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 press briefing by welcoming the Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, John Langmore. The Director would brief correspondents on the thirty-sixth session of the Commission for Social Development currently under way at Headquarters.

The Spokesman said that the Secretary-General had been on the telephone since 7 a.m. concerning developments in Sierra Leone, where West African peacekeeping troops had reportedly ousted the ruling junta. The international community supported the Conakry peace plan of 23 October 1997, under which the junta, which enjoyed no international recognition, would restore power on 22 April to the democratically elected Government of President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, whom they overthrew last May.

Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General considered it regrettable that the situation had turned violent and that the civilian population, as usual, was suffering the consequences. The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, had issued a statement last night calling for respect for the principles of international humanitarian law, and safe access for relief agencies. He was expected to brief the Security Council at noon today.

Mr. Eckhard said that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 1,500 refugees from Freetown, Sierra Leone, had arrived by boat in Conakry, Guinea, yesterday, bringing the total number of people fleeing Sierra Leone in recent days to more than 3,000.

The human rights investigative mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo had been able to work freely in the northern part of the country for a full week now, Mr. Eckhard said. A six-person investigative team was in Mbandaka, with an additional investigator to join that team over the weekend. A separate team of four had been interviewing refugees in the Central African Republic since last Sunday, and would return to the Congo this weekend. That mission had received the full cooperation of the local authorities. Another team had completed its interviews of refugees in Congo-Brazzaville.

In further developments, one of the team's investigators, Andrew Chigovera (Zimbabwe) had decided to return to his country, where he was Deputy Attorney General, Mr. Eckhard said. Correspondents were reminded that another member of the original three-person team, Reed Brody (United States), had

resigned three months ago due to family problems. The Secretary-General had decided to enlarge the investigative team to four. He was appointing Paul Laberge (Canada) and Daniel O'Donnell (United States) to join the chief investigator, Koffi Amega (Togo), to bring the team's strength back up to three, and would announce the appointment of a fourth member soon.

Concerning the situation in Iraq, the Spokesman announced that the Secretary-General would meet again with the five permanent members of the Security Council at 4 p.m today. The Secretary-General had met with the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), Richard Butler, at 11:30 a.m. Mr. Eckhard drew attention to the statement issued yesterday by the countries of the Non-aligned Movement in support of the Secretary-General's efforts to find a negotiated settlement to the Iraqi crisis.

He next announced the Secretary-General's appointment of Patrizio Civili (Italy) as Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter- Agency Affairs at the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. That new position was part of the Secretary-General's reform initiatives aimed at strengthening Secretariat support of the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly in those fields, as well as of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC). Mr. Civili, throughout his career, had been closely associated with the work of the Economic and Social Council and the ACC, and with the reform processes, both in New York and Geneva.

He also announced the appointment of Miles Stoby (Guyana) as Executive Director of the United Nations International Partnership Trust Fund (UNFIP). Mr. Stoby would start in his new post on 1 March. The Fund was established by the Secretary-General as an autonomous trust fund to interface with the United Nations Foundation, Inc., which was the public charity set up by Ted Turner to channel his gift of $1 billion in support of United Nations causes. Prior to Mr. Stoby's appointment, he served as Deputy Executive Coordinator for United Nations Reform in 1997.

Turning to assessed contributions, Mr. Eckhard announced the full payment by Turkmenistan of its 1998 regular budget assessment of $157,744. That brought to 29 the number of Member States that had paid in full. By this time last year, 35 countries had paid in full. "That's not a good trend", he added.

At 5 a.m. local time today, the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy, had launched the Consolidated Inter- Agency Appeal for $91.2 million in aid to Angola, Mr. Eckhard said. The appeal, launched at the National Assembly in Luanda, was attended by Government representatives, as well as by members of the donor community, United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations. The funds were sought for the humanitarian and social reintegration needs in 1998 for more

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 13 February 1998

than 1 million Angolans suffering the effects of the conflict. Donors were requested to contribute generously to the appeal.

Mr. Eckhard announced the availability of an update on the post- earthquake situation in Afghanistan from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Also available were the briefing notes from UNHCR, which highlighted the plight of Vincent Cochetel, the French national working for UNHCR, in captivity for a full two weeks since his kidnapping in North Ossetia, Russian Federation. UNHCR had evidence that Mr. Cochetel was alive. A news report this morning indicated that he was ill, however, increasing the concern for his welfare.

In other UNHCR notes, Mr. Eckhard said that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, was well into the third leg of her African trip. Following her visits to Zimbabwe and the United Republic of Tanzania, Mrs. Ogata arrived in Burundi yesterday, where she would meet today with senior officials.

Asked about the truth of a Cable News Service report from Baghdad this morning that the Secretary-General was hesitating about a trip to Iraq in order not to repeat the experience of former Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, just prior to the Persian Gulf War, Mr. Eckhard said that no, there had been absolutely no change in the Secretary-General's position, which was reiterated on several occasions. The Secretary-General was first attempting to reach agreement among Security Council members on the approach that could be taken with Iraq. And he wanted a signal from Iraq that it was willing to discuss those terms in a productive way. "When there is a reasonable chance for success, he will be preparing a trip to Baghdad. If not, he will not go", the Spokesman said.

