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 Secretary-General Kofi Annan, began today's noon press briefing by announcing that Prakash Shah, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Iraq, would meet with correspondents as part of the noon briefing. (The briefing notes will be issued separately.) Alex Taukatch, spokesman for General Assembly President Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), would also report on the meetings of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), which resumed today.

The Secretary-General transmitted to the President of the Security Council just a few minutes ago the detailed procedures for inspections of the eight presidential sites in Iraq, Mr. Eckhard said. There would be a background briefing for correspondents at 12:30 p.m., during which the text of those procedures would be shared. That briefing would be given by two senior United Nations officials.

He said the United Nations Special Commission on the disarmament of Iraq (UNSCOM) has indicated that Scott Ritter and his team conducted two inspections yesterday and three on Saturday. All the sites in question had been declared sensitive by Iraq, but the United Nations team was allowed to inspect them. Together with the three inspections on Friday, the team had thus far inspected a total of eight sensitive sites and would be taking a break today.

The Foreign Minister of Iraq, Mohammed Said Al-Sahaf, and his delegation met with the Secretary-General this morning at 10:15 to begin a week of discussions on the "oil-for-food" programme. At 11 a.m., those talks resumed with Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette chairing the United Nations side. Mr. Annan had asked his new Deputy to oversee the oil-for-food programme; Benon Sevan, the head of the Iraq programme, would now report to her.

Mr. Eckhard went on to say that the Iraqi delegation included the Under- Secretaries for Health and Trade -- not the Ministers for Health and Trade, as the Spokesman's Office had announced last week. The full list of the members of the Iraqi and United Nations delegations, as well as the draft provisional agenda for the talks, were available in room S-378.

Citing a question asked last week, Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary- General's Deputy Special Representative to Cyprus, Gustave Feissel, was indeed in the Building and was on the Secretary-General's agenda for today. The Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Cyprus, Diego Cordovez, was expected in New York tomorrow. He was tentatively expected to brief the Security Council on Cyprus on Thursday, 12 March. That would be in anticipation of his visit to the region, scheduled to begin on Tuesday, 17 March.

The Spokesman's Office would try to arrange for a press briefing by Mr. Cordovez -- and Mr. Feissel, if he's still in the Building -- for later this week.

The United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) had decided today to withdraw from three United Nations team sites in remote areas to the Mission's base in Dushanbe, the Spokesman announced. The decision was taken for two reasons. First, they were isolated, owing to heavy snow and avalanches. Secondly, the Tajik airport authorities were not allowing the United Nations Mission to use the airport in Dushanbe, despite the fact that the Mission was entitled to freedom of movement and to free use of the airport under the status-of-forces agreement. They were claiming that the necessary clearances could not be granted until their Ministry of Finance paid them outstanding dues. The Secretary-General's Special Representative, Gerd Merrem, was discussing the matter with them.

Mr. Eckhard drew attention to a substantive meeting of the Economic and Social Council last year which urged the Secretary-General to appoint experts to review how the United Nations efforts against illicit drugs had evolved since the creation of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP). Today, the Secretary-General was appointing 13 such experts. The main purpose of their work would be to recommend how to strengthen future international cooperation against illicit drugs and to identify measures aimed at reinforcing the Drug Programme's activities, including increased financial resources for the Programme. The expert group was expected to hold its first meeting from 22 to 24 April in Vienna. Its work would be financed entirely by the Voluntary Fund.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had prepared an environmental situation report on Indonesia, citing the renewed spread of forest land and bush fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, Indonesia, the Spokesman announced. Those fires began to resurge above ground as the drought returned in early January. The Secretary-General had, last week, asked the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Klaus Topfer, to coordinate the United Nations system's response to that particular environmental emergency.

