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, noted at the beginning of today's briefing that the Secretary-General had issued a statement last night from Santiago, Chile, which said that if Iraq did not respond positively to his request that they resume full compliance with Security Council resolutions, he would terminate his diplomatic mission and refer the matter to the Council. The Secretary-General's three envoys had left Baghdad today, following their press conference, which had been played back at 10 a.m. on the in-house television. They were expected to return to New York over the weekend to finalize their report. In turn, the Secretary- General would shorten his visit to Latin America by one day and return to New York on Sunday. The Security Council was expected to take up Iraq on Monday, he added.

He said that the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) on Iraq's disposal of weapons of mass destruction, Richard Butler, had again sent out inspection teams today. The scenario of the last four days had been repeated, with the teams being unable to carry out their inspections because of Iraqi opposition to the presence of United States inspectors.

Mr. Eckhard told correspondents that in continuation of his Latin American visit, the Secretary-General would be in Venezuela over the weekend for the Seventh Ibero-American Summit. Today was a travel day for him, from Santiago, Chile, to Margarita Island, in Venezuela. Tomorrow, he would attend the Summit, where he would address the group in the afternoon. An embargoed text of that address, in English and Spanish, was available in the Spokesman's Office (Press Release SG/SM/6385). The Summit would conclude on Sunday afternoon, and the signing of the Margarita Declaration was expected at 3:30 p.m.; the Secretary-General was assumed to be leaving for New York after that.

Turning to Burundi, he said that about 4,000 to 5,000 displaced persons had been evicted by military authorities from the Rwegura site, in Kayanza Province, and sent back to Cibitoke, their province of origin. Officials from the Department of Humanitarian Affairs in Burundi had today met with representatives of the Ministry of the Interior to discuss the poor health and nutritional status of that population and their expulsion from their site, which was burned down after they were evicted.

Recalling that five conference room papers on United Nations reform had been made available recently, he alerted correspondents to the fact that they were now beginning to come out as official documents. Three were already out in that format, the other two would follow. From a World Food Programme (WFP) press release, he drew attention to a warning that the health of tens of thousands of vulnerable people in Sierra Leone could quickly deteriorate if food assistance was not provided immediately. Mr. Eckhard also said that today's "Briefing Notes" from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva provided an update on the situation of Cambodian refugees in Thailand. More than 11,000 people had arrived in the past few weeks; the total now stood at 64,000 Cambodian refugees in Thailand. The High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata had this morning addressed the annual meeting of the General Assembly's Ad Hoc Committee for the Announcement of Voluntary Contributions covering UNHCR's general programmes in 1998, Mr. Eckhard said. The projected UNHCR budget for 1998 was just under $1 billion, he added, a drop of $12 million from last year's levels. Last year's meeting had produced a record $200 million in pledges for the 1997 budget. Her statement was also available in the Spokesman's Office. Mr. Eckhard also drew attention to an announcement today by the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy, that she supported a directive banning all tobacco advertising in the European Union, which was now being considered by the European Parliament. A press release on that subject was also available. Also available in the Spokesman's Office, he said, was a Department of Humanitarian Affairs "Update" on the impact of typhoon Linda on Viet Nam. Concerning the subject of contributions, Mr. Eckhard announced that the Lao People's Democratic Republic had paid in full its contribution to the 1997 regular budget; 94 Member States had now done so. Recalling that in the last announcement on contributions he had also said that 94 Member States were paid up, he explained that there had emerged a problem with one of the contributions, which had then been pulled from the list. The monthly summary of troop-contributors to peacekeeping missions was also now available, Mr. Eckhard said. On Monday at 11:15 a.m., he said, there would be a press conference, sponsored by the Canadian Mission. It would be addressed by the Secretary- General of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, Inge Genefke, along with John Salzberg of the Centre for the Victims of Torture. They would focus attention on the plight of torture victims and the work being undertaken by a growing number of rehabilitation centres.

Asked about the Secretary-General's feelings concerning his mission to Iraq, and whether he felt he had "lost face", Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary- General had only been doing his job and there was no question of losing face. He had tried to provide a peaceful alternative, but from the comments made by the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, in Baghdad today, it appeared that his offer of an opportunity to climb down had been rejected. The Secretary-General would discuss with the three envoys on Sunday night and Monday morning, their approach to the Security Council on Monday afternoon, as the matter would now go to the Council.

