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 went out of town late yesterday, where he would rest from his mission to Iraq. He was expected to remain there through the weekend; however, he would continue to monitor the Security Council's deliberations on Iraq.

The Security Council met this morning to discuss Iraq and hear a briefing by the Secretariat on the situation in Croatia, Mr. Eckhard said. It was not clear when the Council would take formal action on the Memorandum of Understanding negotiated between the Secretary-General and the Government of Iraq. The Secretary-General was prepared to return to Headquarters on short notice, if necessary.

The Spokesman added that, anticipating that the Council would not take action until early next week, the Secretary-General had indefinitely postponed a long-planned trip to Washington, D.C., which was scheduled to start on Monday, 2 March.

Mr. Eckhard said the International Court of Justice, the primary judicial organ of the United Nations, had found today that it did have jurisdiction to deal with the merits of the case brought by Libya against the United States and the United Kingdom concerning the destruction of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The Court also decided that an application by Libya, contending that the United States and the United Kingdom did not have a right to compel it to surrender two Libyan nationals suspected of having caused the destruction of Pan Am flight 103, was admissible. There were two press releases from the Court, in French and English, available in the Spokesman's Office. One was on Libya v. the United States, and the other on Libya v. the United Kingdom. Because his office did not speak for the Court, he could not provide further information on the Judgment, he added.

The Secretary-General had read media reports from Cambodia that ousted co-premier Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Second Prime Minister Hun Sen had ordered their respective troops to observe an immediate ceasefire, Mr. Eckhard said. The Secretary-General welcomed that important development that, he hoped, would translate into a permanent end to the fighting and enable the refugees who fled last July to return to their country and to participate in the forthcoming elections.

The Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna and Executive Director of United Nations International Drug Control Programme, Pino Arlacchi, had met yesterday with Bolivian President Hugo Banzer, the Spokesman said. President Banzer had expressed his support for the Global Plan for Eradication of Coca Leaf in Latin America. A cooperation agreement

was endorsed in order to integrate in the Global Plan all Bolivian efforts to fight illicit drugs. Mr. Arlacchi and the President had agreed upon the launch of a study on productivity of the Chapare region. The results of that study would be discussed during a conference to be held in 1999.

Mr. Eckhard said Luxembourg had become the thirty-ninth Member State to pay in full its assessed contributions to the 1998 regular budget, totalling $694,074. The same number of Member States had paid in full at this time last year, he added.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs was launching today a Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Countries of the Great Lakes Region and Central Africa, Mr. Eckhard said. The appeal was seeking $550 million to meet the emergency needs of over 5 million people in 1998 in Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda. The Appeal was aimed at providing basic life-saving assistance still needed while also assisting countries in rebuilding their national infrastructures. Over 2 million people were displaced throughout the region and, in addition, the food deficit had increased, social services had been disrupted, and the economies had become severely debilitated. The Appeal had been formulated in line with the Secretary-General's programme for reform. It addressed both basic relief and reconstruction requirements of war-damaged societies and it also incorporated activities identified by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson.

Mr. Eckhard said the forty-second session of the Commission on the Status of Women would open at Headquarters on Monday, 2 March. The Commission, which was scheduled to meet until 13 March, would discuss four critical areas of concern of the Declaration and Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995): violence against women; women and armed conflict; human rights of women; and the girl child. It would also consider a review of gender mainstreaming in organizations of the United Nations; emerging issues, trends and approaches to issues affecting the situation of women or equality between women and men, with a focus on the status of older women; and the elaboration of a draft optional protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Further information on the Commission could be obtained from Elisabeth Ruzicka-Dempsey, of the Development and Human Rights Section, of the Office of Communications and Public Information, at tel. (212) 963-1742.

There would be a press conference in room S-226 at 12:45 p.m. on Monday, 2 March, by the United Kingdom Minister for Women, Joan Ruddock, who would discuss the Commission's session, he added.

Mr. Eckhard said there was a press release available from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on the conclusion of a meeting today in Malaysia of the parties to the Basel Convention on Hazardous Wastes. Among other decisions the parties adopted were two lists of wastes which outlined

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the materials to be banned by a 1995 amendment to the Convention and those which could continue to be exported for recycling purposes. UNEP's Executive Director Klaus Topfer said the priority for governments now was to ratify the ban so that it could take effect as soon as possible. Mr. Topfer called the illegal export of hazardous wastes a crime against mankind and nature that must be prosecuted as a criminal act. He had also said there was an urgent need to build the capacity of States, particularly developing countries, to prevent the illegal trafficking of such wastes, an issue endorsed by many of the Convention's parties.

The Spokesman announced that the Government of Iraq would distribute a full food ration to all Iraqis next month for the first time since last September. That would include infant formula, part of which came from the "oil-for-food" programme, as well as from government stocks, that would be made available in northern Iraq for the first time. All rations intended for northern Iraq were delivered by the World Food Programme (WFP) and local distribution teams. For further information on that item, correspondents should contact Hiro Ueki in the Spokesman's Office.

Mr. Eckhard said the first deputy leader of the United Tajik Opposition, Mr. Turajonzoda, returned to Dushanbe today, marking an important step in the peace process in Tajikistan. The leader of the United Tajik Opposition and the Chairman of the National Reconciliation Commission, Said Abdullo Nuri, had returned to Dushanbe with Mr. Turajonzoda on a commercial flight from Tehran. They were welcomed by approximately 15,000 followers of the Opposition. The return of Mr. Turajonzoda was one of the stumbling blocks impeding the implementation of the peace process in Tajikistan.

The Spokesman said the WFP had announced in a press release today that United States aircraft had helped deliver food for the WFP flood operation in Kenya. The WFP welcomed the United States contribution of planes. There were also briefing notes from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) available in the Spokesman's Office, he said.

