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 noon briefing by announcing that the Security Council met this morning to consult on the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) and on Afghanistan. Following the consultations, Council President Hisashi Owada told the press that the Council had decided to maintain UNIKOM, as it was the unanimous view of the Council that the Mission was doing a useful job. The Secretary-General had recommended in his related report that the Mission be maintained.

On Afghanistan, the Council President indicated that consultations on a presidential statement were still going on, and the Council would return to that on Monday, 6 April, Mr. Brandt said. Mr. Owada also said that the first meeting of the Sanctions Committee on the arms embargo against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia would take place this afternoon, to elect a Chairman and two Vice-Chairmen. That embargo related to the situation in Kosovo. On Monday, the Council was also expected to be briefed by the Secretariat on the situation in Sierra Leone and in Angola.

Mr. Brandt said that United Nations inspectors had completed their inspections of the eight presidential sites in Iraq last night after a second visit to the Republican Palace, according to the Commissioner of the Special Group, Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala, who, together with 20 senior diplomats, accompanied the inspectors. It took eight days to complete the so-called "baseline inspections" of the presidential sites. The inspectors and diplomats, who flew to Iraq specifically for that initial round of inspections, would leave the country on the morning of 4 April. Ambassador Dhanapala would be back in New York on 5 April. The report of the Special Group would be submitted by the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission on the disarmament of Iraq (UNSCOM) to the Security Council through the Secretary-General, in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding. That was likely to happen some time next week. The biannual report of the UNSCOM Chairman and the next report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were due on 11 April. The Security Council was expected to take them up during the week of 27 April.

On the Secretary-General's activities in London, he said that, at 7:30 a.m., Mr. Annan had a breakfast meeting with Vice-President B. Habibie of Indonesia. They discussed the Asian financial crisis and the ongoing search for a negotiated solution in East Timor. A statement on that meeting would be available shortly in the Spokesman's Office. The Secretary-General then went to Whitehall for a meeting with Robin Cook, British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. They discussed the status of talks on East Timor, the long-term prospects for the weapons inspection regime in Iraq, and the Middle East peace process. They also discussed the objectives of an

upcoming European conference on humanitarian assistance to Iraq, the situation in Kosovo, and the Cyprus talks.

From Whitehall, the Secretary-General went to the executive offices of the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) where he had an off-the-record lunch with senior officials of the corporation, Mr. Brandt said. The lunch was hosted by the BBC's Chairman, Christopher Bland. In the afternoon, the Secretary-General met with Sir David Hannay, the British Government Special Representative for Cyprus, to discuss ongoing efforts to achieve a settlement in Cyprus. He then had a meeting with the Prime Minister of Portugal, Antonio Guterres, which concluded shortly before the noon briefing. They discussed the situation in East Timor, as well as the progress made in the Asian- European meeting currently taking place in London. Other issues discussed included the situations in Angola and in Kosovo. The Secretary-General would conclude his London visit on 4 April, when he was to meet with the Chinese Prime Minister, Zhu Rongji. After a brief, much-deserved vacation, he would return to his office on Monday, 13 April.

The Secretary-General had arrived in London from Beijing yesterday afternoon, and his first activity was to meet with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mr. Brandt said. That meeting lasted about 40 minutes. They discussed the Memorandum of Understanding on weapons inspections in Iraq, talked in some detail about the situation in the Middle East in light of the Prime Minister's plan to travel to the region soon, and touched on Libya and the United Nations finances. The Secretary-General then met with his Special Envoy for East Timor, Jamsheed Marker, in preparation for the Secretary-General's meetings today on East Timor. The Secretary-General gave short "doorstep" press statements following his meetings with Mr. Blair and Mr. Cook; transcripts of those were available in the Spokesman's Office.

