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 it had been a busy morning because of mystery phone calls about the Spice Girls. Calls to United Nations agencies had revealed that Geri Halliwell, formerly known as Ginger Spice of the pop group "Spice Girls" would become a Special Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in the United Kingdom working with Marie Stopes International. Ms. Halliwell would be part of UNFPA's campaign with European organizations to raise concern about reproductive health and rights, especially for women. The announcement of the Ambassadorship would take place in room S-226 tomorrow morning at 11:30.

Mr. Ueki then said the Secretary-General had been shocked to learn of an explosion in Nigeria that had taken hundreds of lives. "This is a major tragedy and an environmental disaster", the Secretary-General had said. He had expressed his condolences to the families of the victims as well as to the Government of Nigeria.

The Secretary-General was on his way to Japan where he would attend the Second Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD II), Mr. Ueki continued. Over the weekend, the Secretary-General had been in Florida, where he had visited the Epcot Center and had viewed the so-called Millennium Village where the United Nations would have a pavilion and where the Ocean exhibit from the Lisbon Expo would be moved.

Opening a year from now, the Millennium Village would feature the pavilions of 11 countries centred around the United Nations pavilion, Mr. Ueki said. The guided tour would lead visitors through the United Nations pavilion and through country pavilions, giving, what Mr. Ueki said the Spokesman Fred Eckhard had described as, "quite a United Nations-international flavour" to the entire Millennium Village upon seeing the plans.

The Secretary-General had had a press encounter yesterday at Epcot Center, Mr. Ueki went on to say. A rushed transcript of the encounter would be available after the noon briefing in the Spokesman's Office, room S-378.

Before departing Orlando this morning for Japan, Mr. Ueki said the Secretary-General had given a speech at the annual convention of the American Association of Magazine Publishers and Editors. In that address, the Secretary-General had talked of the widening gap between rich and poor countries as well as of the inequalities within States. Observing that basic necessities are denied to hundreds of millions of people in today's global economy, the Secretary-General had said: "Maybe over decades, the market will expand, embracing a larger and larger proportion of humankind. But millions who are alive now will be dead before that process touches them."

The Secretary-General had appealed to his audience's sense of indignation at the spectacle of human misery and waste, Mr. Ueki continued. The Secretary-General had also appealed to the famous "can-do" spirit of the United States, adding that he was disappointed in the United States failing to pay its dues to the United Nations since the Organization was a tailor-made forum for a collective, multilateral effort to tackle the world's problems. "We can meet the challenge only if the United States plays its due part in the effort and provides once again the leadership we saw in the days when the United Nations was founded", he said, adding, "I hope we can work together."

The Security Council was not meeting today, Mr. Ueki said, but tomorrow it was expected to hold consultations on the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP) and on the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL). As of now, there would be no Security Council meeting on Wednesday, when the Council members would be in the General Assembly for a debate on the annual report of the Security Council to the Assembly. The report covered the activities of the Council from July of last year to June of this year.

The second progress report of the Secretary-General on UNOMSIL was available, Mr. Ueki said. The report took note of the work by both United Nations humanitarian personnel and non-governmental organizations in that country in aiding the victims of attacks and displacement. The Secretary-General had said much more needed to be done, especially in providing medical and surgical equipment. Medical services were needed for amputees as well as for psychological treatment of the trauma suffered by victims and their families.

The report was particularly timely, the Associate Spokesman said, because photographs had been made public of the children, women and elderly who had suffered amputation by the rebels. The report had emphasized that the long-term stability of the country depended on the successful implementation of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme adopted by the Government. In that regard, the Secretary-General had commended the continued commitment of the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG). The Secretary-General had also expressed appreciation for the generous manner in which the International Bar Association had provided expert trial observers, which had worked closely with UNOMSIL.

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, had arrived in Kiev yesterday for a week-long visit to Ukraine, Belarus and Russian Federation, the countries most affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Mr. Ueki said. Mr. Vieira de Mello had passed the Chernobyl disaster site and the affected sites in Belarus. The General Assembly had adopted a series of resolutions since 1990, calling for the provision of assistance to affected areas, and last year the United Nations had launched an inter-agency programme of assistance.

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Mr. Vieira de Mello would hold meetings with high level government officials and with representatives of the United Nations and of donor governments to review the ongoing programme and mobilize greater support.

