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 United Nations humanitarian needs assessment mission to Bamyan in Afghanistan, which had been announced earlier in the week, was still on hold pending clarification of security and the state of the airport in Bamyan. Alternate routes into Bamyan were being explored.

As tensions escalated in the Afghan region, Mr. Eckhard said, the so-called Six-Plus-Two meeting on Afghanistan convened by the Secretary-General would take place on Monday at 4:30 p.m. in Conference Room 9. As mentioned earlier, the Secretary-General had asked his Special Envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, to come to New York, where the Secretary-General would be undertaking further high-level consultations within the margins of the General Assembly meeting next week. Mr. Brahimi was expected to visit the region shortly thereafter.

The Security Council was meeting this morning to discuss several items, Mr. Eckhard said. First, it had taken up Africa and Western Sahara. The Council would take action on the items following the consultations this morning. On other matters, the Council was presently discussing Libya. That related to the recent violations of the sanctions against Libya.

Yesterday, Mr. Eckhard said, a search and rescue operation by the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA), assisted by the Angolan National Police, had found the body of a local employee of Dyna Corp, a contractor of the World Food Programme (WFP), in one of the vehicles burned in the ambush on 16 September. The body was recovered and was to be flown to Luanda today, along with three injured persons, all local employees of Dyna Corp.

Relative to that ambush incident in Angola, a note had been received from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Mr. Eckhard said. The Office reported that over 372,000 internally displaced persons in Angola were being assisted by relief agencies at present, out of a total of 1.3 million such persons. Attacks, such as the latest ambush, had a serious impact on the ability of humanitarian organizations to assist those in need.

The note stated, Mr. Eckhard said, that the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Sergio Vieira de Mello, called on all parties to ensure the safety of humanitarian convoys and personnel in Angola. He also called on them to do all in their power to facilitate the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations throughout the country.

Mr. Eckhard then said that Nigeria had agreed for the first time to the visit of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights. Soli Jehangir Sorabjee of India, who was appointed Special Rapporteur to the Commission on Human Rights

on 16 October 1997, after the Commission decided to create the new function for Nigeria, was given the mandate to establish direct contacts with the authorities and the people of that country. Until now, Mr. Sorabjee had been reporting only from outside the country.

As already announced, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, would be at Headquarters next week, Mr. Eckhard said. Other heads of United Nations programmes who would be travelling to New York included the Head of the United Nations Office in Nairobi, Klaus Töpfer. Mr. Töpfer would be arriving tomorrow and staying through Monday.

In addition, Mr. Eckhard said, the Head of the United Nations Office in Vienna, Pino Arlacchi, would be at Headquarters on Monday. At that time, Mr. Arlacchi would meet with the President of Colombia, Andrés Pastrana Arango, for the first meeting between the two since Mr. Pastrana Arango had been sworn in as President of his country. The purpose of the meeting was to review the ongoing programme of drug control in Colombia.

Mr. Eckhard affirmed that it was Staff Day at the United Nations today, and that there had been a flag-raising ceremony this morning in the public plaza. The theme of the Day was "International Service -- Fifty Years of Peacekeeping and Sacrifice". Later in the morning, the Secretary-General laid a wreath at the Dag Hammarskjöld memorial.

At the ceremony, Mr. Eckhard said, the Secretary-General had addressed the staff, focusing on the subject of security and saying that the past year had been dreadful in that regard. While the United Nations was doing all it could to protect its staff, the primary responsibility lay with the governments. The Secretary-General had appealed to governments to sign and ratify the 1994 Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel. He had also warned that unless more care was taken, from measures in the field to political decisions at Headquarters, more heartbreaking news could be expected.

Copies of the Secretary-General's speech, as well as one delivered by the Deputy Secretary-General, were available in room S-378, Mr. Eckhard said. Also, proceeds from Staff Day this year would be donated to a scholarship fund for the children of United Nations staff members killed in the line of duty.

The Spokesman then said that the first snow had come to Kosovo, and the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) were both again expressing deep alarm at the worsening humanitarian situation in the province as winter approached. A press release from each of those organizations was available in room S-378.

