DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Hiro Ueki, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by saying he was standing in for the Spokesman Fred Eckhard, who was in Washington, D.C., with the Secretary-General. More would be said about the Secretary-General's one-day programme in Washington later.

Mr. Ueki then welcomed the Head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Poverty Unit, Thierry Lemaresquier, who would introduce UNDP's report on world poverty in connection with the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, 17 October.

The Associate Spokesman then read the text of the Secretary-General's reaction to this morning's announcement on the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, as follows:

"The Secretary-General warmly congratulates David Trimble and John Hume, co-winners of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize. The award is a tribute to their personal courage and leadership, and to their contribution to putting Northern Ireland onto the path for peace by facilitating the signing of the landmark Northern Ireland Peace Agreement last April. He wishes the co-recipients of the 1998 award every success as they continue working for peace in Northern Ireland.

"The Secretary-General hopes the award will also encourage those who may still have reservations about the peace agreement, which Messrs. Trimble and Hume have worked so hard to achieve, to now lend their unremitting support to the peace process."

Copies of the statement were available in the Spokesman's Office, room S-378, Mr. Ueki said. Also available there were the congratulatory statements of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, and of the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy.

The Security Council had been briefed this morning on Afghanistan by the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, Mr. Ueki continued. Under "other matters", Council President Sir Jeremy Greenstock in his national capacity as Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom, had briefed the Council on the Lockerbie issue.

With regard to the Secretary-General's trip to Washington, Mr. Ueki said that at 10:15 a.m. today the Secretary-General had addressed Empower America's fall conference at the Washington Inter-Continental Hotel. In that address, which was highly recommended to correspondents for a full reading, the Secretary-General had made a very impassioned appeal to conservatives for

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"common sense and common cause" in breathing new life into the United States- United Nations relationship.

"American values are United Nations values", Mr. Ueki said the Secretary-General had stated, "and American interests are United Nations interests". Areas of shared concern the Secretary-General had enumerated included democracy, human rights, free and open markets, the value of the private sector, and the need to rid the world of illicit drugs.

Speaking directly about the United States Congressional vote on United Nations funding, Mr. Ueki cited the Secretary-General as having said that even if the United States "squeaks by and avoids Article 19", the larger question of its legal and moral obligation to the United Nations would remain open. "Conservatives believe in the sanctity of treaties and contracts", the Secretary-General had said. "They take a strong stand on responsibility and on morality as well. I would like to think that you are as disturbed as I am by this outcome."

Mr. Ueki said the Secretary-General had expressed confidence that the conservatives and the United Nations could establish a new relationship. "An urgent agenda awaits", the Secretary-General had said. "Let's get on with it."

Copies of the text were available in room S-378, the Associate Spokesman said. Prior to the address, the Secretary-General met for 15 minutes with Jack Kemp, co-director of Empower America and former United States Housing and Urban Development Secretary. Also, at 12:30 p.m., the Secretary-General had been scheduled to address the World Press Freedom Committee at the Madison Hotel. At 4 p.m. the Secretary-General would visit the President of the United States Foundation, Tim Worth. At 5 p.m. he would open the new British Broadcasting Company (BBC) Bureau in Washington.

The Secretary-General would then return to New York to attend an event at 7:30 p.m. tonight, commemorating the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty in the Economic and Social Council Chamber, Mr. Ueki said. At the event, the Secretary-General would present awards to five women for their personal triumphs over poverty.

Turning to the issue of Kosovo, Mr. Ueki said the Secretary-General's assessment mission to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was expected to begin its work on Monday. As announced yesterday, the mission would be headed by the Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Rome, Staffan de Mistura. The mission would be comprised of representatives of the United Nations Secretariat, as well as representatives of United Nations programmes, such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The mission would begin its work in Belgrade and would then proceed to Kosovo, Mr. Ueki continued. The mission was expected to stay in the region

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for about seven days and contacts on the mission would possibly include, but not necessarily be limited to, Yugoslav officials, Kosovo Albanians and representatives of the international community. The mission would report to

the Secretary-General on its assessment, which could subsequently be included in the Secretary-General's next report to the Council.

Further on Kosovo, Mr. Ueki said, the UNHCR had reported that it was intensifying humanitarian assistance to the displaced and to those deciding to return home. At its briefing in Geneva, the UNHCR had reported that significant numbers of people had been abandoning make-shift encampments in the hills and along routes because of the onset of winter. Over the next weeks, displaced people returning to damaged or destroyed homes would need considerable assistance in repairing them enough to get through the winter.

However, Mr. Ueki emphasized, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata had said that the level of fear of the displaced people would need to be reduced and their confidence in the implementation of the agreement would have to be firmly established before returns on a large scale were likely to be seen. More information on the situation in Kosovo was contained in the summary of the Geneva UNHCR briefing, available in room S-378. That summary also included an update on the plight of boat people trying to seek refuge in Yemen.

