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, reminded correspondents at the start of today's briefing of his report yesterday that the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), Richard Butler, had written to the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, Tariq Aziz, proposing dates for his visit to that country. Mr. Butler had now received a reply from Mr. Aziz, the Spokesman continued, asking that the proposed dates be moved back, as senior Iraqi officials would be attending the summit meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Teheran. Under the new arrangement, Mr. Butler would meet the UNSCOM monitoring team in Baghdad on 13 December, and begin his talks with Mr. Aziz on 14 and 15 December. He would depart for New York on 16 December.

The report of the Security Council Committee monitoring the sanctions against Iraq on the implementation of the "oil-for-food" programme was out this morning, Mr. Eckhard said. In it, the Committee stated that at current prices, total oil revenues projected for the current 180-day period was about $2.14 billion, including pipeline fees. The oil revenue was, therefore, on target. On the humanitarian supplies, he recalled that the most recent figures were provided at yesterday's briefing, in which it was noted that under Phase I, 778 supply contracts were approved, with a value of $1.218 billion. Under Phase II, 117 contracts had so far been approved, with a value of $747 million.

Drawing attention to an editorial in The New York Times today, which supported the continuation of the efforts of the United Nations to assist the Iraqi people under the "oil-for-food" arrangement, he offered a correction. "In the most recent six-month period, well over 95 per cent of the money available for humanitarian purchases was spent", the editorial stated. Mr. Eckhard stressed that the figure applied to the first 180-day period (Phase I). For the second period, the figure was something considerably less, he pointed out, referring correspondents to the report of the Secretary-General for the details.

Concerning Western Sahara, he said that the process of identifying voters in the planned referendum had resumed this morning at two centres opened by the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). One of them was at Laayoune and the other at Camp Smara in the Tindouf area. Next week, the United Nations would open two additional centres at Camp Dakhla, also in the Tindouf area, and another in the town of Smara. There would be a total of 12 identification centres in operation by February. Of those, there would be two in southern Morocco, two in Mauritania, two in

the territory of Western Sahara and two in the Tindouf area. In each of them, identification would be conducted by two observers from each of the parties, one from the Organization of African Unity (OAU), and eight or 10 MINURSO personnel. The process was expected to be completed by 31 May 1988.

Turning to the Security Council today, Mr. Eckhard noted that this morning it had resumed its consultations on the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and on a draft presidential statement on Iraq. It was understood that the Council intended to adopt that statement later this morning, or early in the afternoon, in a formal meeting. Those activities would be followed by a briefing on the Democratic Republic of the Congo by the Assistant Secretary- General in the Department of Political Affairs, Ibrahima Fall; and on Cambodia by Assistant Secretary-General Alvaro de Soto of the same Department.

The Secretary-General was today on the second full day of his state visit to Canada, Mr. Eckhard said. This morning, he had participated in the opening ceremony of the Landmines Conference. Other engagements today included a meeting with the Leader of the Opposition (Reform Party), Preston Manning, and a luncheon hosted by the Foreign Minister, Lloyd Axworthy. The Secretary-General would receive from the Foreign Minister of Ireland, David Andrews, the ratification by Ireland of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. He would leave for Toronto at about 3:30 p.m. There, tonight, he would address the United Nations Association of Canada. An embargoed copy of his address to that group was available in the Spokesman's Office.

At the opening of the Landmines Conference, Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General had been interrupted twice by applause in the course of his speech. The first had been when he said: "The global alliance that created this Convention is an alliance made up of individuals and governments, of grass-roots movements and global humanitarian organizations. It is an alliance that has shamed the world and enlightened it, unmasked its excuses and revealed its potential."

There had been louder applause later, the Spokesman continued, when the Secretary-General said: "Allow me at this point, to salute the leading role played by the Governments of Canada, Norway, Austria, Belgium and South Africa in the achievement of this Convention. Your success is a welcome reminder that one does not have to be a global super-Power to affect the future of international peace and security."

Turning to the Third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, in Kyoto, Japan, which entered its third day today, he said negotiations had continued in small groups. Among the issues was whether only the three main greenhouse gases -- carbon dioxide,

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methane and nitrous oxide -- should be covered by a protocol to the Convention, or three additional gases should be included. Those were hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). The delegates had also met in an open plenary to discuss technology transfer and other side issues. They would decide on a date and location of the next meeting of the conference at a plenary meeting on Friday.

"Guess who got into Mbadanka today?" the Spokesman asked jokingly. He then announced that the advance party of the Secretary-General's investigative team in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had left Kinshasa at 3 p.m. local time for Mbadanka, where their field investigations would "finally begin". Confirmation had been received that they arrived safely, he added. Their plane, which was borrowed from the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA), would make two more trips this week, bringing in needed equipment for the forensic investigation, as well as the Argentine forensic experts who would handle that aspect of the work. The team would ultimately include 38 international staff and about 30 local staff; they were all expected to be in place at Mbadanka by the end of the week.

