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 noon briefing with the announcement that the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) had nominated former Norwegian Prime Minister, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, for the post of Director-General of that organization. The nomination, which took place this morning in Geneva, would be submitted to the fifty-first World Health Assembly, which would meet in Geneva in mid-May. The new Director-General would take office on 21 July 1998. A WHO press release on the subject was available, he said.

"The Secretary-General welcomes the nomination of Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland as the next WHO Director-General.

"He admires her as a person of vision with a strong personal commitment to the international system.

"Once confirmed by the World Health Assembly, she will bring to the WHO leadership, strength and inspiration. He looks forward to working with her."

Mr. Eckhard said the statement, attributable to the Spokesman, was also available on the documents counter. (See Press Release SG/SM/6447-SAG/1.)

Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General was finishing a full day of appointments in Paris. As had been mentioned yesterday, the Secretary-General had begun the day with a meeting with the President of the French Senate, Rene Monory. They discussed the United Nations financial crisis and the Organization's reform programme. They also talked about Angola, Iraq, Algeria and, particularly, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. With Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, the topics again covered United Nations reform and included enlargement of the Security Council, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as Iraq. They also talked about Western Sahara and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Finally, at the meeting with French President Jacques Chirac late today, they spent an hour and 15 minutes, which, Mr. Eckhard said, was really a tour d'horizon. Topics they touched on included Central African Republic -- which was high on the agenda -- Iraq, Western Sahara again, Algeria and the recent European Union mission to that country, and United Nations reform. President Chirac extended his congratulations to the Secretary-General for having accomplished as much as he had done on reform in his first year in office and offered the full support of France. They also talked about the special session of the General Assembly on illicit drugs to be held in New York next June, which the President would attend; Africa in general, and the Great Lakes region, in particular.

Turning to the Security Council, Mr. Eckhard said it had a full agenda today. It had started with consultations on the Secretary-General's report on the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG). Council members were briefed on the situation there by the Secretary-General's Special Observer in Georgia, Liviu Bota.

The Council was later expected to take up the Secretary-General's report on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). It was scheduled to meet in the afternoon on the subject of Angola and to adopt a resolution on it. Mr. Eckhard said he understood that the resolution stressed the urgent need for the Government of Angola and, in particular, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), to complete the implementation of the remaining tasks under the Lusaka Protocol by the end of next February. The Council would extend the mandate of the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) rather than create a new follow-on mission, including the military task force, until 30 April, this year.

The weekly United Nations report on the implementation of the "oil-for- food" programme - No.49 - covering last week, was available for correspondents, Mr. Eckhard said. He said the Sanctions Committee had last week approved 37 Phase II humanitarian sales contracts, blocked none and put four on hold. With that action, the Committee had approved 378 applications out of 433 submitted to it under Phase II. It had blocked only one contract, and 24 applications were pending under the 'no objection procedure', he said. For Phase I, the Committee approved nine contracts, bringing the total applications approved to 827, out of 880 submitted -- a 94 per cent approval rate. The United Nations oil overseers had received one more oil contract, bringing the total number received so far to 34. They had approved 32 of them, the same as yesterday.

On other matters, Mr. Eckhard said correspondents might have seen the news out of Geneva today that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, would travel to Africa next week, starting on 5 February. It would be a 20-day tour which would take her to Zimbabwe, United Republic of Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo-Brazzaville and Ethiopia. The Secretary-General had called to New York his various representatives in the Great Lakes region to consult with him next week on the situation on the ground prior to Mrs. Ogata's departure. Several high-level United Nations officials were also planning to go to the region in the near future, Mr.Eckhard added.

On Western Sahara, he said that the number of persons the Identification Commission of MINURSO had identified had reached the 20,000 mark since the process resumed on 3 December. The exact number was 20,993, out of 31,648 convoked, he said, adding that the number of persons identified since the beginning of the process now totalled 81,105.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 27 January 1998

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had announced that 724 Liberian refugees had left Côte d'Ivoire for Monrovia. It was the single largest repatriation to Liberia organized by the UNHCR to date. There were still 210,000 Liberian refugees in Côte d'Ivoire, 235,000 in Guinea, 15,000 in Ghana, 6,000 in Nigeria and 14,000 in Sierra Leone. To date 13,000 Liberian refugees had gone home with UNHCR assistance. A UNHCR briefing note on the subject was available.

Also available for correspondents was a World Food Programme (WFP) press release warning from Nairobi that urgent funding would be needed for the organization to continue food airlift and airdrops of food and humanitarian supplies to the 1.1 million people affected by the floods in remote areas of Kenya and Somalia. The WFP was asking for $12 million in order not to halt the operation. "That's a pittance, and we hope Member States would pitch in", Mr. Eckhard commented.

On contributions to the United Nations regular budget, he said Kuwait had paid its assessed contribution in full with a check for over $1.6 million. That brought to 19 the number of Member States that had paid in full, which was the same as at this time last year. Mr. Eckhard also announced that the text of the Secretary-General's message to The Hague International Model United Nations session was available for correspondents.