A high-level meeting of the Georgian and Abkhaz sides on confidence-building measures had been held from 16 to 18 October near Athens, Mr. Ueki announced. The meeting had been held under the chairmanship of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Georgia, Liviu Bota. The Georgian delegation was led by the State Minister of Georgia, Vazha Lordkipanidze, while the Abkhaz delegation was led by Abkhaz de facto Prime Minister Sergei Bagapsh.

The delegations this time had included representatives of a wide spectrum of society and not just government officials, Mr. Ueki noted. Parliamentarians, businessmen, academicians, writers, artists, members of non-governmental organizations and journalists had been included. "It was the largest and most representative gathering of the Georgian and Abkhaz sides since the end of the war in 1993", the Special Representative had noted. Other participants had included representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and of the Russian Federation which acted as facilitator.

At the closing ceremony, Mr. Ueki said, the Special Representative and the heads of the delegations had issued a communiqué announcing agreement by the parties on a number of confidence-building measures. Among those measures was the agreement to speed up work on the return of refugees, "one of the sore points of the dispute". Another was to provide for full implementation of the provisions of the 24 September protocol signed in Sukhumi. The full text of the communiqué containing a detailed report of the discussion was available in the Spokesman's Office.

A photo exhibit entitled "A Continuing Struggle: the Legacy of War in Cambodia" to honour the late Leah Melnick had been opened in the Staff Lobby at noon today by a gathering of her friends, Mr. Ueki announced. Ms. Melnick had served for over five years with United Nations missions in Cambodia, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina before perishing tragically last year at the age of thirty with 11 others in a helicopter crash in the latter of those countries. Information on the photo exhibit was available from David Biggs at extension 3-5598.

Ukraine had ratified the Convention on Chemical Weapons, becoming the 120th party to that Convention, which had entered into force in April 1997, Mr. Ueki announced. The instrument of ratification was received on 16 October.

"Thank you Qatar!", Mr. Ueki said in reporting that Qatar had made a payment of $340,000 to the United Nations regular budget, becoming the 103rd Member State to pay its contribution in full. With that payment, the amount

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of overall outstanding contributions was $2.4 billion, out of which over $600 million was outstanding for the regular budget, over $1.7 billion was outstanding for peacekeeping operations and over $100 million was outstanding for the International Tribunals.

The Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, Karl Paschke had given a press conference in Geneva today on the question of an inspection of common services at the United Nations Office at Geneva, Mr. Ueki said. Common services included procurement, information technology, telecommunications, personnel services, medical services and traffic operations, he added. The Geneva Office supplied many Geneva-based United Nations offices with those common services. In his reform agenda of last year, the Secretary-General had praised efforts to expand and strengthen common services in Geneva. In about 10 days, Mr. Paschke had said, the fourth annual report of his office would be published. A copy of the press conference summary was available in the Spokesman's Office.

Several new documents were available today, Mr. Ueki said. Among them was the Secretary-General's report on the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA), which stated that one of the greatest concerns of the Guatemalan population was the lack of public security while the police force was being restructured. "The professionalization of the police force and the inclusion of greater numbers of indigenous people in that force are vital to the improvement of public security and the renewal of the relationship between the State and its citizens", the Secretary-General had said in the report.

Also available was a report on the situation of human rights in Haiti (document A/53/355), Mr. Ueki said. There were also reports on assistance to Afghanistan (document A/53/346), Sudan (document A/53/307) and Liberia (document A/53/377) as well as two reports on assistance to refugees (documents A/53/325 and A/53/328) and two on development in Africa (documents A/53/390 and Add.1).

World Food Day would be observed at Headquarters tomorrow during a special event from noon to 1 p.m. in Conference Room 2, Mr. Ueki said. Information on that event was contained in the Journal, as was information on a number of briefings at Headquarters to which journalists were invited, on such topics as human rights and development in Africa.

In a press release available in room S-378, Mr. Ueki said, the Executive Director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland had outlined new strategies for cancer control which could make it feasible that the global incidence of cancer would be reduced by 5 million per year by the year 2020.

Mr. Ueki then said a recently recorded World Chronicle television programme, number 720, had featured the Director of the Management Development

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and Governance Division of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It would be aired today on in-house television channel 6 or 38 at 2:30 p.m.

