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 welcoming the Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Geneva, Dr. Peter Piot, and the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Stephen Lewis, who would speak about how the HIV epidemic was posing an increased threat to the world's children. (The briefing of Dr. Piot and Mr. Lewis is being issued separately.)

The fiftieth anniversary of United Nations peacekeeping was being celebrated today, Mr. Eckhard said. The Secretary-General, in his remarks to the General Assembly on presenting the Dag Hammarskjöld Medals this morning, had said the Medal would "honour all those, civilian and military alike, who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in the cause of peace".

The Spokesman said the Secretary-General had also announced that the decision to build a fixed and visible memorial outside the General Assembly building had been taken. The memorial would be funded by the proceeds of the Nobel peace prize awarded to United Nations peacekeeping forces in 1988 -- with which interest had doubled in size in the interim. The Secretary-General had also given an address to the ceremony celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of peacekeeping, and both statements were available in room S-378.

In addition, a photo exhibit on peacekeeping and the presentation of commemorative stamp albums to the families of the recipients of the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal were scheduled to take place shortly in the General Assembly Public Lobby, Mr. Eckhard said. Informal consultations between the present and former senior United Nations officials involved in peacekeeping would be held in Conference Room 4, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. this afternoon, and that would be followed by a "coupe de champagne" in the West Terrace at 6 p.m.

Those commemorative events were taking place today, 6 October, Mr. Eckhard said, and that date had been selected by the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, but there were two notable dates for the beginning of United Nations peacekeeping. One was 29 May 1948, when the first United Nations peacekeeping mission, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), was established. The other was 6 July 1948, when the first peacekeeper, Commandant René de Labarrière, had lost his life while serving in UNTSO. As seen on United Nations television during the morning ceremony, the Commandant's son had participated in the Assembly events.

The United Nations was not alone in commemorating the anniversary, Mr. Eckhard said. This evening, the crown of the Empire State Building would be illuminated in blue and white, "and not for the Yankees but for United Nations peacekeepers", he added. Also, the United Nations Audio Library had put together a cassette tape with archival material related to 50 years of peacekeeping. That was available in the first basement and, among others, it

had the voice of the first Secretary-General of the United Nations, Trigve Lie. Barbara Sue-Ting-Len, at extension 3-6982, could be contacted for more details on that.

The Security Council would meet at 3:30 p.m. to be briefed on the latest situation in Kosovo, Mr. Eckhard said. The Council would be briefed by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Alvaro de Soto. The Council would consider two reports on the subject: the Secretary-General's 30-day report as required by Security Council resolution 1160 (1998); and the Secretary-General's report on Kosovo, issued on 4 October, as required by Security Council resolutions 1160 (1998) and 1199 (1998).

Mr. Eckhard said that as the United Nations agency coordinating the relief effort in Kosovo, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had said today that it had issued a new warning to relief agencies that landmines were potentially present in two more areas in the province. The warning was issued in the wake of the 30 September mine incident, which had killed one International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) worker and injured three others west of Pristina.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, had issued a statement today in Geneva expressing her concern over the intensification of repression against Myanmar's political opposition over the last few weeks, Mr. Eckhard said. Mrs. Robinson had said she had raised those issues with the Foreign Minister of Myanmar during her recent visit to New York but had not received a satisfactory response. Mrs. Robinson's full statement was available in room S-378. The Media Officer for the Human Rights High Commissioner had also announced today in Geneva that Mrs. Robinson would visit Colombia from 20 to 22 October, adding that her programme was still being finalized.

Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette was in Washington, D.C., today, the Spokesman said. Ms. Fréchette would attend an event commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The event was being co-sponsored by the United Nations Offices in Washington and by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, which was composed of 83 members of Congress and was co-chaired by Congressmen Tom Lantos, a Democrat, and John Porter, a Republican. Ms. Fréchette this afternoon would address a reception given by the Caucus and her remarks were available in room S-378, embargoed until 5:45 p.m.

The United States Secretary of the Treasury, Robert Rubin, was scheduled to meet with the Secretary-General here at United Nations Headquarters this evening from 6:45 p.m. until approximately 7:30 p.m., Mr. Eckhard announced. The two would discuss the current international financial crisis and ways to resolve it. Following their meeting, the Secretary-General and the Treasury Secretary would answer correspondents' questions at the Security Council stake-out, the exact time to be announced as it neared. Discussions between

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the two would then continue at the Secretary-General's residence, where the Treasury Secretary would be a dinner guest.

The World Bank's annual meeting was beginning in Washington today, Mr. Eckhard announced. For those who could not make it there in person, there would be an informal briefing here at Headquarters tomorrow from 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. in Conference Room 7. The briefing would feature a video of the World Bank President's presentation to the annual meeting. The Bank's Special Representative to the United Nations, Alfredo Sfeir-Younis, would be present at the briefing, where copies of the Bank's annual report would be available. A reference copy of the report was also available in room S-378.

Bilateral talks on East Timor had been held this morning between the Secretary-General's Special Envoy, Jamsheed Marker, and representatives of Indonesia and Portugal, separately, Mr. Eckhard said. Trilateral talks were expected to take place this afternoon.

The Indonesian delegation was headed by Nugroho Wisnumurti and the Portuguese by Fernando Neves, Mr. Eckhard continued. On the agenda were United Nations proposals for autonomy and modalities for Portugal and India to establish interest sections in each other's capitals. That round of talks, ending on Thursday, 8 October, was the first since the ministerial round held in New York in August.

