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, began today's noon briefing by introducing the Special Adviser for the United Nations Special Initiative on Africa, Trevor Gordon-Sommers, who after the briefing would talk about the upcoming Africa Governance Forum, to be held in Accra, on 25 and 26 June. The Spokesman said representatives of African governments, donor countries, the United Nations and non-governmental organizations would participate in the Forum, looking at such issues as accountability, transparency and efforts against corruption. (Coverage of the briefing on the Forum is issued separately.)

Mr. Eckhard then said the Security Council had begun consultation on the spare parts issue for Iraq's oil industry around 10:30 a.m. A revised draft resolution had gone into blue, or final draft form last night, and the Council had agreed on a text this morning. The Council was expected to go into a formal meeting at around 12:30 p.m. to adopt the resolution which was expected to settle the spare parts issue.

As a result of the agreement, Mr. Eckhard continued, the Executive Director of the United Nations Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan, was leaving for Baghdad this evening. He planned to stay two weeks to discuss with Iraqi officials their oil production capacity.

Meanwhile, Mr. Eckhard added, there was available in room S-378 a summary of the press conference given in Baghdad yesterday by the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Denis Halliday. Mr. Halliday indicated that some hopeful signs were beginning to be seen in some areas of Iraqi life, such as nutrition, health, water and sanitation, education and food production. However, he also said that various areas would "still require renewed attention and vigour" during the new, expanded phase.

Judging by the Secretary-General's programme for the day, it would seem there was a ministerial level meeting at Headquarters, the Spokesman said. The Secretary-General had met with the Foreign Minister of Canada, Lloyd Axworthy, at just after 10 a.m. They had found a convergence of views on a range of issues discussed, which included Kosovo, the Rome Conference on establishing an international criminal court, and the Minister's initiative taken during a visit to Cyprus last week for the demining of the buffer zone there.

At 11:30 a.m., the Spokesman continued, the Secretary-General had met with the Crown Prince of Qatar, Sheikh Jassem bin Hamad Al Thani. At 12:30 p.m., he would meet with the Prime Minister of Lebanon, Rafic Hariri, for whom the Secretary-General was hosting a luncheon on the thirty-eighth floor. The Prime Minister would then give a press briefing at 2:45 p.m. in

room S-226, and there would be English-Arabic interpretation. At 3 p.m. the Secretary General would meet with the Foreign Minister of Japan, Keizo Obuchi, and then at 5 p.m. he would meet with the Prime Minister of France, Lionel Jospin. Later, the Secretary-General would host a dinner at his residence for the Prime Minister, who intended to speak to the press at the stake-out position outside the Security Council at approximately 6 p.m. The information would be announced and read-outs of the meetings would be provided as they took place.

Issued as a Security Council document today and on the racks was a joint statement by the President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin, and the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, the Spokesman said. The statement was adopted at the conclusion of discussions between the two in Moscow earlier this week.

In that connection, the Spokesman said that in a statement issued today regarding Kosovo, the Secretary-General said he welcomed the efforts made at the international level by President Yeltsin and others to bring about a diplomatic solution to the conflict. The Secretary-General went on to say that he very much hoped the efforts would be successful, thus eliminating the need for use of force. He also urged the parties to "urgently pursue negotiations" with a view to bringing this tragic conflict to an immediate conclusion. The text of the statement, attributable to a spokesman, was available in room S-278. (See Press Release SG/SM/6603.)

It had been announced that the report of the Secretary-General's investigative team on the Democratic Republic of the Congo would be made public on 21 June, the Spokesman said. That date had been based on a prior understanding that the Democratic Republic of the Congo would be given a reasonable opportunity to read the report before it was issued. There turned out to be a delay in sending the report to the Government and Rwanda, which did not happen until 15 June. Subsequently, both Governments had requested more time to study the report and the Secretary-General had agreed. The new date for the release of the report to the press, the public and the Security Council was Monday, 29 June. Arrangements were also being made for a member of the investigative team to be present at Headquarters on that date if possible to brief the press regarding the contents of the report.

On Burundi, the current round of Arusha talks would conclude tomorrow and the next round was scheduled to begin on 20 July, Mr. Eckhard said. The Representative of the Secretary-General and Regional Humanitarian Adviser for the Great Lakes Region, Ambassador Berhanu Dinka, was attending the talks and the press would be kept posted. At issue there was the time-frame for when neighbouring States would consider lifting the sanctions against Burundi.

