DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Marie Okabe, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by saying the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for both the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, Louise Arbour, would brief correspondents on the Tribunal for Rwanda. (Ms. Arbour's briefing is being issued separately.)

Ms. Okabe then said the Secretary-General had arrived in Seoul and that Spokesman Fred Eckhard, travelling with the Secretary-General, had sent a report on the Secretary-General's final day in Japan. The day had begun with a meeting with Japanese Parliamentarians and then the Secretary-General met with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, who had attended the Second Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD II), as had the Secretary-General.

Following that meeting, the Secretary-General had met with Japan's Finance Minister, Kiichi Miyazawa, and with Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumura. The Secretary-General had then gone to the United Nations University, where he met with the rector and then chatted with Japanese university students. He had also inaugurated the Japanese branch of the Academic Council for the United Nations System based in New York. The Secretary-General had held a press conference at the Press Centre of Japan. His final appointment in Tokyo was with the Governor of Saitama Prefecture.

The Secretary-General left for the Republic of Korea at about 7 p.m. for an official visit there, Ms. Okabe said. In Seoul tomorrow, the Secretary-General would have a full day, which would include meetings with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade and, with President Kim Dae-jung. The Secretary-General would also attend the awards ceremony of the Seoul Peace Prize.

At the news conference in Japan, Ms. Okabe continued, the Secretary-General had said he had hoped, before the conclusion of the budgetary discussion in Washington, that the United States would be able to release some money for payment towards arrears. "That has not happened", the Secretary-General said. The payment to the United Nations is linked to an unrelated domestic issue of abortion, and the Administration and Congress could not come to an agreement on that.

"So, while they may release some money, about $200 million on current dues", Ms. Okabe quoted the Secretary-General as saying, "no payment would be made on the $1 billion-plus arrears. This, obviously, is a disappointment to me and to the other Member States who are not pleased with this state of affairs."

The full text of the Secretary-General's remarks on the subject was contained in the transcript of the press conference available in room S-378, where copies of the Fred Eckhard's report were also available, the Associate Spokesman said.

Further on the subject of Washington, Ms. Okabe said, a press release from the United Nations Association for the United Nations (UNA) announced that United Nations Messenger of Peace Michael Douglas would be joining a distinguished cast of speakers urging "full and unconditional payment" of United States financial obligations to the United Nations. That would occur at the Third Candlelight Vigil for the United Nations taking place at Lafayette Park across from the White House Friday at 5:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Security Council had met this morning for consultations on Kosovo, with Council members discussing a draft resolution on the issue, Ms. Okabe said. Following the discussions, the Council would be briefed by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, on two African conflicts, one on the latest security and diplomatic developments surrounding the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, along with the human rights and humanitarian situations there. The second briefing -- on Ethiopia and Eritrea -- would provide an update on efforts to avoid further conflict in that very precarious situation. Tomorrow, the Council was expected to hold consultations on clarifications requested by the Iraqi Government.

"The Secretary-General has today appointed Bertie Ramcharan as Deputy United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights," the Associate Spokesman announced, adding that the appointment at the Assistant Secretary-General level would be effective 1 December. A native of Guyana, Mr. Ramcharan was currently Director of the Africa I Division in the Department of Political Affairs, she continued, saying Mr. Ramcharan had been with the United Nations for 25 years, more than half of that time spent in the human rights programme. He had also worked in the Office of the Secretary-General as Chief of the Speechwriting Service and had been Director with the peace negotiators in the former Yugoslavia. Mr. Ramcharan's full curriculum vitae was available in room S-378.

A meeting of technical experts, called by the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) to review laboratory tests of samples taken from Iraqi missiles, had begun today and would continue through Friday, Ms. Okabe then said. The meeting would assess the final batch of test results from a French laboratory, completing the work of a technical experts meeting held earlier this month. A report on their findings was expected to go to the Security Council on Monday.

