DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, opened today's noon briefing by reading the following statement:

"The Secretary-General is relieved that an orderly and peaceful transition is occurring in Indonesia. He hopes that Indonesia will now be able to rebuild social peace, based on democratic principles and values, and revive its economy."

Mr. Eckhard then said that the Security Council had a busy morning today. Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast briefed the Council on Somalia, continuing the monthly schedule of informal briefings that the Council had requested of the Secretariat. The main points this morning covered the political, humanitarian and security situation in that country. Of particular concern was the postponement of the National Reconciliation Conference again, for a further 90 days from 15 May, and the difficulties in trying to establish an administration for the Mogadishu area.

The Council was then briefed by the Department of Political Affairs on the situation in Afghanistan following the decision by the Taliban to withdraw from the Ulema Commission and the consequences that move had for the peace process, the Spokesman continued. There was heightened concern at the level of conflict, with a report this morning that a rocket was fired at Kabul airport. In that regard, he recalled the statement on Afghanistan issued on Tuesday, in which the Secretary-General called on both sides to honour their previous commitments to refrain from new military offensives.

After Afghanistan the Council moved on to Western Sahara, on which the Secretary-General now reported every 30 days, Mr. Eckhard went on to say. Of concern was the slow progress in the identification of voters for the referendum, and particularly the lack of any progress in resolving the issue of 65,000 applicants from so-called "contested groups".

Mr. Eckhard said the Council was then briefed by Assistant Secretary- General for Peacekeeping Hedi Annabi on the situation in Angola, where no significant progress had been made in concluding the remaining provisions of the Lusaka Protocol. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Angola had put forward a five-point plan to resolve the current crisis, which was exacerbated on Tuesday, when United Nations personnel were attacked in Malange province. One interpreter was killed, as was reported yesterday, while a military staff officer and a civilian police officer were wounded.

Following consultations, the Council would move to a formal meeting to adopt a draft resolution on Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Spokesman continued. The Council was expected to authorize an increase in the strength of the International Police Task Force (IPTF) by 30, bringing it up to a strength of

2,057. The resolution also supported improvements to the management of the IPTF and encouraged Member States to provide training, equipment and related assistance for local police forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He added that the Council also agreed to consider a court monitoring programme led by the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) as part of an overall programme of legal reform, and requested the Secretary- General to submit recommendations regarding the possibility of using locally hired personnel.

On Iraq, Mr. Eckhard said there were several fact sheets on the implementation of the "oil-for-food" programme that were prepared by the United Nations Office in Baghdad. A total of 1,709 humanitarian contracts had been awarded to companies from 51 countries. One of the fact sheets showed the contracts broken down by country. The new distribution plan was still being reviewed. The next 180-day report of the Secretary-General on the "oil- for-food" programme was likely to come out in the very beginning of June, before the current Phase III came to an end.

He said the Security Council Committee monitoring sanctions against Sierra Leone would meet this afternoon in Conference Room 7. The Chairman of the Committee, Hans Dahlgren (Sweden), would brief the press outside Room 7, following his briefing to interested delegations.

Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Bernard Miyet was in Washington, D.C., today, where he addressed the Conference on Global Humanitarian Demining, which was sponsored by the United States Government, the Spokesman said. Mr. Miyet highlighted the main priorities of the United Nations Mine Action Service, and in that context, he announced that an assessment mission would leave next week for Ethiopia and Somalia. The full text of Mr. Miyet's remarks was available in the Office of the Spokesman.

Mr. Eckhard said that the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today sent a six-member team from Bamiyan in central Afghanistan across the frontline to assess the food situation in the Ghorbund Valley. Their assessment was the first step towards the agency beginning long-awaited deliveries of food to the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan.

For nearly two weeks, WFP and United Nations officials in Pakistan and Afghanistan had been seeking assurances of security and access from the relevant authorities in order to implement the promise announced by the Taliban that a limited quantity of food could be delivered to Hazarajat, he added.

On another subject, he said that genocide suspect Colonel Alphonse Nteziryayo had been transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania. He was arrested at the end of April in Burkina Faso and faced charges of ordering and participating in the

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 21 May 1998

killing of Tutsis in the prefecture of Butare, Rwanda. Details were available in a press release in the Spokesman's office.

Mr. Eckhard said that United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Sadako Ogata was the guest on a live worldwide radio broadcast this morning hosted by United Nations Radio in Washington, D.C. She addressed a number of issues, including Indonesia and how to separate armed elements from genuine refugees. The audio file was being posted on the United Nations home page now and cassettes were available in the audio library.

The Spokesman said the Secretary-General was concerned about the safety of United Nations staff around the world. Today, the Office of the United Nations Security Coordinator had published a new booklet for staff on security in the field. The booklet was a bit unusual as a United Nations publication; for example, it described how to survive if taken hostage, what to do in the case of an airline hijacking and how to protect children accompanying staff members in the field, among other things.

There were 75,000 copies of the booklet being published in the six official languages of the United Nations and they would be distributed to staff members throughout the world, he added. Copies were available in the Office of the Spokesman. Initially there were just a couple of reference copies but at 1:30 p.m. about 100 copied were expected.

Mr. Eckhard concluded the briefing by announcing that World Chronicle television programme No. 711 would feature Timothy Wirth, President of the United Nations Foundation, in connection with the $1 billion Ted Turner gift. The programme would be shown today on in-house channel 6 or 38 at 2:30 p.m.

Asked by a correspondent whether the Secretary-General had made a statement on Indonesia, the Spokesman said he had led the briefing with that. She could pick up a text of the statement in room 378.

Along those lines, what was going on with negotiations regarding East Timor? the correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said that the Personal Representative of the Secretary-General, Jamsheed Marker, had just concluded the fourth round of substantive talks at the senior officials' level from 6 to 8 May. He continued his efforts as before. The Secretary-General had the opportunity to discuss the East Timor question with the new President of Indonesia, Mr. Habibie, when both of them were in London in early April.

The correspondent then asked about the new booklet on security. Had there never been one like it before? The Spokesman said that to his knowledge there had not been. Certainly nothing as pointed in the advice it gave to surviving under difficult situations. Of course the security situation of United Nations staff in the field since the early 1990s had become increasingly more difficult, so the booklet addressed some of the specific challenges of the last seven or eight years.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 21 May 1998

Did the Secretary-General have any comment on the series of statements coming out of New Delhi and Islamabad, accusing and warning each other? another correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said that given the Indian nuclear tests, the security situation of the entire region was destabilized and the Secretary-General would hope that both India and Pakistan would exercise restraint on those matters that divided them, particularly at this time.

Another correspondent asked if there was any new policy between the United States and the United Nations following Mr. Miyet's visit there. Whatever Mr. Miyet gathered from his visit to Haiti he had shared with the Security Council members as a whole, Mr. Eckhard said. He could not comment on United States policy towards Haiti.

Was there a coordination of policy between the United States and the United Nations? the correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard replied that the coordination was between the United Nations Secretariat and the Security Council, which gave the Secretariat its orders.

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