DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by announcing that the Executive Director of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), Richard Butler, had been invited to the noon briefing to explain his decision to withdraw the UNSCOM inspectors from Iraq. (Mr. Butler's comments are prepared separately.)

During a press conference in Marrakesh, Morocco today, the Secretary-General had said he was saddened and burdened by Iraq's decisions not to cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors, Mr. Eckhard said. The Secretary-General had strongly urged President Saddam Hussein to rescind those decisions and to immediately resume cooperation with the Security Council. He had said "that would be good for the Iraqi people, for the region and for the world". The full text of the statement was available in room S-378.

Further, Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General had now decided to suspend his official visit to the Maghreb region of North Africa. He would fly back to New York tomorrow.

At about 7:15 a.m., New York time, today, Mr. Eckhard continued, all UNSCOM and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) international staff members based in Iraq had arrived in Bahrain aboard a United Nations aircraft, following a decision by UNSCOM Director Richard Butler to withdraw them. The total of 103 passengers on the airplane had included 92 from UNSCOM and 11 from the IAEA. Later today, at about 5:30 p.m., New York time, 130 non-essential international staff from the oil-for-food programme, as well as from various United Nations agencies, such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Food Programme (WFP) and so on, would arrive in Amman, Jordan. They were now travelling across the desert in a convoy of eight vehicles and would be joined tomorrow by another 41 international staff and their dependents. Those staff members were being temporarily relocated until further notice.

Remaining in Baghdad would be about 40 essential staff, the Spokesman went on to say, including Special Envoy of the Secretary-General in Baghdad, Prakash Shah; United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, Hans von Sponeck; the heads of United Nations agencies working in Iraq; and five personnel from the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM), the operation on the Iran-Kuwait border that maintained an office in Baghdad. In the three northern governorates, 231 international staff would remain at work, including 69 United Nations guards.

Mr. Eckhard then read the following statement issued by the Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan:

"The temporary relocation of non-essential international staff to Amman should not be interpreted as a suspension of the implementation of the oil-for-food programme. The departure of those staff should not affect either the export of oil or the arrival of supplies under the terms of the programme. In the 15 governorates in the centre and south of Iraq, the Government is responsible for the distribution of food, medicine and the other essential supplies provided under the humanitarian programme. The United Nations role involved monitoring this distribution. We will continue carrying out our responsibilities, albeit, at a significantly reduced level."

It should be noted, Mr. Eckhard added as part of the statement by Mr. Sevan, that the United Nations had a national staff of 524 in Baghdad. The United Nations staff in the three northern governorates of Dahuk, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, where the United Nations was implementing the oil-for-food programme on behalf of the Government of Iraq, was comprised of 231 international staff and 809 national staff members. Those staff members would continue working.

"The Security Council which had originally not scheduled a meeting for today has now scheduled consultations on Iraq at 3:30 p.m. at the request of the Russian Federation", Mr. Eckhard then announced.

Meanwhile, Mr. Eckhard said the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, had begun travelling to Nicaragua today, after concluding visits in El Salvador and Honduras. Of his trip so far, Mr. Vieira de Mello had said, "In spite of reading newspapers and seeing the images on the television, I was not prepared for the magnitude of such a catastrophe. I will never forget what I saw in southern Honduras, walking around on a pile of rubble with no sign of life and learning that just there, ten days earlier, there had been a school, a church and a plaza with trees."

Mr. Vieiro de Mello had been tentatively booked to be a guest at the noon briefing on Monday, following his five-nation visit to the region, Mr. Eckhard said. The briefing would be on efforts to assist the survivors of Hurricane Mitch.

Just after the noon briefing yesterday, Mr. Eckhard said, the Permanent Mission of Chile to the United Nations had sent a note verbale to the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations announcing that the Government had promoted General Sergio Espinosa Davies to the rank of Major-General and was appointing him to Inspector General of the Chilean Army. Consequently, the Chilean Government was requesting the General's release from his United Nations assignment as Chief Military Observer of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP). It was standard United Nations practice to accede to such requests and General Espinosa was expected to be relieved of his United Nations duties by 15 December and could, in fact, depart the mission area sooner.

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A press release had been issued today in Nairobi by the WFP, Mr. Eckhard said, stating the Programme would double the amount of food assistance to north-west Rwanda in an effort to meet some rapidly growing needs of the increasing internally displaced population. The WFP had said that scores of Rwandan families had fled homes in the prefectures of Ruhengeri and Gisenyi to escape sporadic and violent rebel attacks that had claimed lives over the past months.

