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, began today's noon briefing by welcoming Hans Corell, the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and Legal Counsel. Mr. Eckhard said that after he had made a few announcements, Mr. Corell would discuss the judgement handed down today in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Mr. Eckhard then read out the following statement, available in the Spokesman's Office, which was issued on behalf of the Secretary-General:

"The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has today announced the first-ever judgement on the crime of genocide by an international court. This is a landmark decision in the history of international criminal law. It brings to life, for the first time, the ideals of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted 50 years ago.

"This judgement is a testament to our collective determination to confront the heinous crime of genocide in a way we never have before. It is a defining example of the ability of the United Nations to establish an effective international legal order and the rule of law.

"Let us never again be accused of standing by while genocide and crimes against humanity are being committed.

"I am sure that I speak for the entire international community when I express the hope that this judgement will contribute to the long-term process of national reconciliation in Rwanda. For there can be no healing without peace, there can be no peace without justice, and there can be no justice without respect for human rights and the rule of law." (See today's Press Release SG/SM/6687-L/2896.)

Also available in the Spokesman's Office was a statement on the Rwanda judgement from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Eckhard said. A 20-page summary of the judgement was also available in the Spokesman's Office. A summary had been made of the document because the judgement itself was about 300 pages long. The judgement would appear in its entirety on the Internet for the "legal beagles" who wanted to get into the fine print. A press release from the Arusha Tribunal was also available upstairs.

The Secretary-General was attending the twelfth Summit of the Non- Aligned Movement today through Friday and was now not expected back in New York until Saturday, Mr. Eckhard said. In the margins of the meeting, he was consulting with heads of State and government on a number of pressing issues.

The main item on his agenda for today was the situation in the Democratic Repbulic of the Congo.

At this very moment, Mr. Eckhard said, the Secretary-General was meeting informally with the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Laurent Kabila. Earlier, he had met with President Robert G. Mugabe of Zimbabwe. President Mugabe had earlier been delegated to speak to the Secretary-General by a group of nations which had met on the subject of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. That group had included the Presidents of Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Namibia, in addition to Zimbabwe.

Later today, the Secretary-General would be meeting with another cluster -- the Presidents of Uganda and Rwanda -- on the subject, the Spokesman said. He would then meet with a third cluster, the Presidents of Mozambique, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia. The Secretary-General also met today with the Foreign Minister of Egypt, Amre Moussa, with whom he discussed the situations in Libya and Iraq. He also met with the President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore -- who was also the current President of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) -- and met informally with the President of Colombia, Ernesto Samper Pizano, and the Prime Minister of India, Inder Kumar Gujral.

Mr. Eckhard said that copies of the Secretary-General's address to the Non-Aligned Movement Summit were available. In that speech, he noted that globalization had raised living standards for many, but it also threatened to leave a large portion of the world behind. While the processes of global change could not be fought, they could and must be managed, he had said.

The Secretary-General had called for industrialized countries to open up their markets to the developing world, Mr. Eckhard continued. He had expressed concern about the deteriorating situation in parts of Africa, especially the Democratic Republic of the Congo. "We Africans must summon the will to solve our problems by political, not military, means", the Secretary-General said. "For every day that we fail to do so, the innocent people of this continent pay a terrible price."

Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General had also deplored terrorism and said the idea of a world conference to combat that scourge should be seriously considered.

The Security Council was not meeting today, the Spokesman went on to say. Its programme of work for September would be discussed tomorrow in informal consultations beginning at 10:30 a.m.

There was a press release available upstairs from the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), with details on progress made today in the Coordinating Council of the Georgian and Abkhaz sides, Mr. Eckhard said. That was a meeting that had been announced yesterday.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 2 September 1998

The Spokesman said that the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) was gravely concerned by the decision of the Government of Angola to suspend four ministers and seven deputy ministers of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). They were also concerned by the National Assembly's request to the Supreme Court for a ruling on the suspension of 70 UNITA deputies. The Observer Mission was urgently seeking clarification from the Government. It was also consulting with the troika on the developments, which further jeopardized attempts to get the peace process back on track. The Secretary-General had been informed of these developments in Durban, where he was scheduled to meet today with Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, today issued a statement on Kosovo, Mr. Eckhard said. That text was available upstairs.

