DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Juan Carlos Brandt, Senior Associate Spokesman of the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by stating that the Security Council had just finished its consultations for the day. It had discussed the letter that Richard Butler, Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission on the disarmament of Iraq (UNSCOM), had sent to it. The Council noted that 24 hours after receiving Mr. Butler's letter on Iraqi cooperation with UNSCOM inspection teams, travel restrictions on Iraqi officials would be lifted. The Council had also discussed the situation in Kosovo. There were no consultations scheduled over the weekend.

A press release was available on the third floor from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, said Mr. Brandt. It provided an update on the trials of genocide suspects Clement Kayishema and Obed Ruzindana. A press release was also available from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, containing information on the Kovacevic case and on the Tribunal's schedule of activities for next week.

Mr. Brandt said there had been several questions by correspondents on the work of the Security Council Committee which monitored the sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Yesterday, the Committee had issued a press release on its work, which had been announced by the Spokesman's Office. For correspondents who had missed it, it was on the racks under the symbol SC/6512. It stated that the Sanctions Committee had adopted guidelines for the conduct of its work and addressed an appeal to all States to provide information on violations of Security Council resolution 1160.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Sadako Ogata, and the Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Salim Ahmed Salim, this morning opened a two-day regional meeting in Kampala on refugee issues in the Great Lakes region of Africa, Mr. Brandt said. The meeting was hosted by the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni. It followed the High Commissioner's trip to Central Africa last February, during which leaders of the nine nations she had visited agreed on several issues, including the need to work out ways to ensure respect for the principles of refugee protection while addressing the impact of large refugee concentrations on host countries, and in particular on their security.

The Secretary-General, who had spoken on CNN's World Report conference this morning from Kampala, said he would address the refugee conference tomorrow, Mr. Brandt said. More details on the conference were available in UNHCR's briefing notes from Geneva, which were available in room 378. The notes also contained information on the funding of UNHCR programmes in Angola and Liberia, the issue of Cambodian refugees in Thailand and the current donors conference for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Tomorrow would be the one hundredth day in captivity of Vincent Cochetel, who was abducted in North Ossetia in late January, Mr. Brandt said. "Once again, we call for his immediate release."

The Secretary-General was live on CNN International this morning, Mr. Brandt said. In the broadcast, which was aired at Headquarters on internal television channels, the Secretary-General answered questions from reporters during a CNN teleconference. Asked about his recent trip to Rwanda, the Secretary-General had said he had a "very frank and a very good discussion" with the leaders of that country.

"Obviously, there is lots of anger in Rwanda, anger against the international community, personified by the United Nations and myself as Secretary-General", Mr. Annan had said. There was a sense that the international community should have come in to stop the genocide, and now that it was over, the international community should be there to help rebuild the nation. He praised Rwanda's leaders as "very dynamic, competent and able" and said that the international community was prepared to work with them to help build a society based on tolerance and the rule of law.

To a question on the present situation in Rwanda, the Secretary-General said that several proposals had been put forward to facilitate trade in the region. He stressed that it was important to find a way of encouraging tolerance, respect for human rights and respect for the rule of law. The Secretary-General also noted that the two communities in Rwanda had lived in peace for 600 years, adding that "there is no reason why they cannot do so again".

To a question on refugees, the Secretary-General recalled that he had put forward a number of proposals for separating genuine refugees from the militia. A conference would soon be held in Kampala on refugee flows in the region which would take up that issue. The Secretary-General would attend that conference.

Responding to a question on his report on Africa, the Secretary-General said it had been well-received by African leaders. "We are now seeing very dynamic, modern, responsible leaders on the continent, from east to west and south to north." Those leaders wanted to work with the international community to resolve Africa's problems. Priority should be given to resolving the conflicts in Africa, which were casting shadows over the entire continent -- even though many African countries were doing extremely well economically, and had introduced democratic governments based on the rule of law.

"I am determined to work with the leaders of the international community to resolve as many of these crises as quickly as possible, so that we can move on to the essential issue of economic and social development", the Secretary-General had stated.