Also, Mr. Eckhard said a news release had been issued on a meeting yesterday in Buenos Aires of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) High-Level Committee of Ministers and Officials, held on the margins of the ongoing Fourth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The high-level meeting had focused on UNEP's contribution to the next meeting of the Commission on Sustainable Development; on the on-going reform of UNEP; and on issues related to the environmental aspects of oceans, tourism and other areas. That news release was available in room S-378. Also available was the informal update from the Climate Change Conference concerning a presidential ceremony that had taken place this morning at the Conference. Tomorrow, a high-level segment of the Conference would involve more than 75 high-level government representatives.

With regard to ratifications and signatures, Mr. Eckhard said Mauritius had this morning signed the Statute of the International Criminal Court, giving it 55 signatory parties.

On press conferences, Mr. Eckhard said that tomorrow at 3 p.m. in room S-226, an advisor to the President of Kyrgyzstan would talk about the recently proclaimed International Year of Mountains in 2002.

A correspondent asked what time the Secretary-General would return to New York and whether Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz would come to New York.

Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General would arrive tomorrow at about noon and would perhaps work at home for the balance of the afternoon. There was no information about the Deputy Prime Minister coming to New York at this time. Would the Secretary-General consider meeting Tariq Aziz somewhere other than Baghdad? another correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said that, to his knowledge, there were no plans at the present for the two men to meet.

What was the Secretary-General's role regarding Iraq? another correspondent asked. Would he be undertaking any special initiatives? The Secretary-General would be here to monitor the Security Council's deliberations, to confer with members of the Council and, basically, to stay on top of what was developing as a crisis situation, Mr. Eckhard replied.

Had the Secretary-General been in contact with Saddam Hussein, or had he tried to be? a number of correspondents asked. Mr. Eckhard said that to his

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knowledge, the answer was no. "The Secretary-General deals with the Government of Iraq primarily through his Special Envoy, Prakash Shah, who in turn deals primarily with the Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz", the Spokesman added.

When asked if the Secretary-General had been in contact with the Clinton administration regarding the American military build-up, Mr. Eckhard said although he could not give details, the answer was yes and there had been telephone contact in the last 24 hours. Asked further whether that had been with United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Mr. Eckhard said he could not give details.

Asked whether the Secretary-General would consider going to Baghdad at the request of the Security Council, Mr. Eckhard said he could not speculate on what the Secretary-General would do, but that refusing such a request from the Council would be difficult. When asked if the Secretary-General was returning home on his own, or in response to a request, Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General had made the decision on his own.

How long would the essential staff stay in Iraq and who would make the decision to withdraw them? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said Ambassador Butler would answer the question with regard to UNSCOM. However, as far as the oil-for-food programme was concerned, the move was a temporary withdrawal from the theatre, with the personnel involved remaining in the region. "The hope is that the crisis can be resolved and the people can get back to work. The idea is to be poised to resume work as soon as possible -- if it's possible", the Spokesman added.

"Had the United Nations put any pressure on Chile to withdraw General Espinosa?" a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said the Department of Peacekeeping Operations had held extended discussions with the Chilean Government. A decision had been made, and there was no further comment now.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said the Assembly President had returned to New York this morning and would be in the office later this afternoon. No plenary meetings had been scheduled for today, and tomorrow morning the plenary would hold elections for the Economic and Social Council. Of the 54 members of the Council, the term of one-third of the membership would expire at the end of 1998.

As for the work of the Committees, Ms. Mihalic said the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) would continue this afternoon, its general debate on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA). The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) was meeting the whole day in informal consultations on a number of draft resolutions before it.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), she said, was meeting this morning and this afternoon to discuss the report of the High

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Commissioner for Refugees: questions relating to refugees, displaced persons and humanitarian questions. The High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, had made an introductory statement this morning. Text was available in room S-378. After making her remarks, she had held a dialogue with Committee members.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), Ms. Mihalic said, had continued this morning, its general discussion of the human resources management and had then begun informal consultations on the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU). This afternoon, it would continue informal consultations on the pattern of conferences.

Finally, the spokesman said, the Sixth Committee (Legal) was discussing measures to eliminate international terrorism all day. The Committee was also scheduled to take action on two draft resolutions before it, one on the report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) regarding the work of its thirty-first session, and another on the report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Work of the Organization. Later in the afternoon, the Committee would hold informal consultations on measures to eliminate international terrorism.

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