DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19980715
Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, opened today's noon briefing by announcing that the Security Council had begun this morning with the report of the Secretary-General on Western Sahara, which came out on Monday. Members were now hearing Benon Sevan, Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, who was briefing them on his recent visit to Iraq.
They were also expected to take up the report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka, southern Croatia, in which he recommended a further six-month extension of its mandate to 15 January 1999, Mr. Eckhard said. The Council was expected to adopt a resolution granting that extension.
He went on to say that the Council was then expected to take up the Secretary-General's report on the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly his observations regarding the issue of legal reform in the mission area. Those consultations would be followed by a formal meeting.
Under other matters, the Council was expected to get a briefing from the Department of Peacekeeping Operations on an incident in Georgia, he added. It would also consider a letter from the Secretary-General on the upcoming elections of new judges for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
Turning to the Georgia incident, Mr. Eckhard said that late last night, an international civilian staff member of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), was found dead at the doorstep of her apartment in Tbilisi, having sustained gunshot wounds to her head, chest and leg. Maria Magdalena Wewiorska, a 31-year-old Polish national, was working as a secretary to the Special Representative.
He then said that the Secretary-General was in Uruguay; he had met with President Julio Maria Sanguinetti and Foreign Minister Didier Opertti this morning. They discussed Uruguay's contributions to peacekeeping missions, in eight of which that country currently participates. They also talked about United Nations reform, regional trade, Security Council reform and the talks in Rome on the establishment of an International Criminal Court.
The Secretary-General was to attend a lunch hosted by the Foreign Minister, the Spokesman continued. Among other things in his programme for today, he would address a joint meeting of the Uruguayan Parliament on the subject, "Small States and the United Nations". An embargoed copy of that address would be issued in about an hour. (See Press Release SG/SM/6639.)
On the subject of Cambodia, Mr. Eckhard said there would be a background briefing on the subject of the Cambodian elections in room S-226 at 12:45 p.m. today by a senior United Nations official. The text of a statement by the Secretary-General would be distributed to correspondents at that time.
Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 15 July 1998
Referring to the ceasefire announcement by the Sudan People's Liberation Army, he said his Office had a World Food Programme (WFP) statement issued in Nairobi today. The statement welcomed that announcement, which would facilitate the delivery of relief supplies to the hundreds of thousands of southern Sudanese in need of emergency assistance. The WFP statement urged all other parties involved in the war in southern Sudan to take similar initiatives in order to have a meaningful peace agreement. The statement went on to say that the 15-year war in the Sudan was the root cause of suffering in southern Sudan, which had now reached crisis proportions.
Mr. Eckhard said that General Barry MacCaffrey, the United States "Drug Czar", met today with the United Nations "Drug Czar", Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the United Nations Office of Drug Control Programme and Crime Prevention, in Vienna. A note from the Vienna Office on that meeting was available in room S-378.
The Spokesman concluded the briefing by announcing that at 3:30 p.m. today, the Permanent Representative of Poland, Eugeniusz Wyzner, would sign the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, bringing the number of signatories to 47.
Asked by a correspondent whether the Secretary-General had any plans to attend a South Asian summit meeting in Colombo [Sri Lanka] in view of a letter from the Prime Minister of Pakistan urging him to visit Islamabad and New Delhi before the summit, the Spokesman replied that the Secretary-General had no plans to travel to South Asia.
The correspondent said that a South Asia visit by the Secretary-General had already been proposed and that he had confirmed it. Was there any idea of when that would be? There were no dates at this time, Mr. Eckhard said.
Asked for the latest on the likely cause of the plane crash in Côte d'Ivoire which killed the former Special Representative of the Secretary- General for Angola, Alioune Blondin Beye, and seven other persons, he said there was no reason at this time to suspect foul play. However, it was too soon to say anything definitive because the investigation was ongoing. Was there no evidence of sabotage? the correspondent asked in a back-up question. The Spokesman said his Office had checked just this morning and had been told there was none. He did not know how that rumour had started circulating over the last couple of days, but people involved in the investigation had told his Office that there was no reason to believe it.
Another journalist asked if there was anything new on the visit to New York of Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who would be around in the next couple of days. Would a press conference be a possibility? Mr. Eckhard said that her Office had been asked whether she would have time to meet the press while in New York, but she regretted that she would not. It was not possible for the Spokesman's Office to bring her to room S-226 this time.
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