DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Juan Carlos Brandt, Senior Associate Spokesman for the Secretary- General, opened today's noon briefing with the following statement, attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General:

"At the invitation of the Government of Algeria, the Secretary-General has today established a panel of eminent persons to visit that country. The purpose of this mission will be to gather information on the situation in Algeria and present a report to him, which he will make public.

"The Government of Algeria has assured the Secretary-General that it will ensure free and complete access to all sources of information necessary for the panel to exercise its functions in order to have a clear vision and a precise perception of the reality of the situation in all its dimensions in Algeria today. The following personalities have confirmed their availability up to now:

"Mario Soares (Chairman), former President of Portugal. "I.K. Gujral, former Prime Minister of India. "Abdel Karim Kabariti, former Prime Minister of Jordan. "Donald McHenry, former United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations. "Simone Veil, former Secretary of State of France. "Amos Wacko, Attorney-General of Kenya.

The Secretary-General is deeply appreciative of the readiness of the members of the panel to undertake this mission.

The panel will travel to Algeria as soon as arrangements have been made for it to start its work. It will be supported by a small technical team from the Secretariat."

On Security Council activities, Mr. Brandt said it had started meeting at 10:30 this morning, first to discuss its programme of work for the month of July. It was now conducting its periodic 120-day review of sanctions on Libya, as mandated by resolution 748 (1992). The Council was then scheduled to discuss Croatia, which was related to the situation in the Danube region. It had before it a report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Police Support Group (document S/1998/500) and a draft Presidential Statement. A formal meeting was expected to follow the consultations, he said.

As he had announced yesterday, Mr. Brandt said a brief memorial service, chaired by the Secretasry-General, would take place on Monday, 6 July, in Conference Room 4, at 12:30 p.m. It would last between 30 or 40 minutes. It would start with one minute of silence, then three-minute statements by the Secretary-General, the Staff Council President, the President of the Security

Council, the General Assembly President and the Permanent Representatives of Mali and Angola. The service would be in memory of the tragic plane crash which cost the lives of the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Angola and other staff members.

The following Permanent Missions would be invited: troop-countributing countries to the United Nations Observer MissioniIn Angola (MONUA): Chad, Nigeria, Portugal, Senegal, Togo and South Africa. Families in New York of the deceased would also be invited, as well as staff and delegates. The Department of Public Information (DPI) was preparing a memorial display of the late staff members, Mr. Brandt added.

Also on Monday, the chiefs of the world's top economic institutions would be at the opening of this year's session of the Economic and Social Council. The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Michel Camdessus, the President of the World Bank, James Wolfesohn, the Director-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Rubens Ricupero, and the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Renato Ruggiero, would engage in question-and-answer dialogue with the ECOSOC ambassadors. ECOSOC President Juan Somavia would open the session at 10:30 in the morning, and Secretary-General Kofi Annan would follow with a major address on the global financial situation.

Flyers on the event were available in the briefing room, and more information could be obtained from Tim Wall at 963-1887.

For correspondents following the trip of Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Alvaro de Soto, Mr. Brandt said he had concluded his mission to South Asia following visits to Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. He was on his way back to New York where he would report to the Secretary- General on his mission.

As most correspondents had already heard, he said the Secretary-General had announced at a press conference in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, in the morning, that there was "total unanimity" on the need to release all political prisoners and detainees. Following a series of meetings with officials, traditional leaders and representatives of civil society, as well as political prisoners, including Chief Moshood K. Abiola, the Secretary-General had concluded that there was broad agreement on a number of key issues. All Nigerians insisted on a return to democracy, the Secretary-General said, adding that all wanted a peaceful, democratic and, above all, credible process leading to free and fair elections. All Nigerians also wanted to live under the rule of law, with full respect for human rights.

The Secretary-General had endorsed the prevailing view that the answer to Nigeria's problems had to be found within Nigerians themselves. He had, however, stressed that the United Nations stood ready to do whatever it could to assist the process. The Secretary-General also spoke about yesterday's

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mini-summit, which was attended by the leaders of Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Liberia. He had welcomed the meeting's positive and constructive atmosphere.

Mr. Brandt said both the Secretary-General's remarks to the press and the final communique of the mini-summit were available in the Spokesman's office. For the information of correspondents, he said the Secretary-General was on his way to Accra, Ghana, where he would spend a few hours before going to London. In London, the Secretary-General would brief British Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary Robin Cook on his visit to Nigeria. He was expected back in New York early during the week-end.

The third report of the Secretary-General relating to the situation in Kosovo was still being cleared in the Office of the Secretary-General. The delay in its publication was essentially a logistical, not a political, problem as he had mentioned yesterday. He expected the report to be out as soon as possible.

