DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

David Wimhurst, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by saying he would brief correspondents today and tomorrow, while Marie Okabe would conduct the noon briefing on Thursday and Friday.

The Secretary-General had arrived in Japan and had finished the first day of his three-day official visit, Mr. Wimhurst said. On arrival at the airport, the Secretary-General had expressed his appreciation for the Second Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD II), saying it was only appropriate that, in a year of worldwide financial crisis, there would be another meeting in Tokyo on African development to encourage the international community not to despair, but to carry on with this particular work.

The Associate Spokesman went on to say that tomorrow the Secretary- General would be in the plenary session of TICAD II. He would also meet in the morning with the Prime Minister of Japan, Keizo Obuchi, and would have an audience with the Emperor of Japan. In the afternoon, the Secretary-General would take part in a luncheon hosted by the Prime Minister and he would make remarks at the closing of TICAD II. Following that, he would meet with the Foreign Minister of Japan, Masahiko Komura, and attend a reception in the evening hosted by the United Nations Association of Japan.

Also in Japan was the High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, Mr. Wimhurst said. In the course of a week-long visit, she had addressed TICAD II today with a statement entitled, "Forced Displacement in Africa Between War and Peace". Her remarks had focused on conflict prevention and activities to promote post-conflict reconciliation.

The Security Council was meeting this morning for consultations on the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP) following the issuance last week of the Secretary-General's report on that situation, Mr. Wimhurst continued. Under "other matters" the Council would be briefed on the situation of refugees throughout the former Yugoslavia by the Director of the New York Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Kofi Asomani. The briefing had been requested by the Russian Permanent Mission.

On Friday, 16 October, Mr. Wimhurst said, the Journal of Commerce had published an article entitled "Rags and Riches". The article had been highly critical of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan for facts and figures about inequalities in world consumption patterns contained in the 1998 Human Development Report. The article had repeatedly attributed the report's findings to the Secretary-General, referring to "Annan's facts" and "Annan's message".

The actual fact of the matter, Mr. Wimhurst said, was that the Human Development Report was issued annually by an independent think-tank within the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It neither claimed to represent the Secretary-General's views, nor did it necessarily do so.

"Particularly disturbing", Mr. Wimhurst continued, "is the article's association of alleged Marxist and radical egalitarian views with the person of the Secretary-General, who has been a champion of economic and political reforms and who has successfully restored the interest and confidence of the global business community in the core missions of the United Nations". The record should be set straight on that article, he added.

There would be a closed meeting of police contributors to the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) at 3:30 p.m. today in Conference Room 6, Mr. Wimhurst said. The Deputy Commissioner of the International Police Task Force (IPTF), Mark Kroeker, would give a briefing on developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina and on the increasing demand for professional competence when selecting police monitors for service within the IPTF.

Today was World Food Day, Mr. Wimhurst announced. At Headquarters, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette had just opened a special ceremony that would run through until 1 p.m. in Conference Room 2. The Deputy Secretary-General had pointed out that more than 800 million people suffered from chronic hunger or malnutrition, including some 200 million children. The Deputy Secretary-General had also said "the world has enough food to go around, but it lacks collective political will". She had called for a greater recognition of women's critical contribution to food security, saying a first step would be "to remove the obstacles they face in carrying out their role". The full text of the Deputy Secretary-General's remarks were available in room S-378.

In Kosovo today, the Associate Spokesman continued, the UNHCR had said it was leading two aid convoys, one to Istok, north of Pristina, and the other to Djinovce, southwest of Pristina. The agency had also said it intended to carry out the convoys planned for yesterday, which had been cancelled as a precautionary measure upon reported fighting. The summary of the UNHCR briefing given this morning in Geneva was available in room S-378 and contained more information on Kosovo.

Also available in room S-378 was a press release issued today in Geneva by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on large-scale forest fires raging in the far east of the Russian Federation, Mr. Wimhurst said. A total of $2.5 million was being sought for urgent international assistance.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) had also issued two press releases in Geneva today, the Associate Spokesman continued. One concerned the very high death rates among children in Central and Eastern Europe and the

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 20 October 1998

Newly Independent States due to injuries, poisonings and violence. The other was a note on UNICEF activities in Kosovo.

The Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, Pino Arlacchi, would be in Colombia to attend the Conference on Peace and Development taking place in Bogota on 22 and 23 October, Mr. Wimhurst said. Also scheduled to attend were the President of Colombia, Andres Pastrana, leaders of the two major revolutionary organizations in Colombia, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, and other United Nations agency heads.

That very important meeting would mark the first time that the Government, leaders of the insurgency and representatives of the international community would sit down together to launch the initial steps of the peace process, Mr. Wimhurst emphasized. The participation of Mr. Arlacchi would be in recognition of the importance of drugs as a central element in the peace process negotiations.

