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 Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for both the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, Louise Arbour. (Ms. Arbour's briefing on the Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia is being issued separately.)

The President of the Yugoslav Tribunal had today welcomed in principle the agreements on Kosovo which had been provisionally concluded yesterday, Mr. Eckhard then said. In a statement issued in The Hague, the President of the Tribunal, Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, had reiterated that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was legally required to cooperate with the Tribunal. She had reminded all involved parties of the need to ensure the country's full compliance with its obligations. The text of that statement was available in room S-378, and Ms. Arbour would answer questions on the subject.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had resumed humanitarian operations in Kosovo today following a brief suspension, Mr. Eckhard continued. In its weekly report issued from Kosovo, the UNHCR had said relief activities had been suspended on 12 October, as some international staff members had been temporarily relocated due to the threat of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) air strikes. The update on that situation was available in room S-378.

The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, had met today with the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, for more than three hours, the Spokesman said. The first item on their agenda had been the dangerous situation between Afghanistan and Iran. Mullah Omar had agreed to the release by the Taliban of all Iranian prisoners, which Mr. Brahimi had felt would help defuse tensions between those two countries.

The second item of discussion between Mr. Brahimi and Mullah Omar, Mr. Eckhard continued, had been the issue of relations between the United Nations and the Taliban. Mullah Omar had told Mr. Brahimi he accepted the idea of an international investigation into the killing of United Nations peacekeeper Lieutenant Colonel Carmine Calo, and also accepted an international investigation into reported massacres and human rights abuses in Mazar-i-Sharif and in Bamiyan, Afghanistan.

Mr. Eckhard said follow-up meetings between Mr. Brahimi and Taliban leaders would be held in Islamabad, where Mr. Brahimi was at present. Further discussions would be held on those same topics and on the remaining agenda concerning the conditions for the United Nations to return to Afghanistan, including the conditions of work for humanitarian staff.

At 10:30 this morning, Mr. Eckhard said, the Security Council had met to continue its consultations on Angola, which had begun yesterday afternoon. A draft resolution on the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) had been distributed to Council members and was expected to "go into blue", or be under consideration for adoption, tomorrow.

The Council had then been briefed on developments concerning the United Nations role in the Central African Republic by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hedi Annabi, Mr. Eckhard said. A draft resolution on that mission had also been introduced, and it too was expected to be adopted at a formal meeting tomorrow. A presidential statement was also expected at that meeting. Council members had then been briefed by the outgoing Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Henryk Sokalski, while at yesterday afternoon's Council meeting, under "other matters", Libya and Kosovo had been discussed. Mr. Sokalski was expected to meet with the press at the stake-out area near the Council.

Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General's report on the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP) was on the racks today. In that report, the Secretary-General had welcomed the opening of bilateral discussions aimed at finding a permanent solution to the disputed issue of Prevlaka in southern Croatia. The Governments of Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had submitted proposals for settling the dispute. Their Foreign Ministers had met in Zagreb on 18 August, followed by meetings of experts in mid-September and 9 October. At the latter meeting, the two sides had agreed on a set of procedures and on meeting again in November.

A press release on the Panel of High-Level Personalities on African Development was available in room S-378, the Spokesman said. Originally appointed in 1991 to advise the Secretary-General, the Panel had been recently reconstituted and would hold its first meeting at United Nations Headquarters tomorrow. They would discuss the Secretary-General's report on the causes of conflict and promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa, which had been issued in April.

The Panel was comprised of 16 members from both developed and African countries, as well as from African regional organizations. A list of the members was available in room S-378. The Secretary-General would open the day-long meeting.

This afternoon, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette would travel to Ottawa to deliver a speech to the 1998 Conference of the International Association of Refugee Law Judges (IARLJ), Mr. Eckhard then announced. Copies of the Deputy-Secretary-General's address would be available in room S-378 later today, and she would be returning tomorrow morning. As background, the Spokesman explained that the IARLJ was a voluntary association of judges who were called upon to interpret issues of refugee law and procedure. The organization was actively supported by the UNHCR, and this was its third conference.

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"The Secretary-General was delighted to learn this morning that Dr. Amartya Sen has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics", Mr. Eckhard said. Dr. Sen had contributed substantially to United Nations thinking on matters of economic importance, the Spokesman added.

In particular, Mr. Eckhard said, from 1994 to 1997 Dr. Sen had co-chaired a working group in the former Department of Economic and Social Information and Policy, now the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, which had produced a series of papers now published as a book entitled Development Strategy in the Management of the Market Economy. Dr. Sen had also been a regular adviser to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report, and he had advised former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali on the Beijing Conference on Women.

The Secretary-General warmly welcomed the good news of Dr. Sen's award, Mr. Eckhard stated, adding that the award had been presented in recognition of Dr. Sen's outstanding contributions to welfare economics. Dr. Sen was delivering an address tomorrow morning at the memorial ceremony for the former Special Adviser to the Administrator of the UNDP, Mahbub ul Haq. The ceremony would take place in the Economic and Social Council Chamber from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at which time Dr. Sen was scheduled to leave for the airport. If possible, he would meet the press before departure.

Yesterday afternoon, the Netherlands had become the nineteenth country to sign a memorandum of understanding on standby arrangements for United Nations peacekeeping operations, Mr. Eckhard then announced. The signing ceremony had taken place in the office of Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Bernard Miyet, and the Permanent Representative to the United Nations of the Netherlands had signed the memorandum on behalf of his country. Tomorrow, Ireland would join the standby regime when the Minister for Defence of Ireland signed the memorandum of understanding in Mr. Miyet's office at noon.

