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 today's noon briefing by announcing that the Security Council President, with the consent of other members of the Council, this morning sent a reply to the Executive Chairman of the Special Commission, Ambassador Richard Butler. In it they agreed to his suggestion for a technical briefing on the United Nations Special Commission to monitor the disarmament of Iraq (UNSCOM) for the Council tomorrow, and an emergency meeting of the Special Commission on Friday. The Council was scheduled to hold consultations on Iraq at 10 a.m. tomorrow. He added that a U-2 flight had taken place safely over Iraq today.

The "661" Committee, which oversees sanctions on Iraq, would hold a closed meeting today in Conference Room 7 at 3:30 p.m., Mr. Eckhard went on to say. United States Admiral Michael Bordy, Coordinator of the Multinational Interception Force which had been monitoring the sanctions in the Persian Gulf, was scheduled to make a presentation on smuggling activities in their area of operations. The Committee would discuss other issues as well, including some export applications.

Yesterday, the United Nations provided Iraq with Weekly Report No. 39 on the implementation of the oil-for-food programme, Mr. Eckhard said. Last week, the sanctions Committee approved 19 humanitarian sales applications, and put four applications on hold under Phase II, the current 180-day period. It was still examining applications under Phase I. Last week, it approved eight, put two on hold, and blocked none. The total oil proceeds in Phase II had reached $1.2 billion.

In addition to the Secretary-General's schedule announced yesterday, he had also met with the Permanent Representative of Iraq, Ambassador Nizar Hamdoon, at 1 p.m., Mr. Eckhard said. No information was available on the substance of that meeting.

Mr. Eckhard then read out the following statement -- attributable to a spokesman for the Secretary-General and available in room 378 -- on the subject of Afghanistan:

"The Secretary-General received with deep concern reports about the discovery of mass graves near Shebarghan in northern Afghanistan in the

province of Jowzjan, which are said to contain the remains of many soldiers belonging to the Taliban Movement.

"The Secretary-General has already asked the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan (UNSMA) to make contact with all sides in order to find out more about this sad situation.

"Once again the Secretary-General appeals to all parties to the conflict to respect the Geneva Conventions and cooperate with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who should be permitted to have access to all prisoners and wounded fighters in the custody of every party in Afghanistan.

"This news is a reminder that all Afghan parties and those countries and organizations which are interested in Afghanistan urgently need to cooperate with the United Nations to put an end to the senseless conflict which has caused so much suffering and damage to the Afghan people."

Turning to the Democratic People's Republic of the Congo, Mr. Eckhard announced that the Secretary-General's human rights investigative team today met with its Foreign Minister, Bizima Karaha. The Interior Minister, Mwenze Kongolo, was also present at the meeting, which the United Nations side described as "constructive and positive". The Ministers reiterated their Government's commitment to facilitating the work of the team. "We are looking forward to their getting into the field, perhaps early next week, following a meeting later this week to work out the final details for the field work", the Spokesman added.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, yesterday briefed the Second Committee on the right to development, Mr. Eckhard said. A note on that briefing was now available in room 378. In her address, Mrs. Robinson spelled out her objective of undertaking initiatives to improve promotion, protection and implementation of the right to development. She emphasized the universality, indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights.

Mr. Eckhard drew attention to the Secretary-General's report, now on the racks, containing the revised 1998 resource requirement for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The resources requested amounted to $64.2 million, reflecting a $15 million increase over the previous year -- due in part to the proposed construction of a second permanent courtroom.

Concerning that Tribunal, he drew attention to a press release concerning the case of Mirjan Kupreskic, who was one of the 10 Croatians who voluntarily surrendered to the Tribunal in October. Four of that group were now asking to be granted temporary release from custody.

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He said that another press release, from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, stated that Alfred Musema, a former Director of a tea factory in Kibuye Prefecture in Rwanda, had pleaded not guilty to the six counts with which he was charged. The counts included genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, and serious violations of Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. The prosecution had alleged that Alfred Musema was responsible for the killing, or of causing of serious bodily injury and mental harm, to members of the Tutsi population who sought refuge in the Bisesero area.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mrs. Sadako Ogata, today appointed Soren Jessen-Petersen as Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees, replacing Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was last week appointed Emergency Relief Coordinator by the Secretary-General. Also in its briefing notes today, the UNHCR had expressed its concern over a series of expulsions, often arbitrary, from various countries in the Great Lakes region of Africa -- namely, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Rwanda.

Turning to Angola, he said that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Alioune Blondin Beye, met yesterday with Jonas Savimbi and the leadership of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) in Andulo. After the meeting, Mr. Beye said that UNITA had reiterated its commitment to the peace process. However, it had not made progress lately in the extension of state administration and other aspects of the peace process. Mr. Beye urged both the Angolan Government and UNITA to respect the United Nations Angolan Mission's freedom of action and to cease obstructing its work.

