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, announced at the beginning of today's noon briefing that Ambassador Richard Butler, Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) monitoring the disposal of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, was briefing the Security Council now on his recent visit to Iraq. He was not expected to be finished before the end of the noon briefing. If that proved to be the case, Ambassador Butler would address correspondents when he came out of the Council at the stand-up microphone, rather than come to room 226.

Ambassador Butler had submitted his report to the Council last night, Mr. Eckhard said. Correspondents had received their copies this morning and it had already been issued as a Security Council document.

The 661 Committee, which oversaw sanctions on Iraq, approved yesterday the oil pricing formula after the 4 p.m. deadline had passed, Mr. Eckhard said.

The Spokesman said that the United Nations oil overseers had approved three more contracts -- 2 million barrels for an Indian company; $9 million barrels for a Russian company; and 1.8 million barrels for a second Russian company. That brought the number of contracts approved to 32 out of 33 submitted, for a total volume of 144.58 million barrels.

France, Australia, United States, Jordan and Turkey topped the list of countries from which humanitarian supplies for Iraq had come, Mr. Eckhard said. In Phase I, humanitarian contracts from France had amounted to $244 million, followed by Australia at $152 million, Jordan at $109 million, Turkey at $93 million and the United States at $73 million. In Phase II, France had again topped the list -- as of 2 January -- with $149 million in contracts, followed by Australia with $134 million, United States with $117 million, Jordan with $82 million and Turkey with $62 million.

The draft supplementary report on the "oil-for-food" programme was expected to be submitted to the Secretary-General by the end of today, Mr. Eckhard said. That report was expected to be issued later next week. It was due on 30 January.

On Tajikistan, Mr. Eckhard said that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Gerd Merrem, reported that the Commission on National Reconciliation had resumed its work today, following the direct meeting between the Tajik President, Emomali Rakhmonov, and the leader of the United Tajik Opposition (UTO), Said Abdull Nuri. The UTO had withdrawn from the Commission late last week, protesting the lack of progress in a number of areas in the implementation of the peace agreement. Mr. Merrem, in

cooperation with the members of the Contact Group on Tajikistan, had managed to get the two leaders to meet and to get the process back on track.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, was in Cambodia concluding her visit, the Spokesman continued. She had seen Second Prime Minister Hun Sen this morning in Phnom Penh. He had given her assurances that the mandate of her office in Cambodia could continue beyond March, when the Memorandum of Understanding with the Government would expire. The High Commissioner expressed to him her concern that there be a thorough investigation of the violence last July following the coup, and had offered the services of an international expert -- an offer which had been accepted by the Second Prime Minister. A statement from Thomas Hammarberg, the Secretary- General's Special Representative for Human Rights in Cambodia, was available in the Spokesman's office.

The Secretary-General's Personal Envoy to Myanmar, Alvaro de Soto, had completed his mission to that country, Mr. Eckhard said. He had met for an hour with Senior-General Than Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, and had also visited the burial place of U Thant, the third United Nations Secretary-General. Mr. de Soto was flying back to New York today and would be reporting to the Secretary-General in due course.

In other business, Mr. Eckhard said that the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Bill Skate, the representatives of the rebel Bougainville Revolutionary Army, the Bougainville Interim Government and the Bougainville Transitional Government, had gathered today at Lincoln University near the South Island city of Christchurch, New Zealand, to sign a Declaration of Peace.

The Spokesman's Office had received a note on Turkey and Rwanda from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Mr. Eckhard said. The High Commissioner had requested the Turkish authorities to take the utmost care not to arbitrarily detain nor forcibly return asylum seekers and refugees who were in need of international protection. On Rwanda, the UNHCR had yesterday evacuated 164 Congolese refugees -- mostly Tutsi -- by air from Gisenyi to Kigali following several security incidents in north-west Rwanda earlier this week.

Pino Arlacchi, Director-General of the United Nations Office in Vienna and Executive Director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), had met today with the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Italian Parliament, the Spokesman continued. They had discussed the new United Nations strategy on drugs to be submitted to the special session of the General Assembly on drugs scheduled to take place from 8 to 10 June this year. Among the issues discussed were the global plan for the reduction of the illicit crops, monitoring in the field of drug production and money laundering.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 23 January 1998

Today, Turkmenistan had ratified the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines, the Spokesman went on to say. Canada, Ireland and Mauritius had already ratified it.

On contributions, the Spokesman said that Hungary -- $1,251,437 -- and South Africa -- $3,838,440 -- had "paid in full" for 1998.

At the request of correspondents, the Spokesman's Office would make available the bi-weekly briefing notes from Geneva, Mr. Eckhard said. That Office briefed the press on Tuesdays and Fridays and on the same day the Spokesman's Office received a written summary.

The Secretary-General's report on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was out today, the Spokesman said. In that report, the Secretary-General recommended a further six-month extension of the UNIFIL mandate through the end of July. Its current mandate would expire at the end of the month.

Responding to a question raised yesterday about one of the Secretary- General's reports -- entitled "Reduction and refocusing of non-programme costs" (document A/52/758) -- concerning the reduction of administrative costs from 38 per cent of the regular budget to 25 per cent, Mr. Eckhard said, "The document is merely a technical elaboration of how these reductions might take place". It presented a conceptual framework for those reductions and had no impact on the 1998-1999 budget. There had been some confusion about it representing elimination of jobs, "God forbid". The Secretary-General stood behind his commitment that whatever reductions took place during the coming years, it would not be at the cost of staff, there would be no involuntary separations.

Immediately after the briefing, the Spokesman announced that the Secretary-General would leave on Monday, 26 January, on a trip to Paris, London and Davos, Switzerland. (See Press Release SG/SM/6444 issued today).

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