Mr. Brandt said that several correspondents had asked about developments in Cyprus. In response, the Secretary-General noted that he had resumed talks on Cyprus last year, and that two rounds of talks had been held since then. He said that some 10 governments had appointed representatives to work with the United Nations on Cyprus, including Richard Holbrooke of the United States and Sir David Hannay of the United Kingdom. There were difficulties, however. Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash had imposed some conditions, saying he should be put on the same footing as President Glafcos Clerides of Cyprus before negotiations could begin. If the negotiations moved forward, a range of issues, including demilitarization and constitutional issues, would have to be tackled. The Secretary-General said he hoped that the parties, and particularly Mr. Denktash, would come back to the table.

The Secretary-General had confirmed that he would have a new Special Representative in Cyprus, naming Ann Hercus of New Zealand to replace Gustave Feissel as the head of the Mission in Cyprus. The procedure to appoint Ms. Hercus had not yet been completed, which was why her biography had not been issued, Mr. Brandt said. However, it was likely to be available by the beginning of next week.

To another question on Cyprus, the Secretary-General had said that the United Nations would pursue talks with the two communities unless and until the Security Council decided otherwise.

To still another question on Cyprus, the Secretary-General said the United Nations did not want to see a new arms race in the region. Efforts were under way to address the problems there, and the Secretary-General hoped there would be some way to avoid the deployment of new weapons in the area. "We had hoped that if the peace process had moved forward with Mr. Clerides and Mr. Denktash at the table, with prospects for success in the not-too-distant future, that would have been a good incentive to convince Mr. Clerides not to deploy the X-300 missile", the Secretary- General said.

Asked if his instinct told him that he would go back to Baghdad, the Secretary-General had replied, "I have no intuition that I will have to go back to Baghdad soon".

To another question on Iraq, the Secretary-General had said he was "very pleased" with the cooperation that the United Nations had received from the Iraqi authorities since the agreement was reached in February. He noted a number of positive developments, including the fact that Iraq had opened up the eight presidential sites and had allowed UNSCOM to go to locations it had not been able to visit for some seven years.

If the level of cooperation continued to be good and the inspectors were able to complete their work as soon as possible, Iraq also had to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the Secretary-General said. In the

meantime, the United Nations would work energetically to improve the oil-for-food scheme so that the Iraqi people would not suffer unduly .

The Secretary-General was also asked about developments relating to resolution 425 (1978) on the situation in Lebanon. He said the language of that resolution was very clear and the role of the United Nations peacekeeping forces was also well defined. "We will continue to do our work until the resolution is implemented", the Secretary-General stressed. There was no question of the United Nations withdrawing until the resolution was implemented.

To a question on the United Nations Office in Vienna, the Secretary-General said his reforms had called for strengthening that Office by making it a centre for fighting "uncivil society" -- such as elements engaged in drug trafficking, crime and terrorism. The end result of the reform would be to strengthen the United Nations Office there.

Asked if he was acting more as a Secretary or a General, Mr. Annan had said he hoped he was fulfilling all aspects of his job.

Mr. Brandt then announced that Deputy-Secretary-General Louise Frechette was at City Hall for a meeting with New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the President of the American Red Cross, Elizabeth Dole, on World Red Cross Day. They would speak jointly to correspondents at 2 p.m. in the blue room at City Hall. The Deputy-Secretary-General would later have a meeting with the Permanent Representative of Myanmar, Win Mra. Her other appointments were internal.

A press release was available on the third floor from Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict, said Mr. Brandt. Mr. Otunnu, who was in Sri Lanka this week, had obtained from the leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the LTTE) an agreement concerning the protection, rights and welfare of children affected by the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka. Primarily, the LTTE leadership, as of today, had undertaken not to use children under 18 years of age in combat. They further undertook not to recruit children below the age of 17 years.

Mr. Brandt said that the Special Representative had also obtained commitments regarding the freedom of movement of displaced persons, and that the LTTE leadership would not interfere with the distribution of humanitarian supplies destined for affected civilian populations. Mr. Otunnu urged the LTTE to take immediate measures to transform those commitments into action, which would represent significant steps in the efforts to promote the protection, rights and welfare of children affected by the armed conflict in Sri Lanka.

The World Health Assembly, the highest governing body of the World Health Organization (WHO) would hold its fifty-first annual session at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 11 to 16 May, Mr. Brandt said. That session would mark the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the WHO. The vote on the nomination of Gro Harlem Brundtland for the post of Director-General of the WHO was to take place on Wednesday, 13 May. The five-year term of office would start on 21 July this year. A press release from the WHO was available in room 378.

