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 the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, was in the Security Council at the time of the briefing and if she finished early enough, she would come directly to room S-226. Otherwise, she would address correspondents at the stake-out outside the Council. In addition, her statement to the Council had been made available in the Spokesman's Office.

The Council this morning had also considered its work for October, Mr. Eckhard said. Yesterday afternoon, they had met for consultations on Kosovo. The President had issued a statement to the press. The Secretary- General's report on Kosovo, which would indicate the extent to which the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had complied with Security Council resolutions, would be sent to the Council on Monday, 5 October. The Council had also decided to hold further informal consultations on Kosovo on either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

The Secretary-General would meet again with the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, Tariq Aziz, at 3 p.m., the Spokesman said. The meeting was scheduled to last one hour and a read-out would be requested.

A statement available in room S-378 had been issued by the Office of the Iraq Programme with details of a letter that the Programme's Director Benon Sevan had written to the Chairman of the Security Council Committee overseeing the sanctions on Iraq, Mr. Eckhard said. In that letter, Mr. Sevan had again stressed the urgency of approving contracts for oil spare parts and equipment. As well, he reported a welcome increase in the likely revenue to be raised in the current phase of the "oil-for-food" programme, but said it was still well under what was needed. Given the funding shortfall, Mr. Sevan was working on the need to prioritize the contract applications being approved by the Sanctions Committee. Currently, 203 approved contracts were awaiting funding. Mr. Sevan was meeting today, and perhaps at the time of the briefing, with the Foreign Minister of Iraq, Mohammed Said al-Sahaf, to discuss the need to prioritize.

The statement also included full details of the status of the current phase of the programme as at the end of September, the Spokesman said. The tables and statistics were also available in room S-378.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda today in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, had sentenced Jean-Paul Akayesu, former mayor of Rwanda's Taba commune, to life imprisonment for genocide and crimes against humanity, Mr. Eckhard said. Mr. Akayesu was found guilty of both crimes on 2 September and he had appealed the judgement.

Mr. Eckhard further said the Prosecutor of the Tribunal had today filed a Notice of Appeal against the part of the judgement in which Akayesu was found not guilty of violations of article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions of 1949. The Tribunal had held that Mr. Akayesu was not guilty of that particular crime because the prosecution had been unable to prove he was a member or active agent of the Rwandan Armed Forces at the time the crimes were committed in 1994.

Elsewhere, Mr. Eckhard said the next round of talks on East Timor would take place at Headquarters from 6 to 8 October. Chaired by the Personal Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor, Jamsheed K.A. Marker, the talks would bring senior-level delegations from Indonesia and Portugal together for the first time since the meeting between the Secretary-General and the Foreign Ministers of the two countries last August. Also during those talks, there would, for the first time, be an in-depth discussion on an autonomy plan for East Timor, while the issue of final status was set aside for the moment.

The Indonesian delegation would be led by Nugroho Wisnumurti, Mr. Eckhard added. The Portuguese delegation would be led by Fernando Nevis.

On the racks was a press release from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Spokesman said. The release concerned a high-level seminar held this week in the Republic of Korea on cleaner industrial production processes, which had been the launch of the International Declaration on Cleaner Production. The Declaration had been signed by ministers and senior government officials from China, Indonesia, Norway, Republic of Korea, Thailand and the United Kingdom, as well as by representatives of leading international corporations. The Declaration had committed signatories to adopting a pollution preventive strategy, along with environmental performance targets. It also committed them to reporting on their achievements in a transparent manner.

The summary of today's Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) briefing in Geneva was available in room S-378, Mr. Eckhard said. It contained an item on Kosovo, as well as a report of an outflow to Guinea this week of thousands of people as a result of attacks by Sierra Leonean rebels.

Also, Mr. Eckhard said, the World Food Programme (WFP) had issued a news release in Nairobi today, announcing that it had distributed emergency food supplies to thousands of Rwandans returning home to one of north-west Rwanda's most insecure communes.

On new signings and ratifications, the Spokesman said Viet Nam had ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention, becoming the 118th party to that instrument. The Comoros had signed the Convention on suppression of terrorist bombings, becoming the thirty-sixth signatory.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 2 October 1998

On payments, the Spokesman continued, over $10,500 had been received from Equatorial Guinea, which was full payment for that country's regular budget assessment for 1998. That had made Equatorial Guinea the 101st Member State to be paid in full.