There would be a press conference tomorrow at 11 a.m. on the result of a three-year series of conferences on the relationship between 10 of the world's major religious traditions and the natural environment, the Associate Spokesman said. It would be sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and by the Harvard Project on Religion and Ecology. At 11:30 a.m. tomorrow, as already mentioned, UNFPA would introduce Geri Halliwell as Goodwill Ambassador of one of its programmes. At 3 p.m. a background briefing would be held by a senior United Nations official on the Congressional vote concerning United States funding for the United Nations. All three events would take place in room S-226.

Since Chile had been in the news, a correspondent asked whether the Chilean Colonel on the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) still had his job. Mr Ueki said, "He is still doing his job. He will visit his own country for consultations this week, and on the way he will stop here for consultations on the work of the mission. His visit here is very short and he is expected to be in Chile for consultations midweek."

"And then what?" the correspondent asked. Mr. Ueki said that as far as the allegations were concerned, the United Nations was still waiting to hear from the Chilean authorities and until that response was received, it was not possible to pass judgement on the allegations.

Asked about developments in Kosovo and The New York Times reports that assistance was not able to be delivered to refugees, Mr. Ueki said the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was present in Kosovo, but was unable to deliver food to some areas because of reported fighting. Two convoys had been suspended as a precautionary measure on the ground and they were expected to proceed first thing in the morning.

A correspondent asked about a report in the Sunday New York Times regarding conditions in Haiti. Mr. Ueki directed him to the newly released Secretary-General's report on human rights in Haiti (document A/53/355).

Another correspondent asked when the Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Iran and Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, was due back at Headquarters. Mr. Ueki said Mr. Brahimi would visit Iran again tomorrow. He had had very meaningful meetings with the Taliban, both in Kandahar and in Islamabad. Direct talks between Iran and the Taliban had been proposed, and Mr. Brahimi would return with that message to Teheran tomorrow. The date of his return to New York was unknown and depended on developments in Teheran. Whether he would return to Islamabad was also unknown, but in any case, when he had completed his mission, he would return to Headquarters and make a report to both the Secretary-General and the Security Council.

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Asked what issues the Secretary-General would be taking up during his visit to Japan and the Republic of Korea, Mr. Ueki said the main purpose of the visit to Tokyo was for the Secretary-General to attend the Second Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD II). The Conference had opened today, but the Secretary-General had been unable to be there at the opening due to prior engagements. He would, instead, chair the closing ceremony on Wednesday and would make a statement.

From there, the Secretary-General would move on to the Republic of Korea where he would be a guest of the Government, the Associate Spokesman said. In response to a follow-up question, he added that in addition to African development in Japan, he would be reviewing relations between the United Nations and Japan, as well as issues of common concern, including United Nations reform and humanitarian assistance. A wide range of topics between the United Nations and Japan would be discussed, and the same held true for the Republic of Korea, where the talks would cover the situation in that part of the world and also the United Nations.

Asked whether there was news from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. Ueki said there was no news to draw attention to, and the situation had remained essentially the same as the last week.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said the President would be back in New York later today and no plenary meetings had been scheduled for either today or tomorrow. "But then, the Committees have been very active", she added.

Today, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) had continued its general debate, with 11 speakers inscribed on the list, Ms. Mihalic said. The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) was scheduled to elect its Rapporteur this afternoon, which would complete the bureaus of all the Main Committees at the fifty-third session. A list of all the officers of the Main Committees would be made available tomorrow. In the meantime, after the election, the Committee would continue its debate on effects of atomic radiation (agenda item 81).

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) had begun this morning the discussion of the issue of sustainable development and international economic cooperation, the spokesman said. This afternoon, it would hold informal consultations on several drafts under agenda item 91, macroeconomic policy questions.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) would today conclude its consideration of the advancement of women and of the implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Ms. Mihalic said. Meetings were scheduled for both morning and afternoon.

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The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), she continued, was this morning holding informal consultations on the financing of the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT), the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) and of the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP). This afternoon, the Committee would take action on the draft resolution regarding the support account for peacekeeping operations and then begin consideration of the pattern of conferences (agenda item 117). It would also hold informal consultations on development planning.

The Sixth Committee (Legal), Ms. Mihalic concluded, would meet this afternoon to consider the report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization.

In response to a question, Mr. Ueki clarified that the Secretary-General would arrive in Tokyo tomorrow, 20 October, which, with the time difference, meant he had arrived in Japan. He would leave for Seoul, South Korea on Thursday, 22 October, and would stay there until 24 October.

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