The Spokesman recommended to correspondents the report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services on procurement reform in the United Nations system, which was now available on the press racks. Also available on the racks was the report of the United Nations fact-finding mission to Libya, headed by Vladimir Petrovsky, from 13 to 18 December 1997. The report, which had initially been kept confidential, was now being made public at the request of the Council.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 9 March 1998

Mr. Eckhard also recommended to correspondents a press release by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), urging European governments to stop sending rejected asylum-seekers from Kosovo back to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

He went on to say that the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy, today addressed the Australian Parliamentarian Association in Canberra on the social impact of the Asian financial crisis. The Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), Catherine Bertini, called for an end to violence against women and endorsed the Secretary-General's appeal on behalf of women in Afghanistan, in her message on the occasion of International Women's Day. Press releases on those statements were available on the third floor.

News was just arriving by fax on a press briefing given in Geneva by the Chairman of the Ad Hoc Group of States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention, the Spokesman said.

At the request of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Spokesman announced that the briefing by Brian Atwood, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), previously scheduled for 4 p.m. today, had been cancelled because of the weather.

After several days of discussions in the Joint Commission in Luanda last week, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) last Friday issued a formal declaration stating that it no longer had a military force, the Spokesman said. The remaining elements of the residual forces would be demobilized between 11 and 15 March. The UNITA's high-ranking officers would be demobilized in Bailundo between 16 and 19 March. The Government and UNITA also made a commitment to demobilize and integrate, on 20 March, the 400-strong personal guard for Jonas Savimbi, the head of UNITA, into the national police.

According to the newly agreed timetable, all the so-called sensitive areas under UNITA control, including Bailundo and Andulo, would be placed under government control by 1 April, the Spokesman went on to say. The Angolan Government was also to issue a declaration on 11 March on the legalization of UNITA as a political party, and to promulgate a law giving a special status to Mr. Savimbi.

Why had the Secretary-General chosen this time to go to Washington, D.C.? a correspondent asked. What was his reaction to the criticism he had received? Did he perhaps feel he had not received enough thanks from Washington? "His principal reason for going to Washington is to discuss the memorandum of understanding on Iraq", Mr. Eckhard said. There would be follow-up meeting which he would be having in the capitals of other permanent members of the Security Council. His programme for those meetings would be announced later on.

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The Secretary-General felt he had done his job by turning the agreement over to the Council, which approved it unanimously, the Spokesman said. "He feels that he has a certain stake in trying to maintain political support for this agreement", which is why he is going to Washington and will be going to other capitals. "As for the criticism, that really is just to be expected."

Asked if finance was now the main item on the Secretary-General's agenda, Mr. Eckhard said that finance was a very important item on his agenda. "Any time he goes to Washington, he raises it -- it's obviously important." However, the "post-memorandum of understanding reason" for his making the current visit was to help solidify political support for it.

Are you saying that there are still unanswered questions from Washington? the correspondent asked. "I don't know -- he'll find out when he gets there." There had been criticism from certain congressional quarters. The Secretary- General hoped to have one event on his programme organized by the United States Administration to bring him together with a few congressional leaders. He also planned to go back after the Congress' Easter recess to meet specifically with congressional leaders.

A correspondent drew attention to an Op Ed piece by the Secretary-General in today's issue of The New York Times, stating that he seemed to emphasize the financial question more than anything else. "Yes, the financial question is very much on our minds at all times", Mr. Eckhard said.

Last Friday, you categorically denied a story which stated that the Secretary-General had not been informed or consulted prior to the decision by Ambassador Butler, Executive Chairman of UNSCOM, to send in the inspection team headed by Scott Ritter, a correspondent said. Did that mean the Secretary- General was consulted prior to the decision to dispatch that team? "What I said there was full consultation -- and I said that on guidance from the Secretary- General, who must have felt he had been fully consulted", the Spokesman replied.

Did "full consultation" mean that the Secretary-General took part in the decision to send the team headed by Scott Ritter? the correspondent asked. "I said last week: it isn't the Secretary-General's decision to make, and it was not Mr. Butler's obligation to consult the Secretary-General", Mr. Eckhard said. "But the two of them were working very closely, and so in this case, there was full consultation."