He reminded correspondents that today was the International Day of Disabled Persons, and a number of disabled persons would be seen around Headquarters who were here for that observance. Its aim was to provide greater understanding about disability and increase awareness of gains to be realized through full and effective integration of persons with disabilities in social life and development. He reiterated that this year's theme was "arts, sports and disabilities"; the Secretary-General's statement on the occasion of the Day had been made available earlier.

Mr. Eckhard announced that Cote d'Ivoire was the ninety-sixth Member State to become paid in full. Its assessed contribution totalled $106,508. Outstanding contributions remained at $2.2 billion.

He also announced that the second informal meeting of the Afghanistan Donor Support Group was being held today, under the auspices of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Conference Room 6. In that connection, there would be a press conference at 6:15 p.m. by Leiv Lunde, State Secretary of Norway, about that meeting.

On behalf of the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA), Mr. Eckhard also announced that Benjamin Mohammed, the regional coordinator of the Nation of Islam, would brief correspondents at the UNCA Lounge on Thursday. Correspondents were all invited.

Asked how long the trip from Kinshasa to Mbadanka was, Mr. Eckhard told the correspondent it was about one hour and 30 minutes by air.

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To another question about whether the advance party consisted of the team leaders, the Spokesman said they were two experts on logistics and security, who had travelled to prepare the way for the forensic investigations.

What were the team leaders doing back in Kinshasa? "Leading", Mr. Eckhard replied, explaining that they were planning, organizing and directing how the investigations were to go forward. He said he could not say when the team would go to the east of the country, which had originally been planned to occur simultaneously with the investigations in the north. The logistics for the east were more complicated, but he expected those investigations to start soon.

He was asked if anyone would be replacing Elizabeth Rehn as Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the former Yugoslavia, to which he answered that there was no announcement on such an appointment now, "but someone will be".

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), said that the Assembly this morning had elected a new Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), for a four-year term, following the nomination by the Secretary-General of Klaus Topfer of Germany. His term of office would begin on 1 February 1998, not 1 January, as had been initially indicated.

Following that election, the Assembly had taken up agenda item 37 on the situation in the Middle East, he said. On that item, the Assembly had before it three draft resolutions and one document with amendments. It was expected that the debate would continue throughout the morning session, probably spilling over into the afternoon. Those situations were hard to predict, he added, noting that yesterday, it had been expected that draft resolutions would be introduced on the question of Palestine, but no formal introduction had taken place. He pointed out that following its consideration of agenda item 37, the Assembly was expected to return to the question of Palestine.

Concerning the International Day of Disabled Persons, he said that Mr. Udovenko had today issued a message, in which he stressed that on occasions like that, "we should not only think of what has been achieved but of what needs to be accomplished to remove all barriers and obstacles" which deprived the disabled of full and active participation in the functioning of society. That message would be available later, and come out as a press release, he added.

Referring to yesterday's meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Assembly for the Announcement of Voluntary Contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Mr. Taukatch said that the pledges totalled more than $125 million. He pointed out,

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however, that the amount was less than 40 per cent of what UNRWA would need to maintain its regular education, health, relief and social services programmes in 1998.

On the issue of United Nations reform, Mr. Taukatch described as "productive" the consultations conducted yesterday by Mr. Udovenko's "Friends on Reform", the Permanent Representative of Botswana, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila; and the Permanent Representative of Ireland, John Campbell. On a related matter, he recalled that following the adoption by the Assembly of the first resolution on reform, the President of the Assembly had asked the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) to begin consideration of the budgetary implications. Yesterday, that matter had been raised in the Committee, and the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) had mentioned that their views on the programmatic and financial implications of the Secretary-General's proposals would be published on Friday, 5 December. It was expected that the Fifth Committee would formally start considering the matter once they received the report, which could happen on Friday or on Monday.

Looking ahead, the spokesman reminded correspondents that the Assembly would tomorrow be taking up agenda item 59 concerning the reform of the Security Council. At this point, 64 speakers were already inscribed on the list.

Asked to clarify what he had said about the consultations on United Nations reform, Mr. Taukatch reiterated that they had been productive. Further asked as to "how exactly" they were productive, he explained that there had been important exchange of views on the draft proposal and they would continue discussions and consultations with a view to coming up with a final draft that could go before the Assembly.

Regarding whether anything was "actually solved", he replied that the consultations had led to progress in the consideration of the draft proposal before those informal consultations.

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