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 briefing by welcoming the United Nations Transitional Administrator for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium, William Walker, who would brief correspondents about that mission following the noon briefing. (Mr. Walker's briefing is issued separately.)

Friday's meeting of the Special Commissioners of the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) did not finish until the early hours of Saturday, Mr. Eckhard said. The Commissioners' paper was submitted to the Security Council later that morning, which considered it for about three hours, starting at about 11 a.m. After that, the Council had adjourned, agreeing to resume consideration of the report this morning after getting instructions from their capitals.

Mr. Eckhard said that the Council had indeed met at 10:30 a.m. today, and the first item on their agenda was Haiti. In his report, the Secretary-General had recommended a follow-on United Nations civilian police mission, the Spokesman noted. Subsequently, under "Other Matters", the Council was expected to take up Iraq, at which the Executive Chairman of UNSCOM, Richard Butler, would answer questions posed to him during a closed meeting on Saturday.

Still on the Security Council, he said it would also this morning be briefed on the Georgia/Abkhazia talks that took place in Geneva last week. It was also expected to take up Tajikistan, where there was a hostage-taking incident last week. It would further be briefed on the shooting incident at an observation post in the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM), also announced last week, in which a Ghanaian military observer was wounded in the leg. On the subject of Haiti, he pointed out that there had this morning been closed consultations among members of the Council and troop contributors on the United Nations Transitional Mission in Haiti (UNTMIH).

Concerning Iraq, he announced that the Executive Director of the United Nations Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan, yesterday concluded his 10-day visit. During the period, he met with the Foreign Minister, as well as the Ministers of Trade and Health, on the implementation of the oil-for-food programme. A draft report was expected to be submitted to the Secretary-General this afternoon for his approval, who would then submit his report to the Security Council later this week. Before leaving Baghdad, Mr. Sevan indicated that one of the conclusions he had reached was that the United Nations needed to do

much more to meet the objectives of Security Council resolution 986 (1995) to satisfy the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people.

Mr. Eckhard said that the Head of the United Nations Office at Vienna and Head of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, Pino Arlacchi, was visiting Afghanistan. Today, he met with Mullah Mohammad Rabbani of the Taliban, who reaffirmed the Taliban's intention to cooperate with Mr. Arlacchi's proposal for the long-term elimination of opium cultivation in that country, including the conditions for the independent monitoring of that process by the United Nations.

The Spokesman said that on Friday, four United Nations Staff members -- two from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), one from the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) and one from the United Nations Office for Project Services -- as well as an official of the European Union, had been kidnapped in Elayo, west of Bossaso in northern Somalia. The incident was not announced before now for security reasons, he said, referring correspondents to the newswires which were now carrying the story that all of them had been released safe and unharmed this morning. They were currently being flown to the United Nations Office in Nairobi for debriefing.

Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General's report on the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) in The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, was out on the racks this morning. It confirmed that by the end of this month, in accordance with the Security Council resolution 1110 (1997), the number of troops in the mission would be reduced from 1,000 to 700. Following that reduction, the Secretary-General recommended a six-month extension of the mission to 31 May 1998. The report also offered two options to the Security Council. "Option A" (the high one), was that in addition to the 35 military observers already on the ground, UNPREDEP would consist of two task forces composed of a total of 400 troops operating from three to four base camps. That would bring the level of troops from 700 down to 400, while leaving the number of military observers unchanged. Under "Option B", a total of 100 military observers would operate from eight team offices and the troops would be phased out completely.

Still on UNPREDEP, the Spokesman informed correspondents that a troop-contributors meeting planned for today had now been postponed to tomorrow at 10 a.m. in Conference Room 7.

He then alerted correspondents that the Secretary-General's report to the General Assembly on the International Civilian Mission to Haiti (MICIVIH) was expected to be out on Wednesday. The document symbol would be A/52/687.

He also drew attention to a humanitarian appeal for the Balkans launched in Geneva today. The United Nations was seeking $406 million for humanitarian and rehabilitation needs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Federal Republic

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of Yugoslavia and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The executive summary noted that progress had been achieved since the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, but much more remained to be done to overcome the destruction caused by the war and to build lasting peace in the region. That document was available in the Spokesman's Office.

Mr. Eckhard also reminded correspondents of the Secretary-General's visit to Princeton University scheduled for this afternoon, where he would deliver a lecture at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs on the subject of "Tomorrow's United Nations". Princeton was expecting an audience of about 500, he continued. Prior to the lecture, the Secretary-General would be honoured at a dinner hosted by the President of Princeton University, Harold T. Shapiro. The embargoed text of the Secretary-General's lecture would be available this afternoon.

