DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Fred Eckhard, the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by announcing that the Special Representative of the Secretary- General for Tajikistan, Jan Kubis, would be a guest at the noon briefing, the Council having just extended the mandate there of the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT). (Mr. Kubis' briefing is being issued separately.)

The Security Council had met this morning for consultations on the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea, Mr. Eckhard said. The Secretary- General's Special Envoy to Africa, Mohamed Sahnoun, had briefed Council members following his recent trip to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, where the Organization of African Unity (OAU) had held a high-level meeting last week to try and resolve that conflict.

This afternoon, Mr. Eckhard continued, the Secretary-General would meet with members of the Security Council at their request for an exchange of views on Iraq. The representatives of China, France and the Russian Federation had requested a meeting with the Secretary-General prior to that meeting with all 15 members of the Council, and the Secretary-General had agreed although the time of that first meeting had not been made available. Also, this morning, among other phone calls, the Secretary-General had taken one from United States President William Clinton, with whom he had discussed Iraq's confrontation with the Security Council in a conversation that had lasted about 10 minutes.

Mr. Eckhard then read from a statement issued by the Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan, the full text of which was available in the Spokesman's Office (room S-378):

"At 7:15 a.m. today New York time, I was informed by telephone that the independent inspection agents who certify the arrival of humanitarian supplies into Iraq were being withdrawn immediately from their posts. This decision was taken, without prior consultation, by Lloyd's Register, a United Kingdom company contracted by the United Nations to provide inspection and authentication services at the Umkasser port and the Trabeu border crossing with Jordan, as well as with the Al Walid border crossing with Syria and the Zako border crossing with Turkey. Fifty-four staff members of Lloyd's were based at these points.

"Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding between the United Nations Secretariat and the Government of Iraq detailing arrangements for the implementation of Security Council resolution 986 (1995), and the procedures of the Security Council Committee overseeing the sanctions mandated by that resolution, the independent inspection agents are stationed at the border crossing points to provide authenticated confirmation of the arrival in Iraq of humanitarian supplies. Payment to suppliers from the United Nations Iraq

account is subject to the inspection agents' confirmation of arrival. Without that certification, the bank holding the Iraq account will be unable to make payments to suppliers with contracts governed by the procedures of the Sanctions Committee.

"I have informed the Permanent Mission of Iraq and will be consulting with the Security Council Committee at 12:30 p.m. today. The Office of the Iraq Programme is examining various options with a view to restoring inspection services with the least possible delay in order to maintain the flow of food, medicine and other essential humanitarian supplies to Iraq."

Mr. Eckhard then read a statement attributable to the Spokesman on the situation in Burundi:

"The Secretary-General was shocked by reports of the killings by Government forces of innocent civilians in Mutambu commune in Rural Bujumbura province early last week. The Secretary-General took note of the statement by the Government that an Inter-Ministerial Commission was established by President Buyoya on the incident and looks forward to an early report. The Secretary-General expects that the perpetrators of this crime will be identified and brought to justice. It is imperative that all violence and attacks directed at civilians come immediately to an end and that all parties involved in the Burundi conflict ensure the full respect of international humanitarian law and humanitarian principles."

Mr. Eckhard read a statement on Cambodia:

"The Secretary-General welcomes the agreement reached today under the chairmanship of King Norodom Sihanouk between the leadership of the Cambodian People's Party and the United National Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia (FUNCINPEC), to convene a newly elected National Assembly on 25 November and to establish a coalition government.

"The Secretary-General takes this opportunity to pay tribute to His Majesty for his successful efforts in bringing the two parties together, and congratulates Samdech Hun Sen and Prince Norodom Ranariddh for the outcome of this summit meeting. The Secretary-General hopes that this initial agreement will lead to the early formation of a new government that will mark the opening of a new chapter of reconciliation and cooperation among political forces in Cambodia."

On behalf of the Secretary-General, Mr. Eckhard said, the Deputy Secretary-General had received a delegation from the United States-based Aspen Institute, which had presented a report on human rights missions within peacekeeping operations. The delegation had consisted of Thomas Hammarberg, the present Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Human Rights in Cambodia, and of Ian Martin and Leonardo Franco, former directors, respectively, of United Nations human rights missions in Rwanda and Guatemala. The recommendations of the report related to the role of the United Nations

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system in post-conflict institution-building with specific reference to police, judicial reform, the development of national human rights institutions, involvement of non-governmental organizations and human rights education. The country studies in the report covered El Salvador, Cambodia, Haiti, Guatemala, Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A press release had been issued by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Mr. Eckhard said, announcing that in Arusha today, Major Barnard Ntuyahaga, a former officer in the Rwandan Armed Forces, had pleaded not guilty to charges holding him responsible for the murder of 10 Belgian soldiers of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR) and of Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana. Those events had occurred in April 1994 and a press release with further details was available in room S-378.

