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, opened today's noon briefing by announcing that the Secretary-General was back in New York and would be in the office tomorrow, as would the Spokesman.

"I hope you had a nice Sunday after the short weekend when I saw many of you here while the Security Council deliberated on the situation in Kosovo", Mr. Ueki said, adding that toward the end of the day, the Council had adopted resolution SC/1203 (1998) by which the Council essentially had endorsed the agreements between the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on one side and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on the other.

In its preamble, the resolution adopted on Saturday had also referred to the importance of ensuring freedom of the press, Mr. Ueki said. In its operative section, the resolution had referred to the need for prompt and complete investigation, including international supervision and administration of all atrocities committed against civilians, including full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Because of the long deliberations on Kosovo, the Associate Spokesman continued, the Security Council had postponed its deliberations on Iraq, involving the nine points of clarification sought by Iraq. The Council would take that up as the second item shortly, after completing consultations on Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was the first.

During the Bosnia and Herzegovina consultations, Mr. Ueki went on to say, the High Representative for implementation of the peace agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Carlos Westendorp, had briefed the Council on the status of implementation. The High Representative was expected to speak with the press on the subject of the consultations once the consultations had ended.

The Associate Spokesman then read a statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General concerning the Lusaka meeting on the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo:

"The Secretary-General attaches the greatest importance to the meeting of Foreign and Defense Ministers, which opened today in Lusaka to discuss a ceasefire and withdrawal of foreign troops from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is heartened by the continuation of efforts by African leaders and regional organizations to bring about a peaceful settlement of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"The Secretary-General urges the parties to the conflict to show the maturity, will and statesmanship needed to reach a compromise for an immediate

cease-fire and early withdrawal of troops. The Secretary-General calls yet again on all those in a position of authority in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to end incitements to ethnic violence and hate propaganda, and to state publicly their condemnation of such incitements".

Mr. Ueki said the Secretary-General was represented in Lusaka by the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Ibrahima Fall, whose delegation included the Secretary-General's Representative for the Great Lakes Region and the Regional Humanitarian Advisor, Berhanu Dinka, as well as two military advisors. The latter were to advise on the technical aspects of a ceasefire and withdrawal of troops, as they had at the 10 to 12 September meeting in Addis Ababa. The full text of the Secretary-General's statement was available in room S-378.

Concerning Myanmar, Mr. Ueki said, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for that country, Alvaro deSoto was on his way there as part of the dialogue the Secretary-General was conducting with Myanmar authorities and others in the context of his good offices mission pursuant to resolutions of the General Assembly and Human Rights Commission. Mr. deSoto was expected to stay in Myanmar until Friday, 30 October.

"The Secretary-General warmly welcomes the agreement signed today by the Presidents of Ecuador and Peru, marking the end to their longstanding border dispute", Mr. Ueki read as he introduced another statement. "The Secretary-General also wishes to commend the Guarantor Countries of the 1942 Rio Protocol -- Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the United States -- for their invaluable role in achieving a solution to this dispute."

Available in room S-378 was the text of a speech being delivered by Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette to parliamentarians at the current session of the General-Assembly, Mr. Ueki said. In that statement, the Deputy Secretary-General had said the United Nations had been inspired by the determination of citizens groups and parliamentarians. She had said the Ottawa Convention banning landmines and the International Criminal Court were examples of their contributions.

"What is common to both these achievements is that they were peoples' achievements", Mr. Ueki said in quoting the Deputy Secretary-General. "They were the fruit not only of the complex and often slow deliberations of governments, but of the impatience of people everywhere to see reality reflect their highest hopes and aspirations."

Mr. Ueki said the Deputy Secretary-General had also welcomed the initiative of parliamentarians to hold a meeting in conjunction with the Millennium Assembly in the year 2000. On the same subject, the Associate Spokesman said the sponsors of the inter-parliamentary meeting would issue a press release.

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"Thank you Angola and Senegal", Mr. Ueki said in announcing that those countries had made payments of over $105,000 and $63,000 to the United Nations regular budget, respectively. There were now 107 Member States that had paid their contributions in full. Also, Antigua and Barbuda had on Friday signed the Statute of the International Criminal Court, bringing the number of signatory States to 53 since the July adoption of the Statute in Rome. Niger had signed the Kyoto Protocol to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, bringing to 59 the number of signatory parties to that Protocol.

Two press releases from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) were available today in room S-378, Mr. Ueki said. One concerned the call for global reaffirmation of the 20/20 initiative, whose goal was the achievement of universal and sustained access to good quality basic social services, a subject that would be the theme of a major international meeting in Hanoi on 27 to 29 October.

The other UNICEF press release, the Associate Spokesman said, concerned Lulie the Iceberg, a new children's book by Princess Hisako of Takamado of Japan. Lulie the Iceberg would be launched on 3 to 4 November with a special concert at Carnegie Hall and an opening of a multi-media exhibit at UNICEF House, attended by the Princess and other dignitaries. The concert featuring the renowned cellist Yo Yo Ma would benefit UNICEF. More details were contained in the press release.

Also made available, by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), was a background paper on the situation involving Eritrea and Ethiopia, Mr. Ueki said. It was retrievable on the Internet at www.reliefweb.int and hard copies were available in room S-378. Also available was an information kit on World Population Estimates and Projections for 1998, embargoed until Wednesday, 28 October at 6 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time. More information could be obtained from the Department of Public Information (DPI), through Bill Hass on extension 3-0353.

The subject of a World Chronicle programme screening today at 2:30 p.m. on in-house television channels 6 or 38 would be the Director of the Secretariat for the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, Philippe Boulle, the Associate Spokesman said.