In the evening of Saturday, 4 July, the American Ballet Theatre would dedicate its season-closing performance to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, honouring him for his role as peacemaker. The company would perform a premiere of Le Corsaire, written by Adam Drigo, choreographed by Petipa and performed by Julie Kent, Paloma Herrera and Jose Manuel Carreno. The Executive Director of the American Ballet Theatre, Michael Kaiser, would introduce the Secretary-General who would then make brief remarks. His remarks were available in room 378 on an embargo, check-against-delivery basis.

For additional information on the performance -- which had already been sold out to 4,000 people -- correspondents could call 212-477-3030.

Last Tuesday, as he had informed correspondents, the Deputy Secretary- General, Louise Fréchette, attended the opening ceremony of celebrations marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in Saint Lucia. Yesterday, she had participated in discussions which focused on the internal situation in Guyana. It included a three-hour working luncheon with heads of State or government from the Caribbean. Last night, the Deputy Secretary-General attended a ceremony on sport and communications in the Caribbean as a way to reinforce regional unity. Ms. Fréchette was expected back in New York tomorrow.

He said Sergio Vieira de Mello, the United Nations Emergency Coordinator, would begin a week-long mission to Tajikistan and Kazakhstan at the request of the two Governments. In Tajikistan, Vieira de Mello intended to raise a number of humanitarian issues in the context of an inter-agency appeal for that country. He would also focus on problems related to natural disasters in both Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. Mr. Brandt quoted him as saying a priority issue during his mission would be discussions on how to ensure an appropriate international response to the disaster area of Semipalatinsk, site of more than 450 nuclear tests by the former Soviet Union for more than

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40 years. Mr. Vieira de Mello would stop briefly in the Faizabad region of Afghanistan which was struck by a major earthquake in late May.

Available in room 378, he said, was a press release from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague on the trial, opening on Monday, 6 July, of Milan Kovacevic, Vice-President of the Serbian Democratic Party's Crisis Staff of the Municipality of Prijedor. Mr. Kovacevic had been charged with a single count of complicity in genocide.

Also available in room 378 were two press releases from the headquarters of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Rome -- one concerning an appeal to donors to speed up food aid deliveries to the Democratic Republic of Korea, and the second, on the continued inability of humanitarian workers to reach refugees in Guinea from Sierra Leone who were in need of immediate assistance.

Mr. Brandt announced that the Spokesman's office would be staffed throughout the holiday weekend.

Responding to questions, Mr. Brandt said that a trip by the Secretary- General to Latin America had not been officially announced, but as was always the case, leaks occurred before trips took place. Almost every body knew that he would be travelling to Latin America. The Secretary-General would visit Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Guatemala and Mexico, and was expected to leave late next week. Details of the trip would be provided in an official announcement to be made on Wednesday, 8 July. The Secretary-General would most likely give press conferences in each of the capitals he would be visiting. The Spokesman's office was trying to organize briefings between the Secretary-General and correspondents from those countries as well as correspondents at Headquarters who would want to participate in them. "We have said, repeatedly, that it is our policy to be inclusive, and not exclusive." He again invited interested correspondents to contact him, adding that the Spokesman's Office would be glad to include them. As it had done before, the Spokesman's Office was also examining the possibility of taking along on the trip, a limited number of correspondents. The number would depend on the planes made available by the generosity of Member States, which provided transportation for such trips. It was not known at present whether planes would be available. He said a number of media representatives had already contacted the Spokesman's Office, which had them on a list.

At this juncture, he announced that Benon Sevan, the Executive Director of the United Nations Iraq Programme, had given a press conference in Baghdad today. After the briefing, Mr. Sevan's opening statement and a summary of questions and answers would be made available to correspondents. Mr. Brandt also said he had been assured by the United Nations Information Centre in Lagos that a transcript of the Secretary-General's press conference at Abuja would be sent to Headquarters as soon as possible.

A correspondent asked whether it would be correct to interpret the developments in Nigeria as an achievement by the Secretary-General.

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Responding, Mr. Brandt said it would be prudent for him to just stick to the language of the remarks he had read earlier. "I think the Secretary-General was extremely clear in his conversations with the leadership of that country on the need for seeking a path towards democracy." And, if those developments indeed happened as a result of those conversations, the Secretary-General would be very pleased, he said.

Asked when the report of Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Alvaro de Soto would be available, Mr. Brandt said his understanding was that Mr. de Soto would return to New York and brief the Secretary-General, most likely next Monday or Tuesday. He was not sure whether it was planned to publish the report, but correspondents would be kept informed if it was decided otherwise. (Mr. de Soto had been visiting South Asia in connection with the nuclear tests conducted recently by India and Pakistan).

Finally, and in answer to a question, Mr. Brandt confirmed that he would be accompanying the Secretary-General on his Latin American tour which would last about 13 or 14 days.

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