Today was World Disaster Reduction Day, Mr. Eckhard said, adding that, in a message marking the occasion, the Secretary-General had stressed the need for prevention. The Secretary-General had called on all States and groups to join their efforts in making the world more resilient to the impact of natural hazards and disaster. The full text of the Secretary-General's message was available in room S-378, along with a background press release on the Day (Press Release IHA/666).

Also available were copies of a speech delivered by UNDP Administrator James Gustave Speth to the National Press Club in Washington, the Spokesman said. Entitled, "A New Architecture for Development", Mr. Speth's message had cited the flagging commitment to the developing world on the part of the United States as "non-benign neglect" and had urged policy makers to act on the common interests of rich and poor countries.

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The UNDP, in addition, had sent a reminder of its benefit screening of the movie "Beloved" at 7:30 tonight in the Trusteeship Council Chamber, Mr. Eckhard added. The movie starred Oprah Winfrey and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Danny Glover.

Documents of interest today included one on the demographics of the United Nations (document A/53/375), which Mr. Eckhard said provided extensive information about the composition of the Secretariat. At 96 pages in length, the report answered questions about which countries were represented at what levels. The report also contained a statistical breakdown by gender and forecasts for the future.

Also on the racks today was a report by the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) on enhancing the relevance and effectiveness of the United Nations University (document A/53/392), Mr. Eckhard continued. In the report, the JIU had said the University had performed basic mandates reasonably well, but was in need of fresh vigour and new directions in facing the uncharted challenges ahead.

A World Food Programme (WFP) press release available in room S-378 stated that more people around the world today were suffering from malnutrition and hunger than a year ago, the Spokesman said. The release also stated that the WFP had delivered food to 1.8 million people in the Sudan since January, and that in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea it had delivered food to some 6 million people, nearly half of them children. The largest operation in the WFP's history was the current emergency effort in Bangladesh to feed 19 million people in flood-devastated areas. The release contained details.

The World Health Organization (WHO) had issued a release today announcing the launch of the first international study involving patients with Parkinson's disease, Mr. Eckhard said. The study would include information on patients' careers and clinicians. Participants included the WHO, the European Parkinson's Disease Association and the United States-based National Parkinson Foundation.

"The Secretary-General extends his thanks to all those staff members who participated during the blood drive at Headquarters here earlier this year", Mr. Eckhard said. The 103 units of blood that had been donated had enabled the United Nations community to supply approximately 500 of those patients who were in need in the New York tri-state area. Over the past five years, 470 staff members had made 903 donations, which had supplied blood to approximately 4,515 New York area patients.

A correspondent requested that Nobelist Amartya Sen brief the press today. It was later announced that Dr. Sen would meet with the press in room S-226 today at 4:30 p.m.

Another correspondent asked whether the Special Envoy of the Secretary- General to Afghanistan, Mr. Brahimi, had brought up the question of the killing of the Iranian diplomats, and as the correspondent had missed the beginning of

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the briefing, Mr. Eckhard said he would brief the correspondent later. He had no information on that specific question, he added.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said the plenary this morning had begun consideration of agenda item 29, the necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba. The first speaker was the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cuba. Nineteen other speakers were to address the Assembly on that item and, by the time of the noon briefing, five were left to speak. An additional nine speakers were to be heard before action and three after action by the Assembly on the item, making it uncertain whether the Assembly would finish this morning or the item would extend into this afternoon.

The draft resolution on the item had been introduced by the Foreign Minister of Cuba and was contained in document A/53/L.6, the spokesman said.

Tomorrow morning, Ms. Mihalic continued, the plenary would first take up agenda item 158, which was the World Solar Programme 1996-2005. A draft resolution on that item would be issued in document A/53/L.8, available later today or tomorrow morning. The plenary would also consider agenda items 159 and 162, concerning observer status for the Association of Caribbean States and for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), respectively. The drafts for those items were contained in documents A/53/L.3 and L.4.

Regarding the work of the Main Committees, Ms. Mihalic said the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) this morning was continuing its general debate. Eleven speakers had been inscribed. This afternoon, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) was expected to open up its debate on agenda item 81, the effects of atomic radiation.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial), Ms. Mihalic went on to say, had this morning begun discussing agenda item 95, operational activities. This afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m. in Conference Room 2, the Committee would hold a panel discussion on the United Nations Development Assistance Framework. The panellists would be the Administrator of the UNDP, Mr. Speth; the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr. Nafis Sadik; the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy; and the Director of the Strategy and Policy Division of the WFP, John Powell.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), Ms. Mihalic said, had this morning begun consideration of agenda items 103 and 104, which were advancement of women and the implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women.

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The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) had this morning been continuing informal consultations on agenda item 143, support account for peacekeeping operations. The Committee would also consider that item later this afternoon, but it would begin the afternoon session with a continued discussion of programme planning, and then it would take up the issue of the scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations. In essence, on that item, the delegation of Bosnia and Herzegovina had asked to be exempted from the application of Article 19 of the United Nations Charter.

Also today, the spokesman said, the Working Group of the Sixth Committee (Legal), on the United Nations Decade of International Law, would begin its work. It was considering draft guiding principles for international negotiations. Later this afternoon, the Sixth Committee would hold informal consultations, continuing the agenda item from yesterday afternoon, the Law of the Sea.

In response to questions, Ms. Mihalic confirmed that the panel discussion would be from 2 to 4 p.m., and that Georgia and Guinea-Bissau had received three month exemptions to Article 19 while Comoros and Tajikistan had received exemptions for the duration of the fifty-third session of the General Assembly.

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