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 reading a statement attributable to the Spokesman:

"The Secretary-General is outraged by the news of a bomb blast today in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, which has killed and injured a large number of civilians, including children.

"Once again, the Secretary-General condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the use of violence against civilians. Terrorism cannot be condoned in any circumstances. He calls for an end to the armed conflict in Sri Lanka, which has brought considerable suffering to many innocent non-combatants, and for a peaceful, negotiated settlement of the problem. He extends his condolences to the families of the victims." (See Press Release SG/SM/6477.)

Some of the details of the Secretary-General's planned trip to the Middle East were now available, Mr. Eckhard said. It was now scheduled to take place from 19 to 26 March, and would include official visits to Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Syria, as well as areas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority. That trip had originally been planned for February, but had been postponed due to the Iraq crisis. The original itinerary had included Jordan, but it had not been possible to include Amman on the itinerary of the rescheduled trip because of prior commitments on the Jordanian side. However, the Secretary-General did hope to make an official visit to Jordan at the earliest mutually convenient time.

Available on the racks today was the 90-day report of the Sanctions Committee on Iraq, Mr. Eckhard said. That report concerned the implementation of the "oil-for-food" programme. In the report, the Committee indicated that owing to the delayed resumption in petroleum sales and a serious price drop, a $400 million revenue shortfall in the 90-day revenue objective of $1.07 billion was anticipated if the current prices remained unchanged.

As of 2 March, the Spokesman went on to say, the United Nations oil overseers had approved a total of 35 oil contracts involving purchasers from 15 countries, with three contracts still pending owing to a lack of supporting documents. At current prices, total revenue projected for the entire 180-day period was about $1.92 billion -- which included the pipeline fee. On the subject of humanitarian supplies, the report stated that by the end of February available funds for the purchase of humanitarian supplies had almost been exhausted for Phase I, and were fully depleted for Phase II of the oil- for-food programme. The programme was currently at Phase III.

The Secretary-General's 90-day report on the oil-for-food programme -- a separate report that the Secretary-General was also obligated to submit -- was expected to be issued tomorrow, the Spokesman said. The report of the meeting of the Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission was also out as a document today.

Today in Bangui, Central African Republic, Ibrahima Fall, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, had delivered on behalf of the Secretary-General a message on the occasion of the closing ceremony of the National Conference of Reconciliation, the Spokesman went on to say. The Security Council still had before it the report of the Secretary-General (document S/1998/148) that outlined the concept of operations for a possible peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic. The Council was to consider that option before 16 March when the current mandate of the Inter- African Mission to Monitor the Implementation of the Bangui Agreements would expire.

The Security Council had begun its consultations a few minutes ago, Mr. Eckhard said. They would be briefed on Western Sahara by the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hedi Annabi.

Yesterday, correspondents might have seen a letter from the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Albania addressed to the President of the Security Council, Mr. Eckhard went on to say. That letter asked for an urgent meeting of the Council in order to discuss the measures needed for the prevention of a new tragedy in Kosova and the region.

A press release from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia was available upstairs, the Spokesman said. Today, the Tribunal had sentenced Drazen Erdemovic to five years of imprisonment. The accused had pleaded guilty to a charge of a violation of the laws or customs of war. Mr. Erdemovic had a right to appeal. Details were available in the press release.

Fiji was the forty-first Member State to pay in full its assessed contributions to the 1998 regular budget, Mr. Eckhard continued. That was with a check for $42,065.

Out on the racks today was a document on access to the Optical Disk System, the Spokesman said. It provided prices for access, including for the general public, which had been an issue with the press.

There would be a press conference given by the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Klaus Topfer, in room S-226 tomorrow at 11 a.m., the Spokesman went on to say. He would brief correspondents on a variety of issues, including the result of a recent meeting of parties to the Basel Hazardous Waste Convention and his meeting in Malaysia with the environment ministers of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the subject of Indonesian forest fires.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 5 March 1998

Regarding the appointment of a Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Mr. Eckhard said the letter had just been signed at noon and would need to go to the Security Council before it could be announced. It would probably be announced within the next 30 minutes or so. [The Spokesman's Office subsequently announced that Prakash Shah (India) had been appointed.]

A correspondent asked if that forthcoming announcement required any action on the part of the Council. Mr. Eckhard said it did not. The Secretary-General was merely informing the Council of his decision to make an appointment of a Special Envoy for Iraq.

Another correspondent -- referring to a request made by the Secretary- General to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in a report made last October to the Security Council, to accelerate some sort of programme for victims of the coup d'état in Haiti -- asked, as that programme had not been implemented, who was doing the follow-up to the Secretary-General's report. Mr. Eckhard said that this would be a matter for the Secretary-General himself to discuss with UNDP Administrator James Gustave Speth. He added that he would first like to ask the UNDP what the reasons for the delay had been, if in fact there had been a delay in implementing the project. "I'm sure there was a good reason for it", he added.

* *** *