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 saying that there had been a serious incident in Angola yesterday. He then read the following statement, attributable to the Spokesman:

"The Secretary-General strongly condemns yesterday's armed attack against United Nations personnel in Angola, in which one local interpreter was killed and several people were wounded.

"On 19 May, yesterday, at approximately 12.30 p.m. (local time), a vehicle patrol composed of a United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) military observer, a MONUA police officer, an Angolan National Police (ANP) liaison officer, a local ANP Commander and a local interpreter was ambushed about five kilometres north of Calandula in Malange province. The injured ANP Commander escaped from the site of the incident.

"MONUA immediately launched a rescue operation. The MONUA military observer was found today, very seriously injured, and evacuated to Luanda. After a further search, the MONUA police officer was also found and he was evacuated to Luanda, where his physical condition is being ascertained. The body of the local interpreter was discovered near the burnt vehicle.

"The Secretary-General would like to reiterate in strong terms that the safety and security of all United Nations personnel in Angola should be unequivocally respected.

"The Secretary-General is extremely worried about the recent deterioration of the military and security situation in Angola. He strongly appeals to the parties, and in particular to the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), to complete without delay the various pending tasks under the Lusaka Protocol, in accordance with the plan submitted to the parties by his Special Representative for Angola on 15 May." (See today's Press Release SG/SM/6568-AFR/62.)

On Security Council matters, Mr. Eckhard said the Council had a number of items on its agenda. First, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Bernard Miyet briefed the Council on the latest situation in Georgia. The Council had before it a three monthly progress report on Georgia, in which the Secretary-General presented a concept of a self- protection unit to enhance the safety and security of unarmed United Nations military observers who had to operate in conditions of high insecurity. The Spokesman recalled the hostage-taking incident in February, which highlighted

the security problems of that mission. At the moment, there were 91 United Nations military observers in Georgia.

He said that Mr. Miyet had also updated the Council on the latest fighting between the Abkhaz militia and Georgian armed groups in the security zone of the Gali sector that erupted last night. The Secretary-General's Special Representative for Georgia, Liviu Bota, was planning to convene an extraordinary session of the Coordinating Council on Friday, 22 May, to discuss the latest developments there. The Coordinating Council was established on the basis of the Concluding Statement of the meeting between the Georgian and Abkhaz parties, held in Geneva last November. The Council President was expected to make a press statement on the Georgian situation today.

The second item on the Council's agenda was Croatia, the Spokesman said. Mr. Miyet was expected to brief the Council on the general situation in the Danube region, as well as on the situation of refugees and displaced persons. He might also update the Council on the latest incident in Angola, under "other matters". Following the consultations, the Council was scheduled to issue a formal presidential statement on Sierra Leone.

Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General was at Columbia University this morning, where he would attend the commencement exercises and luncheon. The text of his remarks was available to correspondents on an embargo basis.

At 6 p.m., the Secretary-General would participate in a ceremony at Headquarters in which he would greet religious leaders from the four religious communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Eckhard said. The text of his remarks would be made available later in the day.

Last night, the Secretary-General went to Washington, D.C., where he was the guest of honour at a dinner hosted by the Canadian Ambassador to the United States, Raymond Chretien, the Spokesman went on to say. The guest list included a number of prominent media personalities from the United States and Canada.

The Secretary-General today announced the appointment of Jan Kubis of the Slovak Republic to succeed Gerd Merrem as his Special Representative for Tajikistan, effective 1 July, Mr. Eckhard said. Mr. Merrem would relinquish his post on 31 May.

Mr. Merrem would be retiring from the United Nations after 25 years of distinguished service, the Spokesman added. He had made an important contribution to the work of the Organization, serving as Special Representative for Tajikistan since May 1996. Mr. Kubis was at present the Director of the Conflict Prevention Centre in the Secretariat of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), where he had been since 1994. Further details of his bio were available in room S-378.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 20 May 1998

Also among the Secretary-General's appointments today would be a meeting this afternoon with his investigative team on human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Spokesman said. The team had arrived in New York yesterday for a two-day stay, and would be consulting with the Secretary- General and other United Nations officials.

The Deputy Secretary-General had gone to Europe, Mr. Eckhard said. She was in Amsterdam today to attend meetings of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. While in Europe, she would be visiting the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia tomorrow, 21 May. She would meet Tribunal President Gabrielle Kirk McDonald and the Prosecutor, Louis Arbour. She would also attend a hearing while she was there.

