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 reading a statement made by the Secretary-General in Seoul concerning the Middle East peace agreement, as follows:

"We understand that the agreement has been reached, but there has been a snag in the talks at the last minute over an issue extraneous to the agreement. We hope the agreement will be announced shortly."

"Just in from Islamabad", Ms. Okabe said, "the Taliban has signed the United Nations security agreement for Afghanistan at 19:10 p.m. Pakistan time. Taliban authorities signed an 11-point security agreement with the United Nations here today, meaning Islamabad", she explained in reading, "paving the way for United Nations international staff to return to Afghanistan. The document commits the Taliban to submit satisfactory reports to the United Nations on investigations into the murders of three United Nations staff members in July and August. It also obliges them to release United Nations national staff currently held in detention and to appoint regional security liaison officers. Once these points have been implemented, a small United Nations team plans to go into Afghanistan to assess the security situation on the ground. If the security reports are favourable, a small number of United Nations international staff may then begin to return to support their Afghan colleagues who have been keeping programmes running for the past two months."

That agreement was completed after five days of talks between the Taliban and the United Nations in Islamabad, Ms. Okabe said, recalling that the announcement had just come from Islamabad a few moments before.

In a related development, the Associate Spokesman continued, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had said it was pleased to learn of the commitment of the Taliban announced by its Supreme Leader, Mullah Omar, to a total ban on the production, trade, stockpiling and use of landmines within Afghanistan, one of the countries most severely affected by landmines and unexploded ordinances. Thirty of Afghanistan's 33 provinces were contaminated to varying degrees by such material on land that could otherwise be used productively. The OCHA had said it hoped the commitment would serve to alleviate the suffering of the Afghan people.

In an upbeat announcement, Ms. Okabe said, the United States today had paid $111 million to the United Nations for peacekeeping dues. It was the second payment made by the United States this week, she added, since earlier the United States had paid $50 million to the United Nations regular budget. Both payments had come from money appropriated previously rather than from the new budget appropriated for the fiscal year 1999.

"Happy United Nations Day!" Ms. Okabe then said, gesturing toward the blue lapel ribbons she and the spokesman for the General Assembly President were wearing. In his message marking the day and delivered in Seoul, the Secretary-General had focused on the promises and perils of globalization and had called for new partnerships in response.

"These partnerships for global community are growing in number every day", Ms. Okabe said the Secretary-General had stated. He had also expressed confidence that working together, there was almost nothing the international community could not achieve. "On this United Nations Day, let us rededicate ourselves to that belief and let us get to work", the message concluded.

The full text of the Secretary-General's message was available in room S-378, Ms. Okabe said. A number of events had also been scheduled for today, including a vigil in support of the United Nations starting at 6:15 p.m. across the street in Ralph Bunche Park, with similar vigils being held in 45 cities around the world. A United Nations Day concert featuring the Philharmonie de Nationen of Germany would be held in the General Assembly Hall this afternoon at 4 p.m. A number of speakers would address the event, including Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette.

As previewed yesterday, the Secretary-General today had spent his first full day in Seoul, the Associate Spokesman said. The Secretary-General had begun the day with a courtesy call on the President of the Republic of Korea, Kim Dae-Jung, whom he had praised as a "dynamic partner for peace" in referring to his open policy toward the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and his recent visit to Japan. After giving a press conference, the Secretary-General had attended a ceremony during which he was awarded the Seoul Peace Prize carrying a cash award of $200,000. The Secretary-General had announced the intention of turning over the cash portion of the award to the United Nations Trust Fund for Preventive Diplomacy and Preventive Action.

In accepting the Prize, Ms. Okabe said, the Secretary-General had said he was dedicating it to the memory of the more than 1,500 men and women who had given their lives in the cause of peace over the first 50 years of United Nations peacekeeping. The Secretary-General had concluded his day with a United Nations Day dinner hosted by the United Nations Association of the Republic of Korea.

