DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN OF SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN OF SECRETARY-GENERAL

Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by saying the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Nitin Desai, had been invited to room S-226 to brief correspondents on the high-level meeting on globalization that would take place in the General Assembly tomorrow.

Mr. Eckhard then said that a press release on the subject of Afghanistan was available in room S-378. In part, it read:

"The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Vieira de Mello, and the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, yesterday met with Taliban representatives in New York. In response to a request from the Taliban authorities to the United Nations to provide assistance to Bamiyan, they told the Taliban that the United Nations had agreed, on an exceptional basis, to send an assessment mission to Bamiyan. That was conditional on the Taliban authorities guaranteeing the safety of United Nations personnel and only on the following basis:

"One, there would be direct flights by United Nations planes into and out of Bamiyan. Two, Taliban escorts would be provided for the duration of the mission. Three, security conditions would prevent United Nations personnel from staying overnight. Four, mission personnel would freely utilize United Nations communications equipment. Five, the mission would have unfettered access to all affected populations in the Bamiyan area."

This morning, the Spokesman continued, a representative of the Taliban in New York had informed the United Nations that he had gotten agreement from the authorities in Kandahar on all of those points. He had pointed out, however, that the airport in Bamiyna had been damaged in the fighting. Planning for the United Nations mission was proceeding in Islamabad, but indications were that fighting could be continuing in the area.

The Taliban representatives in the meeting had handed over a letter addressed to the Secretary-General, Mr. Eckhard said. The letter had requested mediation between Iran and the Taliban. The Secretary-General had repeatedly expressed his concern at the increase in tension in the region. He was in contact with relevant government leaders, and he had asked his Special Envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, to come to New York.

Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General would undertake further high-level consultations in the margins of the General Assembly meeting next week. The Secretary-General was also currently considering other measures to help reduce tensions in the region. In the context of those efforts, he was giving consideration to the Taliban request.

The report of the panel appointed by the Secretary-General to gather information on the situation in Algeria had been made public today, the Spokesman then said. The report was now available on the United Nations website under the rubric of "Peace and Security". It provided a detailed account of the information gathered by the panel on various aspects of the situation in Algeria, including democratization and overall government structure; economic and social problems; terrorism; human rights; the media; women and children. The report also contained various observations issued by the panel. Hard copies were available in the Spokesman's office.

The Security Council had several items on its agenda today, Mr. Eckhard said. This morning it had first taken up the situation in Africa, deliberating on the Secretary-General's earlier report on Africa. The Council had before it two draft resolutions and a draft presidential statement. The two draft resolutions dealt with sanctions and with cooperation between the United Nations and the African regional and subregional organizations in conflict resolution and peacekeeping on the continent. The draft presidential statement related to strengthening Africa's peacekeeping capacity. It was possible the text would be adopted in a formal meeting today.

The Council was then scheduled to be briefed by the United Nations Secretariat on the Organization's contributions to the recent elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Spokesman said. The Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hedi Annabi, would provide that briefing.

Mr. Eckhard then said that today the world was poised to take a major step towards becoming a safer and more humane place. Thirty-nine States had now ratified the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. The thirty-ninth ratification had been by Equatorial Guinea. There were at least three nations with ratifications "in the pipeline"; with the fortieth ratification, the Spokesman said, "the clock starts ticking".

Six months after the fortieth ratification, the Convention would go into force, Mr. Eckhard explained. It could be a matter of minutes or hours, but it was expected to happen today. The entry into force of the Convention would have far-reaching implications for both mine-affected and mine-producing countries. It would provide the international framework upon which governments who bound themselves to the Convention would be required to take measures to break the chain of anti-personnel landmine use. Those measures included an end to development, production, planting, stockpiling and transfer of anti-personnel landmines. As called for in the Convention, the United Nations would facilitate its implementation, the Spokesman said. Along with the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Clearance, the Convention would enable the United Nations to continue playing a key role in coordinating the response to combat landmines. It was sincerely hoped that all nations would promote universal adherence to the Convention's principles.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 16 September 1998

Mr. Eckhard said there would be a troop contributors meeting today. The meeting, which would also be attended by Security Council members, would be on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). It would be at 3:30 p.m. in the Economic and Social Council Chamber. The Security Council was expected to take up the subject of Western Sahara tomorrow, and the Secretary-General had recommended a further extension of MINURSO's mandate until the end of October.

