DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, opened today's press briefing by stating that there was no meeting of the Security Council today.

He announced that the weekly report on the implementation of the "oil- for-food" programme -- Security Council resolutions 986 (1995) and 1111 (1997) -- was available. The report stated, among other things, that of the 35 oil contracts submitted, 34 had been approved for a total of 127.3 million barrels. The annexes to the draft distribution plan submitted by Iraq to the United Nations Office in Baghdad on Saturday had not yet been received at Headquarters. He hoped that would happen in the course of the day. If they were received sometime today, there was still a good chance for their approval by the Secretary-General by the end of the week.

In anticipation of questions by correspondents concerning a story in today's The New York Times that a Texas judge had released from custody a person indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Spokesman said that he had no comment on the internal workings of the United States judicial system. The United States and every other Member State that had voted in favour of the resolution creating the Tribunal had pledged to cooperate with it. "We can only hope that eventually Elizaphan Ntakirutimana would be brought to justice", he added.

Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Spokesman said. The Convention, signed at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, in Rio de Janeiro, entered into force on 29 December 1993. The Convention was conceived out of concern that many species and ecosystems were threatened with extinction. He drew attention to a statement by the Secretary-General on the occasion, calling upon governments and non-governmental organizations to redouble their efforts to meet the goals of the Convention. The Secretary- General concluded by saying "this is not a mission impossible but rather a mission impossible to ignore".

The Spokesman said he understood from cable traffic that Gerd Merrem, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Tajikistan, had been named "Man of the Year" by two separate newspapers in Tajikistan -- the Russian-language Novaya Gazeta and the Tajik-language Charogi Ruz.

Finally, he said a Department of Humanitarian Affairs situation report on floods in Paraguay was available. The report said abnormal rainfall for all of December had affected the level of the Paraguay river. It was understood that all over the country, road infrastructure and bridges had been damaged by heavy rains and flood waters. Nearly 85 bridges had been damaged.

Asked to comment on the assertion of the Texas judge that there was nothing in the United Nations Charter that allowed for the indicted man to be

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 30 December 1997

kept in jail, the Spokesman said it was a matter of domestic United States law. He added: "So we're going to have to let the Government act. According to the newspaper, it is thinking of challenging the ruling in a higher court. But it is, really, up to the United States to deal with this, as they see fit. We understand that the Government wants to cooperate with the Tribunal, and how they choose to do that is up to them."

Asked further whether he thought the United States was not cooperating, the Spokesman said: "Certainly, we would have liked to have seen this person handed over to the Tribunal. The Tribunal had reason to indict him, and we hope that eventually that will be the case."

Asked whether there were moves to arrange a meeting between Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and the leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Jonas Savimbi, as called for by the Security Council, the Spokesman said that attempts had for a long time been made to arrange such a face-to-face meeting. Those efforts were continuing, he said, adding that it was thought that the meeting could be a significant step forward in the Angolan peace process. There was no date yet for such a meeting, he said, and added: "We continue to try".

"Where are we in Congo-Brazzaville?", the correspondent asked, to which the Spokesman said he had no comment.

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