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 the briefing today by welcoming the Special Representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Omawale Omawale, who would talk to correspondents about the situation in that country. (A summary of the briefing is being issued separately.)

As they had learned a few minutes earlier from the Permanent Representative of Iraq, continued Mr. Eckhard, Iraq had this morning presented to the Security Council a letter, a copy of which they had also given to the Head of the United Nations Special Commission set up under Security Council resolution 687 (1991) in connection with the disposal of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, Ambassador Richard Butler, only about 10 minutes before the briefing began. Mr. Butler was studying the text, and would confer with the Secretary-General. Until that consultation had taken place, there would be no comment on the letter or its contents. Anticipating a question, however, he said there were about a dozen Americans in Iraq in connection with the work of UNSCOM.

Turning to the Security Council, Mr. Eckhard said it had concluded its consultations on Angola, and was about to go into a formal meeting. In reference to the draft resolution before the Council on the subject of additional sanctions on the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), he noted that about 14 speakers were scheduled before the vote.

The Spokesman then drew the attention of correspondents to a press release from Geneva concerning a statement issued today by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, following her meeting this morning with the Permanent Representative of Algeria.

He also drew attention to the summary of a press conference given in Geneva today by the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Bill Richardson. Its main point was the effort to resume the human rights investigation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The report of the Secretary-General on a proposed United Nations "Code of Conduct" was on the racks today, Mr. Eckhard continued, an element that had been tied to the reform effort. He said its roots went back to August 1994, when the previous Secretary-General had announced his intention to promulgate such a code to establish a more transparent and effective system of accountability in the Secretariat.

He announced that Jordan had just acceded to the Chemical Weapons Convention; 102 countries had now done so, but signatories remained 165. That Convention came into force on 29 April, he added.

Mr. Eckhard also drew attention of correspondents to a Department of Humanitarian Affairs situation report on drought in Papua New Guinea, available in room S-378.

The Spokesman then announced that the World Health Organization (WHO), along with the Nippon Foundation and the International Association for Integration, Dignity and Economic Advancement, were inviting the press to a reception and a preview of the multimedia exhibit, "Quest for dignity: a victory over leprosy/Hansen's disease", which would be opened by the Secretary-General at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow, 30 October, in the United Nations Public Lobby.

He also informed correspondents that the Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, Karl-Theodore Paschke, had been invited to the briefing tomorrow, in connection with the release of the annual report on the work of his Office. That report was scheduled to reach correspondents this afternoon.

A background briefing by senior United Nations officials on the status of the reform effort was being scheduled, Mr. Eckhard said. He would confirm the date and time later, he added, noting that it would depend on how things went in the General Assembly this afternoon.

Asked how many international staff the United Nations had in Baghdad in connection with UNSCOM, Mr. Eckhard said they were "about 100, from inspectors to drivers", and that figure did not include Iraqi citizens. Of the Americans, two were in Bahrain. The records were being checked, and a definitive total would be available shortly. [Shortly after the briefing, the Office of the Spokesman confirmed there were 100 international staff. Of that figure, 40 were inspectors, 12 of whom were Americans who were either in Baghdad or Bahrain, UNSCOM's headquarters.]

Also asked if anyone had been in contact with those staff since the latest developments, he said the Secretary-General had not. While he did not know whether Ambassador Butler had personally contacted the field, the Ambassador's staff had been in touch with them.

Concerning the meeting later today between the Secretary-General and Ambassador Butler, Mr. Eckhard said that the time would depend on when the Ambassador finished digesting the letter. "It would be at their earliest mutual convenience", he said.

To further questions about the substance of the letter, the Spokesman said, "All we've seen are press reports, and we've heard what the [Iraqi]

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Ambassador told you. We prefer to study the text of the letter before we say anything about it."

Concerning the prospects of a formal response, a correspondent asked if, for broadcast purposes, someone could come to room S-226 later in the day to make such a statement. The Spokesman said he would see if that could be arranged.

Asked if the Americans in UNSCOM would be withdrawn, he said, "We'll have to study the letter, and then respond to it."