Mr. Eckhard said that the Second United Nations World Television forum, on the theme "Television in the New Multimedia Environment", would take place from 19 to 21 November in the Economic and Social Council Chamber. It was organized by the Department of Public Information (DPI) and co-sponsored by the Foreign Ministry of Italy, as well as by Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI) and an organization called Mediaset. It would open at 11 a.m. tomorrow with an address by the Secretary-General and the Italian Foreign Minister, Lamberto Dini. The Chairman of RAI, Enzo Siciliano, and the Chairman of Mediaset, Fedele Confalonieri, would also speak. At 11:45 a.m., the first panel -- on "Visions for the Future" -- would be presented by Dan Rather, the Managing Editor of CBS News. It would feature speeches by Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of the News Corporation, and Zwelakhe Sisulu, the Group Chief Executive of South African Broadcasting (SABC). At 3 p.m., the second panel -- on "The new multimedia environment" -- would be moderated by Jan Mojto, President of the Association of Commercial Television (ACT) of Europe.

Mr. Eckhard then announced that the First Summit on the Security of International Staff, organized by the Staff Committee of the United Nations Staff Union, which was scheduled to take place tomorrow, had been cancelled

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following developments in the Middle East, which were diverting the attention of a number of the principal participants of the Summit.

The Spokesman drew attention to the troop-contributors meeting on the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) listed in the Journal today. It would take place at 3:30 p.m. in the Economic and Social Council Chamber.

He also drew their attention to a letter from the President of the General Assembly to the Chairman of the Fifth Committee on the subject of reform, issued today as an official document. In it, the President alerts the Chairman to the General Assembly resolution A/RES/52/12, adopted last Wednesday. The text of the resolution had also been issued as an official document.

Mr. Eckhard then announced that a status of contributions update as of 15 November, was available in room 378. Outstanding contributions now stood at $2.218 billion.

Also available was a second media advisory from the Conference of States Parties of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, along with a form to be filled out by those who wished to attend that occasion, which was coming up at The Hague.

He said that the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy, had denounced the ongoing violence in Algeria. The Amnesty International report on that issue was also released in New York today. A UNICEF press release was available.

Also available in the Spokesman's Office were humanitarian situation reports on the droughts in Indonesia, the floods in Somalia, and the visit of a United Nations disaster assessment team to assess the impact of tropical cyclone Martin on the Cook Islands.

Asked if the Secretary-General was involved in the negotiations to settle the Iraq issue, Mr. Eckhard said that, as he had said yesterday, the Secretary-General was in regular touch with missions as well as with Governments directly involved in the efforts to find a peaceful solution. "Yes", he said.

Would the Secretary-General also be involved in the oil-for-food negotiations, and would that have to be within the appropriate sanctions regime? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard declined to comment on that issue at this "sensitive" phase.

Asked for clarification regarding figures he had provided on the implementation of the oil-for-food plan, Mr. Eckhard said that the $2 billion related to each of the two 180-day phases.

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A correspondent drew attention to Amnesty International's report on Algeria, which she described as "pretty damning" about the record of the United Nations in that country. Amnesty was calling for a special session of the General Assembly and had accused United Nations officials of "hiding behind each other to stay out of the conflict", she said.

Asked for comment, the Spokesman said that the subject had been, and basically still was, a domestic issue. Member States and international organizations were reluctant to speak up on a domestic issue. The Secretary- General had been one of the first to break the silence. Since her appointment as the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson had also been vocal on Algeria, saying that the level of the killings and the atrocities could no longer be ignored by the international community. "I would have to take issue with the Amnesty report if it said that United Nations officials kept silent", Mr. Eckhard said".

Asked if he knew of a meeting of the five permanent members of the Security Council taking place in Geneva, he said he had no official information on it. Was the Secretary-General aware of any "peace plan" being suggested by the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Yevgeny Primakov? "I don't want to comment on that", he said.

A correspondent said that in a resolution on Iraq adopted last week, the word "immediately" had appeared on several occasions concerning Iraq's compliance with United Nations resolutions. Had any review been undertaken to determine whether there had been movement towards compliance? Mr. Eckhard said it had been the intent of the Council that Iraq should "immediately" comply. But Iraq did not immediately comply? the correspondent said. "Yes, that's correct", Mr. Eckhard replied. Asked if there would be follow-up action by the Council on that, the Spokesman drew attention to the announcement regarding the Council's meetings this week. Tomorrow, the Council would be briefed by UNSCOM regarding the impact on that body's work of the interruption in the inspections. On Friday, the Special Commission would meet in an emergency session. In the meanwhile, Governments were consulting at rather high levels in the search for a diplomatic solution. "Whether their efforts will be successful, we probably won't have a sense of until later this week".

Was Tariq Aziz returning to meet with the Secretary-General? a correspondent asked. And were the Iraqis suggesting that the Secretary- General become involved yet again? Mr. Eckhard said the Iraqi Foreign Minister had written to the Secretary-General yesterday. In the letter, which was received today, the Foreign Minister requested that the Secretary-General get personally involved. The Spokesman was not aware of any request by the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq to meet again with the Secretary-General.

