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 announcing that a joint statement, issued last night after the meeting of the Six-Plus-Two group on Afghanistan convened by the Secretary- General, had been made available.

As mentioned in the last paragraph of that document, Mr. Eckhard continued, the Six-Plus-Two group endorsed the Secretary-General's decision to send his Special Envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, to the region, and for him to seek the participation of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in the mission. The Secretary-General of the OIC was arriving in New York on Thursday. Ambassador Brahimi was expected to meet with him and with representatives of Iran and Pakistan this week to work out his itinerary, and then he was expected to go to the region some time next week.

The Spokesman then said the Secretary-General would meet with members of the Security Council at 6:30 this evening to discuss the idea for a comprehensive review of Iraq's compliance with its obligations under all relevant Security Council resolutions. The Secretary-General had called the meeting in response to the Council's invitation to him, expressed in resolution 1194 (1998), which asked the Secretary-General to share his views on the matter with the Council. The meeting would take place in the Secretary-General's conference room. The Secretary-General was expected to meet with Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, on Monday of next week, 28 September.

Also on Iraq, Mr. Eckhard said, the weekly summary from the Office of the Iraq Programme was available today. There were no new oil contracts and only one application for spare parts. However, two more oil spare parts contracts had been approved. The larger one was worth $16.9 million and had been given to a French company. A handout on the report was available in room S-378.

A United Nations bus carrying members of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), returning from Sukhumi to the Mission headquarters, had been ambushed by small arms fire yesterday, Mr. Eckhard said. Four of the 10 occupants of the bus had been injured in the attack. A Bangladeshi military observer had been seriously injured. A second military observer from Bangladesh, along with a civilian international staff member from Nigeria and a local driver, had also been injured. Three of the four injured had been evacuated by air to Istanbul this morning. The local driver's injury had been minor and he had been treated locally.

The UNOMIG had protested the incident to the Abkhaz authorities, Mr. Eckhard said. The Abkhaz leader, Vladislav Ardzinba, had expressed regret over the incident and had promised to take additional measures to protect

United Nations personnel. The identity of the attackers was not known at present, and UNOMIG was investigating the incident.

The Spokesman said the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative and Designated Official for Security in Lesotho had reported that South African troops with armoured personnel carriers and helicopters had crossed the border at approximately 5:30 this morning local time and had entered Maseru in support of the Government of Lesotho. Heavy shooting and shelling was concentrated around the presidential palace and the military compound in Maseru. The fighting was still going on.

All United Nations staff and dependants were safe, the Spokesman continued, and the current Phase Two condition meant all staff were remaining inside their residences. The Designated Official had reported much looting and had said that some houses and offices had been set on fire. Sixty United Nations international staff and 91 dependants were currently in Lesotho. That included seven United Nations volunteers posted outside the capital.

Yesterday, in his statement to the General Assembly, British Prime Minister Tony Blair had said his country had proposed a new Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Kosovo, the Spokesman said. The resolution had also demanded an urgent end to the trampling on the rights of the inhabitants of Kosovo. Mr. Blair had said the resolution should be adopted this week.

Kosovo was not yet on the agenda of the Security Council this week, Mr. Eckhard said. However, intensive consultations were occurring among the extended contact group members, with an aim towards adopting the resolution.

Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, would visit Kosovo and the surrounding region on a five-day mission, Mr. Eckhard said. Mrs. Ogata's spokesman had described the mission as aimed to "scream to the world" that the humanitarian situation was becoming worse by the day. Mrs. Ogata, whose agency was leading the United Nations' humanitarian effort to provide emergency assistance to more than 270,000 people displaced by the fighting in Kosovo, would meet with the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, in Belgrade. She was scheduled to go to Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania during her trip, which would begin on Thursday.

In Tajikistan, a prominent member of the United Tajik Opposition and Chairman of the Legal Subcommission of the Commission on National Reconciliation, Otakhon Latifi, had been shot dead by an unidentified gunman outside his apartment in the centre of Dushanbe this morning, Mr. Eckhard said. Tajik authorities had initiated an immediate investigation into the murder.

The United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) had issued a statement today strongly condemning the murder, Mr. Eckhard continued.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 22 September 1998

Mr. Latifi had been deeply involved in the inter-Tajik negotiations and the current peace process in Tajikistan. The UNMOT had called on the parties to "stand firmly by their commitments to the peace process in the face of this provocation".

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, had had a discussion yesterday with the Foreign Minister of Mexico, Rosario Green, the Spokesman said. Mrs. Robinson had expressed her concern about the situation in the Chiapas region in Mexico, and she was prepared to consider a visit to that country.

The Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, Pino Arlacchi, had met yesterday with the President of Colombia, Andrés Pastrana Arango, Mr. Eckhard reported. During the meeting, the two had reached an agreement on a strategy for a proposed programme of alternative development in Colombia, as well as on a common approach towards potential donor countries for funding of the programme. A read-out of the meeting was available in room S-378.

Romania would be the eighteenth country to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the Standby Arrangements for Peacekeeping Operations, Mr. Eckhard said. A signing ceremony would take place on Thursday of this week at 3:30 p.m. in the conference room of the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Bernard Miyet. Romania's Foreign Minister, Andrei Gabriel Plesu, would sign for Romania, and Mr. Miyet would sign on behalf of the United Nations. Standby arrangements, Mr. Eckhard explained, had been instituted to speed the deployment of peacekeeping operations once they had been approved by the Security Council.