A press release on the racks from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Mr. Wimhurst said, gave details of a meeting taking place this week in Nairobi of African environment ministers to discuss the response of the continent as a whole to climate change, ozone depletion, biodiversity and desertification. The meeting would also focus on the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Buenos Aires, scheduled for 2 November, and it would follow up on last year's Kyoto Protocol. During the meeting, the ministers would discuss the implications for Africa of the important mechanisms of the Protocol, such as the Clean Development Mechanism, designed to promote economic development through technical and financial transfers.

Also available in room S-378 was a listing of reports from human rights special rapporteurs and experts who had begun presenting their reports to the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), the Associate Spokesman said. This afternoon, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, would address the Committee, as would the Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, Ofelia Calcetas-Santos. He hoped to have Mr. Otunnu at the noon briefing tomorrow to take questions from correspondents on his first annual report. Copies of the executive summary of that report were available in room S-378.

The weekly summary from the Iraqi programme had been issued and announced yesterday afternoon, Mr. Wimhurst said, adding that it was available in room S-378. The summary showed continuing progress in contracts for oil spare parts received by the Office of the Iraq Programme and approved by the Security Council Committee established by resolution 661 (1990) overseeing the sanctions on Iraq. Another 14 contracts for oil spare parts, with a value of $4.7 million, had been approved, bringing the total value of approved contracts to $62 million.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 20 October 1998

Mr. Wimhurst added that earlier this month, Iraq's Oil Minister had told the Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan, that Iraq had signed 362 contracts with a total value of $182 million.

Also, Mr. Wimhurst said, the annual Information Fair of the Department of Public Information (DPI) had opened this morning in the Public Lobby. The fair would run all week, with representatives from 27 United Nations agencies, programmes and departments on hand to answer questions. "For any information from DPI, that's the place to go", he said.

In addition, a number of informal meetings being held tomorrow were open to the media and could be of interest, Mr. Wimhurst said. At 1:15 p.m., in Conference Room C, a meeting on the theme of "the United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms: an Update" would be held, with the Minister Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations, Ross Hynes, and the Director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bacre Waly Ndiaye. At 1:15 p.m., in Conference Room 5, there would be a discussion of the latest developments within the framework of the Convention to combat desertification. At 1:30 p.m., in Conference Room 7, the World Bank would make an informal presentation, "Memory and Vision: Cultural Identity in a Changing World".

Among a few final short items of interest, Mr. Wimhurst said a World Chronicle Television programme would be aired today on in-house television channel 6 or 38, at 2:30 p.m. On Friday there would be a symphony concert in the General Assembly Hall at 4 p.m. for United Nations Day, which actually fell on Saturday, 24 October. The programme would feature music by Beethoven and Rimsky-Korsakov and a short speech by the Deputy Secretary-General.

And finally, Mr. Wimhurst said, the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) had asked for an announcement of today being the last day to purchase tickets for the UNCA Fiftieth Anniversary Ball, since all reservations had to be entered with Restaurant Associates by tonight. "So buy your tickets today or you don't come", he said.

In answer to a question regarding what if anything the United Nations could do on behalf of two journalists missing in Kosovo, Mr. Wimhurst said the United Nations Kosovo mission had arrived today and that matter could be a subject of their attention. It remained to be seen when they reported back to New York what steps, if any, they had been able to take.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said the President was at that moment presiding over the observance of World Food Day 1998. His statement in Spanish was available on the side table, while the English version would be available within hours.

No plenary meetings had been scheduled for today, but tomorrow the plenary would consider the report of the Security Council (document A/53/Suppl.2), Ms. Mihalic said. There would be meetings in both the morning

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and afternoon. So far, 27 speakers had been inscribed to address the Assembly on the matter. The item would be introduced by the President of the Security Council for the month of October.

This afternoon, the spokesman continued, the Credentials Committee would hold its first meeting in Conference Room 8. It would be a closed meeting.

Also, the Main Committees were continuing their work today, Ms. Mihalic said. The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) had continued its general debate, with 10 speakers inscribed this morning and nine this afternoon.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) had taken action this morning on two drafts under the item of sectoral policy questions, Ms. Mihalic said. One had been on business and development and the other on industrial development cooperation. It had also taken action on a draft on operational activities for development of the United Nations system, and then had opened the debate on item 93, sustainable development and international economic cooperation. It would continue discussion of the item in the afternoon.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) had this morning begun consideration of the promotion and protection of the rights of children, the spokesman said. The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) was holding informal consultations throughout the day, this morning on programme planning and this afternoon on the scale of assessment for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations.

The Sixth Committee (Legal), Ms. Mihalic said, was meeting in both the morning and 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. The working group on the Decade of International Law was also meeting today.

Finally, Ms. Mihalic said the list of all officers of the Main Committees was available on the side table.

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