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, began today's noon briefing by reading a statement that would be available at his office and issued as a press release.

According to the statement, the Secretary-General had been closely following with great concern the serious developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which threatened the stability of the region and further compromised its reconstruction and development. The Secretary-General reaffirmed the need to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and called for regional leaders to do their utmost to prevent the crisis from widening and to promote a peaceful settlement. He also appealed to all concerned in that country to refrain from acts of persecution, harassment or discrimination against any segment of the population and to respect the human rights of all. The Secretary-General would remain available to contribute to the restoration of peace and stability in the region in any way deemed useful.

Mr. Brandt then read out a communique that was the result of the talks on East Timor that began yesterday and which were about to be concluded at the time of the briefing. He recommended that correspondents read the document so that they would be prepared for senior officials on the question of East Timor who were expected at the noon briefing. Those officials would explain a little more about the communique and answer some of the pertinent questions that the press would have on the far-reaching developments that would be generated by the talks.

According to the communique, Mr. Brandt continued, on 4 and 5 August, the Secretary-General held meetings in New York on the question of East Timor with the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Indonesia and Portugal, Ali Alatas and Jaime Gama, respectively. The meetings took place in an open, cordial and constructive atmosphere and a number of points had emerged. The Ministers agreed to hold in-depth discussions on Indonesia's proposals for a special status, based on wide-ranging autonomy, for East Timor without prejudice to their basic positions. For that purpose, they requested their senior officials to intensify discussions under the chairmanship of the Secretary- General's Personal Representative and to report to the Ministerial meeting at an early date. It was hoped that an agreement could be reached on the issue before the end of the year.

Continuing, Mr. Brandt said that the Ministers agreed to involve the East Timorese more closely in the search for a solution. In that connection, they welcomed the Secretary-General's intention to intensify consultations with East Timorese representatives in East Timor and outside, individually or in groups, in order to take into account their views and to keep them abreast of developments in the tripartite talks. The Ministers also discussed other aspects of the East Timor issue. They took note of the recent positive

developments in Indonesia with respect to the question of the Territory, in particular the Indonesian Government's intention to further gradually reduce the level of its military presence there and to expedite the release of East Timorese political prisoners. They agreed to continue consideration of those and other related aspects of the question.

According to the communique, the Ministers agreed that the All-inclusive Intra-East Timorese Dialogue should resume by October, Mr. Brandt continued. The Ministers agreed to establish interest sections in friendly embassies in each other's capitals by the end of 1998, and to relax their visa policies towards each other's nationals. The next Senior Official's Meeting of the two sides under the chairmanship of the Personal Representative of the Secretary- General would take place in New York by the end of September.

Mr. Brandt said the Security Council met this morning to receive a briefing by the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, on the situation in Afghanistan and Burundi. As mentioned yesterday, the Council would take up Iraq tomorrow to hear a report from the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) on the disposal of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, Richard Butler, on his talks in Baghdad.

Mr. Brandt said that this morning the Secretary-General chaired the Senior Management Group meeting that took place every week. The main item on the agenda was a presentation by Under-Secretary-General for Management Joseph E. Connor on the budget for the biennium 2000-2001. Geneva was represented by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata; the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Rubens Ricupero; the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson; and the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Vladimir Petrovsky; while the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Catherine Bertini, was there from Rome. The usual group of Under- and Assistant Secretaries-General was there from the Organization's various departments and agencies in New York.

After the budget issue was discussed, a tour de table took place and a number of issues were discussed, including Iraq, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and the question of East Timor, Mr. Brandt continued.

The Permanent Representative of Zambia, Peter Kasanda, this morning had signed the Kyoto Protocol to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was adopted on 11 December 1997, Mr. Brandt informed correspondents. That brought the number of signatory parties to 49. There were, however, no ratification as yet.

Mr. Brandt then introduced the Secretary-General, the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia and Portugal, Ali Alatas and Jaime Gama, and Ambassador Jamsheed Marker of Pakistan, who is the Personal Representative of the Secretary- General for East Timor. (The transcript of the press conference by the three senior officials is being issued separately.)

Following the press conference, Mr. Brandt said that two situation reports on natural disasters had been sent by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and were available in the Spokesman's Office. One report was an assessment of the situation in the Republic of Korea after the floods that occurred in the last few days in the south-eastern and south- western areas of the country, which had killed 54 people. Another 47 people were missing and 711 had been resettled. Houses and farmland had also been heavily affected by the floods. The other report was about the earthquake that hit the north-east Pacific coast of Ecuador yesterday afternoon.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 5 August 1998

Preliminary information indicated that 40 homes and a few buildings had collapsed. Fortunately, no losses in human lives had been reported so far.

The status of outstanding contributions as of 31 July had been received by the Spokesman's Office and the detailed list was available in Room 378, Mr. Brandt told correspondents. For the regular budget the United Nations was owed more than $850 million. More than $25 million was owed for the International Tribunals budget and close to $1.5 billion for the peacekeeping budget. A document listing the status of contributions as of 31 July had also been received. That also dealt with peacekeeping operations. As it was a very thick document, there was a reference-only copy in Room 378.

Mr. Brandt informed correspondents that the latest issue of "Development Update" was available on the racks since yesterday. It was also on the Internet on the United Nations Home Page (www.un.org/News/devupdate). Among other interesting articles, the issue had a feature on how corporations viewed environmentalism. There was also a useful summary of what the General Assembly had pledged to do to counter the world drug problem at its recent special session.

A correspondent wanted to know whether the Secretary-General had issued any further comment on the calls from within Iraq again for non-cooperation with the inspectors of UNSCOM. Mr. Brandt said that nothing further had been said by the Secretary-General despite him being "haunted by many of you waiting behind the scenes and trying to ambush him to get him to say something". He would not do so until he had a chance to meet with Mr. Butler and hear what he had to say. There was a possibility of that happening this afternoon. Mr. Brandt also reminded correspondents that Mr. Butler would also meet with the Security Council tomorrow.

When asked if the Secretary-General would say something after the meeting with Mr. Butler today, Mr. Brandt said that he would not bet on that. He reminded correspondents that the Secretary-General would be leaving for Portugal late today so it would be best for them to wait and see what would happen.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 5 August 1998

(Later in the day, Mr. Brandt told correspondents that the Secretary- General had decided to postpone his travel plans for 24 hours in order to participate in tomorrow's Security Council consultations and to be present during the briefing that Mr. Butler would give to that body on the question of Iraq.)

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Note: In yesterday's noon briefing, on page 4, paragraph 5, line 5, the sentence beginning with "So far", should read as follows: "So far, 34 contracts for spare parts had been received, including 15 in the last week.