The Spokesman's Office website was now available in French. as well as in English, Mr. Eckhard said. It would be updated as much as human resources permitted. The address was "www.un.org/french/news/ossg", pronounced in French, which drew chuckles from correspondents.

On press conferences in room S-229, Mr. Eckhard said the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy, would join the noon briefing on Monday to discuss her recent visit to Sierra Leone. On Tuesday at 11 a.m., the Deputy Foreign Minister of Greece would hold a press conference, and on Wednesday at 11 a.m. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Goodwill Ambassador Mikko Kuustonen, who was a singer and songwriter from Finland, would be introduced by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Nafis Sadik.

In the regular Friday feature of some things to look forward to next week, Mr. Eckhard said that on Monday, the Secretary-General's report on Kosovo would be released; Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy would meet with senior United Nations officials at Headquarters; and also at Headquarters, China was expected to sign the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; World Habitat Day would also be observed with a panel discussion on the theme of "Safer Cities" in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

On Tuesday, Mr. Eckhard continued, the United Nations would observe the fiftieth anniversary of peacekeeping, which would be "a big bash". Kosovo would possibly come up in the Council on Tuesday or Wednesday, and the East Timor talks would also begin on Tuesday. Under-Secretary-General for Management Joseph Connor would brief the General Assembly Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) on Tuesday, which was his annual "state of finances" report to the Committee, and then on Wednesday he would be at the noon briefing to talk to correspondents on the same subject. On Thursday, the Secretary-General's report on Angola was expected to be issued.

A correspondent asked whether the Secretary-General had received an invitation to visit Kosovo and if so, what the reaction had been. Mr. Eckhard said the letter had come in and was being studied, but the Secretary-General's schedule was quite tight, and there was no official response yet. Did the tight schedule mean it was unlikely the Secretary-General would go? the correspondent asked, and the Spokesman said "I would say so."

A correspondent then said the Foreign Minister of Yugoslavia had said a few days ago that "this Yugoslavia" was the founder of the League of Nations and the United Nations. What was the official position of the United Nations

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 2 October 1998

regarding who was the founder of the League of Nations and the United Nations? Was it "this Yugoslavia" or "the former Yugoslavia"?

"Ask the Legal Counsel", Mr. Eckhard responded, explaining that it depended on context. "There is no answer to your question at this time", Mr. Eckhard said. "Yugoslavia remains a Member State of the United Nations", he said, adding that "whether the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is the successor -- politically, legally, financially -- that has not been decided."

A correspondent asked for material from yesterday's landmines press conference in the Trusteeship Council Chamber, and Mr. Eckhard said it would be provided.

To another correspondent's question, Mr. Eckhard said the meeting between the Secretary-General and the Deputy Foreign Minister of Iraq was scheduled for 3 p.m. Were there any expectations for the meeting, since it was the forum where progress could be made? the correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary- General had said he felt progress had been made at the time of the dinner meeting earlier in the week, but it did not seem anything definitive would come from today's meeting.

A correspondent asked who had filed the appeal for Jean-Paul Akayesu, convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, since it had been reported that Mr. Akayesu had rejected his Counsel. Mr. Eckhard introduced the Acting Spokesman for the Rwanda Tribunal, Kingsley Moghalu, who was present at the noon briefing. Mr. Moghalu said Mr. Akayesu had submitted the letter of appeal himself, but the Registrar had acceded to the request of the Counsel to withdraw from the case, based on indications from Mr. Akayesu that he did not want to continue with the Counsel in the appeals stage.

Was there a meeting in Geneva next week on Kosovo with United Nations people, as well as Contact Group people? a correspondent asked. "Not that we're ready to announce at this time", Mr. Eckhard answered, adding that there had been some talk, but there was nothing to announce.

