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, said that the United Nations envoys in Iraq had resumed their talks with the Iraqi delegation in Baghdad at noon local time today. That meeting had ended at 1:30 p.m.; another one at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been scheduled for 6:00 p.m. (10 a.m. in New York). At the time of the briefing, the team had not confirmed whether the second meeting had ended. The envoys were now waiting for a written reply from Iraq to the Secretary-General's letter to President Saddam Hussein. Earlier today, the Iraqi delegation promised to give a written reply to the United Nations envoys before their departure, which was tentatively scheduled for tomorrow, 1 p.m. local time. Before that departure, Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi, the head of the United Nations delegation, might give a press conference.

On the inspections, the Spokesman said that for the fourth day in a row, United Nations inspectors had been unable to carry out their work because of Iraq's objections to the presence on the teams of American inspectors.

Meanwhile, the Security Council had concluded its consultations on the Central African Republic and Georgia, and had taken up Iraq. It had discussed the Council's reaction to the letter sent to them by the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), Ambassador Richard Butler. The Council President might issue a press statement on that matter following the consultations. Mr. Eckhard said that the Security Council President did receive a letter from the Foreign Minister of Iraq, Mohammed Said Al-Saha, this morning. In it, the Foreign Minister had confirmed the allegations of Ambassador Butler that there had been movment "to distant sites" of "the equipment that may be subject to military attacks as happened in 1993". He had also said that no UNSCOM monitoring cameras had been tampered with, which had been another allegation in Mr. Butler's letter.

The Secretary-General was in the second day of his visit to Chile today, Mr. Eckhard stated, and much of his time would be at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). He would meet with heads of agencies there, as well as of ECLAC, and also have the standard meeting with United Nations staff in Santiago. He would visit "United Nations House", which housed offices of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) there. The Secretary-General would also give a press conference this afternoon, and then go to the University of Chile, where he would make an address, the text of which was available in room 378.

The Spokesman noted that also staying in the same hotel were rock star David Bowie and his wife, the model Iman. The Secretary-General met with the couple this morning, and they had talked about Somalia, which was Iman's birthplace. He noted that the Secretary-General was "recruiting" supporters for the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights next year, and had talked to them about that. Also in the hotel, continued Mr. Eckhard, was Luis Miguel, a popular young singer; the Secretary- General would also be talking to him tonight about contributing to that anniversary.

He told correspondents that the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, Ms. Angela King, would be leaving for an Inter-agency Gender Mission to Afghanistan on Monday, and would be there until about 24 November. She had two main objectives. First, within the context of the recommendations for a principle-centred approach, and with reference to the findings of the Strategic Framework Mission, to reach agreement on a concrete set of pragmatic, field-oriented guidelines for addressing gender concerns in programme implementation. Secondly, the Inter- Agency Mission would establish a set of key indicators to enable those agencies and their partners on the ground to monitor compliance with those guidelines.

With reference to a question asked of him at the briefing yesterday on a conflict in the schedules of the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, and the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus, Diego Cordovez, over the latter's forthcoming visit to that country, Mr. Eckhard said that the scheduling problem had been resolved. Planning for the visit was now going ahead.

Mr. Eckhard told correspondents that the special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Roberto Garreton, would be in New York on Monday, when he was scheduled to present his report to the General Assembly. He noted that the Secretary-General's investigative team, three members of which were in the building today, had had meetings with the Department of Political Affairs. They were prepared now to return to the Democratic Republic of the Congo but would wait to have a final meeting with the Secretary-General early next week before leaving New York.

Mr. Eckhard also told correspondents that a cross-border United Nations inter-agency security mission had gone into Sierra Leone on Monday, and returned yesterday. On the telephone, they had described the situation as varying considerably from place to place. Although they were not able to visit some of the worst-hit places and did not have an overall view of the situation, they described some of the areas as tense, depressed economically and sparse in visible population.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 6 November 1997

The report of the Secretary-General on procurement reform (A/52/534) was out today, he said. It noted that pursuant to the recommendation of the Advisory Committee in the General Assembly, he had decided, as of 1 November, to consolidate within the Procurement Division, the relevant functions of the Contracts and Procurement Office of the former Department for Development Support and Management Services. For details, he referred correspondents to Ms. Sophie Sebirot of his Office.