Following their election as judges to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on 16 October by the General Assembly, the three new judges would take the oath on Monday, 16 November, Mr. Eckhard said. That would mark the beginning of a two-year term of office for David Hunt of Australia, Mohamed Bennouna of Morocco and Patrick Robinson of Jamaica. As of next Monday, the Tribunal's judiciary would be composed of 14 sitting judges divided into three Trial Chambers of three judges each and one Appeal Chamber of five judges. A press release with details was available in room S-378.

Also in room S-378 was a press release from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announcing its $3.7 million appeal for help in financing the first phase of an emergency operation to help Central American children and families left destitute by Hurricane Mitch, the Spokesman said.

Mr. Eckhard then said that today's summary of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) briefing in Geneva, also available in room S-378, contained an update on Kosovo, including the preliminary results of a survey on the level of destruction and the number of people displaced there. Of the more than 24,790 houses surveyed, the UNHCR had said only 41 per cent were found to be immediately inhabitable. By extrapolating the survey results for 350 villages, the UNHCR had deduced that more than 100,000 displaced persons were still scattered inside Kosovo.

In the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Mr. Eckhard said, a new report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) had indicated that substantial food assistance was still needed despite an improved harvest. Based on the findings of a crop and food supply assessment mission that had toured the country extensively last month, the report had been further detailed in the press release issued earlier today in Rome and available in room S-378.

Among the documents on the racks today was the report of the Secretary-General on the human rights situation in Myanmar (document A/53/657), Mr. Eckhard said. In that report, which contained details on

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Assistant Secretary-General Alvaro de Soto's recent trip to the country, the Secretary-General had expressed disappointment at the lack of substantive progress on the part of Myanmar's Government and he had expressed concern for the deteriorating situation, calling for intensified efforts to address the issue in the coming months.

Also, a report mentioned yesterday regarding the employment of retirees in the Secretariat, Mr. Eckhard said, which had been issued by the Office of Internal Oversight Services, had been supplemented today by a new report of the Secretary-General. The addition on the racks today was document A/53/526/Add.1.

And still another report issued today, Mr. Eckhard said, was one by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) concerning the proposed system of results-based budgeting (document A/53/655). In the report, the ACABQ had said it would thoroughly analyse the proposal during its spring 1999 session.

The Department of Public Information (DPI) was launching two new World Wide Web pages today, Mr. Eckhard announced. One would be in Arabic and the other in Chinese, with the launch to be held in Conference Room 4 today at 5 p.m. A press release on the racks (document PI/1092/Rev.1) contained further details.

The World Chronicle television programme today would feature Peter Hansen, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the Spokesman said. That would be aired at 2:30 p.m. on in-house channel 6 or 38.

Also, available in room S-378 was the summary of troop contributions to peacekeeping operations.

On the feature of "The Week Ahead", Mr. Eckhard said no Security Council meetings were scheduled for Monday. There would be a news conference at 10:15 a.m. that day, when the non-governmental organization Friends of the United Nations would introduce the recipients of the 1998 Global Tolerance Awards honouring individuals and institutions for excellence in promoting multicultural understanding. Actor Dennis Quaid was scheduled to be among those honoured. At the noon briefing on that day, the guest would be the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, newly returned from Central America to give a briefing on international response to assist victims of Hurricane Mitch.

On Tuesday, Mr. Eckhard said, a senior official of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitiarian Affairs had been tentatively scheduled to give an update on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Angola, where more than 1.3 million people had become displaced within their own country. The Secretary-General's reports on the United Nations Civilian Police Mission in

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Haiti (MIPONUH) and the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) were due to be issued.

The four-ton sleeping elephant bronze cast mentioned yesterday would arrive on Wednesday, Mr. Eckhard said. It would arrive via First Avenue and would be placed near the northwest corner of the United Nations garden, where the Secretary-General would accept the gift at noon -- "which was unfortunate timing for journalists", the Spokesman added.

On Thursday, the next round of talks on East Timor would begin and last until Saturday, Mr. Eckhard said. The talks would be chaired by the Personal Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor, Jamsheed Marker. The delegations were expected to provide the answers of their respective governments to the autonomy proposal submitted during the last round of talks without prejudice of the two positions regarding the final status of East Timor. In addition, on Thursday of next week, troop contributors' meetings were expected to be held for the two missions on which the Secretary-General had reported earlier in the week, MIPONUH and UNDOF. On that same day, the Security Council was expected to take up the Secretary-General's report on Kosovo, after it was issued. The report had been delayed from its expected issuance this week.

"Where do we stand on Mr. Annan going to Baghdad now?" a correspondent asked and Mr. Eckhard said the phrasing made it sound as if the trip were a concrete plan. "Yesterday there were no plans", the correspondent said. "Has that changed in any way?"

"No, it is exactly the same", Mr. Eckhard said, adding that during the meeting between the Secretary-General and the Security Council there would be an exchange of views on Iraq, but the Secretary-General's position remained the same, that he had no plans at this time to go to Baghdad.

