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, started today's noon briefing by reporting that the Special Conference on Sierra Leone had begun this morning with the Secretary-General's opening statement, the text of which was available in room S-378.

The Conference would continue all day in the Trusteeship Council Chamber, Mr. Brandt said. Although the meeting had been closed, correspondents had heard the statements by the Secretary-General, President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone and others. The programme of activities for the conference was also available in the Spokesman's Office.

Mr. Brandt went on to say that in his statement, the Secretary-General had mentioned the challenges facing Sierra Leone in building a lasting foundation for national reconciliation, reconstruction and rehabilitation. More immediate, however, was the challenge of establishing genuine peace and security throughout the country. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG) had played an important role in assisting Sierra Leone's efforts to oust the former ruling military junta, restore democratic order and re-establish basic security.

As part of his opening remarks, the Secretary-General had said: "In this fighting, horrific attacks have been carried out against civilians, including children, that shame all humanity. Since last March, 500 victims of mutilations, including amputations, have been admitted to hospitals. And they may be the lucky ones. It has been estimated that for every one victim able to attain assistance, four or five civilians have died or remain in the bush, terrified of meeting another human being.

"I call in the strongest terms on the remaining forces of the junta and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) to respond to the appeals of the Government and the international community to lay down their arms, and without further delay.

"This is the time to put the past behind them and put the future first, and to join in the process of national reconciliation. The long years of fighting have shown that no one, truly no one, gains from war.

"Sierra Leone today is faced with enormous military, political, humanitarian and developmental challenges. There is no denying or diminishing the obstacles of violence, corruption and hatred that must be overcome if peace is to endure. That is why I convened this Special Conference -- to focus international attention on the situation and to ensure that we attack the problems with a collective unity of purpose."

On a related matter, Mr. Brandt said that the text was available of a statement to the Special Conference on Sierra Leone by Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy. In her remarks, Ms. Bellamy had said that Sierra Leone's recovery must begin with a commitment by all parties to protect child soldiers. The expression of that commitment must begin even before they laid down their arms, as well as during troop demobilization and their reintegration into society. The UNICEF welcomed the announcement by Sierra Leone's Vice-President, Alfred Demby, of a general amnesty for all child combatants. The Vice-President had also reiterated the Government's pledge to establish a task force for their demobilization and reintegration into society.

On another subject, Mr. Brandt said that the Security Council had begun work today at 11 a.m. First, it had taken up the mandate of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG). A draft resolution had been printed in blue last night. That had been followed by a briefing by Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, on the situation in the Sudan. That briefing had initially been scheduled for yesterday, but postponed until today.

The Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hédi Annabi, would also brief the Council on the preliminary assessment into the plane crash that had killed the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Angola, Alioune Blondin Beye, and his aides, Mr. Brandt added. The Council would then take formal action on UNOMIG and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), essentially extending their mandates for a further six months.

Regarding the plane crash which had killed all eight people on board, including Mr. Beye, on 26 June, he said that the gist of the preliminary assessment by the United Nations was the following: "At this point in the investigation, which is being led by the National Civil Aviation Agency of Côte d'Ivoire, no evidence has emerged of either an explosion or fire prior to impact. However, laboratory examination of critical components of the aircraft is still continuing. The National Civil Aviation Agency of Côte d'Ivoire has stated that it will take six months or longer to complete their initial report on the accident. "A United Nations-chartered light utility aircraft, Beech 200, departed Lome, Togo, at approximately 18:00 hours local time on 26 June. At approximately 19:47 hours local time the same day, it crashed while making an approach to land. Several communications took place between the aircraft and the Abidjan airport traffic control tower between 19:30 and 19:46. These communications gave no indication that the flight was proceeding in other than the normal manner. In accordance with international airworthiness regulations, this type of aircraft was not required to be equipped with either a cockpit voice recorder or a flight data recorder, the so-called "black box". Both the aircraft's operator and the manufacturer have confirmed that neither device was installed in the aircraft."

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Mr. Brandt then said that the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Human Rights in Cambodia, Thomas Hammarberg, had issued a statement today expressing his serious concerns over the situation in Cambodia. Mr. Hammarberg had said that it was essential that the Government tackle that situation as a matter of priority. It was equally important that the international community retain a firm commitment to human rights in Cambodia, both through its words and through practical assistance.

The Senior Associate Spokesman added that Mr. Hammarberg had emphasized the importance of non-governmental action for human rights, as well as his concern about proposed restrictive legislation on the funding and operations of non-governmental organizations. The complete text of that statement was available in room S-378.

Mr. Brandt announced that towards the end of next week the Secretary- General would visit Portugal, where he would speak at the closing ceremony of the Third Session of World Youth Forum of the United Nations system in Braga, Portugal, just north of the city of Porto. He would also attend the First World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth, to be held in Lisbon from 8 to 12 August. The Secretary-General would also visit Expo '98.

He would meet with staff and volunteers at the United Nations Pavilion at the Expo and would also see the landmines exhibit currently at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) pavilion, Mr. Brandt continued. During his visit, the Secretary-General would also deliver a speech to the Independent Commission on the Oceans at the Mario Soares Foundation.

In that connection, he added, the Department of Public Information (DPI) was launching at 3 p.m. today the United Nations website for the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth. The website would be updated daily throughout the conference to enable anyone interested to follow the discussions. It would include the daily programme of the conference, statements, press releases, documents, photographs and audio news. Background information about the conference was already available on the site.