At Headquarters today, Ms. Okabe continued, the Security Council had met at 10:30 a.m. for informal consultations. The first item, a draft resolution regarding Kosovo, was still under discussion and the Council was expected to continue meeting on that subject this afternoon. Iraq was also on the Council's agenda today.

From Kosovo itself, Ms. Okabe said, staff of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had reported their impression from the ground. While some people were trickling back to ruined homes, they had said

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 23 October 1998

widespread destruction of housing and fear of the continued Serb military and police presence were preventing significant returns. More details were contained in the summary of the UNHCR briefing from Geneva, copies of which were available in room S-378.

Also in that briefing, the UNHCR had reported that one of its teams had encountered 3,000 refugees fleeing the fighting that had broken out a week ago in Guinea-Bissau, Ms. Okabe said. During the last 48 hours, refugees of other nationalities had also arrived by boat in Conakry after leaving the embattled capital, Bissau. Local authorities had reported a refugee arrival rate of about 100 a day.

On the Central African Republic, elections were due to be held on 22 November and 30 December, the Associated Spokesman said. Preparations of the five key regional sites selected by the Independent Mixed Electoral Commission had been completed. The United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINURCA) was charged with responsibility for ensuring security, both of transporting electoral materials to sites and of safekeeping international electoral observers. The extension and expansion of the mission mandate to provide that assistance had been granted to MINURCA by the Security Council on 15 October.

Also on payments today, Ms. Okabe said Nigeria and Syria had made payments of over $736,139 and $642,009, respectively. There were now 105 Member States that had paid their contributions in full this year.

Ms. Okabe gave a "heads up" about events next week beginning with the announcement that 24 of the 25 executive heads of the United Nations specialized agencies, programmes and funds had said they would be at Headquarters for the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), which would be holding a two-day meeting beginning next Friday. Their full agenda included United Nations reform, peace and development in Africa, the promotion of a culture of peace and staff security and safety. As usual, the Secretary-General would chair the meeting.

The Secretary-General's report to the Security Council on Western Sahara was due early next week and a formal meeting would be held to review the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) which would expire at the end of the month, she said. Also, all next week the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Judge Laity Kama, would be at Headquarters.

On Monday morning, representatives of a Japanese non-governmental organization (NGO) would present 13 million signatures to the Deputy Secretary-General in support of the "Abolition 2000" anti-nuclear campaign, Ms. Okabe said. The organizers would hold a news conference at 11:30 a.m. in room S-226. Also on Monday or Tuesday, the United Nations Special Commission

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 23 October 1998

(UNSCOM) would likely send the report of its technical experts on the VX virus to the Security Council.

Further on Monday, the Associate Spokesman said, the Secretary-General would send Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Ibrahima Fall, to a meeting in the Zambian capital of Lusaka, where Foreign and Defence Ministers from a number of countries would be gathered in an effort to resolve the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And finally, on Monday as known at present, the Security Council was scheduled to be briefed on by the High Representative for Implementation of the Peace Agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Carlos Westendorp.

On Tuesday, Ms. Okabe said, the Secretary-General was expected back at Headquarters, and on Wednesday, the United Nations mission in Kosovo was expected to wrap up its work in the region. The Secretary-General's report on Kosovo to the Security Council was due on an unspecified date at the end of October. On Thursday, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, was expected back in New York. Also on Thursday, a review of the sanctions imposed against Libya was scheduled in the Security Council. Finally, on Friday, the Secretary-General's report to the Security Council on the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) was expected.

On press conferences, Ms. Okabe said, the Director of the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs would brief correspondents at 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday with regard to the 1998 Revision of World Population Estimates and Projects. At noon that day, Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, Karl Paschke, would brief correspondents on his annual report. Other press conferences were to be confirmed, and as a final note, Spokesman Fred Eckhard would be back on Monday to give the noon briefing.

