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 the three Dag Hammarskjold Fellows, who would undoubtedly frequent the noon briefings.

The Security Council would meet in consultations at 3:30 p.m. to discuss Angola, Mr. Eckhard said. On the Council's agenda was the report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission of Observers in Angola (MONUA); a letter dated 11 September from the Permanent Representative of Angola to the United Nations, which had been published as a document; and a draft resolution on MONUA, the mandate of which was expiring tomorrow.

Also this afternoon, the Secretary-General would transmit the report of his panel on Algeria to that country's Ambassador to the United Nations, the Spokesman said. In brief, on 2 July at the invitation of the Government of Algeria, the Secretary-General established a panel of eminent persons to visit that country for the purpose of gathering information on the situation and presenting a report to him. That panel, headed by Mario Soares, the former President of Portugal, had been in Algeria from 11 July to 4 August, meeting with a cross-section of government personalities, political leaders and representatives of civil society, media and religious institutions. As promised, the report would be made public shortly, although not today.

The Spokesman said the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), James Gustave Speth, had informed his Executive Board today that he would leave the Organization on 30 June 1999. In announcing his resignation, he said he had accepted an offer from Yale University to become the Dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He had informed the Secretary-General of his decision and had communicated his future plans to the UNDP staff. A press release on the subject from UNDP would be available shortly.

The Secretary-General had learned with sadness of the death of Ricardo Ramirez, the Spokesman said. Mr. Ramirez was the former Comandante Rolando Moran, who had died in Guatemala City on 11 September due to natural causes. Mr. Ramirez had been a key figure in the negotiations between the Government of Guatemala and the former guerrilla group, Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG), which had led to the peace agreements signed in December 1996.

Mr. Ramirez had been Secretary-General of the URNG, which was in the process of becoming a political party, the Spokesman said. The United Nations Secretary-General had met with Mr. Ramirez during his recent visit to Guatemala and had been encouraged by the Guatemalan leader's deep commitment to the peace process. The Secretary-General was expressing his condolences to the family of Mr. Ramirez, to his colleagues at URNG, and to the people of Guatemala. That statement, attributable to the Spokesman, was available in the Spokesman's Office, room S-378.

Mr. Eckhard said that this morning the Secretary-General had opened the annual DPI/NGO Conference, which this year was commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Secretary- General had paid tribute to the efforts of NGOs, both 50 years ago when the Declaration was drafted, and today. He had also stressed the need for the United Nations and NGOs to develop partnerships which struck a balance between purism and pragmatism. "The challenge is to calibrate our weapons and coordinate our actions", the Secretary-General had said.

The Spokesman said the Secretary-General had drawn applause with the statement that he looked forward to the long-overdue adoption of a declaration on the protection of human rights defenders, which was on the agenda of the General Assembly this year. The Secretary-General had also described United Nations efforts to open up to NGOs, saying, "We are doing this because we believe there are no limits to what a strong civil society can achieve in partnership with governments".

Tomorrow at noon, the Secretary-General would recognize former world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, the Spokesman said. Since Mr. Ali's retirement from the ring, he had been an advocate for people in need and he had agreed to serve the United Nations because he believed it could be a vehicle to bring people together. Mr. Ali was expected to travel to Africa on behalf of the United Nations later this year.

Correspondents would have a chance to see Mr. Ali at noon at the main Secretariat entrance, Mr. Eckhard said. A pool arrangement was being organized for Mr. Ali's meeting with the Secretary-General and for the presentation of a certificate as Messenger of Peace, which the Secretary- General would make in his boardroom after a private meeting between the two of them. Thereafter, Mr. Ali would go through the building and out to the plaza at the Visitors' Entrance, where he would meet Nane Annan and participate in a Day of Peace event with children.

A press release on Mr. Ali's visit would be made available, Mr. Eckhard said. The Day of Peace event with Nane Annan would commemorate the International Day of Peace, which had been held this year on 9 September, the opening day of the General Assembly. For the Day of Peace, DPI and a coalition of NGOs had organized a special event involving students and young people, with Nane Annan being the guest of honour at a flag-raising ceremony on the United Nations plaza at noon. As mentioned, she would be joined by Muhammad Ali, who would greet the children participating in the event. For Broadway fans, there would be a special guest appearance by singers and drummers from the hit Broadway show, "Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk".

Mr. Eckhard then said El Salvador had ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. That brought the number of parties to that Treaty up to 21. Forty-four signatures by a special formula were needed to bring it into force.

