DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

(Incorporates briefing by spokesman for General Assembly President.)

Juan Carlos Brandt, Senior Associate Spokesman for the Secretary- General, told correspondents at today's press briefing that the Security Council was meeting this morning to hear briefings on Somalia and Cyprus. The Director of the Africa I Division of the Department of Political Affairs, B.G. Ramcharan, had briefed the Council on the latest information on the situation in Somalia. The Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus, Diego Cordovez, was also scheduled to brief the Council on his recent visit to Cyprus. The Council was expected to take up Kosovo under other matters. A draft resolution was put in blue last night, meaning that it would likely be acted upon today. The draft's provisions concerned an arms embargo on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The United Nations today had launched the 1998 Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Somalia, requesting $79 million to continue the urgently-needed humanitarian and rehabilitation assistance for Somalia from January to December 1998, Mr. Brandt said. There was also an annex to the Appeal for a separate request for $15.3 million to meet the most pressing needs through June 1998, in the wake of massive floods in the country.

Mr. Brandt added that, in the absence of a national government and institutions, the United Nations agencies had been required to play an even greater role in Somalia to ensure that potentially manageable emergencies do not develop into major humanitarian crises. With the funds of the appeal, United Nations agencies would continue to target much of their assistance towards vulnerable groups, including women and children, returnees, refugees, internally displaced persons, and the poorest segments of Somali society, who were the most affected by the crisis. The international community was requested to respond generously to both Appeals, to relieve the protracted suffering of the Somali people and to provide a basis for the longer-term rehabilitation and reconstruction of the country.

Also on Somalia, Mr. Brandt said that, at the launch of the 1998 United Nations Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Dominick Langenbacher, had expressed the deep concern of the United Nations agencies working in Somalia over renewed inter-clan clashes in the city of Kismaayo and the rise in banditry and insecurity in Mogadishu.

Today's Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) briefing notes from Geneva, available in the Spokesman's office, also discussed the plight of Somali boat people, Mr. Brandt said. The drama of the

Somali boat people heading from northeastern Somalia to Yemen continued. One hundred Somali boat people were reported to have drowned in a tragic incident off the coast of Yemen believed to have taken place on 25 or 26 March. Taken together with previous incidents, that brought to a total of 220 persons believed to have drowned last month alone en route to Yemen. Many Somalis used the services of smugglers to make the trip and paid large sums for the journey on vessels that were not prepared to take so many people over rough seas, he added.

Over recent months, there had been a steady outflow of Somalis by boat heading for Yemen, Mr. Brandt continued. In the first three months of 1998, UNHCR had recorded 4,763 Somali arrivals in Yemen. That was an increase of 400 per cent over the same period last year. Frequently, there were also Ethiopian nationals on the boats and 286 of them had so far arrived this year, according to the UNHCR briefing notes. UNHCR was sending a team to Yemen to look into those developments.

The United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team (UNDAC) composed of five members and joined by two officers of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) had arrived in Brasilia on 29 March, Mr. Brandt said. They had spent all day yesterday on consultation-coordination meetings with officials from the United Nations and the Brazilian Government, as well as other entities involved in combating the forest fires that were ravaging the Amazon region. They had started working on a preliminary plan of action with the operational national actors, including the fire fighters at the main Emergency Operation Centre, which was covering the overall operation. The United Nations team would now separate into two groups. One, composed of two people, would stay in Brasilia and maintain close contact with the Brazilian authorities. Another group of five was flying today to the affected region. The group was flying to Boa Vista, in the state of Roraima, which was a five- hour flight from Brasilia, to assess the situation. It was not known for how long that group would be working there, but they would stay as long as they were needed. Information would be provided as the Spokesman's office received the situation reports.

The Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy, would be visiting Afghanistan from 1 to 3 April, Mr. Brandt said. The objectives of her visit were to hold discussions, visit project sites and listen to Afghans in order to have a better understanding of the situation in the country so UNICEF could find ways to improve its support of Afghan children and women. He added that given the changing conditions under which humanitarian agencies were working in Afghanistan, all United Nations humanitarian agencies had met recently in Geneva. A common approach to the situation in Afghanistan had been agreed upon and the UNICEF Executive Director would convey that position to both the United Nations agencies working in the country and to the authorities in Kabul.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 31 March 1998

In addition, Mr. Brandt continued, UNICEF was particularly concerned about the quality of and access to both health and education services in Afghanistan. Previous discussions had taken place between the United Nations and the Taliban authorities in that regard and some progress had been made in the area of health. Ms. Bellamy would have discussions with the Taliban in order to continue the dialogue on those issues. During her visit, Ms. Bellamy would hold two press conferences, one in Kabul on Thursday, 2 April, and one in Islamabad on Friday, 3 April. She would be at the noon briefing on Monday, 6 April, to answer questions and talk about her trip.

The United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) on Iraq was meeting at Headquarters for the second day, with 20 out of 22 Commissioners attending, Mr. Brandt said. They were reviewing the recommendations they had made on the work of the Commission last November. The Executive Chairman of the Commission, Richard Butler, had briefed the Commissioners yesterday on the recent agreements that had been reached with Iraq, in particular the Memorandum of Understanding, and updated them on the technical discussions with Iraq, including the results of the recent technical evaluation meetings on chemical and biological weapons as well as on missile warhead-related issues. They were also discussing possible elements that might be included in the upcoming biannual report of the Executive Chairman on the work of the Commission.

As for the inspections of the presidential sites in Iraq, Mr. Brandt continued, they seemed to be moving along. Six out of eight sites had already been inspected. Two more sites, the Republican Palace and the Sijood presidential site, were expected to be visited in the next few days. The leader of the inspection team, Charles Duelfer, had indicated that the inspections would end on Saturday and that his team would leave the following day. The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Prakash Shah, had chaired yesterday a meeting with the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, Denis J. Halliday, heads of United Nations agencies in Baghdad and the Chairman of the Security Council Committee monitoring the sanctions against Iraq, Antonio Monteiro (Portugal), to exchange views on the implementation of the "oil-for-food" programme. Ambassador Monteiro was visiting Iraq as a member of the group of senior diplomats for the inspection of the presidential sites.

The Secretary-General arrived in Beijing this morning on an overnight flight from Moscow, Mr. Brandt said. After a few hours rest, he met in the afternoon with Vice-Premier, Qian Qichen. The Vice-Premier thanked the Secretary-General for the role he had played in defusing the Iraq crisis. They then discussed the return of Prince Norodom Ranariddh to Cambodia, upcoming elections there, the search for peace in Afghanistan, the four-party talks on Korea, the Asian economic crisis, the peace process in the Middle East, and China-United Nations relations. The two then spoke to the press and efforts were being made to broadcast that press conference on United Nations radio. The Spokesman's office would notify correspondents if that broadcast

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 31 March 1998

would occur. The talks between the Secretary-General and Mr. Qichen continued over a dinner hosted by the Vice-Premier.

Regarding his visit to Moscow yesterday, Mr. Brandt said the transcript of the press conference with the Secretary-General and Russian Federation Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov was available in the Spokesman's office.

The Holy See had paid its regular budget contribution today with a cheque for just over $1,000, Mr. Brandt said. The Holy See was the second non-Member State to pay its dues so far this year; Switzerland had been the first.

From The Hague, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia had had some good news today, he added. The United Kingdom had just donated $2 million dollars to a special fund for mass grave exhumations. With that money, along with previous contributions from Canada and Denmark, the Tribunal would be able to continue its programme of exhumations to obtain corroborating evidence for the prosecution's cases. A press release on that item was available at the Spokesman's office.