Mr. Brandt went on to say that the website also contained information about the World Youth Forum. The website address was available from the Spokesman's Office.

On treaty signatures, he said that Ambassador Vladimir Galuska of the Czech Republic had signed yesterday afternoon, the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings. That Convention had been adopted by the General Assembly on 15 December last year. Yesterday's signing brought the number of signatories to 26.

The Senior Associate Spokesman said that the World Food Programme (WFP) had today welcomed the ceasefire in Guinea-Bissau and urged the Government and

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 30 July 1998

rebel forces to guarantee safe passage by land, air and sea of emergency food aid to hundreds of people displaced by the conflict in that country. The WFP press release was available in the Office of the Spokesman.

Mr. Brandt then reminded correspondents about the press conference in room S-226, at about 12:45 p.m., by movie star Michael Douglas. Mr. Douglas would earlier be appointed a United Nations Messenger of Peace by the Secretary-General. Since yesterday, a copy of his "bio", as well as a background note on the Messengers of Peace Citation, had been available in room S-378.

He announced that tomorrow at 11:15 a.m., the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) would host a press conference entitled "A Life Free of Violence is Key to Africa's Sustainable Development". That conference would launch a campaign to eliminate violence against women in Africa. A background note would be available in the Spokesman's Office later.

A correspondent asked for information on a WFP press release mentioned at Monday's briefing concerning drought in Cuba. Mr. Brandt said nothing further had been received from United Nations humanitarian agencies.

He told another journalist that he had nothing on the meeting late yesterday afternoon between the Secretary-General and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Sadako Ogata. He said he assumed the correspondent wanted more comments than what the Secretary-General had said yesterday at his press conference here on the Financial Times article. However, he said he had no particular read-out.

That meeting was already arranged, he added, as Mrs. Ogata was visiting New York as a participant in the heads of regional organizations meeting. However, he said he did not have anything further on that. She was still in New York, participating in the Special Conference on Sierra Leone. The UNHCR would issue, or already had issued, a statement in Geneva on the Financial Times article.

Was there anything from the UNHCR press conference in Geneva? the same correspondent asked. Mr. Brandt said he did not have that text. The Spokesman's Office would look into it and give him whatever could be found. Another correspondent asked whether there had been any photo opportunities involving Mrs. Ogata and the Secretary-General yesterday afternoon. Mr. Brandt said that Mrs. Ogata normally met quite frequently with the Secretary-General when she was in New York or when he was in Geneva. It had not been found necessary to organize a photo opportunity. By the time the press had asked the Spokesman's Office to organize one, it had been too late to put together the necessary elements. The same journalist asked for an update on signatories to the Statute of the International Criminal Court. How many countries had signed after the 26

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recent signatures in Rome? The latest update had been given to correspondents last Friday, Mr. Brandt responded. He had not seen a new figure since then, but he would check and the correspondent would get whatever was available.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for General Assembly President Hennadiy Udovenko, said the Assembly was expected to take up this afternoon, an important issue of United Nations reform. At 3 p.m., it would meet in informal consultations of the plenary -- closed-door consultations -- to discuss the question of time limits of new initiatives, the so-called "sunset" provisions. If consultations went ahead as planned, the Assembly would then hold a formal meeting of the plenary to adopt a decision on that matter. Mr. Taukatch said he did not know the exact time when that would happen, but he would try to keep correspondents informed on progress, and on when to expect a formal meeting. The informal session would be in Conference Room 3, which would also be the venue of any eventual open plenary meeting. Should there be an open meeting, television coverage would be provided. Reminding correspondents of the roots of the time limits proposal, Mr. Taukatch said that the Secretary-General had recommended in his report of 14 July 1997 on "Renewing the United Nations: a programme for reform" (document A/51/950), that each new initiative involving new organizational structures and/or major commitments of funds be subjected to specific time limits, by which time it would be reviewed and renewed only by explicit General Assembly action. The purpose of the proposal was to strengthen the role and capacity of the United Nations by focusing its efforts only on activities that had continuing relevance, usefulness and effectiveness. Mr. Taukatch said that during General Assembly informal consultations on the matter, questions had arisen which had been sent to the Secretary-General for clarification. In response, the Secretary-General had issued a note on 16 July (document A/52/851), in which he provided additional information. That note states, in part, that the proposed time limits are intended to apply not to the Organization's objectives but to programmatic activities and the organizational structures established to achieve those objectives. The spokesman added that on the initiative of the Assembly President, a briefing had also been organized for Member States by a senior official from the Secretary-General's Office. At today's informal consultations, Mr. Taukatch said, the Assembly would have before it draft decision (A/52/L.78). Meanwhile, the President of the General Assembly was continuing consultations on the report of the working group on Security Council reform, Mr. Taukatch said. He had met with the bureau of that group this morning and another meeting was scheduled for tomorrow. The group's final meeting had been scheduled for 24 August and it was expected that it would adopt its report. That report would then be presented to the General Assembly for approval.

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The spokesman concluded his briefing by announcing that Mr. Udovenko was preparing for his trip to Lebanon. He would be leaving for Beirut over the weekend at the official invitation of the Government of Lebanon. He would meet with the country's top leadership, including the President, the Prime Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Speaker of Parliament. As part of his programme in Lebanon, the Assembly President would also visit the headquarters of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and the United Nations House, the spokesman said.

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