The UNHCR representative who had briefed the Security Council on Kosovo last night had seemed to be fairly extravagant in his policy prescriptions for Kosovo. What did the Secretary-General think should be done in Kosovo? the correspondent asked. The Secretary-General's report would go to the Security Council on Monday, Mr. Eckhard said. It was for the Council to decide how to respond. The Secretary-General would not be giving any specific recommendations to the Council on how it should respond, and so his view at present was not relevant. Asked whether President Slobodan Milosevic was in compliance with the relevant Security Council resolutions, Mr. Eckhard said that was part of the Secretary-General's report and he would not disclose its content before it was released.

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 2 October 1998

What was the report based on? Was it the same as the UNHCR briefing yesterday? What else went into the report?

The Council had asked the Secretary-General to report regularly, and the Secretary-General had told the Council that since the United Nations itself had no presence in Kosovo, the Secretary-General would have to rely on whatever sources existed. The UNHCR was one such resource, and the European monitors' reports had also been shared with the Secretary-General and would be factored into the report.

The Secretary-General had received assurances from the Yugoslav Foreign Minister on Tuesday, a correspondent said. Had the Secretary-General been reassured by them? Mr. Eckhard said he did not know which assurances were being referred to. In response to a series of questions about the nature of the fighting, Mr. Eckhard said reports of continued fighting had come from the ground as recently as yesterday afternoon. Who was involved in the fighting, Serb separatists or others? Also, how up to the minute would the Secretary- General's report be? What was the cut-off time for events to be covered in it? Would it include incidents over the weekend?

Mr. Eckhard said his understanding was that the report would be completed today and given to the Secretary-General this afternoon. In response to more questions, he said he could not characterize the reports of the fighting, but that shooting had been reported as continuing as of yesterday.

What was the rest of Judge McDonald's schedule at Headquarters and how was she tied in with Mr. Milosevic's compliance with resolution 1199 (1998)? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said Judge McDonald had written a letter to the Council saying she wanted more active support for the provisions of the Dayton Agreement in connection with the arrest and forwarding to the Tribunal of the people accused of war crimes. She was briefing the Council today, and the Council President would have something to say afterwards. In addition, she would be briefing the press, and further information could be obtained in room S-378.

Asked for details of time, place and media coverage regarding China's signing of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Mr. Eckhard said details would be made available as soon as known, either later this afternoon or Monday morning.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said today was the last day of the general debate of the fifty-third session of the General Assembly. The speakers this morning had been the President of Ecuador; the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Comoros; the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Albania; the Chairman of the delegation of Trinidad and Tobago; the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mali; the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of

Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 2 October 1998

Equatorial Guinea; and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Madagascar and Eritrea.

During the closing session of the general debate this afternoon, Ms. Mihalic continued, the Assembly would hear statements by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Guinea-Bissau, Rwanda, Haiti, Angola and Georgia, as well as by the chairmen of the delegations of Uzbekistan and Sao Tome and Principe.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the President would make a statement summarizing the general debate, the spokesman added. The President's statement would be available as a press release in Spanish and English, hopefully this afternoon.

Yesterday morning, Ms. Mihalic said, the Assembly had adopted without a vote resolution A/53/L.1 on assistance to Bangladesh in the wake of devastating floods. By the terms of the resolution introduced by Indonesia, on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, the Assembly appealed to all Member States, to the United Nations system and to the international financial institutions and non-governmental organizations, to respond urgently and generously to Bangladesh in its relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts following the calamity.

The Assembly had postponed until Monday morning its consideration of resolution A/53/L.2, Ms. Mihalic said. That was on emergency assistance to Antigua and Barbuda, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Saint Kitts and Nevis. Also on Monday morning, the Assembly would consider the Secretary- General's report on the work of the Organization. So far, 15 speakers had been inscribed to address the Assembly on that item.

On Monday, the Main Committees would begin their work, the spokesman said. The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) would meet on Monday afternoon to begin its general debate on decolonization and related items. The debate would continue until 13 October.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) would hold informal consultations on organizational matters on Monday, Ms. Mihalic said. It would begin its general debate on Tuesday, 6 October. The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) would begin consideration of agenda item 100, social development. The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) would also meet on Monday to consider its programme of work and to take up item 113, on the Development Account, and item 143, the administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations: Support Account and death and disability. It would also take up items 112 and 119 dealing with gratis personnel. The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) would begin its substantive work on 12 October with a general debate scheduled to continue until 21 October.

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