The Foreign Minister of Canada Lloyd Axworthy would be visiting Headquarters on Wednesday, 1 April, Mr. Brandt said. He would address a special plenary session of the Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court. That session would take place at 3:15 p.m. in Conference Room 1. Mr. Axworthy would be available to exchange views and answer questions from correspondents at the Delegates Entrance at about 5 p.m. (The Canadian Mission later announced that Mr. Axworthy's visit to New York had been cancelled.)

The Victims' Rights Working Group of the Non-Governmental Organizations Coalition for an International Criminal Court would meet the press in the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) Club at 1:15 p.m. today. The topic to be addressed by a panel of speakers would be "Challenges Facing the Criminal Court".

Asked if document S/1998/284 was the Kosovo draft resolution before the Security Council, Mr. Brandt referred the correspondent to the correct text, available in the Spokesman's office.

Another correspondent, asked how many arms embargoes by the international community would be enough for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia? There was Security Council resolution 713 (1991), the Dayton Agreement and now a brand new arms embargo resolution. Did the United Nations think it would be enough? Mr. Brandt said that was an excellent question to ask a member of the Security Council for two reasons: firstly, the Council was the master of its own procedures and they would be the ones voting on the draft resolution; secondly, so far the draft resolution had not been adopted; therefore, it would be prudent to wait until then to make further comments.

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 31 March 1998

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the General Assembly President, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), said the General Assembly would meet today at 4 p.m. for its eighty-second plenary meeting. There was a total of 15 items on the agenda for today, a majority of them concerning reports of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), which had just concluded its first resumed session at Headquarters.

The first item on the agenda, however, would deal with a matter before the Second Committee (Economic and Financial), he added. It concerned a two- day high-level dialogue on the theme of the social and economic impact of globalization and interdependence and their policy implications. That item arose from an earlier request by the General Assembly for the Chairman of the Second Committee, Oscar de Rojas (Venezuela), to undertake discussions regarding a dialogue on the impact of globalization and interdependence. Following those discussions, Mr. Rojas in a letter to the Assembly President (document A/52/832) reported that the Second Committee had recommended holding a two-day dialogue on 17 and 18 September just before the commencement of the general debate of the fifty-third session of the General Assembly. The Assembly today was scheduled to take note of the letter by the Second Committee Chairman, submitted under sub-item 97 (a), and take a decision on its consideration. (The Assembly later decided to reopen the consideration of sub-item 97 (a) and to consider it directly in plenary at a future meeting.)

As a background note, the two-week general debate of the Assembly's next regular session would begin on 21 September, he added.

The other items on the agenda this afternoon were Fifth Committee items, the spokesman said. They dealt with the financing of four United Nations missions, including the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT), United Nations Support Mission in Haiti (UNSMIH), the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (MONUA), and the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

Among other matters, the Assembly would propose that the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) should examine the proposed United Nations Code of Conduct, as a matter of priority, at its forthcoming session, Mr. Taukatch said. The Assembly would also request the Fifth Committee, in light of the ICSC's comments, to revert to the matter during the Committee's next resumed fifty-second session.

In other highlights of the Assembly's meeting, he said it was expected to act on the decision regarding a Swiss offer of accommodation for the United Nations at the Palais Wilson in Geneva. Also, in the Fifth Committee there was a lively debate on the increase of official holidays and the Assembly would consider that item today, as part of its consideration of the Committee's reports.

Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 31 March 1998

Mr. Taukatch added that, as was often the case before a meeting of the General Assembly, the presiding officer would announce the countries that had reduced their arrears below the amount specified in Article 19 of the United Nations Charter. Sierra Leone and Djibouti had done so, which left 31 countries that were still under that Article.

A correspondent asked how many more official holidays were being considered? Mr. Taukatch said the Assembly was considering only one more holiday. Would it be a permanent holiday? the correspondent asked. He responded that, if it was approved by the Assembly, it would be the tenth permanent official holiday of the United Nations. It would fall this year on 7 April and the correct name of the holiday was Eid Al-Adha.

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