The Secretary-General's progress report on Western Sahara had been sent to the Security Council and was available at the documents counter under the number S/1998/534, Mr. Eckhard said. In that report, updated every 30 days,

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 19 June 1998

the Secretary-General noted that a total of 127,472 applicants to the Referendum on the Western Sahara had been identified to date, leaving about 20,000 more still to be invoked. The process was expected to be completed in August, provided both parties continued to cooperate fully, the Secretary- General had said. The problem of the contested applicants from the three tribal groupings remained unresolved. Consultations on the issue continued, and once completed, the Special Representative would submit his assessment and recommendations to the Secretary-General, who urged both parties to cooperate in seeking solutions to the problem.

Meanwhile, the Spokesman said, the deployment of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara's (MINURSO) military units, an engineering unit from Pakistan and a demining unit from Sweden, had been postponed following Morocco's decision not to permit United Nations military personnel to retain their own weapons and ammunition. The United Nations had requested the decision to be modified so as to enable established peacekeeping practices to be followed. The Secretary-General urged the Government of Morocco to conclude the Status of Forces agreements with the United Nations without delay in order to facilitate the conduct of operations by MINURSO military personnel. He also urged the Governments of Mauritania and Algeria to do the same.

A question had been asked yesterday about Cyprus, Mr. Eckhard said, and now there was a statement attributable to the Spokesman, which read: "In recent days, there have been signs of increased military activity in Cyprus and in the region. The Secretary-General reiterates the appeal he made in his good offices report of 16 June, and trusts that all parties involved will abstain from any action that could add to the tension".

On Angola, Mr. Eckhard said a senior government delegation had met yesterday with the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) in Andulo. The delegation was led by the Minister of Territorial Administration, and it included his deputy as well as the Governors of Huambo and Bie provinces. Discussions were held on the normalization of State administration in the four areas of Andulo, Bailundo, Mungo and N'Harea. Discussions continued today on matters of mutual concern. Also today, four technical groups were to visit the four areas in preparation for the final normalization of State administration.

The Department of Public Information (DPI), had prepared a fact sheet on the Secretary-General's efforts to strengthen United Nations relations with the business community. The paper summarized recent developments regarding that strengthening relationship. It would be posted on the Internet on Monday, 22 June and the Website address was available in room S-378. A related conference was planned by the business community to be held at the United Nations in early July and the Secretary-General would participate. More information on the conference would be provided later.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 19 June 1998

The plenary of the Rome Conference on the establishment of an international court finished yesterday after four days of general debate, Mr. Eckhard said. Overall, there were 150 speakers. The Legal Counsel, Hans Corell, addressed the plenary at its close yesterday by saying that attacks against United Nations personnel should be among the crimes falling within the court's jurisdiction. He also raised the issue of United Nations staff providing evidence to the court, saying the modalities would have to be worked out.

"The United Nations received $56 million today", Mr. Eckhard said in announcing that Italy became the seventy-ninth Member State to pay its 1998 regular budget assessment in full, with a check for over $56 million. That brought the number of Member States that had paid in full to 79 this year; 66 paid in full on this date a year ago. The actual dollar amount of the difference between the two years would be reported later.

A summary of today's briefing by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva, available in room S-378, reported that the flow of refugees from Kosovo to northern Albania had stopped, the Spokesman said. UNHCR said it did not know why the refugee flow had stopped, but one possible explanation was that the Serbian security forces had sealed the border. UNHCR and other aid agencies had virtually no access to western Kosovo.

In the same briefing note, the Spokesman said, UNHCR reported that 5,000 Angolan refugees had arrived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo following an outbreak of fighting between UNITA and government forces in the Moxico province of eastern Angola.

As a reminder, the Spokesman said, the nineteenth session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women would open at Headquarters on Monday. The Committee would be reviewing the reports of eight countries: New Zealand, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, South Africa and the United Republic of Tanzania.

Also, Mr. Eckhard said, the 1998 United Nations International School graduation would take place today at 2:30 p.m. in the General Assembly Hall. This year's graduating class of 109 students represented 61 different countries. A 1975 graduate and an Honourary Trustee of the Board, Kate Burton, would deliver the commencement address. A press release was available on the racks and a programme was available in room S-226.

A journalist asked for a clarification of the number of Angolan refugees. Mr. Eckhard said 5,000 Angolan refugees had arrived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 19 June 1998

Another journalist asked if it was a legitimate measure for a government to seal a border. Mr. Eckhard said that before answering such a technical question, he would receive legal advice on the matter. He would do so and have the information later in the afternoon.

Finally, a journalist asked for the exact number of refugees who had gone from Kosovo to Albania. Mr. Eckhard said it was not certain whether the exact number was known, but he would get estimates from UNHCR and would provide the information later in the afternoon.

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