In progress at UNHQ

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

17 September 1998



Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

19980917

Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by saying that the Secretary-General would convene a so-called Six- Plus-Two meeting on Afghanistan at the ministerial level next Monday at 4:30 p.m. Invited to attend were the Foreign Ministers of six of Afghanistan's neighbours -- Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and China -- plus the Russian Federation and the United States.

The Security Council was meeting this morning on two matters, the Spokesman continued. One was the question of Western Sahara and the other was the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On Western Sahara, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hedi Annabi, had updated the Council on the situation in that country. A draft resolution on that issue was then tabled, with the Council expected to take action on that text tomorrow. The current mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) was due to expire on Monday and the Secretary-General had recommended a further extension until the end of October. The Council had then been briefed by the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Ibrahima Fall, on the latest situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In Angola yesterday, the Spokesman said, a United Nations convoy consisting of six trucks belonging to the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) and 10 trucks belonging to the World Food Programme (WFP) was ambushed by armed bandits about 20 miles north of Lucana in the northern region. The Indian contingent of MONUA was escorting the convoy and the Indian soldiers had returned fire. Three local employees of a contractor, Dynacorp, were injured in the ambush but not seriously, and three MONUA trucks were damaged. The MONUA was investigating the incident.

The United Nations had responded favourably to a request for an assessment mission which had been made by Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission, Mr. Eckhard said. The mission, led by the Director of the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division, Carina Perelli, was expected to leave some time next week, with the exact dates not yet set. General Abdulsalam Abubakar, Nigeria's Head of State, had promised to hand power over to an elected civilian government next year.

It was widely known that the term of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, was expiring at the end of this year, the Spokesman said. On the racks today was a note from the Secretary-General proposing that, in view of Mrs. Ogata's distinguished contribution and her preference for personal reasons not to serve another term, the Assembly should extend her current term through the end of the year 2000. A date had not yet been set for that election, but it was expected within about two weeks.

A new Force Commander for the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) had been named, Mr. Eckhard said. The Secretary-General had informed the Security Council of his intention to appoint Brigadier-General Ove Johnny Stromberg of Norway as the Force Commander in The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. That would be effective on 30 September, at the end of the tour of duty of the current Force Commander, Brigadier-General Bent Sohneman of Denmark.

In response to yesterday's question on security and other special arrangements for the general debate beginning on Monday, United Nations Security had made reference to two information circulars, the Spokesman said. Document ST/IC/1998/59, dated 21 August, concerned arrangements for admission to the premises during the General Assembly. That was updated by document ST/IC/1998/62, dated 11 September, which contained additional information on arrangements for admission. Sonia Lecca of the Media Accreditation Office was also issuing her annual press release tomorrow, which would have further information on facilities available to correspondents and other matters.

Mr. Eckhard said there was a change in security this year from previous years. The kinds of security arrangements for First Avenue usually in effect for the first day of the debate would now be extended for 10 days. Starting on Saturday evening of this weekend and extending until 28 September, traffic would be blocked from First Avenue 24 hours a day and seven days a week for the 10-day period. The pedestrian rules for crossing First Avenue, normally in place for the first day, would also be extended for 10 days. The information circulars contained the details.

However, Mr. Eckhard pointed out that correspondents carrying equipment would need to enter through the Visitors' Entrance, where bags could be inspected. Correspondents without equipment could enter through the designated entrances. The second floor of the Secretariat building would be a restricted area just twice, once for all of Monday and then for part of Thursday.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, had returned from her trip to China and she would be coming to New York on Monday for four days, Mr. Eckhard said. She was coming both for part of the general debate and to hold bilateral meetings. While she had not offered to meet with the press, the Spokesman's Office could arrange contact with her by conveying messages of requests for interviews.

Tomorrow, the Secretary-General would commemorate the thirty-seventh anniversary of the tragic death of former Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold and those who accompanied him on his last mission of peace, Mr. Eckhard said. The Secretary-General would lay a wreath in the Visitor's Lobby just outside the Meditation Room at 10:30 a.m.

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World Disaster Reduction Day would be observed on 14 October with the theme "Disaster Reduction and the Media", the Spokesman said. Although the main event would take place in Geneva, a press kit on natural disaster reduction was available at the documents counter starting today.

Mr. Eckhard then said there was a press release available in his office from the World Food Programme, announcing its plan to launch the first-ever emergency operation in China to meet the acute emergency food aid needs of more than 5 million people. The operation, planned to continue for four months, would cost an estimated $87.7 million.