"The long-awaited annual opium poppy survey in Afghanistan was issued this morning in Vienna by the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP)", Mr. Eckhard announced, adding that a press release was available in room S-378. The survey revealed that the total opium poppy produced in Afghanistan during 1998 was estimated to be 25 per cent less than recorded as produced in 1997. According to the survey, the reduction was attributable primarily to unfavourable weather conditions throughout the year. Copies of the survey had been requested from Vienna and were expected to arrive in a few days.

The UNHCR today had announced that it was "appalled" by the latest outbreak of violence directed at Muslims attempting to return to their homes in Croat-controlled areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Eckhard said. Since 1 October there had been several very serious incidents south of Mostar, representing a set-back in the return process in the area. More details were contained in the UNHCR press release available in room S-378.

Also, Mr. Eckhard added, a UNHCR office in northern Uganda had narrowly escaped a bombing raid that had occurred on Saturday, 3 October, when an unidentified aircraft had dropped four bombs in the town of Pakelle. Two bombs had landed approximately 100 metres from the UNHCR office and others had been dropped in an area where more than 90,000 refugees from the Sudan were living in settlements. A number of injured Ugandans had been taken to nearby health centres, and after meeting with the World Food Programme (WFP) and other humanitarian staff and authorities, the UNHCR had decided to stay put

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and no aid had been interrupted as a result of the raid. Further details were available in the UNHCR summary available in room S-378.

A note had been received from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Guinea-Bissau, Mr. Eckhard said. In that note, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Sergio Vieira de Mello, said he was encouraged by reports that the return of internally displaced persons was continuing since initiating around 17 September.

Preliminary information provided by a recent United Nations inter-agency mission to Guinea-Bissau had indicated that over 200,000 internally displaced persons had already returned to their homes in Bissau City, Mr. Eckhard continued. United Nations humanitarian organizations on the ground were revising projects to facilitate reintegration of the returnees and they would also maintain emergency support for those remaining displaced.

However, Mr. Eckhard added, Mr. Vieira de Mello remained concerned over recent reports of increased looting in Bissau, as well as by continued population movements between Bissau City and places of displacement. The Under-Secretary-General had called on the parties to continue honouring the ceasefire and ensuring that international humanitarian law and principles were respected nationwide, even as a political solution to the conflict was sought.

As announced, the Spokesman said, the weekly press release issued by the Office of the Iraq Programme was now being made available on Monday afternoon. It contained information on the revenue generated during the current phase of the "oil-for-food" programme; the amount and value of oil loadings; the number of new oil contracts, if any; the state of oil spare parts contracts; and the number of humanitarian sales applications. The release was available in room S-378 for anyone who missed it yesterday.

As a reminder, Mr. Eckhard said, there would be a briefing for correspondents at 4 p.m. in room S-226, giving an overview of the general debate in the General Assembly. A senior Secretariat official would provide an analysis of the main themes that had emerged in the debate.

Other briefings in room S-226 included one at 11 a.m. tomorrow by the new United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Goodwill Ambassador, Mikko Kuustonen, a singer and songwriter from Finland, who would be introduced by UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Nafis Sadik. After the noon briefing, Under-Secretary-General for Management Joseph Connor would give a briefing on the financial situation of the United Nations after briefing the General Assembly's Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today.

A correspondent then asked who had initiated the meeting between the Secretary-General and the United States Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.

It seemed the meeting had resulted from discussions the Secretary- General had held with the President of the United States during his visit to

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Headquarters to address the General Assembly. They had talked of the upcoming financial meetings in Washington and about how the United Nations could be factored into them, and the offer had been made to send the Treasury Secretary to brief the Secretary-General on the outcome of those meetings.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said that this morning the Assembly had heard an address by the President of Botswana before proceeding with the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of United Nations peacekeeping. The President had made an opening statement, already issued as a press release in Spanish and due to be released in English within hours. The Secretary-General had also made a statement, as had the Chairmen of the regional groups, the representative of the host country, and the representative of the Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement.

The Assembly had then proceeded to adopt without a vote a Declaration contained in document A/53/L.5, Ms. Mihalic continued. In the second segment of the commemoration, the Secretary-General had by now awarded the three Dag Hammarskjöld Medals.

In the afternoon, the Assembly would take up item 37, Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development, Ms. Mihalic said. There were three reports relevant to that item. One was the report of the Preparatory Committee for the Special Session of the General Assembly on the Implementation of the Outcome of the Summit and Further Initiatives. There was a report of the Preparatory Committee for the special session, report of the Secretary-General and a note by him, as well as a draft decision contained in paragraph 87 of the Preparatory Committee's report. Twenty-eight speakers had been inscribed so far to address the Assembly on that item this afternoon.

Tomorrow morning the Assembly would hold a commemorative meeting to observe the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action for promoting and implementing technical cooperation among developing countries, the spokesman said. So far, nine speakers had been inscribed to address the plenary on that item.

With regard to the work of the Main Committees, Mr. Mihalic said the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) was beginning its general debate today with 13 speakers inscribed for this morning, starting with the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Nitin Desai. Another 12 were inscribed for this afternoon.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was continuing its general debate on social development, including issues relating to the world social situation and to youth, ageing, disabled persons and the family, Ms. Mihalic said. The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this morning was holding informal consultations on item 118, the scale of assessments; this afternoon, as mentioned by the Spokesman, the formal meeting would begin with a statement by the Under-Secretary-General for Management

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Joseph Connor on the current financial situation of the United Nations. That would be followed by a general discussion of the Development Account, administrative arrangements for the International Trade Centre, financing of peacekeeping operations, the issue of gratis personnel, and the scale of assessments.

In response to a question, Ms. Mihalic said the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) would begin meeting on 12 October.

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