Mr. Brandt said that Deputy-Secretary-General Louise Fréchette had returned from Europe and was currently in New York and. This afternoon, she planned to meet with members of the South African Parliament from the Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs. Information on those eight members was available in the Spokesman's Office. She also planned to meet with the Permanent Representative of Georgia, Peter P. Chkheidze.

From the briefing notes sent by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva, there was a reminder that this was the sixty-fifth day that Vincent Cochetel remained in detention, Mr. Brandt said. There were no new developments to report on that issue. The UNHCR was also appealing for $24 million for its 1998 Somalia programme. There was a press release available with more details on the appeal. Also from the UNHCR briefing notes, there was more about the tragic drowning of some 180 Somali refugees. As of yesterday, 34 bodies had been recovered -- 24 women, one child and nine men.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, Bacre Waly Ndiaye (Senegal), visited the United States

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 3 April 1998

from 21 September to 8 October 1997, Mr. Brandt said. During his mission, he met with United States Federal government officials in Washington and visited the states of New York, Florida, Texas and California, as well as non- governmental organizations and victims' families. He also visited death row inmates in Huntsville, Texas. In his report to the Commission on Human Rights (document E/CN.4/1998/68/Add.3), the Special Rapporteur recommended that the United States stop executions until it could ensure that death penalty cases were administered fairly and impartially, in accordance with due process. A press release on that topic was available in the Spokesman's Office. Both the press release and the report could be found on the Internet at the website of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Also on the death penalty, Mr. Brandt said the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva today adopted a resolution calling on Member States to consider acceding to or ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aimed at the abolition of the death penalty. The resolution was ratified by a vote of 26 in favour to 13 against, with 12 abstentions.

Mr. Brandt said that 7 April would mark World Health Day, with this year's theme being "Safe Motherhood for All". As part of the activities, the World Health Organization (WHO) would hold a conference at Headquarters on Monday, 6 April, featuring speakers from the health and education sectors. That event would take place from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Conference Room 1. On Tuesday in Washington, D.C., there would be a major event on safe motherhood at World Bank headquarters, featuring United States First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. The heads of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), WHO, and the World Bank would also attend. The Spokesman's Office had more information on that event, and press kits had been distributed.

Accompanied by various members of the United Nations Women's Guild, children visiting the United Nations Headquarters from Chernobyl went to the circus at Madison Square Garden on 2 April and made a trip to the South Street Seaport, Mr. Brandt said. Later in the afternoon, they were invited to visit a video arcade and had dinner at the Sports Cafe, sponsored by members of the Secretariat Group. The eight children were victims of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident. The children, who were suffering from the results of radioactive contamination, were quite sick and some were not expected to live past their twenty-first birthdays. The Women's Guild was sponsoring the rehabilitation programme in the United States, which started on 27 March and would end on 21 April.

The newly appointed human rights Special Rapporteur for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Jiri Dienstbier, would arrive in Belgrade on 5 April for his first visit to the country, Mr. Brandt said. His visit follows the arrival in Kosovo last week of a special team from the Office of the United

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 3 April 1998

Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. A press release on that visit was available in room S-378.

At 3 p.m. on Monday, 6 April, Christine Chanet, Chairperson of the Human Rights Committee, would speak at a press conference in room S-226, Mr. Brandt said. She would be accompanied by the chairpersons of the Committee, and they would discuss the outcome of the Committee's sixty-second session. During the session, the Committee considered reports submitted by Cyprus, Finland, Uruguay and Zimbabwe on their compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Joining the noon briefing on Monday, 6 April, would be Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF, Mr. Brandt said. She would be discussing her trip to Afghanistan from 1 to 4 April.

Asked to confirm the date of the symposium on Safe Motherhood for All, Mr. Brandt said it would take place at Headquarters on Monday, 6 April.

Was there any new information on the repairs of the escalator between the second and third floors and on getting a dedicated elevator for travel between the two floors? a correspondent asked. Mr. Brandt said he had not received any more information on that issue, but he had relayed concerns about the issue to Building Management. He drew attention to a list of maintenance projects around Headquarters for 1998, which was available in room S-378. It included the type of repairs scheduled, as well as dates of those repairs, and how long they would take.