On behalf of the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA), Mr. Eckhard announced that at 2 p.m. today at the UNCA Club, the guest briefer would be Abdul Hakeem Mujahid, the Taliban's representative in New York. The subject of the briefing was the killings in Mazar-e-Sharif.

Concerning press conferences, he said that at 3 p.m. today, correspondents would be briefed by Sergiy Parashyn, the Director-General of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine; and Volodymyr Kcholosha, Deputy Minister for Emergencies and Protection of Population affected by the Chernobyl disaster.

A correspondent commented that since its return to the country, the Secretary-General's human rights investigative team to the Democratic Republic of the Congo had still "not met anyone in the Government". Wasn't it time now to say that the country was reneging on its latest agreement to let the team do its work? The Spokesman said it was not true that the team had not met with government officials, recalling that he had announced the team's meeting with the Foreign Minister, which had been a very positive meeting. The Secretary-General had been encouraged by the correctness of the Government's treatment of the team since its return, he noted.

Mr. Eckhard went on to say said that the correspondent was correct: the subsequent meeting with the Liaison Committee that was to provide security to the investigators had failed to take place. He disclosed that a report had been received from the team today, the contents of which he could not discuss, as it was an internal document yet to be studied. He could also not say at this time whether he could share the reaction to that cable.

He was also asked whether a member of that team, Reed Brody, had decided to return to the team, or whether a replacement would be sent. Mr. Eckhard said that following the death of his father, Mr. Brody had indicated he would not be able to go back. Replacements were being looked at.

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In reference to the report of the Secretary-General on UNTMIH, a correspondent asked for clarification on a point in the document concerning payment for the 90-strong special police unit which was proposed. Mr. Eckhard said he did not have those technical details, and referred the correspondent to Associate Spokesman Hiro Ueki.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), said the Assembly this morning approved the report of the General Committee by which it added one more item to its agenda. That item was allocated to the Fifth Committee.

In another action this morning, the Assembly elected 19 members of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) to replace those members whose term of office would expire on 31 May 1998, he said. The spokesman noted that three regional groups -- the African, Asian and Latin American and Caribbean States -- had endorsed their candidates. Since the number of endorsed candidates corresponded to the number of seats to be filled, no formal vote was necessary; for the Eastern European States, there were three seats being vacated, for which there were four candidates. For Western European and Other States Group, there were four seats and five candidates. To fill those seats, the Assembly had held a secret ballot, as a result of which those who gained the required majority and the greatest number of votes were elected. The spokesman said he would make all the details available after the briefing.

At the time of the noon briefing, the General Assembly was dealing with the subject of cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the spokesman said. Meanwhile, the item on the strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian disaster relief assistance of the United Nations was likely to be considered in the afternoon.

Drawing correspondents' attention to the announcement made by Mr. Udovenko this morning, the spokesman said that the President had stated that on 4 December, the Assembly would hold a debate on the "Question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and related matters". Following intensive consultations, it was the President's understanding that the Assembly would not be taking any decisions on that item at this stage of its consideration. Mr. Udovenko had received satisfactory assurances to that effect, and in that connection, it was his intention to convene a meeting this week of the open-ended working group on that subject. That meeting would elect the Vice-Chairmen of the working group.

Turning to the working group on the financial situation of the Organization, he said the President had also held extensive consultations and had requested the Chairmen of the regional groups to inform their respective members about his intention to convene a meeting of the working group tomorrow at 3 p.m. in the Trusteeship Council. There would be statements by the

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Secretary-General and by the Under-Secretary-General for Management, Joseph Connor. Another item on the agenda concerned the election of Vice-Chairmen.

Mr. Udovenko this morning met with the Chairmen of the Main Committees to discuss the programme of work, Mr. Taukatch said. Noting that the First and the Sixth Committees had already concluded their work, he said that the Fourth Committee was expected to conclude its work this week. The Third Committee had adopted 42 resolutions and had another 28 pending, but should also finish probably by the end of this week.

Mr. Udovenko was meeting with Mr. Connor today, the spokesman continued, as well as the Permanent Representative of Austria, Ernst Sucharipa, in connection with the working group on finances.

Referring to questions he has received concerning the Assembly's action tomorrow on the Olympic ideal, he drew attention to the draft resolution on the item (A/52/L.23 Rev.1).

Asked whether the Assembly would still be taking up the item on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and, if so, whether there would be anyone from the OSCE speaking, Mr. Taukatch answered both questions in the affirmative. The resolution would be introduced by Denmark, he said, and the Secretary-General of the OSCE, Giancarlo Aragona, was on the list of speakers, on which there were nine Member States inscribed so far.

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