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, said at the beginning of today's noon briefing that the Secretary-General was in Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum -- a kind of global business summit attended by top leaders from the private sector, political leaders, academics and journalists. The focus of this year's forum was the Asian financial crisis.

The Spokesman's Office had received a written account -- available in room S-378 -- of the Secretary-General's activities in Davos up until a few minutes before the noon briefing, Mr. Eckhard said. That account included a number of statements he had made to journalists on the subject of Iraq.

The Spokesman said that the Secretary-General had had meetings today with the Foreign Minister of Iran, Kamal Kharrazi; the President of Romania, Emil Constantinescu; and the new Director-General designate of the World Health Organization (WHO), Gro Harlem Brundtland. The Secretary-General had also met with Thomas McLarty, Counsellor to the President of the United States, and discussed the upcoming General Assembly session on illicit drugs here in June. He had also had meetings with the President of Switzerland, Flavio Cotti; the Foreign Minister of Mexico, Rosario Green; and the President of the International Chamber of Commerce, Helmut Maucher. The Secretary-General had just finished a meeting a with the Speaker of the House of the United States, Newt Gingrich. That discussion had focused on the problem of United States arrears to the United Nations. Later today, the Secretary-General was to meet with Thabo Mbeki, Deputy President of South Africa. Details on the subject matter of each of those meetings were available in the handouts upstairs.

Yesterday, a report from London on the Secretary-General's meeting with British Foreign Minister Robin Cook had been made available in the Spokesman's Office, Mr. Eckhard said. Tomorrow in Davos the Secretary-General would give a major address to the Forum, and an embargoed copy of that text -- to be checked against delivery -- would be made available later this afternoon. (See Press Release SG/SM/6448.)

Having been off for two days, the Security Council had a busy agenda today, the Spokesman went on to say. This morning, in consultations, the Council was continuing its discussion of the Secretary-General's report on Georgia, as well as the report on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). It would also have its first reading of the Secretary-General's report on the Central African Republic, and, under "other matters", it would be briefed on the situation in Somalia by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Ibrahima Fall.

This afternoon, the Council was expecting to have two formal meetings, Mr. Eckhard continued. In one, it would adopt a resolution on Georgia, extending the mandate of that mission until 31 July. In the second meeting, it was

expected to adopt a resolution and a presidential statement on UNIFIL. The resolution was expected to extend the Force's mandate, also until 31 July. The presidential statement expressed concern over the continuing violence in southern Lebanon and paid special tribute to the United Nations troops who had suffered a high level of casualties there.

Tomorrow was the last day of France's Presidency of the Security Council, the Spokesman continued. Gabon would assume the Presidency of the Council for the month of February, starting on Sunday, 1 February.

On Iraq, Mr. Eckhard said that his office could confirm a news report that the Government of Iraq had informed the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Denis Halliday, to move those United Nations staff who lived in private accommodations to one of the eight designated hotels in Baghdad -- no later than 31 January. According to the Government of Iraq, that measure had been taken out of concern for their safety and security. The measure applied to those United Nations staff members who were in Iraq in connection with the "oil-for-food" programme. It also applied to the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) monitoring the disposal of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, but not to those United Nations agency personnel who were there as part of the normal assistance programmes to Iraq.

Richard Butler, Executive Chairman of UNSCOM, had travelled to Germany yesterday, and had met there today with German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel, Mr. Eckhard said. This had been the result of a long-standing invitation. Mr. Butler had twice postponed a visit to Germany because of preoccupation with the developing situation in Iraq. He had therefore made a quick visit on Thursday. The United Nations Information Centre in Bonn had produced a complete verbatim transcript of Mr. Butler's and Mr. Kinkel's press conference, which had lasted almost an hour. That transcript was available upstairs.

Last night, at approximately 11 p.m Moscow time -- 3 p.m. New York time -- masked gunmen had abducted the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Field Office in North Ossetia's capital, Vladikavkaz. The individual, Vincent Cochetel, was a French national. Mr. Cochetel's local driver was also taken in an ambush at the entrance of his apartment building. The motive, at this time, was unknown; no one had claimed responsibility for the abduction. A UNHCR press release was available in the Spokesman's Office.

A delegation of the working group of the Commission on Human Rights on arbitrary detention was in Peru for an official visit of 10 days, Mr. Eckhard said. A press release -- in Spanish only -- was available. The delegation was composed of Louis Joinet, Isaac Bitter and Roberto Garreton. They would try to visit Lori Berenson, an American woman sentenced in January 1996 and sent to Yanamayo prison.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 30 January 1998

Pursuant to the Interim Accord of 13 September 1995, representatives of Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, had met on 27 and 29 January under the auspices of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General, Cyrus Vance, the Spokesman said. The Greek side had been represented by the Permanent Representative of Greece to the United Nations, Christos Zacharakis; the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had been represented by Ambassador Ivan Tosevski. The parties had continued to exchange views in the context of article 5 of the Interim Accord and had decided to meet again in the last week of February. (See Press Release SG/SM/6449.)