The correspondent said the escalator repairs were not just her concern; she was a member of the Executive Committee of the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA), and her concern was shared by many UNCA members. Some arrangements should be made while the escalator was out of service to allow correspondents to get back and forth from the stake-out area near the Security Council to their offices on the third floor. Mr. Brandt acknowledged her concern.

Asked if it was possible to find out the costs of the repairs, Mr. Brandt said the number concerning the financing of those projects were contained in official documents; he would try to provide the document numbers to those correspondents interested.

Mr. Brandt was asked to elaborate on the status of a United Nations employee who was assaulted in Cambodia recently. He said that, on 2 April, a local staff member of the United Nations Centre for Human Rights in Cambodia was roughed up by a group of people who believed he was a journalist, possibly because he was carrying a camera. The identity of the perpetrators was not known. The United Nations employee was taken to the hospital, treated and later discharged; his injuries were not serious.

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 3 April 1998

Were there negotiations going on between the United Nations and authorities in Cambodia over that incident? a correspondent asked. Mr. Brandt said he would not say there were negotiations taking place, but United Nations officials had protested the assault. He repeated that it was not known who was responsible for the attack. "No one should be treated like this", he said. "Thankfully, he wasn't seriously hurt."

Was there any video footage available of UNSCOM's inspections of the presidential palaces in Iraq? a correspondent asked. Mr. Brandt said that UNSCOM did film some sites in the course of its inspections. However, the film was for UNSCOM use only and would not be released to the public.

A correspondent said that a report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) on the Integrated Management Information System (IMIS), released two weeks ago, had stated that there were major problems with the program and called for a full investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services. Did the Secretary-General have any comment on that? Mr. Brandt said he was not aware of any statements made by the Secretary-General on the issue, but the Secretary-General was aware of that and all reports issued by the Organization.

A New York congressman made some rather undiplomatic comments about the Secretary-General recently, a correspondent said. Was the Secretary-General aware of those comments and what was his reaction? Mr. Brandt confirmed that there were comments made last week by United States Congressman Gerald Solomon. "The Secretary-General will not dignify Mr. Solomon's remarks with a reply. The Secretary-General is concerned about the level of invective that is being used by some people in leadership positions in Washington from whom one would expect better", Mr. Brandt said.

A correspondent said that photos of the Secretary-General's trip to the Middle East on display around Headquarters had been "juggled around" and some were missing -- mostly those taken in Israel. Would the Spokesman's Office find out who was responsible for displaying photos? he asked. Mr. Brandt said he was not aware of the photos being taken down, but he would look into the matter. Another correspondent said that the Syrian Mission to the United Nations had made an official complaint about some of the photographs displayed. Mr. Brandt said he did hear that there had been some complaints about a picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He did not know which country made the complaints, but he would look into the issue. The Department of Public Information (DPI) Photo Unit was generally responsible for photo displays.

When do you expect anyone back from Iraq to talk about inspections of the presidential palaces? a correspondent asked. Mr. Brandt said that Richard Butler, the Executive Chairman of UNSCOM, was returning to New York this evening and might be able to meet with correspondents next week. The Spokesman's Office would request such a meeting.

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Asked whether Mr. Butler would stop in Washington before coming to New York, Mr. Brandt said that, as far as he knew, Mr. Butler would be coming directly from London to New York.

A correspondent said that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia would be holding a referendum on the question of allowing international mediation on the conflict over Kosovo. What was the United Nations position on national referendums? she asked. Mr. Brandt said the general position on national referendums was that, if the United Nations had a role to play in the issue, it would either assist, observe or monitor, and then report on the referendum. He was not sure if the United Nations would play such a role in a Kosovo referendum, but he would obtain further information on the matter.

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