Today, Ms. Okabe said, the President of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, had sent a letter to the President of the Security Council to

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 22 October 1998

express concern that Kosovo agreements reached between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had included no provisions regarding the obligation to cooperate with the Yugoslav Tribunal. "Moreover", she said in the letter, "it would appear that the statement of the President of Serbia reserves, to the domestic judicial system of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the right to investigate, prosecute and try offenses committed in Kosovo that may fall within the jurisdiction of the International Tribunal."

In her letter to the Council, Ms. Okabe went on to say, Ms. McDonald urged the Council to reaffirm unambiguously the competence of the Tribunal in Kosovo and to take action to ensure compliance from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The full text of the letter was available in room S-378, she added.

Ms. Okabe then read the following statement on Sierra Leone attributable to the Spokesman:

"The Secretary-General regrets the executions of 24 military officers in Sierra Leone on 19 October, despite his appeal to the Government to consider, at a minimum, a stay of execution pending review of the proceedings before relevant international monitoring bodies. The Secretary-General hopes the Government of Sierra Leone ensures due process in further trials. He also endorses President Kabbah's call for the rebels to surrender and urges the proceeding of parties towards eventual national reconciliation."

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights yesterday issued a statement out of Geneva expressing dismay over the executions, the Associate Spokesman said. The statement recalled the obligations of Sierra Leone under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It also said the recognized right to appeal a capital sentence had been denied the executed persons. The text of that statement was available in room S-378.

Ms. Okabe then said that a press release issued by the United Nations Liaison Office in Zagreb, also available in room S-378, had announced that an employee of a company contracted to the United Nations Mine Action Centre, Croatia, had been fatally injured in a mine accident. A South African national, David Malope, had been killed while performing a quality assurance check with a "demining dog" near Pristig, a village between Knin and Zadar.

Slovenia had signed the Kyoto Protocol to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Ms. Okabe then announced. That had occurred yesterday, she added, and it had brought the number of signatory parties to 58.

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There was an update on the visit to Belarus and Russia of the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, Ms. Okabe said. In Moscow, she continued, Mr. Vieira de Mello was continuing discussions with government officials on various issues, including those related to the Chernobyl disaster and the forest fires in the east. Further information on the visit was expected later today.

Ms. Okabe then drew attention to a notice in the Journal regarding an informal meeting and exchange of views on "the new architecture for an international monetary system, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) perspective". The event would be held from 1:30 to 2:45 p.m. in Conference Room 7 today, with the presentation being made by IMF Special Representative to the United Nations and Director of the IMF New York Office, J.B. Zulu.

Ms. Okabe also drew attention to three press conferences that would be held tomorrow. The Third World Wide Vigil for the United Nations would hold a press conference at 10:15 a.m. Speakers would include the Director of the Global Policy Forum, James Paul, and the Executive Director of the World Federalist Movement, William Pace. Representatives of the United Nations Association for the United States would also participate, as would United Nations staff.

At 11 a.m. tomorrow, Ms. Okabe said, the Director of Global Communications and Public Diplomacy at the World Intellectual Property Organization, Geoffrey Yu, would hold a press conference to give an overview of the organization's activities. At 2:30 p.m., the War-torn Societies Project (WSP) would hold a conference on lessons of post-conflict rebuilding. That would be sponsored by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development and speakers would include the Director of WSP and its Senior Advisor, Jonathan Moore.

Finally, Ms. Okabe said, on the racks was the October update of the publication, "Setting the Record Straight: Facts About the United Nations".

A correspondent asked whether the Secretary-General had any comment on the proposal by Mr. Denktash for a nonaggression pact to be signed by the two parties in Cyprus.

"On Cyprus, what I can tell you today is that shuttle diplomacy for peace efforts is ongoing," the Associate Spokesman said. Today, she continued, the Deputy Special Representative and Head of Mission for United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), Ann Hercus, had met with Glafcos Clerides to facilitate the negotiating process. Tomorrow she was expected to meet with Rauf Denktash. The negotiation was a continuation of the shuttle diplomacy the United Nations had undertaken to find a solution to problems in Cyprus. "Those meetings are closed, and that's what I can say on Cyprus today," she added.