In the early morning of 16 September, Mr. Eckhard said, a patrol of the Norwegian battalion of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) near the village of Blate had come under fire from a tank of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), located in Aichiye, in Southern Lebanon. A soldier had been hit by shrapnel on his left hand, causing severe injuries and the loss of one finger. He had been evacuated to a UNIFIL hospital and was now in stable condition.

The UNIFIL had strongly protested the incident with the IDF, who had apparently conveyed apologies, Mr. Eckhard said. He noted that a similar incident had occurred in the same area during 1993. In that incident, a Norwegian soldier had been killed and another seriously injured.

This morning, the Secretary-General had attended the second annual Interfaith Celebration of Commitment to the United Nations at St. Bartholomew's Church in Manhattan, Mr. Eckhard said. The Secretary- General had noted that a "wonderfully diverse international community of States, civil society groups and individuals were working together to cope with new threats, even as the perennial scourges of war, hunger and intolerance continue". The Secretary-General had also said he was praying "that the basic affinity among peoples would prevail over forces that tear us apart".

"If you turned on your computer this morning, you know the Secretary- General sent a letter to all staff, inviting them to suggest ways of meeting the ongoing challenge to improve the Organization's work", the Spokesman said. Towards that end, the Secretary-General had said he would establish an "Ideas Data Bank" as a clearing-house for all suggestions the staff might have, big or small. The Data Bank would be coordinated by the Management Policy Office of the Department of Management. According to the Secretary-General, the aim was to provide each staff member, irrespective of where they worked or of their position, with the chance to have a real say in how the Organization could be made to function better.

On payments, Uruguay had become the ninety-seventh Member State to pay in full, Mr. Eckhard said, adding that it had been done with a check for over $500,000. Also, Cook Island had signed the Kyoto protocol on climate change this morning, which had brought the number of signatories to 51.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 16 September 1998

The Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Agwu Okali, would be at Headquarters from 18 September for consultations with the Secretary-General and for meetings with representatives of a number of Governments in connection with the work of the Tribunal, Mr. Eckhard said. The Registrar would also travel to Washington D.C., where he would meet with the United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, David Scheffer. Correspondents who were interested in meeting with Mr. Okali were to contact either his own office, Mr. Eckhard said, or that of the Tribunal's acting spokesman, Kingsley Moghalu, at extension 0439 starting Monday, 21 September.

There was a press release on the racks from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Mr. Eckhard said. It concerned UNEP's fourth International Roundtable Meeting on Finance and the Environment, beginning tomorrow in Cambridge, England. The meeting was to consider a wide range of topical issues under the theme, "Profitability and Responsibility in the Twenty-first Century".

Mr. Eckhard reminded correspondents of two press conferences -- announced yesterday -- to be held in room S-226 tomorrow morning. The one at 10:30 a.m., sponsored by the United States mission, would be given by the United States Association of the United Nations on United States attitudes and perceptions of the United Nations. At 11:15 a.m., there would be a press conference sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme/Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, "Corruption and Integrity Improvement in Developing Countries". The lists of the speakers were posted.

Finally, the Spokesman said the World Chronicle programme, announced yesterday as featuring the Director of the Emergency Response Division of the United Nations Development Programme, Omar Bakhet, would be aired today at 2:30 p.m.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said that as expected, the Plenary yesterday had adopted the agenda for the fifty-third session containing 166 items. The Plenary had also agreed on allocation of the items and on a number of other organizational matters.

For those who had not seen document A/53/250 detailing recommendations, Ms. Mihalic said, the Assembly had approved the General Committee's recommendation that meetings start punctually at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., as a ten-minute delay in beginning a meeting at Headquarters cost about $800,000. Other interesting recommendations had also been approved, such as a voluntary guideline for statements in the General Assembly to not exceed 20 minutes. Correspondents were encouraged to take a look at the document.