During the telephone conversation between the United States President and the Secretary-General had the President expressed any view on the Secretary-General going to Baghdad? another correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said he had no details to convey about that conversation. Was the Secretary- General aware of any timetable with regard to military action against Iraq? another correspondent asked, and Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General was not.

Had the Secretary-General spoken with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz since his return? a correspondent asked, and Mr. Eckhard said he was not aware of any such contact although there was an expectation that at some point in the course of the day there would perhaps be telephone contact between them.

Did the statement by the Director of the Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan, mean that food shipments into Iraq had been halted? the Spokesman was asked.

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"You'll have to ask Mr. Sevan, but my reading of the statement is that any food shipments going into Iraq will not be paid for", Mr. Eckhard answered, adding that without the certification by the inspectors at the border the suppliers could not be paid. "So I don't think there will be many deliveries under those conditions." Another correspondent then asked when the effect of the food cut-off in Iraq would begin to be felt and Mr. Eckhard directed further such questions to the spokesman for Benon Sevan, John Mills.

Asked what it would take for the Secretary-General to travel to Baghdad, Mr. Eckhard said he would not want to speculate, but would instead only affirm that the Secretary-General's constant position, "that he has no plans to go at this time". Asked about a former Prime Minister of Ireland who had gone to Baghdad, Mr. Eckhard said the envoy had reportedly arrived in New York and was allegedly at Headquarters, but a meeting with him was not on the Secretary- General's calendar and his own itinerary was not known.

A correspondent recalled that the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, Tariq Aziz, had said yesterday during a press conference that the Secretary-General had a legal and moral obligation to find a solution to the problem in Iraq. What was the response?

"Under Article 99 of the United Nations Charter, the Secretary-General's good offices functions are conditional on the Security Council approving or recommending him to take a role", Mr. Eckhard said. There had been more flexible interpretations of Article 99 over the years, he added, but said he doubted the Secretary-General would take any action without consulting the Council.

Did the Secretary-General still think he could do business with Iraq's President Saddam Hussein? a correspondent asked. "I don't think that question is relevant today", Mr. Eckhard answered. Asked why three of the permanent five Security Council members had asked to meet with the Secretary-General, Mr. Eckhard said he had no idea and in response to a further question, he said he did not even know whether the meeting would be before or after lunch. "We'll squawk it when we find out", he added. Later it was announced that the meeting would be held at 3 p.m.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said no plenary meetings had been scheduled for today. Yesterday afternoon it had been announced in the plenary that consideration of the item on United Nations reform would be postponed until 23 November. This morning, the annual pledging conference for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was taking place. The High Commissioner, Sadako Ogata, had made an introductory statement, the text of which was available in room S-378. The figures on the pledges received should be available shortly after 1 p.m. today and they would be posted in room S-378.

On Monday, Ms. Mihalic continued, the plenary would consider in both morning and afternoon sessions the report of the Secretary-General under the

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agenda item, "Strengthening the coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance in the United Nations, including special economic assistance". The plenary would also consider several related reports of the Secretary-General as well as draft resolutions under the item. So far, 22 speakers had been inscribed on the item, five of whom would introduce resolutions to the Assembly.

With regard to the work of the Main Committees, Ms. Mihalic said that today the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) was scheduled to conclude its work for the fifty-third session. The Committee was meeting both in the morning and afternoon to take action on the remaining drafts before it.

The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) would begin this afternoon to consider agenda item 86, "Questions relating to information", Ms. Mihalic said. The Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Kensaku Hogen, would deliver a statement introducing the report of the Secretary-General on questions relating to information. And as the Spokesman had mentioned, in the same Conference Room 4 at 5 p.m. the Department would launch the United Nations websites in Arabic and Chinese, at which point the United Nations website would be available in all six official languages, a step forward for linguistic diversity.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) was holding informal consultations today on a series of draft resolutions before it, the spokesman said. The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) would take action this afternoon on several draft resolutions, including texts on the promotion and protection of the rights of children, elimination of racism and racial discrimination and on human rights instruments. Several other drafts would be introduced in that Committee.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) had continued today its consideration of human resources management, Ms. Mihalic said. The Committee had concluded consideration of the report of the Secretary-General on the Office of Internal Oversight Services. The Committee had also been scheduled to hold informal consultations this morning on the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU). This afternoon, the Committee would hold informal consultations on the United Nations common system as well as on the scale of assessments.

Finally, Ms. Mihalic said, the Sixth Committee (Legal) was holding informal consultations this morning on the draft guiding principles for international negotiations, under the agenda item, "The United Nations Decade of International Law", as well as on the draft regarding the report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Organization. This afternoon, the Committee would hold a formal meeting to discuss the status of the Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 relating to the protection of victims of armed conflicts. Later in the afternoon, it would hold informal consultations on measures to eliminate international terrorism. * *** *

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