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 by reading out the following statement on Guinea-Bissau, attributable to the Spokesman:

"The Secretary-General continues to be concerned about the situation in Guinea-Bissau and has been following recent developments closely. The Secretary-General welcomes the recent announcement of a truce in Guinea- Bissau, and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Government and the self-proclaimed Junta forces under the auspices of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP). The Secretary-General renews his call for the early restoration of constitutional order. He also appeals to all parties to respect international humanitarian law and principles and to make every effort to facilitate the free flow of humanitarian assistance to affected populations." (Statement appears in Press Release SG/SM/6660-AFR/86 issued 31 July.)

While the Security Council was not meeting today, Portugal, a Council member, had organized this morning, an "arria formula" meeting with the Foreign Minister of Cape Verde, José Luis Jesus, on the subject of Guinea- Bissau, Mr. Brandt continued. That would take place in Conference Room 7. Meanwhile, Slovenia would take over tomorrow the Security Council Presidency for the month of August.

Mr. Brandt said that this morning in Geneva, the Spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had updated correspondents on the situation in Kosovo. A UNHCR team yesterday had tracked down about 500 people who had fled Malisevo after Serbian forces had entered the village earlier in the week. They were mostly women and children -- including five newborn babies -- huddled in groups of about 20 in the woods. There were reportedly several thousand more people in the woods and UNHCR was organizing a relief convoy to the area.

On Angola, the UNHCR office in Windhoek, Namibia, had reported that several dozen Angolan refugees had crossed the border in the past few days, Mr. Brandt continued.

The UNHCR spokesman had also briefed correspondents on the situation in Sierra Leone, reporting that battles in the north-east of the country between rebels and the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG) had apparently caused fresh large population movements. The UNHCR briefing notes were available in room S-378. Just before the briefing, the Spokesman's Office had been alerted to the fact that there was apparently new fighting in Sierra Leone, he went on to

say. Large numbers of casualties were being reported. Correspondents would be updated as soon as more information was received.

The Senior Associate Spokesman said that yesterday, the United Nations High-level Panel on Algeria, presided over by former Portuguese President Mario Soares, had visited Bouihi where 12 civilians had been massacred during the nights of 25 and 26 July. Two women and three girls had also been abducted. The Panel members had been briefed by military authorities on that attack and had gone to the site itself where they had seen evidence of material damage. They had met with survivors who had given an account of what had happened.

In the afternoon, the Panel had gone to Oran, where they had met with representatives of the population there, Mr. Brandt continued. Today the Panel was scheduled to visit Tizi-Ouzou in the morning and Bejaia in the afternoon. A press release in French was available in room S-378 and an English version was expected later.

Also on Algeria, he added, the final observations of the Human Rights Committee regarding the periodic reports submitted by Algeria had been received from Geneva. The observations had been made public today at 1 p.m., Geneva time, and the full text was available in room S-378. (Later, the Spokesman's Office received and released the Human Rights Committee's concluding observations on The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Israel, Italy, United Republic of Tanzania and Ecuador.)

Mr. Brandt then reported that Slovenia had made a payment today of more than $600,000 to the United Nations regular budget, becoming the eighty-fourth Member State to pay its contributions in full. The overall outstanding contributions was over $2.3 billion, of which more than $0.8 billion was outstanding for the regular budget, over $1.4 million was outstanding for peacekeeping operations and under $0.1 billion was outstanding for international tribunals.

He noted that on this day last year, 78 Member States had paid their contributions in full to the United Nations. Copies of the so-called "Honour Roll", indicating which countries had paid in full this year, were available in the Spokesman's Office.

On treaty signatures and ratifications, the Senior Associate Spokesman said that the United Kingdom had ratified today, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Landmines. That brought the number of parties to the Convention to 29. The Convention would enter into force after 40 ratifications. Ambassador Ole Peter Kolby of Norway would sign this afternoon, the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, which was adopted by the General Assembly on 15 December last year, Mr. Brandt said. That signature brought the number of signatories parties to 27.

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He said that today the Economic and Social Council was scheduled to finish its 1998 substantive session. The Council was acting on a number of draft resolutions, including one dealing with suggested guidelines for addressing the year 2000 problem of computers. That draft was on the racks today.

This had been an important year for Council, he added. During the current session, the Council had adopted its first ministerial communique addressing market access for developing countries in the context of globalization and liberalization.

Pursuing the goal of United Nations reform, the Council had decreased the number of members on one of its subsidiary bodies on the Commission on Science and Technology for development from 53 to 33, he continued. The Economic and Social Council had also been able to combine the mandates of two other subsidiary bodies to form the new Commission on Energy and Natural Resources for Development. Those decisions were expected to result in a saving of more than $152,000 for the United Nations. The draft text (document E/1998/L.35) and the text of a statement by the President of Economic and Social Council, Juan Somavia (Chile), were on the racks.

