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 noting that the Security Council had no planned meeting today. It would hold its monthly luncheon, however, hosted by the Council's President for the month, Ambassador Fernando Berrocal Soto of Costa Rica. The Secretary-General would attend.

He announced that the Secretary-General would leave New York for Tehran tomorrow, via London, for an official visit to Iran, and to address a summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which would take place from 9 to 11 December in Tehran. He would arrive in Tehran on Monday. After Iran, he would travel to Kuwait on an official visit from 12 to 14 December, and that visit would include a side trip to the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM). From Kuwait, the Secretary-General would go to Malaysia, also on an official visit, from 14 to 17 December.

Turning to the human rights investigative team in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he said that another United Nations flight had left Kinshasa today for Mbandaka. It had transported supplies, vehicles, tents, water and other equipment in preparation for the deployment of the larger team of forensic investigators, which was expected to go to the north of the country tomorrow. Difficult conditions on the ground made it necessary to fly in virtually everything the team would need during its stay in Mbandaka, including water and tenting.

Still on that subject, and in response to a question at an earlier briefing about what the leaders of the team were doing in Kinshasa, he said that Andrew Chigovera would head the team going to Mbandaka, while Kofi Amega was remaining in Kinshasa preparing for the second leg of the assignment in the eastern part of the country.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, had a meeting in Kigali today with the President of Rwanda, Pasteur Bizimungu, and with the Vice-President, Paul Kagame, Mr. Eckhard said. The meeting had been scheduled for one hour, but it was understood to have gone on for two. Mrs. Robinson also visited Remera Prison in Kigali, where 5,000 inmates were detained. The normal capacity of that prison was 3,000. This afternoon, she went to communal cachots (jails), 20 kilometres from Kigali. In rooms measuring 25 x 13 feet (6 x 4 metres) that lacked both electricity and ventilation, she had found 80 people. Mrs. Robinson had several meetings scheduled for tomorrow, before leaving for South Africa on Sunday.

Drawing attention to the Secretary-General's appointments for today, the Spokesman pointed out that the Joint United Nations/Organization of African Unity (OAU) Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region, Mohamed Sahnoun, would meet with him at 4 p.m. He had been in town for a few days, and would be here through Saturday, "as far as we know". He would also meet with the President of the Security Council and the President of the General Assembly today.

Mr. Eckhard said that, as of yesterday at the landmines Conference in Ottawa, 121 Member States had signed the Convention banning anti-personnel mines. The Conference now had pledges of $500 million for assistance in demining, including an $87 million pledge from the United States, $70 million from the European Union, $24 million from Norway, $16 from Japan, $14 million from Canada, and $11 million from Germany. Providing a sense of the impact that would have on work on landmines, Mr. Eckhard pointed out that in 1997 the entire United Nations system spent about $80 million on landmine clearance.

Turning to the Kyoto Conference on Climate Change, now in its fifth day, he said the Convention secretariat had accepted an offer from Argentina to host the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties in Buenos Aires from 2 to 13 November 1998. The Chairman of the negotiating committee had informed the plenary this afternoon that, so far, the committee of the whole had been unable to conclude its work on substantial parts of the Protocol. The trend in the talks was towards acceptance of emission control commitments for the three main greenhouse gases -- carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide -- with three others to be added as an annex that could be dealt with next year.

Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General had submitted his report on the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) to the Security Council. In it, he recommended the termination of UNTAES on 15 January 1998. He also recommended that the Council establish a support group of 180 civilian police monitors, whose task would be to continue to monitor the performance of the Croatian police in the Danube region, particularly with the return of displaced persons. The Government of Croatia had indicated its readiness to provide such a support group with the necessary protection, should the need arise. The United Nations was sending a small technical team to the Central African Republic to further study the implementation of the Bangui Agreements in that country, the Spokesman continued. The New York team, led by Louise Laheurte of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, left yesterday; it would stay in the Central African Republic for approximately one week.

The Department of Humanitarian Affairs had indicated that two helicopters -- one from Bulgaria and the other from South Africa -- had arrived in Nairobi for use in the emergency assistance programme in Somalia, Mr. Eckhard also said. Each of them had the capacity to evacuate up to 30 people per flight, or to deliver up to three metric tons of supplies. He recalled reporting earlier this week that the assistance to victims of flooding in Somalia had been hampered by the lack of helicopters.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 5 December 1997

He drew the attention of correspondents to two press releases from the International Court of Justice. The first concerned the Cameroon-versus- Nigeria case over the Bakassi peninsula, on which hearings would be held from 2 to 11 March 1998 on the issue of the jurisdiction of the Court, and the admissibility of Cameroon's claims. The second was on fisheries jurisdiction (Spain versus Canada), on which hearings would be held from 9 to 17 June. Mr. Eckhard said the history of the two disputes were contained in the press releases, which were available in the Spokesman's Office.

Mr. Eckhard announced that Venezuela had become the 106th Member State to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention. A press release from The Hague on that subject was also available in the Spokesman's Office.

The Prime Minister of Cook Islands, Geoffrey Henry, would deposit the instruments of ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) today at 12:30 p.m., said the Spokesman. That would bring the number of ratifications to nine. The Prime Minister was meeting with the Secretary- General at the time of the briefing, he added.