Announcing press releases, also available in the Spokesman's Office, he noted that human genome and human rights would be considered by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today in Paris.

From the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, another press release had announced the death of Judge Haopei Li today, aged 91.

He announced an International Donors Conference on Tajikistan to be held in Vienna on 24 and 25 November, specifically in support of the peace process. The gathering was unlike normal pledging conferences for humanitarian assistance, Mr. Eckhard pointed out, having been specifically designed to assist in the implementation of the general peace agreement on Tajikistan. It was a post-conflict peace-building exercise by the United Nations, to which 68 countries had been invited, along with 18 United Nations agencies and programmes, 31 non-governmental organizations, and 17 inter-governmental organizations. He said that the Conference had been called in response to the request from Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov, and the leader of the United Tajik Opposition, Said Abdullow Nuri, following the signing of the peace agreement on 27 June. The United Nations hoped to raise $65 million at the event.

Mr. Eckhard also drew attention to an update from the Department of Humanitarian Affairs on Typhoon Linda which had hit the southern tip of Viet Nnam, as well as Cambodia and Thailand.

Concerning the status of contributions, he said that the 31 October update was now available. It showed $2.2 billion outstanding in all categories.

Mr. Eckhard also announced a police-contributors meeting today, in a closed format, on the United Nations Transition Mission in Haiti (UNTMIH), at 3:00 p.m. in Conference Room 9.

There was also a press release from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), he said, concerning a series of awards which it would be giving out in Rome on Friday, 7 November.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 6 November 1997

He also announced that at 2:30 p.m. today, the World Chronicle television programme would feature the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change, Michael Zammit Cutajar, on in-house channels 6 or 38.

On the situation in Iraq, a correspondent asked Mr. Eckhard if the letter which was being expected by the United Nations was "in lieu of a face- to-face meeting" with President Hussein. The Spokesman said that the team had gone to Iraq to present a letter from the Secretary-General to President Hussein, but no one had been sure from the beginning whether there would be a face-to-face meeting with him, pointing out that the Organization had been dealing with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz in the preparatory phase of the visit. The letter was only the response to the Secretary-General's.

Was there word that there would be a meeting with President Hussein? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said, "There is not now, but frankly we do not anticipate there will be one."

When asked whether Mr. Tariq Aziz was still coming to New York, the Spokesman said that arrangement was still not finalized. He repeated what he had said yesterday: in his phone conversation with the Secretary-General, Mr. Tariq Aziz had expressed his interest in coming. "I think the Security Council members are waiting to see what is in the letter from President Hussein."

A correspondent asked if any reason had been given by the Iraqis as to why they removed equipment that were subject to inspection. Mr. Eckhard said he would not comment further on the letter, adding, "perhaps you will be lucky enough to get a copy of it from a member of the Council."

Did Mr. Eckhard have any comment on the diplomatic incident between the New York Police Department and the Russian Ambassador? a correspondent asked. The Spokesman said no one wanted to see the re-escalation of the tension between the United Nations and the New York City Police. The details of the incident had been sent to the Secretary-General's Office, where they were being studied.

Asked whom Ms. Angela King would be meeting with in Afghanistan, the Spokesman said she would be meeting primarily with the agencies and programmes and non-governmental organizations that had activities on the ground, to make sure everyone understood the standard guidelines agreed to in New York in June, which had been communicated to all the agencies at that time after they were approved by the Secretary-General. Further asked if she would be meeting with the Taliban, Mr. Eckhard answered, "I don't know that, but she consulted with the Taliban representatives in New York in preparing the trip."