To follow-up questioning by the same correspondent, the Spokesman said "I have said everything I have to say on this subject."

Asked if a date had been set for Mr. Butler to travel to Baghdad, the Spokesman said he did not believe a date had been set yet; the correspondent would have to ask Mr. Butler.

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Why was the expert group on drugs, which was mandated by the General Assembly, voluntarily funded? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said he did not know and would check into that.

Asked if the Security Council needed to take any action on the inspection plan, Mr. Eckhard said, "No, I think it's just for their information."

A correspondent asked for additional information about the Secretary- General's meeting with Ambassador Sergey Lavrov of the Russian Federation. The Spokesman said the meeting had been requested by the Ambassador. He believed the Ambassador was carrying a message from his Foreign Minister. There was not a read-out on that meeting as yet.

Asked if there was any further information regarding a second deputy for UNSCOM, Mr. Eckhard said the resolution governing the constitution of UNSCOM only provided for a single deputy. The Secretary-General would, therefore, have to take the matter to the Security Council for a decision.

To a question regarding the "new status" being affirmed for Mr. Savimbi, Mr. Eckhard referred to the correspondent to a member of the Spokesman's Office, who could provide him with additional information following the noon briefing.

Was the question of a second deputy head of UNSCOM in the hands of the Security Council? a corespondent asked. "Yes, because the original resolution would have to be modified", Mr. Eckhard said. The Council would have to change its original decision on the structure of UNSCOM to create the post for a second deputy.

A correspondent said that a letter from the representative of Germany to the Secretary-General had supported bringing the question of Kosovo before the Security Council. Had the Secretary-General mentioned that? she asked. "No, I'm not aware of a message from Germany", the Spokesman answered. He had seen the press reports on the Contact Group's meeting today in London, but had nothing official to say on the matter.

What procedure was involved with respect to the submission by the Secretary-General to the Council of the detailed procedures for inspections of the eight presidential sites in Iraq? a correspondent asked. The Spokesman said it was the Secretary-General's decision to define the detailed procedures, and he had today informed the Council of what they were. Now, inspections of presidential sites under those procedures could take place. There would be a background briefing shortly, at which correspondents would be provided with those details.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for General Assembly President Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), said that Mr. Udovenko was still away from Headquarters and had been very active as his country's Foreign Minister. He was now in Prague, partially as part of an official visit as the Assembly President.

Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 9 March 1998

Also in that capacity, he would visit Tokyo on 10 March and then Malaysia, after which he would return to Headquarters.

He said the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) would hold the first part of its resumed fifty-second session from Monday, 9 March, through Friday, 27 March. It would consider 15 agenda items, including a number of peacekeeping operations. In particular, it would consider the financing of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT), the United Nations Support Mission in Haiti (UNSMIH), and the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA).

The Oversight Office's review of the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda would also be taken up, Mr. Taukatch said. Other Oversight Office reports to be considered included its audit of the Untied Nations use of consultants; its audit of the five regional commissions; its review of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)/World Trade Organization (WTO) International Trade Centre; an alleged conflict of interest in the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat); and its review of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division.

Mr. Taukatch said the Committee's schedule of work and the list of related documents was contained in document A/C.5/52/L.22/Rev.1, which was available on the third floor press racks.

The General Assembly's Working Group on reform of the Security Council had been meeting and would meet again tomorrow, 10 March, to consider the Council's working methods and the issue of transparency, he went on to say. All of those were closed meetings.

Mr. Taukatch drew attention to questions which had been raised regarding when the general debate of the Assembly's fifty-third session would begin. The President had sent out a letter to all Member States with proposed dates for the general debate. Having not received any replies to the contrary, it was now official that the general debate would begin on 21 September. It would be a two-week general debate, rather then the traditional three weeks.

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