What was the purpose of the visit by United States General Colin Powell to the Secretary-General this afternoon? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard

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said it was a courtesy call. "The two men know each other very well, and it is just a friendly visit".

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), said that the President was continuing consultations regarding the reconvening of the high-level group on finance, which was requested by the Secretary-General on Friday as a matter of urgency. The issue, in part, was the subject of Mr. Udovenko's meeting this morning with the Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management, Joseph Connor. He said the two men had also discussed the financial situation of the Organization, and Mr. Connor gave the President an update on what was happening with the contribution from Ted Turner.

Referring to a question he had received yesterday about the high-level working group on finance, he said the group was established pursuant to General Assembly resolution 49/143 of December 1994 and decision 49/496 of September 1995. He further drew attention to two reports of that working group -- document A/50/43 and document A/51/43 -- in which additional information was available.

Mr. Udovenko had also met this morning with the Permanent Representative of Colombia in his capacity as Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Spokesman said. That was part of the President's regular cycle of consultations regarding the reform issue and other matters, as he strove for transparency and openness in the work of the Assembly.

Concerning the letter which the President of the General Assembly sent to the Chairman of the Fifth Committee, Mr. Taukatch noted that its purpose was to draw attention to the Assembly resolution on reform, urging "appropriate action" by that Committee.

In that connection, he drew attention -- in addition to the Secretary- General's report in document A/51/950 -- to another important report in document A/52/303, on "United Nations reform measures and proposals: proposed programme budget for the biennium". That report outlined the programmatic and financial consequences of the actions and recommendations relating to the work of the Secretariat. That reform resolution contained a specific reference to that report of the Secretary-General.

Mr. Taukatch said that the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) was today involved in informal consultations. A number of draft resolutions had been introduced yesterday. One, in part, urged the United Nations system to cooperate with the regions affected by the El Niño phenomenon, especially developing countries, small island countries and land-locked countries.

Picking up on the questions concerning the UNHCR raised earlier in the briefing, he said that the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) had adopted a draft resolution late last Friday by which the Assembly would

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decide to continue the Office of UNHCR for a further period of five years, from 1 January 1999. Noting that the High Commissioner had been especially gratified by the large number of countries which co-sponsored the two resolutions in the Assembly on the UNHCR's work, he reminded correspondents that the Office functioned for five-year periods based on decisions of the Assembly. By that draft resolution, the Assembly would also decide to review, not later than its fifty-seventh session, the arrangements for that Office, to determine whether it should be continued beyond 31 December 2003.

Mr. Taukatch said that the Fifth Committee was in informal consultations today on the pattern of conferences, as well as on the scale of assessments. Yesterday, it concluded its general discussion on financial reports and audited financial statements and reports of the Board of Auditors.

The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) was considering issues relating to information, said the Spokesman. Yesterday, the Assistant Secretary-General for Public Information, Samir Sanbar, addressed the Committee, stressing the key importance of cost-effectiveness. He said that conscious efforts had been made to strengthen the credibility of the Department of Public Information, sharpen its focus on selected issues, forge strong media partnerships, develop wider key audiences, optimize programme delivery and streamline its management structure.

Concerning the forthcoming debate next month on the enlargement of the Security Council, a correspondent said he understood that "a group of like- minded States" would press a vote on it during this session of the General Assembly. Could the spokesman tell correspondents the names of some of those States?

Mr. Taukatch confirmed that the item would be taken up on 4 December. There was a draft resolution and there were all kinds of discussions and consultations taking place informally. However, he could not comment on the question until there was a formal representation by Member States on what was happening. Reform of the Security Council was one of the major issues that would come up as part of the work of the plenary, and the President was continuing his consultations on it. The spokesman promised to keep the press informed of any developments.

Asked the substance of Mr. Connor's report today concerning the United Nations financial situation and the status of Mr. Turner's contribution, Mr. Taukatch said those were questions which Mr. Eckhard or Mr. Connor would answer. He had merely provided a read-out of the issues which the Assembly President had discussed with Mr. Connor.

Commenting on Mr. Turner's gift, Mr. Eckhard said that on the basis of the meetings that both sides had been holding, a "near-final" paper describing the basics of how the money would be disbursed was now ready. Mr. Turner's financial advisers would be in New York tomorrow, as well as Thursday, to go

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over it. The remaining details, which were bureaucratic and minor, were expected to take a few weeks more. He said the teams were still looking at the initial disbursement of the money to be in the first quarter of 1998. "We probably won't have an announcement for several more weeks on the final arrangement", he said.

Had anyone or any foundation been named to disburse the money? a correspondent asked. "No one has been named, to my knowledge", he said.

Given that Mr. Turner's money would be coming in at $100 million a year, how much would actually be disbursed? a correspondent asked. "When we have all the t's crossed and the i's dotted in early to mid-December, we will give you that kind of information", Mr. Eckhard said.

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