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.)

Juan Carlos Brandt, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's briefing by welcoming the President of the International Court of Justice, Judge Stephen M. Schwebel. Last Monday, Judge Schwebel had introduced to the General Assembly the Court's annual report. He had also met with the Secretary-General and a number of other important United Nations officials. (See separate summary of briefing by Judge Schwebel.)

Before continuing, Mr. Brandt drew attention to the fact that, in addition to Judge Schwebel's many publications, he was the author of the leading scholarly study of the office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Displaying a copy of the book, Mr. Brandt noted that it continued to be a "classic text in legal schools and universities throughout the world, and is as relevant today as it was in 1952 when it was first published".

He said the Security Council would meet in consultations at 4 p.m. today, Mr. Brandt said, to discuss the letter sent to them yesterday by the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), Richard Butler, in connection with yesterday's incident in which Iraq turned back two American UNSCOM inspectors from Habbaniyah Airfield in the north-west of Baghdad. An official of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who was travelling with the UNSCOM monitors, also decided to fly back with them. Mr. Butler would give the Council a briefing, as would the leader of the IAEA's action team on Iraq, Garry Dillon. On the entire subject of Iraq, Mr. Brandt said that he had nothing further to add until the Council had met, after which "they will be giving you enough dose of information on that".

Turning to Cambodia, the Associate Spokesman said the Security Council had yesterday welcomed the commitments of Ung Huot and Hun Sen to free and fair elections next year, and to the security and safety of returning political leaders, and their participation in political activities. He said the Secretary-General had conveyed to the Security Council earlier in the week the communication from the two men which contained those commitments. The Cambodian leaders had also expressed their readiness to allow the United Nations to monitor the safe return of members of the National Assembly and other political leaders, and their freedom to engage in political activities. In the view of the Secretary-General, that communication provided the necessary guarantees to meet the legitimate concerns expressed by the political leaders who had remained outside Cambodia since July. Mr. Brandt added that the Secretary-General had also conveyed his view to Prince Norodom Ranariddh.

The Associate Spokesman then announced that the sixth and final report of the Member States participating in the Inter-African Mission to Monitor the Implementation of the Bangui Accords (MISAB) was out today, with the document symbol S/1997/828. The report described, in detail, developments in the situation in the Central African Republic from 16 to 29 October.

He said that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, would be in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 19 to 21 November for talks with the authorities there, and with the staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), on the safe return of refugees and displaced persons. That information and more were in the current UNHCR briefing notes, available in room S-378.

The Secretary-General had welcomed the resumption of the peace talks on the Sudan, which were sponsored by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, Mr. Brandt said. He had also expressed his hope that the participants would find a political situation to that long-standing conflict. The talks began yesterday in Nairobi, Kenya.

Mr. Brandt then read the following statement, attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General:

"Next Tuesday, 4 November, the Secretary-General will travel to South America on a six-day visit to Chile and Venezuela.

"In Chile, Mr. Annan will meet with President Eduardo Frei and other senior officials from the Chilean Government. The Secretary-General will also receive an Honoris Causa Doctorate from the University of Chile in Santiago. The Secretary-General will fulfil an important objective of this trip when he visits the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). There, he will meet with the staff and, in particular, with Gert Rosenthal, Executive Secretary of this regional Commission, who will retire at the end of 1997 after 10 years of distinguished and loyal service to the United Nations.

"In Venezuela, the Secretary-General will participate in the Seventh Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, in Porlamar, Isla de Margarita, where, according to this year's Summit theme, he will deliver a speech on the subject 'Ethical Values of Democracy'. The Summit will afford the Secretary-General an opportunity to meet bilaterally with heads of State and government from Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

"The Secretary-General is expected back in New York on Monday, 10 November." (See today's Press Release SG/SM/6374.)

Mr. Brandt described the Secretary-General's appointments calendar today as "full", centring around the meeting of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC). There were both morning and afternoon sessions today. In

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between, the Secretary-General would host a luncheon in honour of all the participants. After a closing session of the ACC in the afternoon, participants and the Secretary-General would depart for the retreat at the Conference Centre in Pocantico Hills in Westchester, New York.

The Associate Spokesman drew the attention of correspondents to a Department of Humanitarian Affairs situation report (No. 7), dated 30 October, and now available in the Office of the Spokesman, which dealt with the question of the forest fires in Indonesia.

He also told correspondents that the nineteenth International Friendship Run, the traditional run for the international participants of the New York Marathon, organized by the New York Road Runners Club and the United Nations Athletic Club, would take place tomorrow, 1 November, at 8 a.m. The runners would be greeted by the Permanent Representative of Australia, Penelope Anne Wensley, Hugh Dugan from the Permanent Mission of the United States, and Mitch Werner from the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. As part of the event, Mr. Brandt noted, an award would be presented to the Australian marathon champion. Also, a group from Princeton University would perform as the runners exited the United Nations Gardens. Those runners were expected to arrive in Central Park at 9:15 a.m. More than 15,000 runners from over 100 countries were expected; 10,000 had participated last year. Those interested were asked to contact Ingrid Casper on Ext. 0128, or Nilima Silver on Ext.2348.

Mr. Brandt announced two World Chronicle television programmes playing back-to-back today, on in-house channel 6 or 38. At 2:30 p.m., the programme would feature William vanden Heuvel of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA), who was also Chairman of the Council of American Ambassadors. Next, at 3 p.m., it would be the turn of the Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Action Programme for the Elimination of Leprosy, Dr. Shaik Khader Noorden. In that connection, Mr. Brandt reminded correspondents that a few days ago the Secretary-General had opened the exhibit sponsored by the WHO and others in the Public Lobby on leprosy/Hansen disease.