Continuing, the Spokesman said today was International Volunteers Day. In his message on the occasion, the Secretary-General called on people to reflect on what a world without volunteers would look like. "There would be no hospital helpers, no parent-teachers associations, no blood donors, no community-based activities; the world would be a harder, colder, poorer place." The Secretary-General recalled that through the United Nations Volunteers programme, 4,000 men and women of 125 nationalities took time out from their careers every year to share their knowledge and expertise. That message was available on the racks, the Spokesman said, as was the message from the Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers.

Mr. Eckhard said that the Permanent Representative of Costa Rica, Fernando Berrocal Soto, would today present a donation by Costa Rica to the Secretary-General. It was a painting by Costa Rican artist Fernando Soto Harrison depicting a tropical landscape, and had been described as a tribute to the ecological commitments of Costa Rica.

Also available in the Spokesman's Office, Mr. Eckhard continued, was the Department of Peacekeeping Operations' monthly summary of troop contributions to peacekeeping operations as of 30 November.

He reminded correspondents that on Monday, the Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees, Soren Jessen-Petersen, would launch the biennial report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), The State of the World's Refugees, here in New York. In Geneva, it would be launched by the High Commissioner, Sadako Ogata. Embargoed copies of the press kits containing the book were available in the Spokesman's Office. A short news video of the report was also ready for worldwide distribution by the European Broadcasting Union today.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 5 December 1997

He announced that a two-day journalists' round table on human rights would begin on Monday in Conference Room 6, in conjunction with the launch of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights observance. The keynote speaker would be Fareed Zakaria, the Managing Editor of Foreign Affairs journal. Four half-day panel discussions would then cover various human rights issues. A preliminary programme for the round table was now on the racks.

He also announced a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) press release, which said that its Executive Director, Carol Bellamy, had hailed the signing of the comprehensive ban of anti-personnel mines.

On behalf of the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA), Mr. Eckhard reminded correspondents that the Executive Committee elections of that association would take place daily next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (8 to 10 December). Members would be able to vote until 4 p.m. on those days at the UNCA Club; today, at 1 p.m., there would be an open debate among all candidates at the Club. The Spokesman was asked for information from The Hague about the alleged arrests of Croatian war criminals that had taken place "a few days ago". He said he had seen nothing from the Tribunal on the subject, but would check with them, hopefully before their offices closed today.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), said that the Assembly today continued its debate on the reform of the Security Council. There had been a lively session yesterday running late into the afternoon and, because of the great number of speakers -- 71 on the list at the last count -- that debate would continue throughout today. Previously scheduled Assembly consideration of the reports of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) was postponed until next Tuesday.

Mr. Taukatch said that the President was gratified with the "serious, focused and thought-provoking" debate. The fact that so many speakers had already taken part showed the tremendous level of interest in this important subject. Yesterday, there had been a total of 40 speakers -- 12 in the morning and 28 in the afternoon -- and there were 31 speakers so far inscribed on the list for today's debate, Mr. Taukatch added.

The Spokesman recalled that before the beginning of the debate on the item, Mr. Udovenko undertook extensive consultations with many delegations to find a formula conducive to the most constructive consideration of the item. In that regard, and in connection with numerous questions he had had from the press about the modalities of this stage in consideration of the agenda item, the Spokesman drew attention to some of the statements made in the debate yesterday. For example, Mr. Taukatch continued, Canada had expressed "appreciation for the use of the President's good offices which helped to avoid the possibility of a divisive confrontation on this issue". Pakistan had paid a "tribute to the wisdom and leadership" with which the President had

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 5 December 1997

handled the issue. Brazil, Malaysia and the United States had also stressed the leadership displayed by the President, and India paid "tribute to the sagacity with which you have ventured to clear the atmosphere that seemed to have clouded around" the issue.

Turning to other issues, the spokesman said that at 3 p.m. today, there would be a continuation of informal consultations of draft proposal on the agenda item on reform, which were being conducted by the President's "Friends on Reform". He also reminded correspondents that the Credentials Committee would be meeting at 3 p.m. today.

In connection with Human Rights Day on 10 December, which had been mentioned by Mr. Eckhard earlier, he said that there would also be a special programme to launch the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That special event on the morning of Wednesday, 10 December, was in addition to the programme about which Mr. Eckhard had spoken, Mr. Taukatch said. The President of the General Assembly would make the opening remarks at that special ceremony, which would feature Hillary Rodham Clinton, the First Lady of the United States, as the first keynote speaker. The Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr. Nafis Sadik, would give the second keynote address. Additional information was contained in today's Journal. There was also a note to correspondents on that subject (Note No. 5489 of 4 December), he added.

Mr. Taukatch said that the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) was expected to complete the current stage of its work today, leaving only the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) to continue its work at this main part of the fifty-second session.

Concerning the International Volunteers Day, Mr. Taukatch said the President of the General Assembly also saluted the volunteers, noting that in a world where self-interest was often a major motivating factor for human actions, examples of selfless giving took on particular significance. It was, therefore, fitting that the busy schedule of international observances had a special day to salute the work of those who volunteered their own time, knowledge and skills to help others. (See Press Release GA/SM/23-OBV/31 issued today.)

Turning to the President's appointments today, the spokesman said that Mr. Udovenko met with Mr. Sahnoun this morning, and they had a wide-ranging discussion in which Mr. Sahnoun brought the President up to date on his activities in the Great Lakes region of Africa.

Mr. Udovenko had also met with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Slovenia, Boris Frlec, just before the noon briefing. Mr. Taukatch said the President was also scheduled to meet with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Namibia, Theo-Ben Gurirab. Later in the afternoon, he would host a luncheon for the Vice-Presidents of the General Assembly.

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