Three of the four suspects in the killing last month of four staff members of the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) have been delivered to the Tajik capital of Dushanbe for further investigation, Mr. Eckhard said. The Government must now determine whether or not they were guilty.

There was news today from the United Nations Security Coordinator's Office that Norway had become the first country to make a contribution to the trust fund for the security of United Nations personnel. The contribution was for $100,000 and would be used to fund mobile training teams consisting of security experts and stress counselors at a number of duty stations worldwide where staff security was or could be an issue. The Security Coordinator's Office said it had identified the staff of Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan as the first group to receive such training. The location had yet to be determined, but they were aiming to begin in November of this year.

A joint United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) press release was available on the racks today, the Spokesman went on to say. It announced that a new international convention and trade in hazardous chemicals and pesticides would be adopted and signed by ministers and senior officials from countries all over the world in a meeting in Rotterdam from 10 to 11 September. The legally binding treaty would reduce environmental and health risks and protect millions of farmers, workers and consumers in developing countries. Under the treaty, chemical exporters were obliged to provide extensive information on a chemical's potential health and environmental dangers.

Today, Argentina had signed the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, Mr. Eckhard said. There were now 29 signatories to that Convention.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 2 September 1998

Mr. Eckhard then announced that Stan Bernstein, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) senior research adviser and author of the State of the World Population report for 1998, was present and would be willing to talk to correspondents at the conclusion of the briefing.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for General Assembly President Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), said the President had been gratified to learn of the announcement of the first judgement in a case of genocide, by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. He felt it was an historic event and, coming as it did on the heels of the creation of the International Criminal Court, was a major step towards creating an international system of law and order. (A statement on behalf of the President of the General Assembly was later issued as Press Release GA/SM/56- L/2897.)

On the same general subject, Mr. Taukatch said he had been receiving questions about General Assembly action on the election of judges to the Tribunal. He said a decision on that matter had been deferred until the fifty-third session of the Assembly, because the Security Council had decided to extend the deadline for nominations of candidates for judges for the three Trial Chambers for the Rwanda Tribunal.

Because he had been receiving many questions regarding the conclusion of the current Assembly session and the beginning of the next, Mr. Taukatch said he wished to remind correspondents that the fifty-second session would conclude on the morning of 8 September, and the fifty-third session would begin on the afternoon of 9 September.

Mr. Taukatch said he would provide more information on Friday. In the meantime, correspondents' attention was drawn to document A/53/100 -- the annotated preliminary list of items to be included in the fifty-third session. That would help them to see what was on the plate for the upcoming Assembly session.

A correspondent asked a question about the Secretary-General's mention of a high-level summit on globalization at the General Assembly. Mr. Taukatch said it would be one of the important events taking place during the beginning of the fifty-third session. From 17 to 18 September, there would be a high- level dialogue on the theme, "The Social and Economic Impact of Globalization and Interdependence and Their Policy Implications". The President of the Assembly attached great importance to the event and had sent a letter to the Secretary-General, as well as Member States, asking for ministerial-level representation at the event, Mr. Taukatch added.

A correspondent asked for an update on the situation in Angola following the Secretary-General's meeting with President dos Santos. Mr. Eckhard said he was not sure there was anything more to say. The situation there was being watched very closely, and the Security Council had been briefed on what was known.

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 2 September 1998

Was Prakash Shah, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General in Baghdad, going back to Baghdad? Mr. Eckhard was asked. He said he would have to check. The Special Envoy would, of course, be going back at some point as it was his base of operations. To the Spokesman's knowledge, Mr. Shah would not be returning with any special message. There had been a press report out of Iraq this morning regarding a statement by the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, Tarik Aziz, but no guidance had been received on what the Secretary-General's reaction to that might be, should that message be formally communicated to him.

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