DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Juan Carlos Brandt, Senior Associate Spokesman for the Secretary- General, began today's press briefing by announcing that copies of the transcript of a joint press conference by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq Tariq Aziz were available in room 378. During that press conference, held at 10:55 a.m. local time in Baghdad, the Secretary-General announced that an agreement had been concluded with the Government of Iraq on the issue of the United Nations weapons inspections.

The Secretary-General was travelling from Baghdad to Paris, Mr. Brandt said, where he would stay overnight and return to New York Tuesday morning. On arrival, the Secretary-General was scheduled to go directly to Headquarters, where he will attend Security Council consultations at 10:30 a.m. No statements on the Iraq agreement were expected from the Secretary- General before the Security Council meeting, but information would be given about a possible press conference following the consultations.

Mr. Brandt said the Security Council would meet at 4 p.m. today to hear a briefing by Richard Butler, Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) monitoring the disposal of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Butler would present the outcome of UNSCOM's technical evaluation meetings. The Security Council might also receive a briefing from the Secretariat on the hostage situation in Georgia. On 19 February, a group of armed men broke into the Zugdidi Sector headquarters of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) and took four military observers hostage.

In a new development in the Georgia situation, Mr. Brandt said one of the four hostages was released yesterday, at 5:02 a.m. local time. According to the released hostage, the other three were in good spirits and they had been treated in a respectful way. The representatives of UNOMIG met face to face with the leader of the hostage takers yesterday, which was the second such meeting. The Georgian authorities had also been talking with the hostage takers.

Mr. Brandt announced that Switzerland had paid in full its assessed contributions for the 1998 regular budget. Those contributions totalled $3,833,181 and made Switzerland the first non-Member State to have paid in full its contributions. So far, 34 Member States had paid their assessed contributions in full, which was three less than last year at this time.

On the movements of United Nations senior officials, Mr. Brandt said High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata arrived in Addis Ababa yesterday where she met with the Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Salim A. Salim. She was scheduled to return to Geneva on Wednesday, 25 February.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator, James Gustave Speth, left New York on Friday, 20 February, for Rwanda, Mr. Brandt added. Today, Mr. Speth went to Burundi and would be there until Tuesday, when he was scheduled to travel to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. A related UNDP media advisory was available on the third floor racks. Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Ibrahima Fall, was in Addis Ababa to represent the Secretary-General at the Ministerial Meeting of the OAU. Also, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Sergio Vieira de Mello was currently in Afghanistan.

On the situation in Afghanistan, Mr. Brandt said that on 20 February, another strong earthquake occurred in the north-eastern part of that country. According to initial reports received, the new earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.4 on the Richter Scale, was strongly felt all over the region. So far, no further damage had been reported. A situation report on Afghanistan was available in room 378.

Uzbekistan became the sixteenth Member State to sign the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings this morning, Mr. Brandt said. The Convention was opened for signature on 12 January and would remain open for signature until 31 December 1999 at Headquarters. The Convention would enter into force on the thirtieth day following the date of the deposit of the twenty-second instrument of ratification.

Mr. Brandt also announced that the working group on strategic approaches to freshwater management, part of the Commission on Sustainable Development, opened today for a week-long meeting. It was the second of four meetings scheduled in 1998 to develop a global initiative on freshwater. A press conference would be held at the end of the week to review the progress made thus far. A press release on the initiative was issued in early February (ENV/DEV/461). Anyone interested in further information on freshwater management should call Pragati Pascale, of the Office of Communications and Public Information, 963-6870.

Ambassador Herbert Okun, a member of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), would hold a press conference in room 226 at 11:15 a.m., Tuesday, 24 February, Mr. Brandt said. The press conference would launch the INCB report for 1997 and copies of that report were available at the documents counter on the third floor, in the 6 official United Nations languages.

Mr. Brandt was then asked by a correspondent the correct pronunciation of the Secretary-General's name. He responded that "Kofi Annan" should be pronounced, "Kofi" like "Sophie" and "Annan" like "cannon".

Another correspondent asked why Britain and the United States had not received the full content of the agreement reached with Iraq. The Secretary- General had said during his press conference yesterday that members of the

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 23 February 1998

Security Council would be briefed on Tuesday on the contents of the agreement, Mr. Brandt responded. The Secretary-General had added that it would be prudent to wait until his briefing to the Security Council to discuss with them the contents of the agreement. Throughout the day yesterday, the Secretary-General had been in touch with a lot of people, including the representatives of the five permanent members of the Security Council. Also, the Secretary-General was not getting very much sleep on the plane from Baghdad to Paris, because the plane enjoyed telecommunication facilities and he was making use of them throughout the flight. Mr. Brandt said that probably some of those communications were with Member States, including the five permanent members of the Security Council.

When asked if the Secretary-General would make any statements to the press in Paris, Mr. Brandt said the Secretary-General had no official meetings scheduled, but that could change rapidly.

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