Mr. Ueki then drew attention to a Security Council document issued last week concerning the appointment of Ayite Jean-Claude Kpakpo of Benin as Senior United Nations Adviser to the Facilitator of the Burundi peace process. The Facilitator was Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and Mr. Kpakpo's appointment had actually occurred in July, with its announcement appearing only last week as document S/1998/968.

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Again, a number of meetings and events were open to the media, Mr. Ueki said, adding that he would not go into detail on them since they were listed in the daily Journal.

Asked by a correspondent when the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) report on the VX nerve gas would be made available and what it would say, Mr. Ueki said the report would be transmitted to the Council later this morning. Asked whether it would be considered today, Mr. Ueki said the Council was scheduled to deliberate on the points of clarifications sought by Iraq. Whether the VX test results would come up in the consultations was not known yet. "But I'm sure you can ask the Council President", Mr. Ueki added.

In response to a question on when the Secretary-General's Kosovo mission would conclude, Mr. Ueki said it was expected to conclude on Wednesday of this week. In response to a further question on whether the mission would brief the press at the conclusion of the mission, Mr. Ueki said the mission would first report to the Secretary-General, and, on the basis of that report, the Secretary-General would inform the Security Council. "So, you'll have to wait for a while for details", Mr. Ueki said.

Another correspondent asked whether the Secretary-General's representative to the Lusaka conference was attending as an observer or full participant. "This is a meeting essentially of Defense and Foreign Ministers of the countries concerned", Mr. Ueki answered, saying Ibrahima Fall, the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, was representing the United Nations in that meeting. Regarding his exact status as observer or participant, Mr. Ueki said he would check.

Also in response to a question, the Associate Spokesman said there was no further reading on what Carlos Westendorp was saying in his briefing to the Council on Bosnia and Herzegovina. "But he usually talks to the press in the stake-out, so you can ask him", Mr. Ueki added.

In response to a question on the latest situation in Angola, Mr. Ueki said, "the situation on the ground is not very encouraging". The United Nations had not been allowed full freedom of movement, and there was concern about where things stood with regard to the peace process.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said the plenary this morning had first confirmed the nominations by the Economic and Social Council of new members of the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC). The new members were Benin and Egypt from the African Group; China, Japan and the Republic of Korea from the Group of Asian States; and Uruguay from the Latin American and Caribbean Group of States.

Those countries, she explained, would become members of the CPC for a three-year term. The plenary would return to that item after the Economic and

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Social Council had agreed on the two remaining nominations -- one from the African and another from the Western European and Other States Group. In addition, the plenary had been informed that the Asian Group had endorsed the candidacy of Japan to fill the vacant position on the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU). Japan would propose a candidate, and the Assembly would take up the issue again later.

The plenary had then taken up agenda item 51, the elimination of coercive economic measures as a means of political and economic compulsion, Ms. Mihalic said. The representative of Libya had introduced draft resolution A/53/L.7/Rev.1 and the vote had probably already taken place. Altogether, 13 speakers had been inscribed to speak before the vote and some more after the vote. The Assembly would also take action on three reports of the Fifth Committee regarding administrative arrangements for the International Trade Centre; the support account for peacekeeping operations; and gratis personnel.

And finally this morning, Ms. Mihalic said, the President would announce the tentative schedule of the plenary until the end of the main part of the session -- now scheduled for 10 December but still not final, as a number of items had not yet been scheduled, including the reports of the Main Committees. The tentative schedule was contained in document A/53/INF/3/Add.2.

Tomorrow morning, Ms. Mihalic said, the plenary would take up the report of the International Court of Justice and consider the progress report of the Secretary-General on the Implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for Development in Africa in the 1990s, including the measures and recommendations agreed upon at its mid-term review. There were 13 speakers inscribed so far to address the plenary on that item and no draft resolutions had been circulated yet.

With regard to the work of the Main Committees, the spokesman said the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) had resumed this morning on consideration of items 60 through 80 of its agenda and the relevant draft resolution. The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) would this afternoon resume consideration of international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space. After adjourning the formal meeting, the Committee would be briefed on the Third United Nations Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III), scheduled to take place in Vienna from 19 to 30 July 1999. The briefing would be given by Peter Jankowitch, Special Representative and National Coordinator for Austria for the Conference. After the briefing, the Committee would go into informal consultations on the peaceful uses of outer space.

Ms. Mihalic said the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) had begun this morning with the introduction of the draft resolution on sustainable development and international economic cooperation, specifically on renewal of the dialogue on strengthening international economic cooperation for

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development through partnership. The Committee had then proceeded to conclude its general discussion of the environment and sustainable development. At the end of the morning and this afternoon, the Committee would hold informal consultations on operational activities for development, and, under the Committee's auspices, there would be an informal presentation today by the Rector of United Nations University from 1:15 to 2:45 p.m. in Conference Room 5.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), the spokesman said, would continue this afternoon with its consideration of the elimination of racism and racial discrimination and the right of peoples to self-determination. The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) had been scheduled to hold informal consultations this morning on the Development Account, which might not have happened, as it was scheduled to take place after consideration of the Committee's reports in the plenary. In the afternoon, there would be a formal meeting to consider the scale of assessments, specifically the three outstanding requests for exemption from application of Article 19 of the Charter. Those requests were from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Iraq. Later, the Committee would hold informal consultations on the Organization's pattern of conferences. The Sixth Committee (Legal) was this morning considering the report of the International Law Commission on the work of its fiftieth session.

Mr. Ueki then said that the Registrar of the International Criminal Court in Rwanda, Aqwa Ukiwe Okali, had been scheduled to brief correspondents at the noon briefing. However, due to unexpected developments requiring his attention at the last moment today, Mr. Okali would brief correspondents at noon tomorrow.

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