Mr. Eckhard drew attention to a notice in today's Journal concerning closed informal consultations among members of the Security Council and troop contributors on the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) at 3 p.m. today in Conference Room 5. The mission ended recently, and the Force Commander, Major-General Willy Hanset, would give a final debriefing on UNTAES.

On forthcoming press conferences, he said at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, 28 January, sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), James Michel, Chairman of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), would discuss highlights of the 1997 Development Cooperation Report on resource flows to the developing countries.

Asked why he did not provide the names of the officials being summoned to Headquarters by the Secretary-General for consultations on the situation in the Great Lakes region, Mr. Eckhard said the Spokesman's office still had no confirmation from one or two of the officials that they could arrive. The officials were five and the list would be issued.

What was the purpose of the consultations? the correspondent asked further. Mr. Eckhard replied that the Secretary-General had been receiving from United Nations officials "some disturbing news concerning the deterioration of the situation" in some areas of the Great Lakes region. Before his departure from Headquarters, the Secretary-General had some

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 27 January 1998

meetings with permanent representatives, Mr. Eckhard said. The Secretary- General wanted to bring the officials together for "a collective assessment of where things were heading there" so that Mrs. Ogata would be briefed before her departure. The Spokesman also recalled his earlier statement that some other United Nations officials were also planning trips to Africa. The purpose of the meeting between the Secretary-General and the officials were for "debriefing and for coordinating these trips to Africa", he added.

Did he have the final vote on the nomination of Dr. Gro Brundtland for the post of WHO Director-General and also any details of her press conference after her nomination? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard referred the correspondent to WHO for that information. He, however, said he would try to get a read-out on the matter from WHO headquarters in Geneva. He told another correspondent that he had no knowledge of any Secretariat official from New York accompanying Mrs. Ogata on her African tour.

Replying to a question on the projected United Nations peacekeeping operation in Central African Republic, he said that the Secretariat had not yet developed a detailed concept of operations for submission to the Security Council. The Secretary-General in his report had asked the Council to consider filling the gap that would be created by the withdrawal of the French. The Secretary-General considered the matter essential, and also thought that there could be chaos in that country if there were no replacement force. Replying to further questions, Mr. Eckhard said he believed the French would be withdrawing from the country in mid-April.

A correspondent said that there had been "some stories" about Pakistani soldiers allegedly sodomizing a Haitian man and that an investigation had been promised by the United Nations mission in that country. Mr. Eckhard recalled that last week his office had issued in French the text of a press release on the subject put out by the mission in Haiti. He had commented at the time that there was some scepticism about the charges and that a formal investigation was under way. "There's nothing new to add", he said.

The correspondent said he understood that soldiers who were involved had already been sent back to Pakistan, and enquired whether investigations would still be conducted now that the soldiers were no longer in Haiti. Mr. Eckhard replied, "I'm sure investigations would be carried out in the proper way -- talking to witnesses, talking to these soldiers, even if it means contacting them at home." He said it was true that the soldiers were leaving on the day that the alleged incident took place. He said the soldiers "were giving away firewood....", he said.

The correspondent said the incident brought to mind an issue he had previously raised, concerning the legal status of the mission in the absence of a government in Haiti. Eckhard said it was not local laws that governed the behaviour of peacekeepers. Charges brought against them were conducted internally within a mission. If charges were brought by local authorities,

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 27 January 1998

there was also the option of waiving immunity to allow a peacekeeper to be brought before a local court. "The whole point of a Memorandum of Understanding between a peacekeeping mission and the government was to avoid getting into complications like that", Mr. Eckhard said.

A correspondent asked whether it was not an anomaly that the United Nations signed a Memorandum of Understanding and did not take responsibility for the behaviour of its peacekeepers. "Of course, we take responsibility", Eckhard said, and added, "First of all, the first step in the process when there has been an allegation, as there has been in this case, is to conduct an investigation which we do ourselves. And that is what is taking place now. So let's see what that produces, and see what the next steps might be."

The correspondent, who originally raised the issue, said there had been similar allegations against Canadian troops in Haiti. Mr. Eckhard said he was not aware of them.

A correspondent asked for information about troops remaining in Eastern Slavonia and whether the evictions of Serbian families had stopped. Mr.Eckhard said the troops were required to report daily and that their cables were read by desk officers in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations as well as the Department of Political Affairs. He would have to check the latest information on the evictions although he was not aware of any now.

Asked whether he had "a sense" of when the Security Council would reconvene on Iraq, he said, "We have no sense of that at this time. It appears that discussions are taking place between capitals at the moment." What was the Secretary-General's opinion on reports about a possible United States military strike against Iraq? another correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard quoted the Secretary-General as saying in Paris that he hoped that every effort would be made to find a diplomatic solution so that the military option could be avoided.

* *** *