"We're getting much closer on ratifying the convention on landmines, though", the Spokesman said, adding that The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had acceded to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use,

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Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had become the thirty- eighth out of the 40 needed to bring that Convention into force. (Bosnia and Herzegovina was the thirty-seventh to sign the Convention, not the thirty- sixth as reported on 9 September.)

"That event is expected to happen someday this week, and there will be celebrations all around", Mr. Eckhard said. One of those celebrations would be held by the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy, who had announced in a press advisory today that she would travel to Bosnia on 17 September of this week to mark the fortieth ratification of the treaty to ban anti-personnel mines. That press release was available in room S-378.

The Spokesman said a number of press conferences had been scheduled. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, was holding a press conference on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. with regard to his recent visit to Kosovo. At the noon briefing that same day, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Nitin Desai, was giving a preview of the two-day high-level meeting on globalization that the General Assembly was holding on Thursday and Friday of this week.

In addition, the Spokesman said, all correspondents were invited to attend the Second Annual Interfaith Service of Commitment to the Work of the United Nations. That would be at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday of this week, at St. Bartholomew's Church, located at Park Avenue and 51st Street in Manhattan. The special guests were the President of the General Assembly and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, each of whom would make a brief statement. A press release on that event would be available in room S-378 shortly.

And finally, Mr. Eckhard said, a new Military Adviser to the Secretary- General had been named. The new Adviser was Lieutenant-General Giulio Fraticelli of Italy. Today was his first day and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations had been requested to provide a biography of him.

In response to a question about whether there was any reaction by the United Nations to the latest resolution in Iraq calling for a suspension of cooperation with the United Nations and the United Nations Special Commission, UNSCOM, Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General had discussed the matter during the weekend and continued to do so today. Beyond that, there was no specific reaction.

The Spokesman was then asked to characterize the meeting this morning between the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia and the Secretary-General. Was there any link between that meeting and the Secretary-General's meeting at 12:45 p.m. with the permanent representatives of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates?

The Secretary-General's meeting with the Saudi Ambassador to the United States of America was to discuss Libya, Mr. Eckhard said. The Chef du Cabinet

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of South Africa was believed to have also attended that meeting, as those two

people had visited Libya recently and they wanted to brief the Secretary- General on their visit. Asked whether they had discussed Iraq, Mr. Eckhard said no. The meeting of the three permanent representatives was to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. Those were the representatives of the three countries whose governments had recognized the Taliban.

Asked whether there was any clue about what was going on with the nomination of Richard Holbrooke as the United States representative to the United Nations, Mr. Eckhard said the question needed to be put to the United States Government. Asked about any update on the ratification of the International Criminal Court, Mr. Eckhard said he would look into that and report back.

Jadranka Mihalic, Spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said the President this morning had attended the opening of the annual DPI/NGO conference, where he made a statement. The statement was available in room S-378 and the Spanish text was available through her office. An updated list of the President's other appointments was also available in room S-378.

On Friday afternoon, the General Committee concluded the consideration of its recommendations regarding the organization of matters for the fifty- third session of the General Assembly, Ms. Mihalic said. The Committee was recommending that the plenary adopt the agenda containing 166 items out of 171 originally submitted. All the recommendations of the General Committee would be issued as part of document A/53/250, available tomorrow morning. There was also a press release of Friday's meeting, GA/9434.

Finally, she said the plenary would meet tomorrow afternoon to consider the Committee's recommendations. Basically, that would entail the adoption of the agenda for the fifty-third session and the allocation of items.

In a redirected question to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, a correspondent asked whether there was any update on Angola, since the dissolution of the Government of National Unity in that country had not been part of the Secretary-General's report, on the basis of which the Security Council was considering the issue.

Mr. Eckhard said he would check, but did not expect any further briefing had been given to the Council by the Department of Political Affairs. The Council was believed to have all the information it needed to consider the Secretary-General's report, as well as to take the action they must take by the end of today to renew the mandate of the mission, which was due to expire tomorrow.

Another correspondent asked whether the Messengers for Peace travelled on a United Nations passport and whether their travel expenses were borne by the United Nations or personally. Mr. Eckhard said he would get back with answers on those two good questions. [He later announced that there was no budget line for the Messengers of Peace programme, and that messengers

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travelled on their national passports.]

How would the United Nations deal with the killing of the Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan? a correspondent asked.

The Secretary-General was talking with Iran and Pakistan about possibly organizing a fact-finding mission to look into the deaths of those diplomats, nine of whom were confirmed dead while the deaths of two others and a journalist were still in question, Mr. Eckhard said. As of Friday, since there had been no update this morning, questions remained about the logistics of the mission and the security guarantees.

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