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, told correspondents at today's briefing that the mission set up by the Secretary-General at the weekend to meet with the Government of Iraq had arrived in Baghdad this morning at 10:15 a.m. local time. They had first had a tete-a-tete meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at 12 noon local time. That had been followed by a formal meeting between the Iraqi and United Nations delegations which lasted about two hours, with the atmosphere described as 'good'. The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Mohammad Said al-Sahaf, Oil Minister Amer Mohammed Rashid, and Iraq's United Nations Ambassador Nizar Hamdoon, had also taken part in the meeting on the Iraqi side. Also present on the United Nations side, Mr. Eckhard added, were the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, Dennis Halliday, and Rolf Knutsson, a Director in the Secretary-General's Office.

The meeting was scheduled to resume at the Foreign Ministry at 6 p.m. local time, which would have been 10 a.m. in New York. Not having heard from the mission, the Spokesman said it was assumed that the talks were continuing.

Meanwhile, Mr. Eckhard continued, the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) had attempted, for the third straight day, to send out inspection teams, and three of them had taken off for different inspection sites this morning. On arrival at those sites, they had again been challenged by Iraqi officials who protested the presence of American inspectors on the teams. Following the instructions of the Executive Chairman of UNSCOM, Ambassador Richard Butler, the chief inspectors had told their Iraqi counterparts that the inspections would not proceed under those constraints. All three teams had returned to their base without incident.

Mr. Eckhard drew the attention of correspondents to a statement issued last night by Mr. Butler, in which he had said that in response to a request by the Secretary-General, he had decided to postpone the U-2 flight that had been scheduled for the period 5-7 November while the Secretary-General's Personal Envoys were in Iraq delivering the message that the United Nations Security Council resolutions must be fully and unconditionally reinstated.

Offering to take questions at that point before proceeding with the rest of the briefing, Mr. Eckhard was asked whether the Secretary-General's team in Iraq was involved in negotiations -- contrary to the earlier understanding that they would not -- or "whether it takes more than two hours to deliver a

message". The Spokesman said it had been made very clear that there was nothing to negotiate. Noting that in the first meeting this morning the team had delivered a letter from the Secretary-General to President Saddam Hussein, he said that the idea of the mission -- in addition to permitting the Organization to deliver the message of the Security Council that Iraq must comply -- was also to allow the Iraqis to express their grievances. He said he assumed that was taking place as well.

To a question as to whether there had been any mention at the meeting of the postponement of the U-2 flights, and whether that might have contributed to the relaxed atmosphere he had reported, Mr. Eckhard said he had no such detail from that meeting.

Did he know whether the team would be meeting with President Hussein, or what further meetings were scheduled? He said he did not have any information about any meeting with Mr. Hussein. Concerning future meetings, he only had the information he had already given concerning the second meeting for today.

Apart from the atmosphere, what else could he tell correspondents about the first meeting? Replied Mr. Eckhard: "I have no substance from that meeting to share with you at this time."

He was also asked why the Secretary-General, yesterday, had called on "all sides" to "exercise restraint". Mr. Eckhard said the statement had been made in the afternoon, basically saying that the Secretary-General would like to see this time put to relaxing tensions rather than increasing them. "The Executive Chairman's decision to send out a team was not to exacerbate tensions, but to continue to make a point of principle", he added.

Asked what sort of forum Tariq Aziz would have if he came to New York next week, the Spokesman said Mr. Aziz had expressed to the Secretary-General his desire to come to New York and address the Security Council. To his knowledge, however, that request had not been formally communicated to the Council, and he did not know what the Council's reaction to it would be. He pointed out, however, that "if a Foreign Minister or a higher official of a Member State asked to address the Council, it is routinely accepted".

Turning to other subjects, he said the Security Council was today being briefed on the Republic of the Congo by the Special Envoy of the United Nations/Organization of African Unity (OAU) to the Great Lakes region, Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun. It would then take up the progress report of the Secretary-General on Georgia. On the subject of the Central African Republic, Mr. Eckhard noted that there was a draft resolution which would extend the mandate of the Inter-African Mission to Monitor the Implementation of the Bangui Agreements (MISAB) in that country.

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He then read the following statement, attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and available in room 378 in English and French, on the subject of the Comoros.

"The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by the deterioration of the situation in the Comoros, following the decision of the Anjouan island to proclaim its independence on 26 October.

"The Secretary-General deplores the unilateral decision which the Anjouan island has taken, at a time when the Organization of African Unity, the League of Arab States and the international community are dedicating ceaseless efforts to finding a just and durable solution to the Comorian crisis.

