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 reporting that the Secretary-General had presided over a Senior Management Group meeting this morning. The discussion had focused on what was to be expected from the forthcoming fifty-third session of the General Assembly, to be opened this afternoon.

A press conference by the President of the new Assembly would be held tomorrow, Thursday, 10 September, at 11 a.m. in room 226, he added. It was understood that a decision had been made on a spokesman for the President, subject to his election this afternoon. That announcement would probably be made by the end of today.

Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General had marked International Peace Day this morning by ringing the Peace Bell in the United Nations garden. In his remarks, the text of which had been out since Friday, the Secretary- General said, "Too many parts of the world are at war. The sanctity of life -- the very basis of human coexistence -- is being violated by political and military leaders who exploit division to advance their own agendas with no regard for the cost in human loss and suffering". The full text of that statement was available on the racks.

Turning to Security Council matters, Mr. Eckhard said that the Council was being briefed by the Secretary-General on his visit to South Africa, where he had attended the twelfth Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. The focus of that briefing would be the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Secretary- General had said he would take questions at the stand-up microphone when he had finished briefing the Council.

Prior to the Secretary-General's briefing, the Council had met in formal session to consider the draft annual report of the Security Council to the General Assembly, the Spokesman continued. That session had begun with a minute of silence in memory of the United Nations victims of the Swissair disaster. The Council members would resume their consultations at 4 p.m., following suspension of the fifty-third General Assembly, which would open at 3 p.m. The focus of those consultations would be the draft resolution on Iraq.

Returning to the Swissair incident, Mr. Eckhard said that his Office had been asked yesterday if anyone would be representing the United Nations at a memorial service to be held by the Canadian Government in Halifax this evening. The Assistant Secretary-General for External Relations, Gillian Martin Sorensen, would represent the Secretary-General at that event, which would take place at 6 p.m. President Flavio Cotti of Switzerland, as well as Prime Minister Jean Chretien of Canada and Mrs. Chretien, were expected to attend the service, which was understood to be taking place in Indian Harbour.

On a different subject, Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General welcomed the announcement by the Head of State of Nigeria, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, that his Government had dropped charges against all Nigerian exiles in order to facilitate their return and participation in the political and economic development of the country. The Secretary-General also welcomed the release by the Nigerian authorities of the 20 Ogoni activists detained without trial since 1994. The Secretary-General continued to be encouraged by the positive actions taken by General Abubakar to restore confidence in government institutions and facilitate a democratic transition to civilian rule by 29 May 1999. The text of that statement would be available in the Office of the Spokesman.

Mr. Eckhard then told correspondents that a summary of the weekly update from the Office of the Iraq programme was also available in the Spokesman's Office.

He then reported that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, had arrived in Chengdu, south-west China, on her way to Lhasa, Tibet, where she would arrive tomorrow on what was considered a historic mission.

Also on China, the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team deployed to that country on Monday had visited officials in that area yesterday, he continued. Details of that, as well as a handout, could be obtained from the Spokesman's Office.

Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General's report containing recommendations regarding the future role of the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) had been expected today. However, it was understood that there had been a delay and it would instead come out tomorrow, 10 September.

The Spokesman said that the Secretary-General's Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, would be visiting the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia starting tomorrow, 10 September. He would meet in Belgrade with senior government officials to discuss, among other things, the impact of the ongoing situation in the province of Kosovo. The Special Representative would then proceed on Friday to Kosovo, where he would meet with local officials and assess the situation and needs of children affected by the violence. He was expected to leave Pristina, Kosovo, on the evening of Saturday, 12 September.

Mr. Eckhard then announced that a documentary film, Dying to Tell the Story, about journalists who risked their lives to cover conflict, would have its New York premiere tomorrow, 10 September, at United Nations Headquarters. The screening would take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Trusteeship Council Chamber. Dan Rather, the anchor and managing editor of CBS News in the United

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States, would moderate a panel discussion following the screening. The panellists would include Bernard Shaw, principal anchor of Cable News Network (CNN); Mohamed Shaffi, a Reuters cameraman; David Hume Kennerly, a photojournalist for Newsweek; Amy Eldon, associate producer of Dying to Tell the Story; and Kyra Thompson, the director of the film.

That event was co-sponsored by the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI), the Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) Superstation and the Overseas Press Club of America, the Spokesman added. Correspondents without invitations would be admitted to the press gallery on presentation of a grounds pass.

He then quipped that the Spokesman's Office was "catching up with the twentieth century" by placing a revised web page online today. The previous web page had been "asleep" for a long time. Correspondents were invited to take a look at WWW.UN.Org/News/OSSG (Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General). Correspondents' comments were invited.

Turning to contributions, the Spokesman said that Latvia had made full payment to the United Nations regular budget yesterday with a cheque for more than $54,000, becoming the ninety-second Member State to pay in full. Today, Kyrgyzstan had paid over $300,000, covering past and current dues and taking that country out of the Article 19 category. It became the ninety-third Member State to be fully paid-up.

On treaties, Mr. Eckhard announced that Albania had signed the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, becoming the 130th signatory. Bosnia and Herzegovina had become the thirty-sixth Member State to ratify that Convention, while Burundi had become the 117th party to ratify the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction.

Mr. Eckhard ended the briefing by announcing that at 2 p.m. tomorrow, 10 September, Borko Reljic, the Mayor of Brcko, and Ivan Krndelj and Mirsah Islamovic, the Deputy Mayors, would discuss peace-building, tolerance and reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They would be introduced by Muhamed Sacirbey, that country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Referring to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a correspondent asked how the recent peace summit at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, could be called a success. Although the United Nations planned a follow-up mission to Addis Ababa, the summit had been the third failed ceasefire attempt and only the first time that the rebels had even showed up for talks.

Mr. Eckhard replied that the summit was not being called a success. A process that had begun at the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in South Africa,

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bringing together for the first time the protagonists in the conflict, had resulted in the decision to meet in Victoria Falls, where the parties had agreed on a framework for a peaceful settlement. They would now move on to Addis Ababa tomorrow to consider the technical side of policing such an agreement and what shape the ceasefire agreement itself should take.

The United Nations saw it as a process moving in the right direction and the Secretary-General wanted to offer whatever support he could, the Spokesman added. From the statement issued last night, he was sending to Addis Ababa today a delegation comprising both political and military advisers to help that process along as needed.

Would the peace process not be futile in view of the non-participation of the rebels? the journalist asked. Mr. Eckhard replied that those participating in the process included countries supporting the current Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, countries supporting the rebels and neutral countries. The Victoria Falls meeting had been chaired by the President of Zambia, one of the neutral countries. It was felt that the elements of an eventual agreement were in place.

Responding to a question from another correspondent, he confirmed that a background briefing had been held on the Secretary-General's annual report on the work of the Organization.

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Note: In the daily briefing of 8 September, the fifth full paragraph on page 4 should read as follows:

The same correspondent asked if any United Nations personnel would be attending the Indian Harbour memorial service in Nova Scotia. The Spokesman said that a check had been done before the briefing and the preliminary answer was no.