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.)

Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by announcing that United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata would join the briefing after she had finished briefing the Security Council. She would talk about her recent visit to the nations of the former Yugoslavia, as well as the issues of the Great Lakes region of Africa. (Her briefing is issued separately.)

In addition to that item on the Council's agenda, the Secretariat, more specifically, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hedi Annabi, would be briefing the Council on the Central African Republic, the Spokesman added. That was a progress report on the newly launched United Nations peacekeeping operation in that country. Under other matters, the Council might take up the issue of Papua New Guinea. The Council had before it a draft presidential statement on that issue.

On Iraq, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette would meet with the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Mohammed Said Al-Sahaf, at 5 p.m. today, Mr. Eckhard said. United Nations television would provide a "photo op" on the opening part of the meeting.

The 661 Committee, which oversees the sanctions on Iraq, approved 36 humanitarian sales applications last week, according to their weekly report which was out today, the Spokesman said. The Committee had blocked no applications, and had put three on hold. Under Phase III of the "oil-for- food" programme, which began last December, the Committee had not blocked any sales applications to date. It had approved a total of 253 out of 288 applications, which was about a 90 per cent approval rate. The Committee also last week approved a new oil pricing mechanism for May.

The Secretary-General this morning travelled from San Francisco to Los Angeles, where he was due to give an address to a World Affairs Council and Town Hall/Los Angeles sponsored luncheon on the theme "The Humanitarian Challenge Today", the Spokesman said. An embargoed copy of the speech was available in room 378. The Secretary-General would be introduced by former United States Secretary of State Warren Christopher. His other activities in Los Angeles would include a meeting with basketball player Magic Johnson, and he would give a press conference with him at 3 p.m. local time.

This evening, the Secretary-General would be hosted by Jack Valenti, President of the Motion Picture Association of America, at a reception, followed by a dinner to be attended by about 70 business people and film celebrities, said Mr. Eckhard. There had been a lot of pressure from reporters to come up with the names of the "Hollywood Big Shots" who would be attending the events. The hosts of the events, however, were resisting that

pressure. It was hoped that Juan-Carlos Brandt, Senior Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General, who was travelling with him, would be able to give a first-hand account, perhaps by the end of the day.

Mr. Eckhard said that yesterday he had told reporters that the Secretary-General had had a breakfast meeting with the President of the Bank of America. "I failed to say that there were a hundred other people at the breakfast." It had been hosted by the Bank of America President. The Spokesman also drew reporters' attention to the photographs on the bulletin board, which were now taken with digital cameras so that pictures could be sent rapidly from anywhere in the world. The pictures from Los Angeles included shots of the Secretary-General's dinner last night at the home of George Shultz, another former United States Secretary of State.

There were two items from Geneva concerning the Commission on Human Rights, the Spokesman said. A resolution on the human rights situation in Cuba, which was sponsored by the United States, was defeated this morning in the Commission. Cuba was therefore no longer formally on the agenda of the Commission on Human Rights. The vote was 19 against to 16 in favour, with 18 abstentions. More information from Geneva was available in room 378.

The second item from Geneva was the adoption today by the Human Rights Commission of a resolution expressing its serious concern at the circumstances which obliged the Secretary-General to withdraw his investigative team from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Commission was requesting the Secretary-General to report on that matter and to provide comments and recommendations to the General Assembly and to the Human Rights Commission at their next session. It asked the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to cooperate fully with the Secretary-General, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Commission, in addressing the allegations in question. The text of that resolution was also available in room 378.

The Chief of Police in Drvar, Bosnia, and the Interior Minister of Canton 10, were both removed this morning from their posts by Richard Monk, the Commissioner of the United Nations International Police Task Force, Mr. Eckhard said. The action was taken following the double murder on 16 April of an elderly Serb couple who had returned to their village near Drvar, a Croat-dominated area. The bodies were pulled from the burning house and left for 14 hours in the front yard under the direction of the Canton 10 Interior Minister.

Since the beginning of the year, there had been 53 fires set in Drvar, but no arrests by the local police, who had also taken no action in pursuing the murders, the Spokesman continued. The failure of the police force in Drvar to meet the minimal standards laid down in Annex 11 of the Dayton Peace Agreement had led to the removal of Police Chief Ivan Jurcevic and the

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Interior Minister Letica. The establishment of multi-ethnic policing in Drvar and Canton 10 was now expected to move ahead. A press release from Sarajevo, with United Nations Spokesman Alexander Ivanko's account of the situation, was available in room 378.

On budget repayments, Libya today became the fifty-eighth Member State to pay its 1998 budget dues in full with a cheque for $1.6 million, Mr. Eckhard said. A year ago there were only 52 countries, but in dollar terms, repayments are at about the same level as last year. The regular budget outstanding assessments, together with assessments for peacekeeping and the International Criminal Tribunals, totalled about $2.64 billion. At the same time last year, the total was $2.7 billion, so there had been a marginal improvement. The updated figures from mid-month were available in the Spokesman's Office.