Mr. Eckhard was also asked if the Secretary-General was aware of a letter from the Chairman of the United States Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Jesse Helms, to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright yesterday, in reference to the situation in Haiti. None that he knew, the Spokesman replied, adding, "I don't think that internal communications within a government reached the Secretary-General in less than 24 hours." He would, however, check.

To another question on precedents of the United Nations withdrawing a specific nationality from any country, "such as Iraq has requested", Mr. Eckhard restated that he preferred not to comment on any aspect of the matter at this time.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), said a representative of Italy was speaking in the General Assembly at the time of the briefing. The subject under consideration in the plenary was item 2: "Report of the Security Council", he reminded correspondents, and a total of 28 speakers had been so far inscribed on the list; 13 of them would speak in the afternoon, with Belarus already added to the list that had been made available to correspondents earlier. The report had been introduced to the Assembly this morning by the President of the Security Council, Juan Somavía (Chile).

In connection with that item, Mr. Taukatch drew attention to the report of the open-ended high-level working group on the "Strengthening of the United Nations", which had been adopted at the previous session. A section of that report, in part, concerned the General Assembly's consideration of the report of the Security Council. Changes in that regard would take effect on 1 January 1998. Highlighting those changes, he pointed out that "the President of the General Assembly shall assess the debate on this item and consider the need for further consideration of the report of the Security Council". In addition, "the item shall not be closed but shall remain open to enable further discussion as necessary during the year".

The General Assembly had, this morning, decided to include a new item, "Financing of the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA)", in its

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agenda, Mr. Taukatch said. The item had been allocated to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary). In view of the importance and urgency of the matter, the Assembly waived the provision of Rule 40 that required the General Committee to first consider the inclusion of an item.

Tomorrow, the Assembly would be electing 18 members of the Economic and Social Council, the spokesman said. Five of those seats were for African States, four seats for Asian States, four seats for Eastern European States, three seats for Latin American and Caribbean States, and four for Western European and Other States.

Mr. Taukatch said the President of the General Assembly had met with the Permanent Observer for Palestine this morning. At 9:30 a.m., he also met with Miguel Angel Martinez, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Council; and Pierre Cornillon, Secretary-General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). Yesterday, the Assembly had taken up the subject of the IPU, recalled the spokesman, and adopted a resolution which -- in part -- called for strengthened cooperation between the United Nations and the Union. In their meeting today, both Mr. Udovenko and Mr. Martinez stressed the importance of enhancing cooperation, noting that it helped involve locally elected officials in international relations.

In reference to the meeting on Monday between Mr. Udovenko and the Permanent Representative of Yemen, on behalf of the League of Arab States, concerning a letter by that body requesting the resumption of the tenth emergency special session, he alerted correspondents that the document (A/ES-10/17) was out today.

Concerning reform, Mr. Taukatch said there had been 17 speakers yesterday in the informal consultations. A representative of the Secretary-General had also provided a detailed clarification on the items being considered by the General Assembly. Those consultations would continue this afternoon.

Noting that it had already become a "cliche" to say that the Assembly's agenda included issues of vital importance to international life, the spokesman said that the truth of that statement was sometimes overlooked. Mr. Taukatch underlined the relevance of the discussions going on at the current session by citing "good example" from the work of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial). In reference to global stock market developments in the past few days, he pointed out a draft resolution in that Committee partly dealt with "the need for strengthened international cooperation to prevent future currency turmoils, which could negatively affect not only developing countries, but also the international and financial monetary system". He pointed out that the resolution would also request the Secretary-General to analyse current trends in global financial markets. The subject was very topical, said Mr. Taukatch, urging correspondents to follow the work of the Committee which dealt with a broad array of vital importance to everyday life.

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Asked why the work of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) was closed this week, "the first time" that had happened, Mr. Taukatch said he would check whether it was the first time, adding that it was a general practice in the work of any Committee to close informal consultations.

Told that the Committee was not in informal consultations, but "actual debate on sectoral issues", the spokesman said he would have to double-check.

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