Tomorrow, for the two plenary meetings of the General Assembly on globalization, Ms. Mihalic said, there were 44 speakers inscribed. The list of speakers was available in the Journal under the forthcoming meetings

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section. Also by tomorrow, it was hoped that the fifth updated list of speakers for the general debate would be available.

A number of correspondents followed up on Ms. Mihalic's mention of the high cost of a ten-minute delay when starting a meeting. She clarified that the figure represented the yearly accrued cost of the delay.

A number of correspondents asked about elements of the fortieth ratification of the landmine convention. Would there be an announcement? the Spokesman was asked. Would there be any celebration in New York?

Mr. Eckhard said the Live Action Unit had been asked to give instant notice of the fortieth ratification coming in. Specific details on celebrations in New York were not yet finalized, but as mentioned before, the Secretary-General this afternoon would go to Amherst, Massachusetts to give a speech before a five-college consortium, and then he would be at Harvard University tomorrow. Thus, he planned to celebrate, but specific plans depended on when the ratification came in and what the schedule would allow. Plans would be announced when firmed up.

One correspondent noted that the statue of the Federal Republic of Nigeria had disappeared from the second floor. He said he hoped it was only being cleaned. The Spokesman said the statue was over 30 years old. It was showing signs of deterioration and it had been removed for renovation. It was a highly admired statue and would be returned to its original position as soon as it was refurbished.

A correspondent then asked for clarification on the exact status of the Taliban. Mr. Eckhard said the recognized representatives of Afghanistan in the United Nations were the Government that controlled only a small fraction of the country. One of the issues before the Assembly was whether or not to switch the recognition of credentials from the Rabbani government, which currently had it, to the Taliban. That, of course, was a matter for the Credentials Committee to consider and they had not yet taken it up.

Did the United Nations have any preliminary results on the Bosnia elections? a correspondent asked. What was the United Nations role in those elections?

Mr. Eckhard said that apart from humanitarian work, the United Nations role in Bosnia was a policing function. Therefore, the United Nations would advise the police on how to professionalize their work, and it would work beside the police on providing security to affect the environment in which the elections took place. Other than that, the United Nations had no role in the elections.

The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to Iraq, Prakash Shah, had recently cancelled a trip with Iraq and was now embarking on a schedule of

Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 16 September 1998

quiet diplomacy, a correspondent noted. Was there a read-out on his upcoming schedule in Iraq?

As far as was known, Mr. Shah would be staying in Baghdad, the Spokesman said. The Secretary-General was meeting with the non-permanent members of the Council today, and that meeting was on resolution 1194 concerning Iraq, following up on the meeting he had earlier in the week with the permanent members. There was on-going attention to the situation in Iraq. The Secretary-General was also seeing Richard Butler, the Executive Director of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) right now for a periodic consultation. The Secretary-General was following the situation very closely.

Was the comprehensive review at the core of what was being discussed on Iraq? another correspondent asked. Was the Secretary-General now trying to sort out what it meant?

Mr. Eckhard said resolution 1194 stated that the Council would welcome the Secretary-General's further views on the comprehensive review, and that of course was not happening as an isolated event. There was the broader context of the effort to first convince Iraq to come back to compliance with Security Council resolutions. In resolution 1194, the Council said it was willing to consider a comprehensive review if Iraq came back into compliance.

Asked if there had been further communication between the Secretary- General and Iraq since his telephone conversation with Tariq Aziz on Sunday, the Spokesman said he had no details about the Secretary-General's specific communications, but he was actively consulting on the matter. The Council had made its position clear in resolution 1194, and the Secretary-General was working to support their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the latest situation as a result of Iraq's refusal to cooperate with the Inspectors.

A correspondent said test results from France and Switzerland were back, which indicated that the UNSCOM samples from the warhead fragments were negative. Mr. Eckhard said UNSCOM had told him in the morning that they had no official results of those tests and did not expect them before the end of the month.

Finally, Mr. Morello asked when the guidelines for correspondents during the General Assembly would be made available. Mr. Eckhard said he would look into it, since the guidelines that were issued every year would affect the activities of correspondents from Monday on.

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