At yesterday's press conference by the United Nations Association of the United States, Mr. Eckhard said, polling results had been unveiled indicating

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that, among the American public, 60 per cent thought the United Nations was doing a very good job and 72 per cent considered the United Nations a very important organization. Those were most remarkable numbers. Also remarkable was the finding that, among those Americans who categorized themselves as conservative Republicans, a majority believed the United Nations was doing a good job and should be supported.

Overall, the numbers were about 10 per cent higher than those of previous years, Mr. Eckhard said. The polls also conveyed a message to members of the United States Congress. Most United States citizens had reported that all things being equal, they would take into consideration a candidate's position on paying back-dues to the United Nations when voting for congressional representatives.

Fiji had signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Mr. Eckhard said. It had, thus, become the fifty-second State to sign, but the first to ratify, the Protocol.

The monthly update on the status of outstanding contributions was available, the Spokesman said. Those figures, as of 15 September, showed that nothing much had changed -- $2.4 billion remained outstanding.

With regard to press conferences, the Spokesman said, next week would be the busiest of the year. The complete listing of press conferences had been posted on four notice boards, three on the third floor and one outside the briefing room, room S-226. The press conference notices could also be checked on the Internet. Since the lists were subject to change, both frequent and dramatic, Mr. Eckhard advised correspondents to "keep scanning the boards for the latest change".

The United Nations Correspondence Association (UNCA) had requested announcement of a change, Mr. Eckhard said. The change was a switch in time for the briefing by Roger Cohen, The New York Times reporter, who had just published a book, Hearts Grown Brutal, about his experience in Bosnia, particularly in Sarajevo. The briefing would now be in the UNCA Club at 12:30 p.m., right after the noon briefing.

A correspondent asked about the status of ongoing negotiations between the Secretary-General and Libyan authorities. Had anything changed since a letter had been passed between Libya and through the Secretary-General to the Security Council?

There were no new developments since the Secretary-General had met with the Foreign Minister of Libya in Durban, South Africa, at the Non-Allied Summit, and the Foreign Minister had handed over a letter at that time, Mr. Eckhard said. Discussion with the parties was continuing and consideration was being given, primarily by the United Nations Legal Office, to some of the questions raised

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by the Libyans. It was hoped the Libyans could be satisfied on some of the "fine print" for which they had requested clarification.

A correspondent asked if there was a date for the mission to Nigeria yet. Mr. Eckhard said no date had yet been set, but those interested should maintain contact with the Spokesman's Office, to be informed as soon as a date was announced.

Jadranka Mihalic, Spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), then said that this morning the informal segments of the high-level dialogue on globalization were continuing. Currently, the ministerial-level round table on national responses to the economic and social impact of globalization was in progress in Conference Room 2. Another round table on international responses was scheduled for this afternoon.

The closing plenary meeting would take place from 5 to 7 p.m. in the General Assembly Hall, Ms. Mihalic said. The Assembly would first hear the six remaining speakers in the high-level dialogue. Those six were in addition to the 35 heard yesterday. The President would make the closing remarks, which would be issued as part of a General Assembly document, in addition to being issued as a press release by Monday.

A list of speakers and other informational hand-outs were available at the table in the briefing room, Ms. Mihalic said. Later this afternoon, notes for correspondents regarding visiting heads of State on Monday would be on the racks.

In response to yesterday's question about participation in the debate, Ms. Mihalic said that, so far, 181 speakers had been inscribed to address the Assembly during the debate, with the list of speakers to be closed on 23 September. The break-down of the speakers was listed in another hand-out which was also available on the table. Those speaking would include 26 heads of State, two crown princes, one vice-president and 19 prime ministers.

Also, it was gratifying to be able to say that the speeches in the general debate would be webcast live beginning Monday, she said. They would be available on the General Assembly home page on the United Nations website, and they would be archived for future reference, both by the day of the meeting and the country. The fifth updated list of speakers mentioned yesterday was also available on the internet at www.un.org/ga/53/session/list/53.htm.

Mr. Eckhard then added that the Secretary-General would also be speaking at the closing session on globalization this afternoon.

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