Tomorrow, the Deputy Secretary-General would visit the headquarters of the International Court of Justice -- or World Court -- where she would meet with the President, Judge Schwebel, and the Registrar, he added. She was expected back in New York on the weekend.

On the subject of contributions, Mr. Eckhard said the United Nations did not normally acknowledge partial payments, except when they were significant amounts of money. Today, however, the Secretary-General would like to acknowledge a contribution received yesterday from Kazakhstan in the amount of $1 million towards its regular budget assessment. That payment significantly reduced the country's arrears, and the Secretary-General appreciated the effort. The mid-month report on contributions was available in the Office of the Spokesman.

He said Croatia had become the thirteenth country to ratify the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. His Office had misspoken yesterday when telling correspondents that Djibouti was the second country to ratify the ban. It was actually the twelfth; a digit had been dropped. So far, 126 countries had signed the ban.

The Spokesman then referred to the Galaxy 4 satellite that had been interrupting communications across the United States. It had also affected the Secretariat Building. CNN International and other radio and television programmes were not available. It was also causing trouble with beepers and the News Edge service, and the United Nations was, therefore, hobbling along. It was understood that PanAmSat, the satellite's owner, was trying to get the wayward satellite under control, so far unsuccessfully. CNN technicians were coming to adjust the dish on the roof to see if transmission could be restored.

Referring to this morning's briefing by Tim Wirth and Miles Stoby concerning the Turner Foundation, Mr. Eckhard said his Office had a press release from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announcing that the agency would move quickly to begin using the nearly $6.5 million in programme

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 20 May 1998

grants announced by the Foundation as part of its $1 billion gift to the United Nations.

A correspondent asked whether any action by the Security Council was expected on Croatia following the ethnic cleansing of Serbs there. Mr. Eckhard said he was not aware of what the Council planned to do. "Let us just wait and see." To another question, he said the Secretariat had no further information on that subject or on the question of Eastern Slavonia.

Why was the Secretary-General meeting with the Democratic Republic of Congo investigative team and what was its status? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said their mission had been terminated by the Secretary-General and they were in New York to share with him and other United Nations officials what information they had been able to gather while they were in the country. Responsibility for monitoring the ongoing human rights situation there remained with the Human Rights Commission in Geneva and the Special Rapporteur, Roberto Garretón. It was his understanding that the mandate of the special investigative mission that was to look into the past had expired. At present, there was no active mandate for investigating past incidents; there was merely the ongoing work of the Human Rights Commission's Special Rapporteur, which had to do with the current situation in the country.

Why was the Secretary-General meeting with John Dalton, Secretary of the United States Navy? a correspondent asked. The Spokesman said he did not know and would have to look into that. It could be that Mr. Dalton was just in New York and wanted to see the Secretary-General.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for General Assembly President Hennadiy Udivenko (Ukraine), drew the attention of correspondents to some of the latest developments in connection with the Assembly's upcoming special session on the world drug problem. Yesterday, Secretariat officials briefed delegations on various logistical arrangements being made for that session. An information note should be available for correspondents later containing details on what would be happening at the session and how -- including media arrangements, a tentative programme, and side events that would be taking place alongside the general debate in the General Assembly. In the meantime, the latest information on those arrangements was available on the Internet at www.un.org/ga/20special.

For those keeping track of high-level participants in the session, at the latest count there were 21 heads of State, one Vice-President and 12 heads of government, Mr. Taukatch said. The list, available in room S-378, had 11 heads of government, but he had just learned that the Prime Minister of Liechtenstein was expected to attend as well.

The spokesman drew attention to another important document that had just come out -- the report of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, acting as the preparatory body for the special session. That report (document A/S-20/4) contained three draft resolutions expected to be adopted during the session:

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the Political Declaration; the Declaration on the Guiding Principles of Drug Demand Reduction; and Measures to enhance international cooperation to counter the world drug problem. The report should be available at the documents counter.

In the meantime, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) was continuing the second part of its resumed session, the spokesman said. It was expected to complete discussions today on the support account for peacekeeping operations, as well as to act on filling vacancies in the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) and the Committee on Contributions.

A correspondent subsequently asked whether the investigative team from the Democratic Republic of Congo would hold a briefing. Mr. Eckhard said the team would be asked if they were willing to do that.

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