"The Secretary-General renews his appeal to the Comorians, in particular to the Anjouanese, to participate without reservations in the Conference on the Comoros which the OAU is planning to organize in Addis Ababa.

"To ensure the success of the Conference, the Secretary-General exhorts all Comorian parties to abstain from all acts aimed at putting in question the territorial integrity, the sovereignty and national unity of the Federal Republic of the Comoros." (See Press Release SG/SM/6380.)

Concerning the Secretary-General's visit to Latin America, which began yesterday, Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General had arrived in Chile this morning and was greeted by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and other officials. At the airport he had met briefly with the press. His programme had then begun at noon with a meeting with President Eduardo Frei, and they had discussed United Nations reform, Security Council reform, scale of assessments, the draft treaty to ban landmines, the Kyoto Conference on climate change, and other matters. That had been followed by a ceremony on the eradication of child labour in Chile.

The Secretary-General had then been hosted at a luncheon in his honor by President Frey. His programme for the afternoon would include a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Miguel Insulza, the Minister for Defence, Edmundo Perez Yoma; and later with the Mayor of Santiago, Jaime Ravinet. In the early evening, the Secretary-General would meet with the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Gutenberg Martinez. The Secretary- General would be awarded the "Orden al Merito de Chile en el Grado de Gran Cruz", and be declared an illustrious visitor to the City of Santiago by the Mayor. Copies of the Secretary-General's statements were available in room 378. (See Press Releases SG/SM/6382 and SG/SM/6383.)

On Angola, Mr. Eckhard said that in response to the imposition of additional sanctions on the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the head of the UNITA delegation to the Joint Commission in Angola, Isais Samakuva, had indicated to the Special Representative of the

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 5 November 1997

Secretary-General, Alioune Blondin Beye, that in spite of United Nations sanctions, UNITA would not abandon the peace process. So far 165 out of 329 locations had been placed under Angola State administration.

Mr. Eckhard drew attention to the visit of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly plenary yesterday afternoon, after which his address was put out. He told the Assembly that he was "sufficiently encouraged by the statements in the General Debate and the discussions he had with Heads of State and government to feel that the bulk of his proposals commanded the support of the generality of the membership". He had also given additional information on subjects that continued to be a matter of discussion among Member States: the Deputy Secretary-General, the reorganization of the Organization's work in the area of disarmament, human rights, and the post of resident coordinator in the field.

The delegations of Indonesia and Portugal had this morning at Headquarters, resumed discussions on the subject of East Timor, Mr. Eckhard said. Those talks were taking place at the level of senior officials under the chairmanship of the Personal Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor, Ambassador Jamsheed Marker, and would continue until Friday. The discussion was in line with the agreement reached at the ninth round of talks by the Secretary-General with the Foreign Ministers of both sides on 19 and 20 June 1997. He recalled that they had also met at the senior officials level from 4 to 7 August and again on 1 to 3 October.

Mr. Eckhard announced that the Russian Federation had today ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention; it had signed the Convention on the 13 January 1993. There were now 104 ratifications or accessions to that Convention.

The reports of the Special Rapporteur on human rights to the General Assembly had started to come out, he said, drawing attention to reports on the human rights situation in Kosovo, in Cuba, in Iraq and in Iran, as well as the report on the use of mercenaries and religious intolerance. All the reports, and others to come, would be available on the racks.

He also drew attention to a report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights field operation in Rwanda, which said that the human rights situation had worsened considerably in the country since the beginning of 1997, and particularly since May.

The Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA) had prepared a report, now available in room 378, on population movement in the Great Lakes region of Africa, the Spokesman said. That report showed that about 2.2 million people had been displaced, dispersed or were refugees in the region.

A DHA report from Geneva was also available, he continued, with information about heavy rains which had struck Somalia and Ethiopia, causing severe flooding.

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Mr. Eckhard also drew attention to a press release from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia about the Slavo Dokmanovic case. Mr. Dokmanovic, the President of the Vukovar Municipality in November 1991, was apprehended and transferred to The Hague on 27 June 1997. He had filed a motion for scheduling a trial date on 3 November 1997.

Another press release from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced that its Governing Conference would meet on 17 and 18 November. The first estimates indicated a slowdown in 1997 crop and livestock production, following a buoyant 1996, while food aid showed a sharp drop in 1996-1997.

Mr. Eckhard also told correspondents about a Department of Public Information (DPI) booklet, 'Agenda for Development', described by the Secretary-General in the foreword as "one of the most far-reaching agreements on the central issue of development ever attained by the international community".