The Secretary-General had appointed Brigadier-General Cameron Ross of Canada as Force Commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), Mr. Eckhard said. Brigadier-General Ross would assume command of UNDOF on 1 October and would be succeeding Major-General David Stapleton of Ireland, who had served as Commander from 1 June 1997 until the end of August 1998. "The Secretary-General takes this opportunity to pay warm tribute to Major-General Stapleton for his distinguished service in this peacekeeping mission", Mr. Eckhard added. (See Press Release SG/A/685-BIO/3197-PKO/71 issued today.)

Mali had paid over $76,000, becoming the ninety-ninth Member State to be paid in full for its assessments for 1998, Mr. Eckhard said. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had issued a situation report on Hurricane Georges, currently affecting the Caribbean. The Office had also issued a situation report on the floods and landslides in India. Both could be found on the ReliefWeb, the website on humanitarian and natural disasters described in yesterday's noon briefing.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 22 September 1998

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) had issued a press release on the launching of a new cartoon series in South Asia, designed to raise awareness of child rights, in particular those of pre-teenaged girls. That was available in room S-378. Also available was a press release by the World Food Programme (WFP) in Nairobi, announcing that the WFP's air fleet for the Sudan had been expanded yet again with the addition of two German military aircraft. The planes would join the 16 aircraft currently airdropping and airlifting food supplies into southern Sudan, where the WFP and other humanitarian agencies had mounted an emergency relief operation to feed some 1.8 million people.

Mr. Eckhard said a number of press conferences were scheduled. At 4 p.m. today, the President of Burkina Faso would hold one. At 10:30 a.m. tomorrow, the Foreign Minister of Italy would hold one, followed, at 11 a.m., by the President of Colombia; at 12:45 p.m. by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand and, at 2:45 p.m., by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson. At tomorrow's noon briefing, the United Nations Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, would brief correspondents of his recent mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was cordially inviting correspondents to a Town Hall meeting on the theme of "The African in the Twenty-first Century", Mr. Eckhard said. The meeting would be led by Blaise Compaore, President of Burkina Faso, who was also the current Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). It would be held today, from 2:30 to 4 p.m., in the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium. All were invited.

Also, Mr. Eckhard said, the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) had announced that, at 2 p.m. today, the Chief of Russian State Television and Radio would hold a reception and a briefing on current events in the Federation. That would be in the UNCA Club.

A correspondent asked for a read-out on a meeting between the Secretary- General and the Prime Minister of Pakistan this morning. Mr. Eckhard said there was no read-out on that meeting yet.

Another correspondent asked about the official number of refugees in the mountains of Kosovo since there were conflicting reports. Mr. Eckhard said he would get the UNHCR number.

The same correspondent asked whether there had been an official response to the letter from the Bosnian Ambassador to the Security Council regarding fulfilment of obligations apprehending those accused of war crimes. Mr. Eckhard said he was not aware of a Council response to that letter.

Another correspondent asked what the purpose of today's meeting with the members of the Security Council was, as the Secretary-General had already met

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 22 September 1998

with the five permanent members and the ten non-permanent members of the Council. What would happen tonight?

"It is a further discussion of the details of the review", Mr. Eckhard answered. Once there was a common understanding about the review -- what the nature of the review should be and how it should work -- then the ball was back in Iraq's court under the terms of the resolution, which said that Iraq had to come back to full compliance with Security Council resolutions before the Council would be willing to consider a comprehensive review.

The same correspondent then asked for clarification on consultations with the High Commissioner for Refugees on Kosovo. Mr. Eckhard reiterated that Prime Minister Tony Blair, in his address to the General Assembly yesterday, had mentioned that there was a resolution under discussion on Kosovo, and that he expected the resolution to be adopted this week, but that it was not formally on the Council's agenda for this week.

Did the Secretary-General have an opinion on the option of military force in Kosovo? the correspondent asked. "He certainly hopes that it would not be necessary to resort to military force", Mr. Eckhard answered.

Would the Secretary-General, in his meeting today, use his standing with the Security Council to somehow speed up the putting on the agenda of the resolution proposal at the request of the British Prime Minister? another correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said he would not.

A correspondent referred to a toast made yesterday by United States President William Clinton during the luncheon for heads of State, in which Mr. Clinton had quoted American baseball legend Leo Durocher as having said that "nice guys finish last", in order to make the point that Mr. Annan was an example of "nice guys finish first". Had the Secretary-General understood the reference? Mr. Eckhard said, "I think the Secretary-General got the President's point".

Were there any further details on Mrs. Ogata's trip to the Kosovo area, during which she would meet with Mr. Milosevic? another correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said there were not, but the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) could be contacted for more information.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said that this morning the Assembly had continued its general debate with statements made by the Presidents of Burundi and Ghana. That had been followed by statements made by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Austria, Germany and the Russian Federation, as well as the Chairman of the Australian delegation. Still to follow in the morning session were statements by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh and Peru.

Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 22 September 1998

In the afternoon, Ms. Mihalic continued, the Assembly was scheduled to hear statements by the Presidents of Lithuania, Guyana and Paraguay. Those would be followed by statements made by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Zimbabwe, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Denmark, Panama, Belgium, Finland, Namibia and Mozambique.

Ms. Mihalic said that a revised version of the list of tomorrow's speakers was available on the side table, as was a revised list of this afternoon's speakers, which was different from that issued yesterday. Also available in room S-378 was a schematic of the seating arrangement in the General Assembly Hall for the fifty-third session.

In response to a question about any other formal events such as yesterday's luncheon being planned, Ms. Mihalic said there was none.

In response to a question on the time of the Secretary-General's meeting with Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, next week, Mr. Eckhard said no time had yet been set.

In response to a question on whether a Security-Council resolution was expected next week on Kosovo, Mr. Eckhard said nothing more was known than what Prime Minister Tony Blair had said in his address, that "he hoped it would happen this week".

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