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 6 November 1997

Could Mr. Eckhard give correspondents a sense of how the discussions in Baghdad were going, and if they were not negotiations, how would he characterize those discussions? The Spokesman replied "They delivered the letter, and they have done a lot of listening."

Concerning the issue of the Headquarters Agreement, a correspondent asked who had primary responsibility for resolving the problems: the Secretary-General who had signed the Agreement, or the Committee on Relations with the Host Country? Mr. Eckhard said there was no simple answer to that question. There were obligations on the part of the United Nations, and on the part of the host country, that were spelled out in that document. It was not primarily one or the other.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), referring to the issue of the New York City Police, said that the Committee on Relations with the Host Country had met yesterday and discussed the matter. He referred those who were interested in the details of that meeting to Press Release HQ/579 of 5 November. The Committee was tentatively scheduled to meet again on 13 November, he added.

Bringing correspondents up to date on the events of yesterday afternoon, Mr. Taukatch said that following a debate at the Assembly on agenda item 30 -- "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba" -- the Assembly had adopted a resolution urging States to repeal all extraterritorial measures, such as the United States Helms-Burton Act against Cuba. The voting was 143 in favour to 3 against, with 17 abstentions, the spokesman added, noting that it was a "slight change" from last year's result which ended with 137 in favour to 3 against, with 25 abstentions.

In other action later in the afternoon concerning the Economic and Social Council, the Assembly had finally filled the remaining seat of the 18 that had been available, by electing Saint Lucia from the Latin America and Caribbean States Group. He pointed out that that had been accomplished in a single round of voting [but the eighth in the series]. Before the vote, Peru had announced that it would not contest the election. The Assembly would next meet again in plenary on Monday, 10 November, when it would consider the "Question of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas)", as well as the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization (document A/52/1).

Still on yesterday's activities, Mr. Taukatch said that at the two-day 1997 United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities just concluded, about $944 million in real and anticipated contributions had been pledged for development activities of the United Nations system.

The President of the General Assembly had this morning met with the Chairmen of the Main Committees, said Mr. Taukatch, adding that that was part

Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 6 November 1997

of his regular meetings with them to coordinate the work of those Committees and the plenary. Throughout the day, he would have a total of five meetings on the question of reform. They would include meetings with the Permanent Representative of the United Republic of Tanzania (who was Chairman of the "Group of 77" developing countries); the Permanent Representative of Pakistan; the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom; the Permanent Representative of Mexico; and with the President's "Friends on Reform": the Permanent Representatives of Brazil and Norway. Mr. Udovenko would also meet with the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Elizabeth Dowdeswell, and with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata.

In reference to questions he had received in connection with the resumed tenth emergency special session, he re-stated that it would be held in the morning of 13 November. In addition to the letter that had originally requested the resumption (document A/ES-10/17), he pointed out that two more letters were now available: the first was from the Permanent Representative of Indonesia, in his capacity as Chairman of the Islamic Group of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (document A/ES-10/18); and the other from the Permanent Representative of Colombia on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (document A/ES-10/19).

Asked what the General Assembly President and Mrs. Ogata would be talking about, Mr. Taukatch said he expected it would focus on consideration by the General Assembly of the report by the High Commissioner, as well as issues of United Nations reform. He would have a readout for the press after the meeting.

Asked if he could compare the Pledging Conference figures of this week to those of last year, Mr. Taukatch referred the correspondent to Press Release DEV/2172-GA/9348 of 5 November, which contained all the details on the 1997 Conference. As for comparison with last year's results, he would have to do some research.

Mr. Taukatch, asked what the Credentials Committee was waiting for before it could act on the Cambodian seat, said that the Committee had to meet first before it decided how to act. As far as he knew, no meetings of the Committee were scheduled at this time. Further asked if a request had to come from Cambodia for such a meeting, he said the Committee was "master of its own procedures" and decided when it felt it was necessary to convene.

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