Starting this morning, business, labour and environmental groups were participating for the first time in the intergovernmental discussion of the Commission on Sustainable Development, the Spokesman said. The talks at this two-day industry segment were on the role of the private sector in advancing economic and social progress while protecting the Earth's environment. More information on the ongoing Commission on Sustainable Development meetings could be obtained from Tim Wall at extension 1887.

Referring to a press release from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the spokesman said that a Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) would release a report in Moscow at 5 a.m. New York time tomorrow, 22 April, showing an alarming increase in HIV/AIDS infection among young people. The embargoed report was available in the Spokesman's Office. It marked the launch of a year-long initiative called "Force for Change: 1998 World AIDS Campaign With Young People".

The World Food Programme (WFP) had warned today in Nairobi that unless it received permission to double or triple its airlift of food aid to southern Sudan within a matter of days, the Bahr El Gazal region would face catastrophe, said Mr. Eckhard. A WFP official was quoted in a press release, available in room 378, as saying that "the threat of thousands of people dying from lack of food and disease is becoming a reality as we anxiously wait for clearance to fly more aircraft".

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) had issued a press release concerning a short-term action plan unveiled by UNEP to contain the forest fires in Indonesia, the Spokesman said.

The United Nations would observe Take Our Daughters to Work Day on Thursday, 23 April, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 pm in the General Assembly Hall, in connection with the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Mr. Eckhard said. The theme of the day would be "Imagine a day in

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which all girls have their rights". Staff, delegations and accredited media were invited to bring girls 9 to 15 years old to participate in the Day's activities. The Deputy Secretary-General would deliver an address. Zohreh Tabatabai of the Focal Point for Women would also speak, as would Kensaku Hogen, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. There would be many more activities, and more information was available in room 378.

The Spokesman mentioned two upcoming press briefings. The first would be at 11 a.m. tomorrow, 23 April, when four representatives of non- governmental organizations and governments would give a briefing sponsored by the Division for Sustainable Development in connection with talks this week on freshwater management. Also tomorrow, after briefing the Security Council, it was hoped that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Angola, Alioune Blondin Beye, would finish in time to join the noon briefing. He might be accompanied by Ambassador Njuguna Mahugu of Kenya, who was also Chairman of the Sanctions Committee on Angola. Angola would be the subject.

Alex Taukatch, Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, said that the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko, was back at United Nations Headquarters, having returned from Kiev on Sunday, 19 April. At the end of March there had been elections in Ukraine, and Mr. Udovenko had been elected to the country's Parliament.

He was currently presiding over the twentieth meeting of the open-ended working group on the reform of the Security Council, Mr. Taukatch said. The group had resumed its work this morning after a month's recess. It had entered a new stage of deliberations, taking up the second item on its programme of work -- decision-making in the Security Council, including the veto.

In the previous rounds of deliberations, after adopting its programme of work, the group had made considerable progress, in the view of the President, on the first item on its agenda -- "working methods of the Security Council and transparency of its work, he continued. However, addressing delegates this morning, the Assembly President had noted that despite obvious accomplishments, there was little ground to be satisfied with the results achieved so far if one looked at the situation from the perspective of the totality of tasks facing the group.

The Spokesman added that the President felt it was incumbent upon him in his capacity as the Assembly President and as Chairman of the working group to draw the delegates' attention to the fact that the international community was keeping a vigilant eye on its work, and that tangible results were expected from its deliberations. To help achieve such results, the President would continue intensive consultations with representatives of individual

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delegations and groups of countries in an effort to move forward the process of reforming the Security Council.

In another important reform matter high on the agenda of the General Assembly, the Secretary-General had submitted to the Assembly seven reports dealing with various issues addressed in the original report of the Secretary- General under agenda item 157, "United Nations Reform: Measures and Proposals", the Spokesman said. Mr. Taukatch reminded reporters that last December, the General Assembly had requested the Secretary-General to submit additional reports to elaborate on several of his proposals. The documents that had been issued were in response to that request. The meeting of the Assembly on that vital issue was expected some time early next week. Hopefully by tomorrow there would be an exact date.

On the Assembly President's appointments, continued the Spokesman, yesterday, Mr. Udovenko had a meeting with the President of the Security Council, Ambassador Owada of Japan, as part of his efforts to maintain regular contact with the Presidents of other main United Nations bodies in order to exchange views and hold consultations. Among the issues discussed were the Secretary-General's report on Africa and the possible General Assembly consideration of that report. The President would also be holding consultations on that matter.

As part of his consultations on reform of the Security Council, reform of the United Nations and the report of the Secretary-General, the President had meetings with the Permanent Representative of Italy and with the Bureau of the group on Security Council reform, the Spokesman said. He was scheduled to meet today with the President of the European Union, the Permanent Representative of Mauritania, the Permanent Representative of Pakistan and the Chairman of the Group of 77.

Concerning the upcoming special session of the General Assembly on illicit drugs, there would be a meeting tomorrow to establish the list of speakers for the general debate, Mr. Taukatch said. Although this was a procedural matter, it was an important one. The list of speakers for the general debate of the twentieth special session would be established by the drawing of lots tomorrow at 3 p.m. in the General Assembly Hall. The deadline to inform the Secretariat of the level of the representatives who wished to speak was yesterday. There would be further details tomorrow.

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