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, began today's noon briefing by announcing that the Secretary-General held a third meeting yesterday afternoon with the permanent members of the Security Council on the subject of Iraq. They had asked for more time to reach a conclusion among themselves, and the Secretary-General would meet with them again this afternoon for what he hoped would be the last meeting, before reporting on the outcome of those exchanges to the full Security Council tomorrow, probably in the morning.

On the subject of the Secretary-General's proposed trip to Baghdad, the Spokesman said that a decision would not be made until after his meeting with the permanent members and non-permanent members of the Security Council today. The Secretary-General continued to insist that for the trip to take place, there must be a workable solution, support of the Council for the trip and an indication that Iraq was prepared to discuss the situation. Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General had taken note of the statement made in Baghdad today by an official spokesman expressing Iraq's intention to make every effort to make any mission by the Secretary-General to Baghdad a success.

Over the weekend and this morning, the Secretary-General held telephone conversations with a number of world leaders on the subject of Iraq, Mr. Eckhard said. They included President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt; King Hussein of Jordan; the Foreign Minister of Italy, Lamberto Dini; the Foreign Minister of South Africa, Alfred Nzo, who delivered a message on behalf of President Nelson Mandela; United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; Esmat Meguid, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States; and President Omar Bongo of Gabon.

On Sunday, the Secretary-General attended a celebration of the World Day of Peace at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, where a message of Pope John Paul II on the occasion was read out, Mr. Eckhard said. The Pope also conveyed an oral message to the Secretary-General through Archbishop Renato Raffaele Martino, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, urging him to undertake a mission to Iraq as soon as possible. John Cardinal O'Connor echoed that appeal in his homily at the service. The texts of those three statements were available in the Spokesman's office.

The Security Council was this morning considering the report of the Secretary-General on the situation in Tajikistan, the Spokesman continued. That meeting had begun shortly before the noon briefing, following a consultation among the five permanent members. Under "other matters", the Council was expected to be briefed on the current situation in Sierra Leone. Depending on the progress made on the draft resolution circulated last week on the oil-for-food programme, members of the Council might also receive a briefing by the representative of the United Kingdom.

On the subject of oil-for-food, the Spokesman said that under Phase III, 12 oil contracts out of a total of 34 had been approved for Russian companies, with the volume totalling 59.4 million barrels. That was 31 per cent of the total volume approved, which was 151.8 million barrels. This information was in response to certain questions that had been asked over the weekend concerning a report out of Baghdad, Mr. Eckhard said. As far as contracts were concerned, they were negotiated between Iraq and the oil purchasers.

United Nations staff in Guinea had said that Freetown, Sierra Leone, was reportedly calmer today and was slowly returning to normal, the Spokesman went on to say. A curfew had been imposed by troops of the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG) there. According to United Nations sources and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the city was quiet and phone services were beginning to return. It was also understood that the situation elsewhere in the country was improving at a slower pace.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Sierra Leonans continued to arrive in Guinea by boat, and the estimated total since 6 February was now 4,500. Those newly arrived persons talked about lack of food and medicine in Freetown, as well as of reprisals against people linked to the defeated junta. The UNHCR had started meeting with the exiled government in Conakry to discuss plans for repatriation of Sierra Leonans who had expressed a desire to return. In addition, a United Nations humanitarian assessment mission, led by the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Sierra Leone, Francis Okelo, would go in tomorrow, security conditions permitting. Their first stop would be Lungi, before heading for Freetown. The team would carry emergency supplies and conduct an initial assessment of humanitarian needs.

Mr. Eckhard said that Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Sergio Vieira de Mello was leaving for Afghanistan today. Weather conditions permitting, he would visit the earthquake site in the Rustak area. During his five-day mission, he would also rally donor support for the 1998 consolidated appeal for Afghanistan, which was launched on 4 February asking for $157 million. United Nations planes had again been unable to land in the earthquake area today because of fog and heavy snow, but a United Nations convoy carrying 50 tons of relief items, mainly food supplies, had arrived in Rustak today from Faizabad. Another food convoy carrying 200 tons of supplies had left Dushanbe. A third was on stand-by in Kabul, unable to leave because the road was hit by an avalanche. Of the $2.5 million emergency appeal made by the Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs last week, $1.5 million had been received, while $1.5 million was still needed to allow an airdrop operation to assist the victims. Governments were encouraged to contribute generously.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 17 February 1998

Four human rights investigators of the Secretary-General's investigative team in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were now in Mbadanka and were scheduled to stay there until the end of the month, Mr. Eckhard said. The deployment to the eastern part of the Republic should start soon thereafter.

The Spokesman announced that two Member States, Ethiopia and Nepal, had paid their assessed contributions to the Organization in full since his last report on the subject. That brought the number of States under that category to 31. Ethiopia's payment was $73,614 and Nepal's was $42,065. Last year at this time, 35 Member States had paid in full.