In response to a question, Ms. Okabe informed a correspondent that the NGOs sponsoring the event in support of Abolition 2000 were the Soka Gakkai International and the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

Asked whether it would be possible to be briefed by the UNSCOM technical experts, Ms. Okabe referred the question to the Associate Spokesman expert on Iraq issues, who said he did not think so, as the UNSCOM Chairman's intention was to send the expert group's report to the Council.

Another correspondent asked for follow-up regarding the effect of budget cuts on United Nations bodies and Ms. Okabe said she would get back on that.

In response to a request for more information on the Taliban agreement, Ms. Okabe said a press release was available in room S-378. Asked whether it had been brokered by Mr. Brahimi, Ms. Okabe said this agreement was a result of five days of talks in Islamabad, which had started on Monday at the working level. The Taliban side had been led by the Planning Minister and the Acting

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 23 October 1998

Deputy Foreign Minister. The United Nations side had been led by the Acting United Nations Coordinator and the Acting Designated Official for Security.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said the General Committee had met this morning and agreed to recommend to the General Assembly the inclusion of two additional items to the agenda of the fifty-third session. One was an item entitled "Aggression against the Democratic Republic of the Congo" and the other "Dialogue among Civilizations". Both were to be considered in the plenary. If the Assembly agreed to include those items, the agenda for the current session would contain 168 items.

The report of the General Committee would be considered in the plenary on Monday morning, Ms. Mihalic continued. Also on Monday, the plenary would elect seven members to the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC) and one member to the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU). It would then take up the issue of "Elimination of coercive measures as a means of political and economic compulsion". Eight speakers had been inscribed so far to address the plenary on that item and there was also a draft resolution on it (document A/53/L.7/Rev.1). Finally, on Monday morning, the plenary would take up three reports of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), two of which had been delayed from a few days ago, one on gratis personnel and one on the support account. The third would be on the financial arrangements for the International Trade Centre.

On the occasion of United Nations Day, Ms. Mihalic said, the President yesterday afternoon had issued a United Nations Day message. Available in English and Spanish, his message read in part:

"I invite you on this occasion to look beyond this glass hive in the heart of Manhattan, towards the vast horizon of the world where the presence of the Organization and its agencies is becoming more visible as a result of the admirable work of tens of thousands of its staff, self-sacrificing men and women, civilians and soldiers, professionals and workers who at this very moment, in every region of the world, often in hostile territories and climates and at the risk of their lives, are bringing a measure of hope to the daily lives of the needy, the helpless, the oppressed, and those who have no opportunity to make their voices heard. Thanks to these workers for peace, this planet has become a better and a safer place for millions of human beings."

In addition, Ms. Mihalic said, the President would make the opening statement at the United Nations Day observance in the General Assembly Hall.

As for the Main Committees, the spokesman said, "it may be a holiday but it is still a day when we work hard here at the United Nations". The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) would meet this afternoon

Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 23 October 1998

to introduce and consider agenda items 60 to 80, along with relevant draft resolutions before it.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial), she continued, had begun this morning with the issue of sustainable development and international economic cooperation, with four draft resolutions introduced on various sub-items. The Committee then had continued discussion of the issue of environment and sustainable development, which would be concluded this afternoon beginning at 4:30 p.m. Also, as announced yesterday, a panel discussion on "How to Achieve a Better Coherence and Improved Coordination among Environmental and Environment Related Conventions" would be held.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), Ms. Mihalic said, had opened this morning its consideration of the elimination of racism and racial discrimination, as well as of the right of peoples to self-determination. The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) had begun this morning with the conclusion of the discussion on the pattern of conferences. It had then taken action on three draft resolutions regarding financing of peacekeeping missions, namely, the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) and the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP).

In addition, she said, the Committee had held further discussions on programme planning and the scale of assessments, then had proceeded with informal consultations on the latter item. There were two Member States who had fallen under Article 19 of the Charter who had requested an exemption to its application. This afternoon, as mentioned yesterday, the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management would brief the Committee on the Secretary-General's report on human resources management reform at 3 p.m. in Conference Room 5.

"Happy United Nations Day", Ms. Mihalic then said.

* *** *