Mr. Eckhard said that today marked the thirtieth day of captivity of Vincent Cochetel, kidnapped in Vlidakavkaz, North Ossetia, on 29 January.

From Geneva, Mr. Eckhard said there was an informal note on the press conference by the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, at the Palais des Nations yesterday. He had returned the night before from a five-day visit to Afghanistan, he added.

There was also a press release on the opening of the fifty-fourth session of the Commission on Human Rights on 16 March, he said. The Secretary-General was expected to address the opening meeting and was expected to chair the public forum on mainstreaming human rights within the United Nations. Czech Republic

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President Vaclav Havel and 1996 Nobel Prize Winner Elie Wiesel would participate in the forum. There was also a note to correspondents on the session of the Commission available in the Spokesman's Office.

Mr. Eckhard added that John Mills, the media officer for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, announced this morning in Geneva that Mrs. Robinson would leave Geneva this afternoon for a two-day trip to Tehran, where she would open the sixth workshop on Regional Human Rights Arrangements in the Asia Pacific Region, to be held there from 28 February to 2 March.

Also available in the Spokesman's Office was a press release from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia saying that search warrants were being executed in Banja Luka, Mr. Eckhard said. The purpose of the warrants was to collect documents related to ongoing investigations and trials.

There was also a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) press release on the Israeli-Palestinian cooperation agreement signed under the aegis of UNESCO, he added.

Lieutenant-General Manfred Eisele, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations in charge of planning and support in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, would be leaving his post at the end of the month, the Spokesman said. He had been in his current position since 1 January 1995. General Eisele was going back to the armed forces of Germany. The Secretary- General and all the colleagues who have worked closely with him have appreciated his service for the cause of international peace and security, and they wished him well.

The Spokesman also announced that there was a report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) on the United Nations International Partnership Trust Fund containing the concept paper on the $1 billion gift of Ted Turner. The agreement between the United Nations and the Turner Foundation was still being finalized. While the agreement was very complicated legally, a decision had almost been reached. A number of project proposals had been submitted and reviewed. The intention of both the United Nations and the Turner Foundation was to start the money flowing at a rate of $25 million per quarter starting with the first quarter of 1998.

On the Secretary-General's postponed trip to Washington, D.C., a correspondent asked if the trip could be rescheduled for another time and what would that depend upon in terms of meetings in Washington. Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General's plan for the trip was to meet with members of the United States Administration, as well as congressional leadership. "The Secretary-General's message was that he had done his job on reform -- what were the chances of the United States paying its arrears", he said. With the developments in the Security Council on Iraq, the Secretary-General felt he needed to be here. Indefinitely postponed meant another date had not been set

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for the trip; the Secretary-General would be looking at his programme to see if it could be rescheduled.

Was the visit put off because of hostility that has risen from some parts of the United States Congress over the Iraq agreement? Did the Secretary- General want to go to Washington after he had a Security Council decision on the agreement? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said he did not hear congressional hostility discussed as a reason for postponing the trip. The Secretary-General was focused on the Security Council's actions and he determined that the Council would not be adopting a resolution until early next week. He considered taking part of the trip rather than the whole trip, but he later decided it was best to cancel entirely.

With the Secretary General focusing his time on the Iraq situation, would the duty of Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette be increased so that other matters could be discussed such as the question of Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti? a correspondent asked. The Spokesman said the United Nations had a Secretariat with various desk officers and regional directors who monitored developments around the world. The work of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the Department of Political Affairs, and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs went on everyday. On Ms. Frechette, Mr. Eckhard said his Office would issue a paper on her responsibilities as Deputy Secretary-General, adding that she had been scheduled to travel with the Secretary-General to Washington.

Asked when Ms. Frechette would take her position as Deputy Secretary- General, Mr. Eckhard said she was expected to start on Monday, 2 March.

Had there been any Iraqi reaction to the interpretation made by the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, Hans Corell, and by the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), Richard Butler, of paragraph 4 of the Memorandum of Understanding yesterday, whereby UNSCOM would be in charge of the presidential sites rather than the new special group and its Commissioner? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said that, to his knowledge, there had been no reaction from Baghdad to any of the discussions that had been taking place at Headquarters on the agreement.

What was the latest concern of the Security Council on Croatia and what could the Council do to stop the latest wave of ethnic cleansing there? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said he could not confirm that ethnic cleansing was taking place, but a member of the Council raised a concern about policies of intimidation by the Croatian Government against the Serb minority. The Council requested a briefing on that topic by the Secretariat.

Mr. Eckhard was asked why the Secretary-General had to be near Headquarters while the Council debated a resolution on Iraq. The Spokesman responded that there could be continuing questions about the agreement that he

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would want to personally oversee the responses to. The Secretary-General might have to speak one on one with individual delegations that might have questions or reservations. He felt that he needed to be available to them should they want him for any reason.

A correspondent asked if there was any statement on the comment by the Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina yesterday that there were 50 to 60 people held in prisons in Srebrenica. Mr. Eckhard said his Office had no information on that matter.

Had the Secretary-General responded to the harsh criticism of the Iraq agreement by Republican leaders in the United States Congress? a correspondent asked. "He feels he has done his job and the ball is now in the court of the Security Council", the Spokesman said. The Secretary-General understood that there could be internal debates, but it was for the individual members of the Security Council to sort out their positions and discuss among themselves how they want to respond to it. The Secretary-General was waiting for them to finish their part of the process.

Asked if there had been any progress made on Angola and on preparations for a meeting between the leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Jonas Savimbi, and President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Mr. Eckhard said he had no new information on the situation there. "Every effort was being made to arrange that meeting to move the process forward", he said. "It's moving too slowly for anyone's satisfaction, but its moving." He added that the matter was in the hands of the Security Council.

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