The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to Iran and Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, was presently in Islamabad, Mr. Ueki reported. A high-level Taliban delegation had arrived in Islamabad today for the follow-up talks with Mr. Brahimi, which would be held tomorrow. As contained in a statement by Mr. Brahimi after his talks with the Taliban leadership in Kandahar on Wednesday and released here at Headquarters that afternoon, Mr. Brahimi had said that the Taliban's Supreme Leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, had agreed to the suggestion that "it was high time that Iran and the Taliban met at the responsible, political level". Mr. Brahimi had said he hoped such talks would take place as soon as possible.

Two press releases available in room S-378 on the occasion of World Food Day were on the theme of "Women Feed the World", Mr. Ueki said. Both press releases had been issued in Rome today, one by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the other by the World Food Programme (WFP).

On the racks today were a number of documents, of which two would be highlighted, Mr. Ueki said. One was the report of the Special Rapporteur on the use of mercenaries (document A/53/398) and the other was the report of the Secretary-General on sustainable development of Small Island Developing States (document A/53/358).

Also available in room S-378 was a small booklet entitled "The United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western

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Sirmium (UNTAES)", the Associate Spokesman said. The UNTAES mission had begun in January 1996 and ended in January 1998, and the book was about the lessons that had been learned from that mission.

Turning to the regular Friday feature of "The Week Ahead", Mr. Ueki said that the FAO would launch tomorrow "Tele-Food 98", the second global anti- hunger broadcast with a concert originating in Dakar, Senegal. Performing at the event would be singers and musicians, including Youssou N'Dour. On Sunday, the Secretary-General would begin his two-day visit to Orlando with events at the Epcot Center.

On Monday, Mr. Ueki continued, the Secretary-General would address the American Magazine Conference, the annual event of the American Magazine Publishers' Conference, before leaving for Tokyo. On that same day, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, would begin a four-day visit to Colombia. Her programme was available in room S-378.

In addition, for three weeks beginning on Monday, the Human Rights Committee would be meeting in Geneva, Mr. Ueki added. During the session, experts would examine reports submitted by Iceland, Belgium, Armenia, Libya, Japan and Austria regarding their activities to implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. A background press release on the session was available in room S-378.

On Tuesday, the Security-Council had been scheduled to hold informal consultations on Prevlaka, the Associate Spokesman said, adding that the Secretary-General's report on the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka had been mentioned earlier in the week. A ceremony to observe World Food Day 1998 would be held from 12:00 to 1 p.m. in Conference Room 2 on Tuesday, and the annual United Nations Information Fair would begin and run through Friday in the General Assembly Public Lobby. Featuring 27 United Nations agencies, programmes and departments, the Fair would be open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily, with representatives on hand to answer questions and distribute information materials, including posters.

Moving on to Thursday of next week, Mr. Ueki said the Secretary-General would travel from Tokyo to Seoul on that day for a two-day visit to the Republic of Korea. It was also anticipated that, beginning on Thursday, the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) would hold a two-day technical experts meeting on test results regarding traces of VX nerve gas on warhead fragments from Iraq. That meeting was expected to be held on 22 and 23 October.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said that this morning the plenary had adopted without a vote the draft resolution on the World Solar Programme (resolution A/53/L.8). The plenary had then proceeded with elections for the Third Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

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On the first ballot, in which only three names could be entered, none of the nine candidates had obtained the absolute majority of 94 votes needed for election, the spokesman said. The unrestricted second ballot, in which any one of the nine names could be entered for a vote, had started at 11:30 a.m.

and was likely still in progress. The voting would continue this afternoon unless three judges were elected on the second ballot.

No plenary meetings had been scheduled for Monday, Ms. Mihalic said. Today, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) was continuing its general debate, with nine speakers inscribed for this morning and 10 for this afternoon.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial), Ms. Mihalic continued, had taken action on several drafts regarding macroeconomic policy questions -- on financing of development, including net transfer of resources between 1developed and developing countries; on commodities; and on external debt crisis and development. Also this morning, the Committee was scheduled to conclude its general discussion of operational activities.

Ms. Mihalic said the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) had taken action this morning on two drafts on crime prevention and criminal justice, one on international drug control, one on social development and three others on crime prevention and criminal justice. The Committee had also continued its discussion of the advancement of women and the implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women.

This afternoon at 3 p.m. in Conference Room 2, Ms. Mihalic continued, in observance of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the Chairmen of the Second and Third Committees would preside over a panel discussion on the theme, "Poverty, Human Rights and Development". The panellists would include: the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Nitin Desai; the Director of the New York Office of the UNHCR, Bacre Ndiaye; Diana Skelton, ATD Fourth World International Movement; and the Executive Director of the Development Gap, Douglas Hellinger.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this morning had held informal discussions on the support account for peacekeeping operations, the spokesman said. The Committee had then resumed a formal meeting to take action on a draft resolution on the support account before resuming informal consultations again on programme planning. The Sixth Committee (Legal) would meet this afternoon to consider the report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization.

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