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, began today's press briefing by reading a statement from the Secretary-General on the death of correspondent Lou Cioffi. The Spokesman added that many of the correspondents would remember him from his days at the United Nations.

The statement, which would be available in the Spokesman's office, read as follows:

"The Secretary-General has learned with sadness of the death last Saturday of Lou Cioffi, the veteran broadcast journalist. Mr. Cioffi's distinguished career, first at CBS News and then at ABC News, included extensive reporting on the United Nations. He brought to that assignment the same fairness and thoroughness with which he covered war, famine and other events on several continents. The news world has lost a much-admired foreign correspondent, and the United Nations community has lost a friend and a contributor to the cause of peace. The Secretary-General extends his sincere condolences to Mr. Cioffi's family and friends."

The Security Council met this morning to discuss its programme of work for the month of May, the Spokesman said. They also received a briefing by the United Nations Secretariat on the latest developments in the humanitarian situation in the Sudan. The Director of the Emergency Liaison Branch of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Kevin Kennedy, informed the Council of the decision by the Sudanese Government, which had been announced at yesterday's noon briefing, to allow more planes to deliver urgently needed humanitarian assistance to the population of southern Sudan.

The members of the Council welcomed this information and indicated their hope that the Government would continue to grant humanitarian access, he continued. They also expressed their hope to see a more generous response from the international community to the United Nations Inter-Agency Appeal, and they indicated their wish to see the warring parties in Sudan reach a political settlement. The Council President had made a brief statement on the issue to the press after the consultations. The only item on the Council's agenda for the rest of the week was a Secretariat briefing on Sierra Leone scheduled for Thursday, 7 May, he added. That, of course, was subject to change.

The Security Council Committee, which oversaw the sanctions against Iraq, had approved 30 humanitarian sales contracts last week, according to the latest "Weekly Report" on the implementation of the "oil-for-food" programme, he said. The Committee put on hold three applications but had blocked none. So far, 350 sales applications had been submitted to the Committee, of which 317 had been approved. That was approximately a 90 per cent approval rate. The total oil proceeds had now exceeded $1 billion, of which approximately $760 million were available to finance humanitarian sales.

The United Nations oil overseers had approved one more oil contract last week, he added. That contract was with a company from the United Kingdom for 1.2 million barrels. To date, all 49 oil contracts had been approved. None were pending. The total volume of oil contracts approved amounted to 178.9 million barrels. The Committee was tentatively scheduled to meet next Tuesday, 12 May.

"Briefing Notes" from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva indicated that fighting in Cambodia's Anlong Veng region had forced around 17,000 Cambodian refugees to flee into Thailand over the weekend, said Mr. Brandt. About 12,000 of the arrivals were at Huay Samran camp in Surin province, about nine kilometres from the border. A seven-member team from UNHCR was at Huay Samran to coordinate relief activities. Relief workers and Thai officials had been preparing the site for the new arrivals, which had brought the total number of Cambodian refugees in Thailand to about 87,000.

The fresh exodus was particularly worrisome since it increased the already large number of people who, unless they went back quickly, would not be able to vote in Cambodian elections next July, he continued. Most of the new arrivals were women and children. Many had come on foot, although a sizable number had also arrived with trucks, cars, bicycles, carts and all- purpose vehicles, mainly used for plowing. They were in relatively good health, although there were a few cases of diarrhoea, malaria and measles. At least eight people showed injuries from the fighting in Cambodia.

There was additional information in the "Briefing Notes" from Geneva on the situation in Cambodia, said Mr. Brandt. It also contained reports on the Kampala meeting and on the situation in Kosovo. It also said that today was the ninety-sixth day that Vincent Cochetel had been in captivity in the Russian Federation since his abduction in late January.

Myanmar -- "thank you very much" -- became the sixty-seventh country to pay its regular budget dues today with a cheque for over $94,000, said Mr. Brandt. Last year on this date, 54 Member States had paid in full.

Unfortunately, no report had been received on the activities of the Secretary-General, the Spokesman said. The Secretary-General was in the United Republic of Tanzania. He had spent the whole day in Arusha; stories on

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 5 May 1998

his visit there had been carried by the wire services. He would spend the night in Arusha before moving on to Dar es Salaam. Mr. Brandt said that as soon as he received word from Fred Eckhard, the Spokesman for the Secretary- General, who was also on the trip, he would pass it along to correspondents.

The Deputy Secretary-General had a busy day, he said. This morning she met with the Deputy Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), Namanga Ngongi. She also met with Edin Erkocezic, a naturalized Swede who was originally from Bosnia, and who was the winner of a Swedish essay-writing contest. This afternoon, she would meet with a delegation from the United States: former National Security Adviser Anthony Lake; Ambassador Nancy Soderberg; head of the State Department's Haiti Working Group Ambassador David Greenlee; and Ambassador James Dobbins from the National Security Council. Her other appointments would be internal.

According to a new United Nations study, Africa was likely to emerge as a key transit region for drug traffickers moving heroin and cocaine, Mr. Brandt said. International trafficking syndicates were already operating in South Africa, Kenya and some West African States. The study, sponsored by the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), found that drug trafficking through sub-Saharan Africa was affecting local communities and major cities, exacerbating the social problems associated with poverty, conflicts and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Correspondents who were interested in more information were invited to attend a briefing by UNDCP staff and experts from the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies tomorrow from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Conference Room 9.

On behalf of Alex Taukatch, the Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), Mr. Brandt said the Assembly President was currently meeting with the Speaker of the New York City Council, Peter Vallone, who would present him with a proclamation from New York City. Mr. Taukatch was accompanying him. Mr. Brandt also reminded correspondents that the General Assembly would meet this afternoon to discuss reform issues. Details of the meeting were available in today's Journal.

On behalf of the United Nations Correspondents' Association (UNCA), Mr. Brandt said that a briefing on a "Group of Eight" crackdown on gun smuggling would be held at the UNCA Club at 1 p.m. today, hosted by the British-American Security Information Council. The invited speakers were: Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations, Robert Fowler; Counsellor Jean du Preez of South Africa's United Nations Mission, and Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund, Carol Bellamy.

The Spokesman said that at 11:15 a.m. tomorrow, 6 May, in room S-226, there would be a briefing by the Prime Minister of Namibia, Hage Geingob, who was at Headquarters to attend the Meeting of Experts on the United Nations Programme in Public Administration and Finance, which was taking place from 4 to 8 May.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 5 May 1998

Referring to the "Group of Eight" meeting on gun smuggling, a correspondent said that last week the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna had met, and the same item had been on their agenda. What had been the outcome of that meeting? Mr. Brandt said an announcement had been made at the end of last week on that meeting. A press release was available in the Spokesman's office.

Also referring to the "Group of Eight" meeting, a reporter said that non-governmental organizations would be pressing for an international code of conduct governing sales of arms to repressive regimes and regions of conflict. Did the United Nations have an official position on that issue? Mr. Brandt said he did not have anything immediately, but that if there was a policy, he would make it available.

Officials in Iraq were "ratcheting up the rhetoric" and veiled threats in their communications with the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Prakash Shah, said a correspondent. Was there any response from the Secretary-General's office? Mr. Brandt said he had nothing to add to the comments he had made last week. The Secretary-General felt there had been no change in the position regarding the Memorandum of Understanding. The work continued, and there was no indication that anything different had happened.

United Nations and other teams were excavating mass graves in Bosnia, a correspondent said. Serbian sources claimed that most of the graves contained Serbian bodies; what did United Nations sources say? Mr. Brandt said that the work was continuing, but he had not seen any conclusive reports on the issue.

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