adding that a correction had

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 21 October 1997

already been made. The properly written letter was now out in all languages with the error rectified. The Department of Public Information (DPI), through the Assistant Secretary-General for Public Information, Samir Sanbar, would today inaugurate the Inter-agency Information Fair, which took place every year, in the General Assembly Public Lobby. It was a fair where 28 agencies within the United Nations system came together to demonstrate what they did, and how. The fair would also highlight the websites of the participants in a "cyber-cafe" which had been set up near the entrance. Mr. Brandt said that a press release on the fair was available in room S-378; it listed all the agencies present. The fair would run until United Nations Day, 24 October at 5 p.m.

He drew attention to a Situation Report (No. 2) from the Department of Humanitarian Affairs dated 20 October, on Papua New Guinea, on the terrible effects of the El Niño weather pattern in that part of the world, in terms of drought and frost. More than 500,000 people were seriously affected.

There was also a press release from WHO, available in room S-378, on the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals which increased resistance in humans. Recalling an announcement yesterday that the Coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Jody Williams, would participate in a panel discussion on "Banning anti-personnel landmines: the Ottawa process and beyond", he said that discussion would take place in Conference Room 3 between 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Mr. Brandt announced that Joseph Rotblat, the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1995, and Founder/President of the Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs, would be present at a panel discussion on "Nuclear disarmament: recommendations and proposals", taking place tomorrow between 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. That series of discussions was within the framework of the disarmament week, he noted.

A photo exhibition would be opened tomorrow at 1 p.m. in the General Assembly Visitors' Lobby, with the theme: "The United Nations and nuclear disarmament: achievements on the way to a nuclear-weapon-free world". It was being sponsored by the United Nations Centre for Disarmament Affairs, the Permanent Mission of Japan, Veterans against War (Japan) and Franciscans International. The exhibition would continue until 20 November.

Referring to a press conference tomorrow for the release of a major study by the WHO and other agencies of the United Nations concerning the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis, about which he had spoken at yesterday's briefing, he drew attention to a phone number that reporters unable to attend could call to listen to the statement and the question-and- answer session. That number was 1-888-633-8026, and callers were asked to enter the reservation 330-3280, and to call those numbers by 10:25 a.m. EST. That press release was available in room S-378.

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