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 students from Old Dominion University of Norfolk, Virginia.

Concerning Iraq, the Spokesman said that the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM), Richard Butler, was discussing with his aides today how he could implement the recommendations contained in the Commission's report that emerged from its emergency meeting last Friday. The Security Council had held a lengthy discussion on Iraq yesterday, and interested Council members were discussing a possible presidential statement at the expert level today.

Mr. Eckhard said that the inspections continued in Iraq "without hindrances" for the fourth day in a row. So far, the inspections had focused on the monitoring sites, to make sure that the cameras and other monitoring equipment were functioning, and also to "fill the gap during the stand-off". A draft report was expected to be submitted by the Secretary-General on the implementation of the oil-for-food programme by tomorrow, a little bit later than previously announced. The report would be submitted to the Security Council by its due date on Friday.

The Secretary-General delivered a statement yesterday at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, he said. There had been some wire service coverage of his remarks, in which the Secretary-General said he was "dismayed by the recent failure by the United States Congress to enact legislation on the payment of arrears to the United Nations". He also said that "the Organization faces perhaps the most serious cash crisis in its history". That was why he said that he had asked the General Assembly to provide "urgent advice on two fronts: how to ensure prompt payment of Member States' dues; and whether to continue borrowing from peacekeeping cash for regular budget purposes".

In a related announcement, Mr. Eckhard said that the open-ended high- level working group on the financial situation of the United Nations would convene an emergency meeting this afternoon at 3 o'clock, which the Secretary- General would address.

He said that an international assistance programme for areas affected by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster was being launched today at a meeting convened by the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and United Nations Coordinator of International Cooperation on Chernobyl, Yasushi Akashi. The

incidences of thyroid and other cancers among the affected populations of Belarus, Russian Federation and Ukraine continued to increase. The nearly 2 million people living in those areas were experiencing economic hardship and facing problems associated with food production, agricultural and forestry management, as well as environmental and nuclear safety. Donors were requested to contribute generously to the assistance programme, which contained some 50 projects in the key areas of health, socio-psychological rehabilitation, the environment, socio-economic issues and information policy. A press release was available on the third floor.

The briefing notes from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, also available on the third floor, indicated that flood waters continued to rise around the mainly Somali refugee camps at Dadaab in Kenya, he said. The flood waters had already forced 5,000 refugees to leave a camp of some 40,000. So far, two refugee camps had been hit by flooding in Kenya's north-eastern province.

The United Nations Donor Conference on Tajikistan had concluded today in Vienna, he continued. The meeting, which sought funds to support the peace process in Tajikistan and for humanitarian assistance and rehabilitation, had received $56.5 million in pledges. A press release was available upstairs. There was also a press release, available in room S-378, from the joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), on the extent of the epidemic. It was embargoed until Wednesday.

The Spokesman drew attention to a situation report from the Department of Humanitarian Affairs concerning floods in Ecuador. Some 35,000 people had been affected by heavy rainfall since the end of October. Those rains, which were heavier than usual, had caused severe flooding in vast areas along the Ecuadorian coast. The floods had been associated with the El Niño weather phenomenon.

The President of the Philippines, Fidel Ramos, would give the seventh Rafael M. Salas Memorial Lecture tomorrow at the United Nations, he said. The title of the address was: "It Can Be Done ... Population Management through Empowerment and Consensus-Building". President Ramos would be introduced by the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, Dr. Nafis Sadik. The Secretary-General was expected to attend. The lecture would take place at 11 a.m. in the Economic and Social Council Chamber. The press was invited.

He said that Mongolia had paid in full its contributions for the 1997 regular budget, with a check for $106,508, bringing to 95 the number of Member States that had paid in full. By this date last year, 96 Member States had paid in full. The outstanding contributions still totaled more than $2.2 billion.

The Spokesman said that the World Chronicle television programme, produced by the Department of Public Information (DPI), would feature the United Nations Development Programme Special Representative in the Palestinian Territories, Timothy Rothermel, today on in-house television channel 6 or 38 at 2:30 p.m.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 25 November 1997

The United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) had asked Mr. Eckhard to announce a briefing at 1:30 p.m. in the UNCA Lounge on the fish stocks agreement by representatives from the Worldwide Fund for Nature. Also, today was the last day to submit nominations for next year's UNCA Executive Committee. All names must be submitted by 4 p.m. to Jim Wurst, who would be in the "bullpen" on the third floor this afternoon.