Mr. Brandt also drew attention to a World Food Programme (WFP) press release issued today. It welcomed as an important first step the announcement Wednesday by the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Hakim Mujahid, that the WFP could bring a small amount of food aid into the besieged Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan. However, the Taliban ambassador had conditioned the delivery of 800 tons of food to Hazarajat on the delivery of 200 tons of food to the Ghorbund valley. Ghorbund, north of Kabul, was a front-line area, under Taliban control, but notoriously dangerous and difficult to reach for security reasons.

The WFP said it must first make an assessment of the Ghorbund area to determine the needs of the affected people, who they were and how to reach the area, as well as to negotiate with the warring factions a guarantee of security for the assessment team and eventual food convoy.

Mr. Brandt said the WFP had also announced today in Abidjan that it had stepped up food deliveries to the town of Gueckedou in south-western Guinea, to cope with the influx in March and April of more than 150,000 people fleeing the fighting in Sierra Leone. The refugees said that the little food they had was stolen by combatants, who burned down their villages and went on a killing spree. After fleeing their homes, many of the refugees had survived by eating berries and leaves before reaching the Guinean border.

Would the lifting of the travel restrictions on Iraq take effect immediately? a correspondent asked. The letter spoke for itself, Mr. Brandt said. Asked what the letter said, Mr. Brandt told the correspondent to get hold of a copy.

Asked to comment on the boycott of the dinner that was held for the Secretary-General in Kigali, Mr. Brandt said that just before the noon briefing he had received a telephone call from Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, from Kampala, alerting Headquarters to a report on the activities of the Secretary-General for yesterday and today. Unfortunately, that had not come through in time for the noon briefing, but he promised to get it to correspondents shortly.

As for the dinner that had been arranged for the Secretary-General in Kampala, some people had not shown up, Mr. Brandt said. A portion of the programme that had been scheduled for him today also did not take place as planned. He referred the correspondent to the comments made by the Secretary-General to CNN just after his arrival in Kampala from Rwanda.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the General Assembly President, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), said the Assembly's open-ended working group on Security Council reform had concluded its current round of deliberations this morning under the chairmanship of the Assembly President. The Group was scheduled to resume its work on 26 May to continue the discussions in accordance with its programme of work.

This morning, the Assembly President met with the President of the Economic and Social Council, Juan Somavia of Chile, Mr. Taukatch said. Their meeting was largely devoted to the issue of United Nations reform. The Assembly President, in part, drew Mr. Somavia's attention to the relevant part of resolution 52/12B -- one of the two underling reform resolutions adopted last year -- which specifically dealt with economic and social affairs. That resolution, among other things, invited the Economic and Social Council to consider recommendations of the Secretary-General relating to the reform of its subsidiary bodies, as well as the Secretary-General's recommendations regarding the Council's organization and methods of work. The Assembly requested the Council to report back to it before the end of the fifty-second session.

The spokesman said Mr. Somavia had assured the Assembly President that the Council was doing everything possible to respond to the Assembly's request. Mr. Somavia said he had already asked some of his Vice-Presidents to hold consultations on the matter, and that the Council would report back to the Assembly during the current session.

Mr. Udovenko, for his part, used the occasion to warmly congratulate Mr. Somavia on his election to the post of Director-General of the International Labour Organization, Mr. Taukatch said. Mr. Udovenko, had known Mr. Somavia for many years, as both of them represented their countries at the United Nations, and wished him great success in his new job.

At 1:15 p.m. today, the President would host a working luncheon to discuss a broad range of issues facing the General Assembly, Mr. Taukatch said. United Nations reform issues remained high on the President's agenda. He intended, for example, to hold another round of informal consultations of the plenary in early June to discuss the Secretary-General's proposal regarding time-limits relating to new initiatives.

The Spokesman said the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) would resume its work on Monday, 11 May, for the second part of its resumed session, which would run until 29 May. It had a very busy agenda, which was still under consideration. One of the items on it would be the question of the use of the Development Account, as requested in a decision adopted last week by the General Assembly.

Mr. Taukatch said that over the weekend, the President would be returning to Kiev. There he would "wear his other hat", as a member of the newly elected Ukrainian Parliament, which would begin its work on 12 May. He had also been nominated as a candidate for the Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament.

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