Questions had been raised by correspondents earlier in the week regarding the investigation of the incident in Haiti involving Pakistani military, Mr. Eckhard said. Under the Status of Forces agreement between the Government of Haiti and the United Nations, the Pakistani soldiers participating in the mission were subject to Pakistan's military law. There were two investigations. The Pakistani military were investigating it, and, as part of standard procedure, the United Nations Civilian Police Mission in Haiti (MIPONUH) was also investigating under the direction of the Deputy-Commissioner of Police, a United States citizen. The head of MIPONUH, Julian Harston, had assured the Government that it would get copies of both reports once they had been completed.

There had been another question this week on the Commission of Inquiry on illicit arms flows into the Great Lakes region. While that question had been answered, the Spokesman wished to offer some further information. The Commission had completed its mandate by submitting the third and final report on their findings to the Security Council in late 1996, even though those findings were inconclusive. The Commission had not been explicitly disbanded, but had not been operational since then, and the members of the Commission had returned to their home countries to resume their regular duties.

Regarding contributions, the Spokesman said that there remained one day to make it under the deadline for 1998. To be considered as having paid in time, Member States must pay within 30 days of receiving the bill. Austria -- $9,832,715; Canada -- $29,708,471; and the Netherlands -- $17,025,845 had all made their payments today. So far, 22 Member States had paid in full for 1998. Last year, at this date, 21 States had paid. Outstanding contributions stood at over $3.1 billion -- about $1.5 billion for the regular budget and $1.6 billion for peacekeeping. A report on outstanding contributions as of 15 January, and a detailed report on the status of outstanding contributions as of 31 December 1997 had been received in the Spokesman's Office.

The Spokesman's Office had been informed by the World Bank that its President, James Wolfensohn, was travelling to Asia today and would be there until 8 February, Mr. Eckhard said. Mr. Wolfensohn would be discussing the economic crisis in that area with representatives of Asian governments, as well as representatives of civil society and the private sector. He would visit six countries: Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and South Korea.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 30 January 1998

The United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) would hold a memorial service for Moses Schonfeld who had passed away last week, Mr. Eckhard announced. That memorial would be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, 2 February, in the UNCA Club. Correspondents, Department of Public Information (DPI) staff and others were invited to attend.

Regarding the relocation of United Nations 986 (oil-for-food programme) and UNSCOM personnel from private homes to hotels, a correspondent asked if they would be relocated. The Spokesman said that the memorandum of understanding with Iraq did specify that United Nations personnel working on 986 should be housed in hotels. It had been estimated that over time, perhaps two dozen staff members -- exact figures were not yet available -- had requested permission to go into private housing. They had been allowed to do this and the Government had not objected. The Government now said that because of its concern for the security of those people it wanted them back in the hotels. The United Nations intended to comply.

Was the United Nations concerned in anyway? the correspondent asked. The Spokesman said, "We will comply with the request, it is consistent with the memorandum of understanding, and I don't want to say anything more."

Had anything precipitated the decision by the Iraqi Government? another correspondent asked. "You would have to ask the Government of Iraq their reason for doing this", the Spokesman replied.

A correspondent asked if the cited agreement between the Haitian Government and the United Nations could be made available. The Spokesman said "Every United Nations mission has a Status of Forces Agreement with the host country. I don't know if we make that document public, I would have to ask." Correspondents would be informed if it could be made available.

Was there any update on the "oil-for-food" contracts? Mr. Eckhard said that those were weekly reports that tended to come out on Monday or Tuesday for the previous week. The Secretary-General's report on "oil-for-food" was expected to go to the Security Council over the weekend. The Secretary-General would attend the noon briefing on Monday to explain his report and answer questions relating to it. It was hoped that it would be available to correspondents as a document first thing Monday morning.

It had been reported that President Laurent Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo had made a statement accusing the United Nations of plotting against his Government in the eastern part of the country. What was the Spokesman's reading on that? "I believe that the President's comments were directed at UNHCR", Mr. Eckhard replied. "I don't believe UNHCR has responded." The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, did plan to go to that country shortly. The UNHCR had reported this morning its operations in the east were proceeding normally. The hope was that the status quo would prevail and there would be no problems. If there were any problems, perhaps they

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 30 January 1998

could be sorted out during the meeting between the President and the High Commissioner when she arrived.

Would this have any impact on the United Nations investigative committee that was in the Congo? The Spokesman said, "No, the Secretary-General met with the Foreign Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo at Heathrow Airport on his way to Davos. The Foreign Minister pledged the Government's cooperation with the investigative mission, which is separate from UNHCR's activities in the eastern part of the country."

Would the Secretary-General be coming to Headquarters this Monday or the following Monday? a correspondent asked. The Spokesman said the Secretary- General would return from Davos to New York on Sunday afternoon, would be at work as usual on Monday morning and would brief the press at noon this Monday, 2 February.

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