Mr. Brandt then said that a press release had been received from the World Food Programme (WFP) announcing that displaced Sudanese arriving in Wau, who were too malnourished and weak to prepare food for themselves, would be given cooked meals every day through a special feeding programme launched this week. The press release was available in room S-378.

Also available in room S-378 was a press release indicating that the Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Rafeeuddin Ahmed, and the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, would sign an agreement today to strengthen cooperation between the two organizations on initiatives promoting sustainable development.

The Senior Associate Spokesman concluded the briefing by announcing that Nane Annan would open a programme at noon on Monday, 3 August, in observance of Friendship Day. That would happen at the Visitors' Plaza. The observance would include a concert co-sponsored by the Department of Public Information (DPI) and Disney Consumer Products, a division of Disney Enterprises, Inc.; performances by Kathie Lee Gifford, co-host of the ABC talk show "LIVE with Regis and Kathie Lee"; and Disney recording artists Marco Marinangeli and Tyler Collins. Disney characters Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore would make appearances.

Last year on Friendship Day, Mrs. Annan had presented Winnie the Pooh with the honorary title "Ambassador of Friendship", Mr. Brandt continued. This year Pooh and Ms. Gifford would join Mrs. Annan in unveiling the Global Pooh Friendship Flag, which was made up of winning entries in an art contest sponsored by Disney. The contest was open to children and adults in the

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United States and six other countries. Entrants had been invited to submit original pieces depicting friendship, and the special role played in their friendship by Winnie the Pooh. Each of the winners, ranging in age from 4 to 75, and who came from Australia, Japan, Mexico and the United States, had been awarded a trip to New York City with his or her best friend, including a visit to the United Nations. The winners would be present in the audience.

A correspondent asked whether any country had signed the statute of new International Criminal Court since the 25 who had signed in Rome. Mr. Brandt replied that a question on that subject had been asked yesterday and he did not know that any other country had signed since the last figure was given. Nothing had changed since last Friday when Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, had given an update. The Office of Legal Affairs had informed the Spokesman's Office that no new signatures had come in.

Another correspondent asked if the Office of the Spokesman could ensure that journalists were shown today, the video of atrocities committed against civilians by rebel fighters in Sierra Leone. Mr. Brandt said the Spokesman's Office had tried yesterday to open up the Special Conference on Sierra Leone, at the time of the screening, for the many journalists who had shown interest, but the effort had been unsuccessful.

Requests to the Sierra Leone Mission for a copy of the tape for screening on the in-house television system had also been unsuccessful, he added. Mission officials had said that interested journalists could deal directly with the Mission which would see what could be done.

Why was the video screening closed when the speeches at the outset of Special Conference had been open? the correspondent asked. Mr. Brandt told her that the Spokesman's Office had tried to help the press in that respect, but the video was the property of the Mission. Efforts would be made to have a private screening for journalists. The video was rather gruesome and the images quite sickening.

Another correspondent asked whether the Secretary-General had been informed of allegations that Portugal was supporting the rebellion in Guinea- Bissau. The Senior Associate Spokesman referred him to the opening statement on Guinea-Bissau. The Secretary-General was appealing to both parties to that conflict to respect international humanitarian law and principles, and to make every effort to facilitate the free flow of humanitarian assistance to affected populations. He welcomed the fact that was going to happen.

The journalist then asked how fair a peace process could be if one of the parties to it was accused of supporting a party to the conflict. Mr. Brandt spoke of the Secretary-General's concern, which was why he had issued a statement on the matter. Correspondents should wait for developments.

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Mr. Brandt then said that the Secretary-General was away from Headquarters today, having left late yesterday for a retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with the President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn. He was expected back in New York on Monday.

Another correspondent asked if there was any reaction to calls made in Australia for the Secretary-General's personal involvement in the situation in Myanmar. Mr. Brandt replied that the Secretary-General had expressed his intention to send Alvaro de Soto, the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, to Myanmar in the not-too-distant future to continue discussions with the Government on the human rights situation there and to prepare a report as mandated by the General Assembly.

The Secretary-General was in touch with all parties concerned regarding the sending of the Secretary-General's envoy, he continued. No date had yet been set, but it was understood from Mr. de Soto that plans were being prepared for him to go to Myanmar sometime late in September or early in October.

Given that the Secretary-General's personal involvement was being sought, did sending Mr. de Soto qualify? the journalist asked. Mr. Brandt said Mr. de Soto was the Secretary-General's Envoy and sending him would qualify as involvement by the Secretary-General, short of him, the Secretary- General, going there himself.

By his statement on the latest human rights violations in Myanmar, the Secretary-General had merely associated himself with the statement of Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, another journalist said. Had there been actual contacts between Myanmar and the United Nations? The Senior Associate Spokesman answered that he was not at liberty to disclose the type of communication the Secretary-General or Mr. de Soto had been having on the matter, but contacts and conversations were going on among different individuals concerning the situation in Myanmar.

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