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 telling correspondents that, just before the beginning of the Security Council session on the Secretary-General's Africa report, the Secretary-General had met with the Permanent Representatives of Zimbabwe, Mauritania, Mali and the Organization of African Unity (OAU). They wanted to give him the African reaction to his report. That response had been very positive.

For today's session, the Council currently had 54 speakers on its agenda; there were about 44 left to go, the Spokesman added. The Council President did not want the session to continue into Saturday, so there would likely be a marathon session today, going into the night. Djibouti, Malawi and Ethiopia had dropped off the list of speakers that had previously been issued. The Office of the Spokesman would remain open for as long as the session continued.

Next Monday, the Council would begin its review of the sanctions against Iraq, Mr. Eckhard said. The Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), Richard Butler, would introduce his report to the Council on that day. The Russian Federation was organizing an informal meeting of the Security Council, under the Arria formula, with Iraq's Foreign Minister, Mohammed Said Al-Sahaf, and Iraq's Oil Minister, General Amir Rasheed, on Monday afternoon.

On Tuesday, the Council would be briefed by Lakhdar Brahimi, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, the Spokesman said. The Council was expected to hold consultations on Angola next Wednesday, with a view to taking action on the situation in that country before the mandate of the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) expired on the last day of April.

On the safe release of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hostages in Somalia, the Spokesman said, "The Secretary-General was greatly relieved to hear of the safe release this morning of the 10 Red Cross/Red Crescent workers taken hostage in Somalia a week ago. It is important, he feels, that these humanitarian workers were released unconditionally, and he is grateful for the key role played in their release by Somali leaders, including clan elders."

There was some disturbing information from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Eckhard said. A crowd of 400 Croats had attacked and burned the offices of the United Nations International Police Task Force in Drvar at 11 a.m., local

time. They had also damaged four United Nations vehicles. The attack followed a similar rampage at the Town Hall, where the Serb Mayor of Drvar, Mile Marceta, was injured and the building was destroyed.

Troops of the Stabilization Force (SFOR) in Bosnia had succeeded in evacuating the Mayor, who was undergoing medical treatment, the Spokesman continued. They had also evacuated most of the United Nations personnel from Drvar; there were about 75 in all. Only one United Nations officer, a Canadian UN-ITPF officer, had been slightly injured. There remained a few UN- IPTF police officers in the town, where tension was described as remaining high. The United Nations would try to evacuate those remaining personnel today. That outbreak of violence followed the attack yesterday on Cardinal Vinco Puljic and other Croat Catholics in the town of Derventa, by Bosnian Serbs. "So the tit-for-tat continues", he added.

There were some treaty updates, Mr. Eckhard said. Belize yesterday became the tenth country to ratify the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. Forty ratifications were required for that treaty to enter into force. Next week, a number of countries were expected to sign the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Costa Rica was expected to sign on Monday and Japan on Tuesday, followed by the European Union and others on Wednesday. The Spokesman's office could obtain more details on that if correspondents required them.

The Secretary-General was expected to pay tribute at 1:15 p.m. today to the life of Bella Abzug, at a memorial service in the General Assembly Hall, the Spokesman said. A number of other dignitaries, politicians and celebrities would also be there, including the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr. Nafis Sadik; the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Nitin Desai; and the Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women, Angela King. Timothy Wirth, President of the United Nations Foundation; actresses Lily Tomlin and Susan Sarandon; and author and activist Gloria Steinem, among others, would also pay tribute to the late Bella Abzug. A press release with more details was available in the Spokesman's office.

Concerning sustainable development, Mr. Eckhard said, the United States Environmental Protection Agency would announce its plans to introduce "green" accounting procedures -- environmentally sound accounting procedures -- to American businesses at a special panel event today at 1:15 p.m. in the Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium, in connection with the sixth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development. The Danish Environmental Protection Agency, which would present its own successfully implemented programme of "green" accounting, was at the forefront of national efforts to integrate environmental accounting procedures into day-to-day business operations.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 24 April 1998

The World Food Programme (WFP) had expressed its appreciation in Rome today to the men, women and children throughout the world who had joined in a day of fasting for the people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Spokesman said. However, the WFP had warned that donors had been slow to respond to its appeal for emergency aid to the country. The WFP was seeking $378 million in order to provide food aid to more than 7 million people, almost half of the population, in the 12 months that had begun on 1 April. A press release was available in the Spokesman's office.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in partnership with the International Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian and United States Councils for International Business, were holding a day-long seminar today on "Finance and Environmental Management and Assessment", the Spokesman said. Panellists from private and public sector financial institutions, multinational corporations and intergovernmental organizations, such as the World Bank, the Bank of America, SustainAbility, GE Capital and others, would participate. A press release was available on the racks.

