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 welcoming the President of the Economic and Social Council, Juan Somovia (Chile). Mr. Somovia would speak to correspondents at the end of the noon briefing on the ministerial communique on market access for developing countries that had been issued by the High-Level Segment of the Economic and Social Council.

Stating that the Security Council had had a busy agenda this morning, the Spokesman said that the Council had first taken up the situation in Croatia, focusing on the Prevlaka peninsula, where the United Nations Mission of Observers was operating. Noting that the current mandate would expire on 16 July, he said a draft resolution would be tabled shortly. The Secretary- General had recommended in his report of 26 June a six-month extension of that mandate (document S/1998/578).

The Council then took up the situation in Sierra Leone, discussing the Secretary-General's fifth report on that country in which he recommended the establishment of a United Nations observer mission there, Mr. Eckhard said (document S/1998/486 and Add.1).

He said the third item before the Council had a complicated title --"The responsibility of the Security Council in the maintenance in international peace and security". The unwritten subject of that title was the situation between India and Pakistan. The Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Alvaro de Soto, who had just completed a mission to south Asia, had briefed the Council on his mission. At the time of the briefing, the Council was discussing that item. The Spokesman added that late last night the Secretary-General had submitted to the Council his report on India and Pakistan. That report had been requested by the Council in its resolution of 6 June (Resolution 1172 (1998)).

The Spokesman said the first oil spare parts contract for Iraq had been submitted yesterday to the Committee established by Security Council resolution 661, which oversaw the sanctions on Iraq. Two more applications were expected to be submitted to the Committee today. The United Nations Secretariat was currently processing two additional applications. The Committee had seven days to decide on the applications under the "no objection" procedure. Meanwhile, the Committee was discussing the question of establishing a panel of experts that might be asked to approve oil spare parts applications. The Council had authorized on 19 June $300 million worth of oil spare parts and equipment for the Iraqi oil industry.

Mr. Eckhard said a press release had been issued today in New York by the World Food Programme (WFP) in which the Executive Director, Catherine Bertini, strongly condemned the "vicious and senseless" killing of one of the

agency's workers in northern Uganda yesterday afternoon. According to the release, the staff member, a Ugandan national working as a driver for the WFP in the town of Arua, had been driving back from a WFP office in another town when 12 heavily armed men appeared on the road with a rocket propelled grenade launcher, among other weapons. They had stopped the vehicle, which was clearly marked as a WFP vehicle.

The press release went on to say that the men ordered the driver and a passenger travelling with him out of the vehicle and proceeded to rob them. The passenger managed to escape and ran to seek help. The men dragged the driver to the side of the car and opened fire on him, killing him instantly. They then blew up the vehicle.

Mr. Eckhard said that northern Uganda had become increasingly insecure due to the presence of rebel groups, which had continuously launched attacks on civilians and aid workers. Insecurity in the region had far-reaching implications for the thousands of people that the WFP was trying to assist in Uganda, and also for many famine-struck communities of southern Sudan reached by road from Uganda. The death had brought to two the number of WFP workers killed in northern Uganda this year. Two other WFP staff members were killed by unknown assailants last month in Sudan.

The Spokesman said the Senior Management Group -- the Secretary- General's Cabinet -- had met this morning. The meeting had been delayed by a day this week because of the Secretary-General's meeting yesterday with the Panel of Eminent Persons to visit Algeria. The Secretary-General had briefed the Senior Management Group on his visit to Nigeria and on other matters. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, had reported on the problems of refugees and displaced people in the former Yugoslavia. The report was based on a meeting on that subject which was held on 26 June of the Humanitarian Issues Working Group of the Peace Implementation Council.

Referring to widespread reports this morning in which three wire services and other news organizations had stated that President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt had visited Libya in violation of United Nations sanctions, Mr. Eckhard said "That's just plain wrong". Egypt had asked the sanctions Committee for permission to make the presidential visit by air and the Committee had granted that request yesterday afternoon.

In response to a question asked yesterday about the mission to Albania of the Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Jayantha Dhanapala, Mr. Eckhard said Mr. Dhanapala had submitted his report to the Secretary- General on 2 July. After the Secretary-General approved the report, Mr. Dhanapala would present it to the Government of Albania. The mission had been undertaken at the request of the Albanian Government, which asked for recommendations about how to disarm the civilian population. There had been no General Assembly or Security Council mandate for the report. Thus the publication of the document would depend on the wishes of the Albanian

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Government. The report contained several recommendations on weapons collection and demobilization. Whether Mr. Dhanapala would feel free to brief correspondents on the report depended on the response of the Albanian Government.

He went on to say that yesterday Mr. Dhanapala had briefed a group of interested States on his mission to Albania. That group had been formed several months ago, on the initiative of Germany, to provide political and financial support to weapon collection efforts in Albania. The group, which was chaired by Germany, was basically an open-ended group of interested governments. Twenty-five countries had attended the meeting yesterday.

Asked if it was a United Nations group, the Spokesman explained that the legal basis for the group was General Assembly resolution 52/38G on the subject of consolidation of peace through practical disarmament measures. On those grounds one could say that it was a United Nations group.

Mr. Eckhard then called correspondents' attention to the United Nations Population Award which would be presented today to two winners -- the Sabiny Elders Association of Uganda which had dramatically curtailed female genital mutilation in its area of the country; and Dr. Hugh Wynter of Jamaica, a prominent leader in the Caribbean for family planning programmes. The award ceremony would take place at 5:15 p.m. in the Economic and Social Council Chamber. Each winner would receive a diploma, a gold medal and $12,500.

The award was presented annually in recognition of outstanding contributions to increasing awareness of population problems and solutions, Mr. Eckhard said. Under the United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) guidance, the Sabiny Elders Association had changed the tradition in their community so that girls, instead of being cut to symbolize their entry into womanhood, now received a bracelet during a traditional ceremony.

The Spokesman said that Nicaragua and Bolivia had just signed the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, making a total of 44 signatories. The Protocol needed 55 ratifications to enter into force.

He then called attention to a Press Release from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announcing a meeting in Rome of the inter-agency Eco-system Conservation Group, which was composed of United Nations agencies and research organizations active in the field of biodiversity conservation. This would be the first meeting of the group since 1990 and was part of a refocused effort by UNEP Executive Director Klaus Topfer to provide coordinated input on clusters of environment-related issues, as was recommended in the recent report of the Secretary-General's Task Force on environment and human settlements activities.

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A correspondent said that around 23 delegations had been represented in Libya in the last few days. Had all of those who flew received permission from the sanctions committee?, she asked. Mr. Eckhard said he knew of two cases where there had been visits that were not authorized by the sanctions committee. He did not know about the other cases to which the correspondent had referred. He only knew that Egypt had formally requested and received permission.

Asked on what grounds Egypt had received permission, the Spokesman referred the correspondent to the Committee.

In response to a query about what two cases had not received permission, the Spokesman named Niger and Chad.

Another correspondent asked if the United Nations had been relieved when Croatia lost to France in the World Cup yesterday so that the Croatians would not "kill more Muslims in Mostar and burn more Muslim houses in Stolac" as had occurred when they won in the match against Germany. Mr. Eckhard said that the end of the question raised a serious matter. The UNHCR had been concerned that there could be a repeat of what followed the Croatia-Germany game. He had not heard that there was any violence. If that in fact was the case, then he was indeed relieved.

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