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 welcoming the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, who would brief the press on his recent mission to the Sudan. (Coverage of Mr. Otunnu's briefing is issued separately.)

This morning, Mr. Eckhard said, the Security Council had taken up the Central African Republic. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and the head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in that country, Oluyemi Adeniji, had briefed the Council on the situation there. The Council had before it the report of the Secretary-General in which he recommended a two-month extension of the mandate of the mission.

The Council was about to take up the next item on its agenda, which was Burundi, Mr. Eckhard continued. It was scheduled to be briefed by the Under- Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, on the political situation and the peace process in Burundi. As announced earlier, the Arusha peace talks were held last week and were scheduled to resume 20 July. The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was also scheduled to brief the Council on the humanitarian situation in Burundi, and then he would update the Council on the humanitarian situation in Sierra Leone.

Under other matters, he said, the Council was to take up Eritrea/Ethiopia. A draft resolution was said to have been introduced on that matter.

Last night, the Security Council had agreed to delay by five days the application of sanctions against the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the Spokesman said. The technical resolution authorizing that decision was adopted at 10:35 p.m., just eighty-six minutes before sanctions would have come into force against the largest opposition party in Angola. UNITA now had until midnight of 30 June to cooperate fully in the extension of State administration in Andulo, Bailundo, Mungo and N'Harea. If UNITA failed to comply, its funds and financial assets would be frozen, and other sanctions would be applied.

Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General had sent a letter to the President of the Security Council late yesterday afternoon, informing him that the President of Angola had agreed to the extension of the sanctions deadline without conditions, and that the Joint Commission, which oversaw the implementation of the peace agreement in Luanda, had also endorsed the recommendation to extend the deadline.

On Afghanistan, a report by the Secretary-General on the situation there would be released today, the Spokesman said. The understanding was that it would be out shortly as document A/52/957 or S/1998/532. The Secretary- General said in his report that the key to solving the Afghan tragedy lay in curtailing the continuous foreign interference in the form of arms and other supplies to the warring factions. "For such interference to end", the Secretary-General said, "the regional Powers need to talk to each other".

Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General viewed with alarm the suspension of the dialogue in Islamabad and the apparent start of the annual spring offensives. The Secretary-General called on the Afghan factions to return to the negotiating table without delay. He also called on the regional Powers to intensify their contacts on Afghanistan. The United Nations, together with the Organization of the Islamic Conference, was ready to offer them opportunities to enhance their mutual trust so they could assist the people of Afghanistan and save the entire region from the real danger of many spill-over effects of the conflict.

On Cambodia, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, released in Phnom Penh his report on access to the media in the run-up to the upcoming election, Mr. Eckhard said. The report illustrated that the conditions for access to the electronic media for the Cambodian opposition were far from fair. Ambassador Hammarberg pointed out the imbalance that existed in the structure of ownership of radio and television, as well as in the content of news broadcasts. He called on the producers of news programmes to ensure full and fair coverage of the activities of politicians of all parties, and to avoid the use of language or images that might incite violence against political rivals or members of ethnic minorities.

A press release issued in Lisbon, available in room 378, announced that the Personal Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor, Jamsheed Marker, arrived in Lisbon today for discussions with the Government of Portugal, the Spokesman said. Ambassador Marker had a three-hour meeting with the Foreign Minister, Jaime Gama, in which the Ambassador conveyed to the Minister the proposal regarding the question of East Timor, presented by Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas to the Secretary-General on 18 June in New York. The two men also discussed the ongoing good offices of the Secretary-General in light of recent developments in Indonesia and East Timor.

Tomorrow Mr. Marker would be received by Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, and on 27 June, by President Jorge Fernando Branco de Sampaio, Mr. Eckhard said. The Personal Representative would also meet with various representatives of East Timorese parties, associations and with Portuguese- based non-governmental organizations interested in the question of East Timor.

As was announced after the briefing yesterday, Mr. Eckhard said, instead of Atsu-Koffi Amega, who headed the Secretary-General's investigative team to

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the Democratic Republic of the Congo, another member of that team, Daniel Michael O'Donnell, would be present at the noon briefing on Monday to answer questions on the team's findings, which would be made public earlier that day. Mr. Amega, who was Chief Justice of his country, could not leave Lome, Togo, because of commitments in connection with elections just held there.