On press conferences, he announced that tomorrow, 6 November, at 11:15 a.m., the Director of the United Nations Population Division, Joseph Chamie, along with three experts on international population would be present. That Division had convened a meeting with a group of international population experts from 4 to 6 November to discuss future fertility expectations and the consequences of such "below-replacement fertility" and possible government responses.

He also said that today, at 3 p.m., the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA), would have a briefing in the UNCA lounge on 'Nazi era massacres in Croatia'.

Stating that the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, had announced that he did not agree with the timing of the visit to the country of the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Cyprus, Diego Cordovez, since he (Mr. Denktash) would himself be away in Turkey for medical reasons, and also that he had not been consulted, a correspondent asked if any changes would be made regarding that visit. The Spokesman said that Mr. Denktash had made his views known to the Secretary-General when they met, adding that he did not know whether the visit would be re-arranged, or some other arrangement fashioned to enable Mr. Cordovez to meet Mr. Denktash.

A correspondent who said he had read the "terrible report" on Haiti, asked if the United Nations was "just going to abandon" that country. He referred to the Secretary-General's report on Haiti and asked if the police question was the only issue the Organization would do something about. Mr. Eckhard said that the first thing was for the United Nations to respond to a request from the Government, and that request had been for continued assistance to professionalize the work of the Haitian police. He pointed out

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that in his report the Secretary-General did mention that there had been no effective government for a number of months, and urged the political leaders to work collectively in a spirit of compromise to try to get the government formed and functioning. His recommendation to the Security Council had been to respond positively to the request for continued assistance with the police, and it remained to be seen what response the Council would give to that.

Asked for information on Ambassador Sahnoun's briefing to the Security Council on the Republic of the Congo, Mr. Eckhard said he preferred to get a readout of the briefing, and would try to do that once the Ambassador had finished.

Concerning the Lockerbie bombing case, a correspondent asked if the Secretary-General planned to send observers to look at the Scottish legal system, and if they would make an "explicit evaluation" of it. The Spokesman said that a decision on the enjoys had not yet been made, but that he would check, and get back to the correspondent.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), said the Assembly was at the time of the briefing in the midst of consideration of agenda item 30: "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba". Nineteen speakers had been inscribed on the list. In addition, there would be four speakers before the vote -- as a recorded vote had been requested -- and five speakers after the vote. He noted that the Assembly had been considering the issue since its forty-sixth session in 1991; it had been included in the agenda at the request of Cuba. (See Press Release GA/9349.)

For those who had missed the announcement in the Journal today, Mr. Taukatch said that the resumed tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly would hold its sixth plenary meeting on 13 November at 10 a.m. The issue under consideration was agenda item 5: "Illegal Israeli actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory".

Mr. Taukatch said the President of the General Assembly had met this morning with the President of the Security Council for the month of November, the Permanent Representative of China, Qin Huasun. It was part of a series of regular meetings of the President of the General Assembly with the chairmen of principal organs of the United Nations. The two presidents had exchanged views on the programme of work of their respective bodies. Highlighting the value of transparency in the work of the Council, the President of the Security Council had briefed Mr. Udovenko about the Council's provisional schedule for this month, which, in part, included the review of the mandates of five United Nations peacekeeping operations. Mr. Qin had also stated that the situation in Africa would continue to be high on the agenda of the Council. They had also discussed United Nations reform.

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Mr. Udovenko had stressed the importance of his meeting with the President of the Security Council, Mr. Taukatch continued, coming as it did in the wake of recent consideration in the Assembly of the report of the Council, and also in anticipation of the upcoming item on Security Council reform. On related matters, Mr. Udovenko had underscored the significance of the visit of the Chinese President to the United States last week, which Mr. Udovenko felt was important not only from the point of view of bilateral relations, but as a positive factor for the international climate as a whole.

Following its consideration of the agenda item on Cuba, Mr. Taukatch said the Assembly would this afternoon again take up item 15: "Elections to fill vacancies in principal organs: election of 18 members of the Economic and Social Council". One seat belonging to the Latin American and Caribbean States group remained to be filled. (See Press Release GA/9350.)

Concerning the work of the Main Committees, he said the Fourth Committee would this afternoon continue general debate on "International cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space". An interesting discussion had been going on for two days on that subject, the spokesman noted. He drew attention to a statement made at Monday's meeting concerning recent reform measures carried out by the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space which had been described as a positive example for the entire work of the United Nations.

Picking up on Mr. Eckhard's remarks about yesterday's informal consultations of the plenary on reform, Mr. Taukatch said the President of the General Assembly felt that the address of the Secretary-General was an extremely important development. Asked about the planned length of the resumed tenth special session, Mr. Taukatch said it was expected to be a one- day meeting.

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