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Asked about how close the Security Council was to a resolution on Kosovo, Ms. Okabe said the Security Council had begun deliberations just a little over an hour before, so that it was a little too soon to tell.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said the plenary this morning had taken note of the notification by the Secretary-General under Article 12, paragraph 2, of the United Nations Charter regarding matters related to maintenance of international peace and security with which the Security Council was dealing, as well as with matters the Security Council had ceased to deal with. The plenary had also adopted without a vote two draft resolutions concerning cooperation, one between the United Nations and the League of Arab States and the other between the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS).

With regard to the issue of cooperation between the United Nations and the Latin American Economic System (SELA), Ms. Mihalic said the President had drawn attention to a letter dated 19 October from the Permanent Representative of Peru, which had indicated that SELA countries did not intend to submit a draft resolution to the plenary at this session, but asked that the item be deferred to the fifty-fourth session. The plenary had then resumed consideration of the report of the Security Council and had heard the final seven speakers on that item.

The plenary yesterday had deferred until Monday consideration of the Fifth Committee's reports on the support account for peacekeeping operations and gratis personnel, the spokesman said. The plenary had also decided on the schedule of several upcoming pledging conferences.

Thus, she said, the schedule was as follows: the 1998 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) pledging conference for the World Food Programme (WFP) would take place on 3 November in the afternoon; the pledging conference for development activities would be held on 4 and 5 November during the morning sessions; the announcement of voluntary contributions to the 1999 UNHCR programme would take place in the morning on 13 November; and the announcement of 1999 contributions to the programmes of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) would take place on 3 December in the morning.

Tomorrow morning, Ms. Mihalic said, the General Committee would meet to consider two requests to include additional items on the agenda of the fifty- third session. In a letter dated 14 September, the Permanent Representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo had requested inclusion of the item, "Armed aggression against the Democratic Republic of the Congo". The Permanent Representative of Iran had requested in a letter dated 5 October the inclusion of the item, "Dialogue among civilizations".

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All the Main Committees were meeting today, the spokesman said. The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) would return this afternoon to consideration of the rationalization of its work and the reform of its agenda. The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) had this morning begun consideration of agenda item 92, international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space. Also this morning, the Committee's working group on this item would meet following adjournment of the formal meeting.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial), Ms. Mihalic said, was this morning holding a joint session through video conferencing with the high- level segment of the Trade and Development Board of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on the topic of, "the impact of financial crisis on trade, investment and development: regional perspectives". This afternoon, the Committee would resume consideration of agenda item 94, environment and sustainable development.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was scheduled to conclude this morning its general discussion of the promotion and protection of the rights of children, Ms. Mihalic said. The Committee would then take action on two draft resolutions, one on crime prevention and criminal justice and the other on international drug control.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) would hold informal consultations the whole day, the spokesman said, first on the development account and then on programme planning. The Sixth Committee (Legal) would discuss, both in the morning and in the afternoon, the issue of establishment of an International Criminal Court.

Ms. Mihalic then said that, tomorrow afternoon, a panel discussion would be held under the auspices of the Second Committee on the issue, "how to achieve a better coherence and improved coordination among environmental and environment-related conventions". That would take place from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Conference Room 2. Panellists would include: the Executive Secretary of the secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Hama Arba Diallo; the Executive Secretary of the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Michael Zammit-Cutajar; the Director of the Division of Coordination on Environmental Conventions of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); and a representative of the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Also tomorrow, under the auspices of the Fifth Committee, Ms. Mihalic said, the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management, Rafiah Salim, would brief delegations on the report of the Secretary-General on human resources management reform. That would take place at 3 p.m. in Conference Room 5.

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