Mr. Brandt said that the second meeting of the Sanctions Committee on Sierra Leone had taken place at 11 a.m. today, in Conference Room 7. It adopted the Committee's agenda and considered draft guidelines on the conduct of the Committee's work. That Committee was established pursuant to Security Council resolution 1132 of 8 October.

Concerning Cambodia, a correspondent said that when Hun Sen visited New York a few weeks ago, he had several times said that politicians in exile would be allowed to return, but said nothing about keeping Norodom Ranariddh from jail. Had the new agreement changed that? Mr. Brandt said that the Secretary-General had received the "necessary assurances" to enable him to communicate to the Security Council and to the parties concerned on the question of arrests, should those exiles return to Cambodia. The letter from

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the Cambodian authorities had indicated that the Government undertook to maintain and respect the parliamentary immunity of the members of the National Assembly, and guaranteed all other political leaders freedom from arrest and detention, in respect of acts done and words spoken prior to their return.

On the ACC meeting, Mr. Brandt was asked to specify who would be going on the retreat to Pocantico Hills, to which he answered, "all of the heads of agencies and programmes of the United Nations".

Mr. Brandt was asked when the briefing by senior Secretariat officials on reform might take place. He replied, "Probably, early next week. We will be in a position to bring them here to you sometime Monday afternoon or Tuesday."

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), noted that there had been slight changes in the General Assembly's programme of work this morning. Contrary to the order outlined in the Journal, the Assembly, which was waiting for documents, had begun with agenda item 156: "Towards a culture of peace". He pointed out that there had been two additional speakers, Tunisia and Luxembourg, for that item. There had also been a draft resolution on that item, but a decision was deferred, at the request of some Member States, to a later date which would be announced. Following its consideration of that item, the Assembly would take up the other two issues which concerned the financing of United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III); and the financing of the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL), for which it had reports of the Fifth Committee.

Concerning yesterday's elections for 18 seats in the Economic and Social Council, Mr. Taukatch described it as "one of those rare times when my predictions proved to be true"; he had said he expected long elections. The Assembly had had to hold four rounds of balloting, as a result of which they elected 17 members of the Council. Only one seat, for the Latin American and Caribbean States, remained to be filled. A list of the countries elected would be made available in the Office of the Spokesman. Following the consultations of the President of the General Assembly late yesterday afternoon with all the parties concerned, the next round of balloting was scheduled for Monday. That vote would be an unrestricted one, and any delegation could be put on the list, except members of the Council that were not yet due to retire. For those who were interested in the specific numbers, he drew attention to two press releases: GA/9340 and GA/9341, which contained all the details.

On reform, Mr. Taukatch said that intensive negotiations were continuing "in various forms, forums and formats". Among others, the "Group of 77" developing countries was taking a very active role in the discussion, thoroughly examining all the actions and recommendations under review, and contributing new ideas. That Group had two meetings scheduled for today, one

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in the morning and the other at 1:45 p.m., before the start of the scheduled ninth meeting of informal, open-ended consultations of the plenary.

Mr. Taukatch said the President of the General Assembly was persisting in his efforts to move the process along, to build, "gradually, patiently but with determination" a consensus for General Assembly action on the matter. Mr. Udovenko felt that the time was becoming ripe for an Assembly decision on the actions contained in the report of the Secretary-General.

The President had also met with the Secretary-General this morning to discuss the progress made by the Assembly on the reform item. In that connection, he had also yesterday held a meeting with the chairmen of the "big three" groupings of countries: the European Union, the Group of 77 and the Non-Aligned Movement. Mr. Udovenko felt that it had been a very productive meeting, Mr. Taukatch added.

Among other activities late yesterday, Mr. Udovenko had met with a delegation of the Assisi International Centre for Peace, which was at the United Nations to deliver a proclamation to declare the next millennium the "Millennium of Peace".

Concerning questions he had received on the timing of the resumed tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly, Mr. Taukatch said the President was continuing with his consultations on the subject. "What we are probably looking at is a one-day meeting sometime in the first half of November", he said.

Asked whether the Group of 77 was trying to obtain a "unified position" on every aspect of reform, and how that could be possible, Mr. Taukatch said he could not speak for that Group. He said they were very actively involved in the process, and were constantly consulting with the President of the General Assembly, and there was a sense that progress was being made. "It doesn't have to be that there is total agreement on every particular action, but the President feels that the time is getting ripe for some sort of decision on the matter under consideration; that a consensus was building, and that is what he is driving at." The President was very well aware, and kept stressing it in the meetings, that the Assembly needed to consider all the issues thoroughly and give everybody a chance to speak up. At the same time, he felt there was a need for speedy action on the matter.

Also asked whether -- at the President's meeting with the chairmen of the three groups yesterday -- a date was set at which "ripeness might lead to the fruit falling off the tree", Mr. Taukatch said that "the fruit needs to be there before it falls down". He did not know whether the President wanted to set any specific dates, but he felt that the meeting had been a "very constructive, and action-related" discussion.

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Could he provide other highlights of the consensus that might be building? a correspondent asked. "It's Friday, it's Halloween, why should we want to do that?" replied the spokesman, laughing, "let's wait till Monday".

Asked the countries that had asked for the postponement in the "culture of peace" resolution, he said it was his understanding that it was the European Union, but he would double-check.

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