The press briefing by the Foreign Minister of Iraq, Mohammed Al-Sahaf, and the Iraq's Oil Minister, General Amir Rasheed, which had been scheduled for 11 a.m. today, had been postponed, he said. It would now be held on Tuesday, also at 11 a.m., in room S-226. On Monday, at 1 p.m., Klaus Topfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi and Head of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, would hold a press conference on the progress of the Secretary-General's task force on environment and human settlement issues. At 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Richard Butler, UNSCOM Executive Chairman would hold a press conference on his biannual report, which would, by that time, have been presented to the Security Council.

A press release from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) had been issued in Geneva today indicating that UNICEF continued to deliver humanitarian assistance to Kosovo, despite the recent violent events that were taking place there, he said.

A correspondent said that this morning, an Italian parliamentarian had gone to Libya. Was there any comment about that breach of the United Nations embargo? Mr. Eckhard said that he had not seen that piece of news, and could therefore not react to it.

In reference to the French parliamentary investigation into the events in Rwanda in 1994, a correspondent asked if there was any response to the request that had been issued for the Secretary-General to appear before the investigation. Mr. Eckhard said he could confirm receipt of the formal request for the Secretary-General to testify. As a matter of policy, the members of the Secretariat, from the Secretary-General down, did not testify before the legislatures of Member States. One thing that had been done, was to answer questions in writing that a parliament or other body might submit to

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 24 April 1998

the United Nations. As yet, there had not been a response to the letter, as it was still being studied.

A correspondent asked about the executions in Rwanda, in reference to yesterday's statement by the Secretary-General. Was there any comment now that the executions had been carried out? There was nothing further, the Spokesman said.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), read out a message by the Assembly President on the occasion of the twelfth anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster: "April 26, 1998, marks 12 years since a reactor exploded at the Chernobyl nuclear power plan in Ukraine, but the repercussions of that catastrophe are still being felt. The accident, which proved to be the worst technological disaster in the history of mankind, had a devastating effect on the social and economic life of Belarus, Russian Federation and Ukraine. Its impact, however, transcended the borders of those three countries and became the symbol of a global disaster and the cause of common concern for the entire international community."

Mr. Taukatch said the Assembly President had noted some of the adverse effects of the accident, stressing in particular that according to the most recent figures released by the Ukrainian Health Ministry, "more than 12,500 recovery workers who took part in clearing up after the accident have since died."

The spokesman said the Assembly President had also noted the active involvement of the United Nations and many of its agencies in trying to alleviate the consequences of the accident. The Assembly President's message continued: "An inter-agency programme was put together, constituting an appeal to the international community for continued assistance to the Chernobyl- affected populations of Belarus, Russian Federation and Ukraine for the second decade after the Chernobyl catastrophe. These far-reaching plans, however, cannot be translated into positive action unless there is a prompt and generous response from the international community."

The Assembly President noted in his message that the General Assembly at its current session had invited donor States, multilateral financial institutions and other concerned parties, including non-governmental organizations, to continue to provide support to the ongoing efforts by Belarus, Russian Federation and Ukraine to mitigate the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster.

The Assembly President's message concluded, "The fallout from the Chernobyl accident reached far beyond the borders of the most seriously afflicted areas. And as we mark today another anniversary of that tragedy we should not be asking for whom the bell was tolling and instead do our best to make sure that its warning sounds do not go unheard."

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 24 April 1998

Looking ahead to Monday, 27 April, the spokesman said that at 10 a.m. the General Assembly would meet in plenary session to consider agenda item 157 on "United Nations reform: measures and proposals". The Assembly would have before it seven reports of the Secretary-General (documents A/52/822 and A/52/847 through A/52/852), elaborating on various proposals he had made in his report of last year on reforming the United Nations. The Secretary- General was expected to attend that meeting, and to introduce Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette. On that day, the General Assembly would also take up another item, regarding the financing of the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINURCA). A note by the Secretary- General requested that the item be allocated to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) for consideration.

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