Did he have copies of the letter sent to Ambassador Butler threatening to shoot at United States planes? "I don't have that letter", Mr. Eckhard said, "and I don't know if I could give it to you if I had it." He would, however, look into the issue.

He was also asked how the statement made by the Secretary-General in Chile last night "squared with" what Tariq Aziz said this morning, which sounded as if Iraq was not prepared to back down. Would the Secretary-General

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 7 November 1997

now terminate his involvement in the issue? Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General wanted first to discuss fully with the three envoys what they had heard in Baghdad, and then prepare with them for the Council on Monday. "But certainly, Mr. Tariq Aziz's comments today indicate that they are not going to back down, and so, you can assume from that that the direction the Secretary-General is moving is towards what he said: terminate the mission, passing the ball to the Security Council, but that decision would not be made by him until he has had a chance to talk to the envoys."

To a question about the "ground rules" concerning United States visas, and whether the United States might limit visas to Tariq Aziz and those who might wish to travel with him to New York next week, Mr. Eckhard said that under the terms of the Host Country Agreement, the United States agreed not to impede access to United Nations Headquarters to the representatives of Member States. The United Nations would expect that they would comply and provide those visas.

Asked the number of United Nations staff in Iraq, and where they were located, the Spokesman said there were about 100 with UNSCOM. He would find out how many were in the "oil-for-food" and any other programmes of the Organization. [He later made available an accounting, which totalled 503 staff in Iraq.]

On the outcome of yesterday's meeting of police-contributors for Haiti, he reminded the correspondent that it had been a closed meeting.

Asked to clarify if he had said that the Secretary-General was in favour of a visa being given to Tariq Aziz, Mr. Eckhard said he had only commented on the terms of the Host Country Agreement that governed the United States conduct as the host country.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 7 November 1997

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), said there was no action in the plenary today, which would meet again on Monday, 10 November, to take up the "Question of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas)" and the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization. Today was a big election day in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), said the spokesman, which took up the item on the appointments to fill vacancies in a total of seven subsidiary bodies. Among them were the Committee on Contributions, and the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ). On the latter, Mr. Taukatch said, at the time of the briefing it had been decided to postpone election to appoint five persons to fill the vacancies that would arise at the end of the year. He understood that that situation had arisen because there had been no consensus in the group of African States on a candidate. He reminded correspondents that the ACABQ consisted of 16 members. [Later, the spokesman announced that the following persons had been elected to the ACABQ: Ioan Barac (Romania); Hasan Jawarneh (Jordan); Mahamane Amadou Maiga (Mali); E. Besley Maycock (Barbados); and C.S.M. Mselle (United Republic of Tanzania).] Mr. Taukatch said there had also been elections in the Fifth Committee to fill the six seats in the Committee on Contributions. Since there were several candidates to fill the two vacancies from the Eastern European Group, a secret ballot had been taken, following which Uldis Blukis (Latvia), and Ihor V. Humenny (Ukraine) were elected. For details, he referred correspondents to document A/C.5/52/6. Meanwhile the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), said the spokesman, was considering a total of 23 draft texts that had been submitted yesterday. On the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), he said that it had yesterday approved a draft resolution by which the Assembly would agree that the Third United Nations Conference on Exploration and the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III) would be convened at the United Nations Office in Vienna in July 1999. Responding to the question asked yesterday about the subject of Mr. Udovenko's meeting with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, Mr. Taukatch said that they knew each other very well and that they had recently met in Ukraine where Mrs. Ogata had been visiting, in part to look into the situation in Crimea. They discussed the situation created by the return of some 250,000 people to the peninsula as part of the repatriation process. Mr. Udovenko and Mrs. Ogata had also exchanged views on the consideration of the report of the High Commissioner in the Assembly and on the ongoing discussions on the reform of the United Nations. Today, he continued, Mr. Udovenko had met with the Chairman of the Credentials Committee at 10 a.m. He also had a meeting with the coordinator of the working group on the scale of assessments, and was expected to meet with the Permanent Representative of Italy, as well as with the Chairman of the European Union. Later, he would meet again with his "Friends on Reform", the Permanent Representatives of Brazil and Norway.

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