Mr. Eckhard also announced that the Holy See at 11 a.m. today ratified the Landmines Convention, becoming the fifth party to it. So far, 123 Member States had signed the Convention. The four other parties to it were Canada, Ireland, Mauritius and Turkmenistan.

The Spokesman drew attention to a press release from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on the address of its President, Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, to the Security Council last Thursday. Upon her return from Headquarters in New York, Judge McDonald learned with satisfaction of the voluntary surrender of two accused from the Republic of Srpska, confirming the Tribunal's need for the additional judicial support for which she had been asking. Also in the Spokesman's Office was a statement from the Prosecutor of the Tribunal, Louise Arbour, describing the first voluntary and unconditional surrender of the accused as "significant".

Mr. Eckhard drew attention to two press releases from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, one of which concerned the visit of the Minister of Justice of Belgium to the Tribunal on 23 February. He also noted that the Belgian Government had applied to the Tribunal for authorization to present a submission in the case of "The prosecutor versus Theoneste Bagosora", under the title of Amicus Curiae (friend of the court). That trial was scheduled to begin in March.

Copies of the 1997 annual report of the International Narcotics Control Board were now available in the six official languages at the press documents counter on the third floor, Mr. Eckhard said. Press kits in English were also available. He cautioned that there was a strict embargo on the report -- its contents were not to be published or broadcast before Tuesday, 24 February, at 9 a.m. GMT. A press conference with Ambassador Herbert Okun, a member of the Board, would be held at 11:15 a.m., New York time, on the same date in the press briefing room.

The Spokesman also drew attention to a Department of Public Information (DPI) publication, Setting the Records Straight: "What Do People Really Think of the United Nations?". Also available was a World Food Programme (WFP) press release warning that refugee food rations for 125,000 in north-eastern

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 17 February 1998

Kenya's Dadaab camps would be cut in half in two weeks if urgent funding for the Dadaab airbridge was not received immediately.

Also today, the World Chronicle Television programme would feature Shahid Javed Burki, World Bank Vice-President for Latin America and the Caribbean Region, Mr. Eckhard said. It would be shown on in-house television channels 6 and 38 at 2:30 p.m.

To a light-hearted query about whether he was Irish, Mr. Eckhard responded, straight-faced: "We don't discuss ethnicity in the United Nations".

Was the Secretary-General satisfied with his role in the search for a diplomatic solution to the Iraq crisis? a correspondent asked. Had he put forward his own proposals to resolve the issue? Whose idea was the idea of a trip to Baghdad?

Mr. Eckhard replied that he did not think that the Secretary-General would be satisfied with his role until that search was successfully completed. He had gradually emerged as a coordinator among the various governments which had contacted Iraq and discussed various political solutions with that country. The Secretary-General had brought the five permanent members of the Security Council together to try to reach a consensus on what might be acceptable as a political solution. He was not, therefore, a messenger, but a coordinator and facilitator.

The idea to go to Iraq had not originated from the Secretary-General, the Spokesman went on to say. However, from reading the newspapers and the wire services, the idea obviously enjoyed overwhelming support worldwide. He reiterated that before the Secretary-General could go to Iraq, three conditions must be satisfied: a workable solution, support from the Security Council and support from Iraq.

A correspondent said that the Secretary-General had not contacted governments in the area and that the Organization of the Islamic Conference could diffuse the tension. The Spokesman said that statement was "just wrong", drawing attention to what he had said at the beginning of the briefing concerning the Secretary-General's assortment of contacts there. He restated that the Secretary-General had repeatedly been in touch with Esmat Meguid, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, as well as with King Hussein and President Mubarak. "He has had contact with countries in the region, as well as with neighbours of Iraq, and with international organizations such as the League of Arab States."

Asked when the Secretary-General was last in touch with Iraqi officials apart from that country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Nizar Hamdoon, Mr. Eckhard said he would check on when the most recent

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 17 February 1998

conversation with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz had taken place. They had spoken frequently, Mr. Eckhard said, but he could not confirm on the spot whether the last conversation had been during the past 48 hours.

In the interest of those journalists who had expressed interest in travelling to Baghdad when the Secretary-General goes there, Mr. Eckhard said there was some new information concerning a United Nations flight into that city. He asked them to contact Juan Carlos Brandt of the Spokesman's Office for details.

Asked if he had any information on Iranian Foreign Minister's proposal to the Secretary-General regarding the crisis, Mr. Eckhard said he said none.

The Spokesman was also asked what kind of mandate the Secretary-General now sought from the Security Council. "One that preserves respect for the resolutions of the Council and that protects the inspection process described by those resolutions", he answered. Those were basically the guidelines that the Secretary-General had laid down before the five permanent members of the Council in his second meeting with them on Friday.

Was the Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) likely to accompany the Secretary-General to Iraq? "Not to my knowledge", answered Mr. Eckhard, "but we are not ready to announce the precise membership of the party."

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