Concerning the situation in Sierra Leone, a correspondent asked whether the members of the military junta were being held by forces of the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG). He also requested an update on the humanitarian situation, including efforts by the United Nations to alleviate it. Mr. Eckhard believed that news reports were all he had available. It seemed that the members of the junta had fled. There was one report that they had travelled by helicopter to Monrovia, Liberia, where they were intercepted by ECOMOG troops, but United Nations sources could not confirm that report.

In an assessment of the humanitarian situation, the Spokesman said that he would attempt to provide correspondents with a readout from Mr. Vieira de Mello's Council briefing. The foodstocks in Freetown seemed to have been depleted or looted, and Mr. Vieira de Mello was extremely concerned that unless the humanitarian agencies gained immediate access to deliver aid, a large-scale catastrophe would emerge.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 13 February 1998

Another correspondent, noting the Secretary-General's comments this morning that although he had not yet "fixed a date", he was preparing for a trip to Baghdad, asked if there was any significance to that remark. Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General "probably feels that there is enough basis at this time for him to do some contingency planning", adding that he would not set a date until the previously mentioned conditions were met.

In a follow-up question, the correspondent asked whether discussions had taken place with the Iraqi Government concerning the security aspects of a visit by the Secretary-General. Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General had spoken several times to the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, Tariq Aziz, and even more times to the Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations, Nizar Hamdoon. He had had regular contact with the Iraqis. That was all he could say.

Noting that the Secretary-General had met with Mr. Butler three times in the last three days, a correspondent asked whether that was in relation to a possible trip to Baghdad or for some other reasons. Mr. Eckhard said that those meetings concerned the "general state of play in the discussions of the elements of a possible solution".

To another question, the Spokesman said that he would look into the purpose of the visit to Headquarters next week of the United States Special Envoy for the Former Yugoslavia, Richard Gelbard. To a second question by the same correspondent, he would seek to follow-up on the comments made yesterday by the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, concerning her request to the Security Council for an additional Chamber.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), said that the Security Council was very much on the minds of the Assembly's members, as the ninth meeting of the working group on Security Council reform got under way today. The Assembly President was presiding over the current round of deliberations, which was expected to conclude today.

Continuing, the spokesman said that the working group was scheduled to reconvene on 25 February for a week-long round of discussions. So far this morning, there had been a thought-provoking exchange on the Council's working methods and the transparency of its work. A conference room paper prepared by the group's bureau had served as the basis for those discussions.

The transparency of the work of the working group itself was a matter of high priority for the Assembly President, Mr. Taukatch said. Even though the "open-ended" part of the working group's very long title often got dropped, in fact it represented a very significant element of the group's work -- namely

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 13 February 1998

that all Members of the United Nations could take part in the entire range of issues before the group.

The spokesman noted that following today's conclusion of the current round of talks, Mr. Udovenko would leave Headquarters to return to his duties as Foreign Affairs Minister. Looking ahead, Mr. Udovenko would be in Brussels from 24 to 26 February, in his capacity as Assembly President, to attend the United Nations Conference in Support of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, and the European NGO Symposium on the Question of Palestine. On 9 and 10 March, the Assembly President would be in Prague for an official visit to the Czech Republic.

Mr. Langmore, Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, briefed correspondents on the issues before the current session of the Commission for Social Development (10-20 February).

Mr. Langmore said the discussions during the first week focused on participation and social justice. During the second week, the Commission would address the issue of social protection and reduction of vulnerability. The Secretary-General's report to the Commission had addressed three main themes that wold be taken up by the Commission.

The report proposed that politics was the most important dimension for increased participation, he said. This was an age of paradoxes; there was a greater sense of political alienation despite an increase in the number of democratic States. The Commission, therefore, was discussing how to increase the effectiveness of political participation. One aspect of that was how to support non-governmental organizations and the rest of civil society so that they become more effective advocates of all groups in society. Another approach was to enhance participation in the private sector.

Another major issue before the Commission was increased participation in the economy, Mr. Langmore said. The Secretary-General's report made a number of suggestions on how such participation could be achieved, including encouraging the expansion of small and medium enterprises; strengthening the informal sector; and increasing paid employment opportunities.

One of the issues raised during the session this week was the consequences of increased financial volatility and the impact of the Asian crisis, he continued. The Commission already had draft agreed conclusions which expressed great concern about those matters, and on the need for international financial institutions to be more concerned about the social consequences of their policies.

Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 13 February 1998

Also to be taken up by the Commission was the need for the increased use by governments of social impact assessments, he said. The British delegation had briefed participants about their use in the United Kingdom and in its overseas development programmes. The World Bank had informed the Commission that the organization was steadily increasing the number of projects that required social impact assessment -- currently about a third of all their projects. It was expected that the proposals for greater use of social impact assessment would get strong support from the Commission.

In addition to the 46 members of the Commission, Mr. Langmore said 72 other Member States were participating in the current session. About 280 non-governmental organizations had also registered to take part -- twice as many as last year's session.

* *** *