The thirty-second session of the Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) would be held in Montreal, Canada, from 22 September to 2 October, the Spokesman said. A press release on that subject was available in his office.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mr. Eckhard continued, had invited all correspondents to a town hall meeting on the theme "The Africa of the Twenty-first Century". The discussions would be led by Blaise Campaore, the President of Burkina Faso, who was also the current Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). It would take place on Tuesday, 22 September, in the Dag Hammarskjold auditorium. A press release from UNDP on that was available on the racks.

Mr. Eckhard then announced that the fortieth ratification of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction had occurred yesterday afternoon. His office had prepared a background fact-sheet, he added, which included a list of the 40 countries that had ratified the Convention to date and a summary description of what the treaty would do when it came into force in six months.

World Chronicle TV programme number 715 had been released, Mr. Eckhard said. It featured the Senior Technical Adviser of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Stan Bernstein. That would be shown on in-house channel 6 or 38 at 2:30 p.m.

A correspondent asked if there was a chance the High Commissioner for Human Rights would give a press conference during her visit to New York. Mr. Eckhard said he would relay the request.

Another correspondent asked for a clarification of the Six-Plus-Two meeting. What were the hopes, what were the goals on Afghanistan?

Mr. Eckhard said it was a high-level consultation, with no specific agenda known to have been set. The Secretary-General felt the situation was serious enough that it required a high level of attention and he called the meeting. In response to a follow-up question, Mr. Eckhard said the room

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location had not been selected as of mid-morning and it would be conveyed once it was known on Friday or Monday.

To another question by the same correspondent on why the second floor of the Secretariat would be a restricted area on Thursday, Mr. Eckhard said he had no specific information from United Nations Security on that. "It must have something to do with the people who will be in the building at that time", he said. "Also, we will announce the specific period of restriction when it is known."

"Is there any word from the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) on when results would be back from testing the missile fragments in Iraq?" the same correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said he had been told by UNSCOM yesterday that they did not expect those results until the end of the month.

The correspondent then asked if something could be done with television footage to identify the dignitaries with whom the Secretary-General was shown shaking hands. With television crews running around town, there was no way for a television outfit across town to know who the dignitary was. Was there some way of getting a voice-over or a graphic, through a combination of the Spokesman's Office and UNTV, to provide identification because "at the end of the day, you're left with 55 handshakes and you don't know who anyone is if you're doing more than individual State coverage, and over a two-week period, it is a big problem".

Mr. Eckhard said the problem had occurred in the past and there were technical restrictions on doing signage or subtitles on the screen. A voice- over was possible and he would talk to UNTV to see what could be done to help out the correspondents.

What role would the Secretary-General take in the Six-Plus-Two meeting? another correspondent asked. "He is the convener", Mr. Eckhard answered. Did that mean the Secretary-General merely encouraged the other parties to talk or did he have his own initiative? "I am not aware the Secretary-General has any initiative. I think he feels it's important for the Six-Plus-Two to talk seriously about the security threat that Afghanistan is presenting."

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said the President had delivered an opening statement in the high-level plenary discussion of globalization issues. That statement would be released in both Spanish and English. The Spanish text was already available in either her office, Room 1005, or in Room 378.

Forty-six delegations were inscribed to address the General Assembly during the high-level discussion on globalization, Ms. Mihalic continued. The debate was scheduled to conclude this afternoon, with a seven-minute limit on the duration of statements. Also this afternoon, the first informal panel dealing with the economic impact of globalization would be held from 2 p.m. to

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4 p.m. in Conference Room 2. The second informal panel would be held tomorrow morning, and it would deal with the social impact of globalization, and that would be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. in Conference Room 2.

Also tomorrow, two ministerial round-table meetings would be held, the spokesman said. One would deal with national responses and the other with international responses. The first would be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the second would be held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Today's Journal listed the details.

The closing meeting of the high-level dialogue would be held tomorrow afternoon beginning at 5 p.m., Ms. Mihalic said. The President was expected to summarize the discussion and his concluding remarks would be issued as a General Assembly document.

The fifth update of the list of speakers for the General Assembly general debate was now available in her office, the Spokesman said. In addition, some of the Main Committees had been holding meetings since yesterday to elect their officers and organize their work. The bureaus of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) and Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) were complete, and the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) and Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) were meeting today with that agenda. That left only the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) and Sixth Committee (Legal) to still complete their bureaus. An informal note listing officers of the Main Committees would be available by tomorrow.

Finally, she said the President would address the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, D.C., on Monday, 28 September, at 11 a.m. He would be speaking on the issue of "New Challenges Before the United Nations" and all correspondents were invited to attend.

In response to a question on the time-limit for each speaker during the general debate, Ms. Mihalic said there was a voluntary time limit of 20 minutes for each speaker. Asked how many countries would participate in the debate, she said she would get back with that information.

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For information media. Not an official record.