The Executive Director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, Pino Arlacchi, was currently in Portugal on an official visit, Mr. Eckhard said. Mr. Arlacchi met today with the country's Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Minister of Justice. They discussed the possibility of increasing Portugal's role in common action in the field of drug control. With its cultural and historical ties to Brazil and Portuguese countries of Africa, Portugal could be particularly effective in supporting United Nations drug control projects in those areas.

As mentioned yesterday, the Secretary-General had begun a trip that would take him to the United Kingdom and to Vienna, Austria, Mr. Eckhard said. He should be landing in London just about now. This evening he was scheduled to meet with the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Emaka Anyaoku. Tomorrow, the Secretary-General would be the keynote speaker at the annual Ditchley conference. The private Ditchley Foundation specializing in international affairs was located north-west of London in Oxfordshire. The speech would be available on an embargoed basis later today.

On Saturday, the Spokesman said, the Secretary-General would leave for Vienna, where later in the day he would open a conference celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, entitled "Building Justice", a conference on establishing the rule of law in post- conflict situations. The Secretary-General's complete programme was available in room 378.

Also available in that room was the text of the joint declaration of the Committee against Torture, the Voluntary Fund for the Victims of Torture, the Special Rapporteur of Human Rights on Questions Relating to Torture, and the High Commissioner for Human Rights. A press briefing on that subject was held earlier in the day, Mr. Eckhard said.

Documents for the substantive session of the Economic and Social Council this summer were starting to appear on the racks, he said. Available now was a comprehensive report on the work of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which included 15 pages of statistical data. According to the report, during 1997 there were some 21 million persons of concern to UNHCR around the world. Over the past several years there had been a reduction in number and scale of refugee-producing conflicts, and UNHCR had developed a range of approaches to deal with complex refugee situations. But the High Commissioner remained deeply concerned about the erosion of accepted principles affecting refugees, including restrictive asylum policies and

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forced repatriation. UNHCR was working to focus international protection efforts on respect for human rights, including human security.

Also available in room 378, Mr. Eckhard said, was a press release from UNHCR on a meeting to be hosted by the High Commissioner, Sadako Ogata, in Geneva on Friday, to boost returns of refugees and displaced persons resulting from the wars in Croatia, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since the Dayton peace agreement was signed in December 1995, an estimated 450,000 had returned to their homes in Bosnia, but Mrs. Ogata said in the press release that solutions for nearly 1.8 million people displaced by the war were yet to be found.

A press briefing on the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth would be held tomorrow at 11:15 in room 226, the Spokesman said. It would be given by the Portuguese Secretary of State for Youth, Miguel Fontes, as well as the Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, John Langmore.

Mr. Eckhard announced that in the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) Club at 1:15 p.m. today, there would be a briefing and reception for Ambassador Antonio Monteiro of Portugal, the current Security Council President. The Ambassador would field questions about the Council's deliberations during his presidency.

A journalist said New Delhi had announced it would not see Assistant- Secretary-General Alvaro de Soto. What was the Secretary-General's reaction to that? he asked.

Mr. Eckhard said the statement from New Delhi spoke for itself. New Delhi was not on the current itinerary for Mr. de Soto. He was in London today. He would be getting a flight to Dhaka at the end of today and arriving in Bangladesh tomorrow. The understanding was that he then would leave Dhaka on Saturday evening for Islamabad, where he would arrive early on Sunday.

That was a bit of a snub to the Secretary-General, was it not? the journalist asked. Mr. Eckhard said he did not know how the journalist meant that statement. The journalist said it was clear to him. Mr. Eckhard clarified that the Security Council had asked the Secretary-General to do what he could to reduce tensions in the region since the nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan. The Secretary-General was attempting to do that through the mission of Mr. de Soto. India had indicated it was not ready to receive the Secretary-General's envoy, and the Secretary-General's efforts would continue in other ways.

Where would Mr. de Soto be going, other than Islamabad and Dhaka? another journalist asked. Mr. Eckhard said those were the only two stops being announced at this time. Was it possible he might go elsewhere? the journalist asked. Mr. Eckhard said he could not comment on that, because Mr.