Regarding the International Civilian Mission to Haiti (MICIVIH), a correspondent asked about the legal ramifications of a mission created in a place that had no government. Mr. Eckhard said that he was not aware of any request for such advice made by the Secretary-General to the United Nations Legal Counsel, nor was he aware of the Security Council, which authorized such missions, taking that into account. He, therefore, assumed that there was no problem in that regard.

In a follow-up comment, the correspondent said that the Permanent Representative of the United States, Bill Richardson, had indicated that President René Préval of Haiti had the authority to make decisions even while that country's Constitution denied him such authority. Mr. Eckhard responded by saying that was between the Ambassador and the Haitian Government. Again, the Security Council had not, to his knowledge, addressed that issue and, therefore, must not consider it a problem.

Noting the Council's meeting of yesterday and Saturday concerning UNSCOM, and the "disappointment" expressed yesterday by the Ambassadors of the United Kingdom and the United States that the Council had not yet issued a statement, another correspondent asked if the Secretary-General shared that disappointment. Mr. Eckhard said that he did not think that the Secretary-General would comment on the proceedings in the Council. "This was just taking a little bit of time for them to sort out amongst themselves", he added. He reiterated that the expert level meeting was due to take place today, adding that "some kind of political compromise, we would hope, could be worked out and a statement issued".

Concerning the Organization's financial crisis, a correspondent asked how far the United States was from being banned from voting in the General Assembly. The Spokesman said that calculation would be officially done at the end of the month. It did not look now like the United States would be far enough behind in what it owed to trigger the loss-of-vote penalty. However, official word would come in another few days.

Asked if the Secretary-General planned to attend the summit conference in Tehran, Iran, Mr. Eckhard said there was no announcement on that trip, yet.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), said that it seemed that the first Olympic record had been set even before the start of the Olympic Games. He was referring to the adoption by the General Assembly this morning of a resolution on building a peaceful and better world through sports. The draft text had been sponsored

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 25 November 1997

by 178 countries in what he believed to be a record number of co-sponsors. It was the fourth time that the Assembly had adopted such a resolution. The item had been first included in the Assembly agenda at the forty-eighth session in 1993.

Before that action by the Assembly, the Assembly President had met with Mikako Kotani, Commissioner of the Nagoya Olympic Committee, the spokesman said. Ms. Kotani had introduced the draft in the plenary. Concerning other appointments, the President met this morning with the Permanent Representatives of Botswana and Ireland, his "new Friends" on the question of reform. They briefed him on their consultations regarding a draft text covering the recommendations contained in the Secretary-General's reform package.

The Assembly also today considered agenda item 40, concerning cooperation between the United Nations and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Thirteen speakers were so far inscribed to speak on that item, as well as the Secretary-General of the OSCE. In discussing that issue, the Assembly had before it a report of the Secretary- General (document A/52/450), a draft resolution (document A/52/L.38), and an amendment (document A/52/L.39) concerning paragraph 16 of the text. In answer to a question he had about similar action taken on the item last year, the spokesman said there had been three recorded votes during the consideration of that item at the previous session.

Mr. Taukatch said that the Assembly was also expected to take up the issue of multilingualism, on which there was a report of the Secretary-General and a draft resolution. An item on the return and restitution of cultural property to the countries of origin would also be considered.

He said that at 3 p.m. today, as Mr. Eckhard had announced, there was an important event on United Nations finances: a meeting of the high-level open- ended working group on the financial situation of the United Nations. It would be chaired by Mr. Udovenko. The Secretary-General and the Under- Secretary-General for Administration and Management, Joseph Connor, were also expected. The working group was set up in 1994 following the adoption of a General Assembly resolution. So far, only the Russian Federation was inscribed on the speakers' list, but he would keep correspondents updated on any further developments regarding that meeting.

Asked about the seven countries which had not co-sponsored the Olympic draft, Mr. Taukatch said he would need to double check. (He later announced that those countries were Cambodia, Libya, Russian Federation, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Yugoslavia.)

To a question about whether there was any effort to make that resolution binding by moving it into the Security Council, he said that he was unaware of such a move.

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