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de Soto's programme was being announced as it evolved. Perhaps it would end after Islamabad.

He would not achieve much if he did not go to India, another journalist said. Mr. Eckhard said there were other ways of communicating with the Indian Government. Was any concrete proposal being made? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said he was not able to discuss the contents of the letters that Mr. de Soto was taking to the Heads of State in the places where he was visiting. Did that mean the letter to the Indian Head of State was being delivered some other way? Mr. Eckhard said he would check how that would be done.

Another journalist said two United Nations employees from the decolonization office were suspended in November for doctoring documents that would help their position in keeping the Committee alive, or the number of people working for it. It was now June. Was there any disposition? Were they still suspended without pay?

Mr. Eckhard said he would check on the current status of that issue. Until any employees accused of wrongdoing were found to be guilty, their names or even specific charges against them were not disclosed. The reporter said the names were not as important as the charges and the amount of time it was taking to dispose of the case. Mr. Eckhard said it was a time-consuming process because it was intended to be fair to the accused. He would get back after checking on the status. The journalist then asked for more advance notice of the Secretary-General's schedule. Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary- General's schedule would be made available two days rather than a day before his travels. The journalist asked for even more time. Mr. Eckhard said this schedule had not been available much before its announcement.

A journalist then asked if there were developments on Eritrea/Ethiopia. What was the purpose of the Security Council resolution? the journalist asked. Mr. Eckhard said it was not even certain that a Security Council resolution had been floated, although it was said to have been. Things had to evolve a little bit further in the Council before there could be a public comment on it. What was happening on the ground? the journalist asked. Mr. Eckhard said he had nothing on that.

A report on Afghanistan had been announced, but was the Secretary- General doing anything about the spring offensives? a journalist asked. "He has no army", Mr. Eckhard answered. Yes, but if he could send an envoy to see about tensions in south Asia, surely he could do something about real fighting going on in Afghanistan, the journalist said. The Secretary-General had laid out his views in the report, Mr. Eckhard said. Namely, that it was up to the neighbouring countries, fuelling the fighting, to stop shipping in arms and stop subsidizing their clients.

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Was the good offices mission at a standstill? the journalist asked. "I wouldn't say that", Mr. Eckhard answered. But the talks had been suspended and the Secretary-General was calling for them to be resumed.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for General Assembly President Hennadiy Udovenko, said the General Assembly would meet tomorrow with a large agenda basically falling into two categories. In the first action, the Assembly would urge global cooperation to fight the so-called "millennium bug", the year 2000 problem. There was a draft resolution out, A/52/L.75/Rev.1, which was entitled, "Global implications of the year 2000 date conversion problem of computers". Second, the Assembly would deal with a long list of Fifth Committee reports on a number of administrative and financial matters, including financing of peacekeeping operations.

The General Assembly would meet tomorrow morning in plenary immediately after the meeting of the Fifth Committee, which would take action on two drafts, Mr. Taukatch said. One was on support account for peacekeeping operations (A/C.5/52/L.54) and the other on gratis personnel provided by governments and other entities (A/C.5/52/L.55). The Fifth Committee was not able to come to an agreement on those two drafts at its sixty-eighth meeting on 29 May, which lasted into the wee hours of the morning. Agreement was finally reached and the Committee would resume its sixty-eighth meeting tomorrow morning. It would act on the two drafts and then the General Assembly would act on the Fifth Committee reports and on the year 2000 problem draft mentioned previously.

There had been questions on why there was no item 36, "Question of Palestine", on the agenda for tomorrow, Mr. Taukatch said. The questions were probably coming from those who had missed the announcement late yesterday afternoon that following consultations, it was decided to postpone consideration of agenda item 36, until Tuesday, 7 July.

The two issues that the Fifth Committee had not been able to resolve were obviously linked. How was the agreement between the two issues resolved? a journalist asked.

Mr. Taukatch said he would not want to go into detail but an agreement was reached as a result of intensive consultations in the Committee. There was a long series of informal consultations in the Fifth Committee for the whole month leading up to today. The two draft texts were out. The exact numbers and dates were in there.

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