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 Secretary-General Kofi Annan, began today's noon briefing by announcing that the Emergency Relief Coordinator and head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Sergio Vieira de Mello, would be a guest at the noon briefing to talk about his recent trip to Central America and the efforts being made to coordinate relief assistance to the victims of Hurricane Mitch. (Mr. Vieiro de Mello's briefing has been issued separately.)

On Friday evening, Mr. Eckhard said, in consultation with the Security Council, the Secretary-General had sent a letter to President Saddam Hussein of Iraq repeating the public appeal he had made in Marrakesh, Morocco, on November 11, for Iraq to return to compliance with Security Council resolutions, an appeal that had been endorsed by the Council.

On Saturday morning, Iraq's Ambassador to the United Nations, Nizar Hamdoon, had delivered to the Secretary-General a response signed by Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, the Spokesman continued. In that letter, Mr. Aziz had announced Iraq's decision to resume working with the United Nations weapons inspectors on the basis of relevant Security Council resolutions and the Memorandum of Understanding between the Secretary-General and Iraq, signed last February. The Secretary-General had described the letter as a positive development.

The threatened military strike against Iraq by the United States, reportedly in the process of being launched, had been called off by United States President William Clinton, Mr. Eckhard stated. The Security Council had met Saturday evening and a number of members had sought clarification on the wording of the letter by Mr. Aziz. Those clarifications had been provided in writing by Ambassador Hamdoon. The Council had taken no action when it had adjourned late Saturday night.

The Secretary-General had kept in telephone contact with senior United States, Iraqi and other authorities throughout the night, Mr. Eckhard continued. On Sunday morning, President Clinton had announced that the United States would delay military action following Iraq's recommitment to complete compliance. The Secretary-General had described the President's announcement as "statesmanlike" and had said that "the entire international community would welcome his decision".

The Council had scheduled a meeting at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Mr. Eckhard said. However, a CNN interview with Mr. Aziz had raised new questions among some Council members, as to whether during the interview Mr. Aziz had stated certain reservations with regard to the letter he had sent to the Secretary- General on Saturday morning. The President of the Council had therefore asked the Secretary-General to seek clarifications, which the Secretary-General had

done through a telephone call to Mr. Aziz. The Secretary-General had then submitted the clarifications to Council members in the form of a note to the file summarizing that telephone conversation. The Council, in a press statement by its President, had then noted Iraq's decision, and had thanked the Secretary-General for his efforts.

The Executive Director of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) on Iraq, Richard Butler, had said he would send his weapons inspectors back to Iraq on Tuesday, Mr. Eckhard continued. The head of the United Nations Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan, had similarly announced the return to Iraq of United Nations humanitarian workers as of today, Monday. The Secretary-General had described the outcome as a "victory for diplomacy and resolve".

Asked if the agreement would work, the Secretary-General had said he could give no guarantees, the Spokesman said. "I'm not sure, if there is a next time", the Secretary-General had said, "that we would even have enough time for further diplomatic initiatives and appeals". The Secretary-General had concluded his remarks to the press last night by saying, "I have a mandate, I have a conscience and above all, I believe fervently in the Charter and in the ideals of the United Nations. That is what guides me".

Mr. Eckhard then said 86 UNSCOM and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) weapons inspectors would return to Baghdad on Tuesday via a United Nations flight from Bahrain, where they had been on stand-by since leaving Iraq last week. On Wednesday, another six UNSCOM staff would make the same journey. UNSCOM inspectors were expected to resume their duties on Wednesday.

In addition, Mr. Eckhard said, word had just come in that the first group of 30 humanitarian workers returning to Baghdad had arrived on a United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) flight from Amman, Jordan. In addition, four buses and six vehicles carrying a second group of 100 humanitarian staff had left Amman at 11:15 a.m. local time. They were expected to arrive in Baghdad before midnight local time. The remaining staff in Amman were expected to head back to their duty stations tomorrow. As had been reported, the more than 200 staff in northern Iraq had remained throughout the crisis. The Lloyds Register staff -- the independent inspectors who had withdrawn on Friday -- had returned to three of the four entry points to Iraq. There had been no interruption in the availability of essential humanitarian supplies to the people of Iraq, according to the Office of the Iraq Programme.

On other matters, Mr. Eckhard said that following receipt of letters from the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the Security Council this morning had started to examine a draft resolution on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's refusal to cooperate with the Tribunal, particularly in relation to the Tribunal's jurisdiction in Kosovo.

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The Secretary-General's report on Kosovo was on the racks today, the Spokesman said. It contained a report on the United Nations mission dispatched by the Secretary-General in response to a Security Council request for consideration of how the Secretariat might be ensured a first-hand capability in assessing developments on the ground, and in reporting to the Council on compliance with resolutions. Subsequent to that request, the Secretary-General noted in his report that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had established the Kosovo Verification Mission, charged with reporting to the Council.

In his report, Mr. Eckhard continued, the Secretary-General had stated that "It is quite obvious that any need that might have existed for such a presence has been superseded by the decision to establish the Kosovo Verification Mission. Taking this into account and having considered options presented by the head of the Mission, Steffan de Mistura, I have decided against recommending a United Nations political presence in Kosovo, thus avoiding parallel reporting channels that might lead to confusion and overlapping in the field, as well as unnecessary financial expenditure". Further, the Secretary-General had said, the effective and well-established coordinating role of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as the lead agency for humanitarian activities in Kosovo should be maintained and reflected in a formal agreement with the OSCE.

Another report of the Secretary-General on the racks today concerned the United Nations Civilian Police Mission in Haiti (MIPONUH), Mr. Eckhard said. That mission had a mandate to contribute to the professionalization of the Haitian police, training an average of some 400 police officers per week. In his report, the Secretary-General had noted that a fully effective Haitian police force did not yet exist, and he recommended that the Council extend MIPONUH's mandate for another year until 30 November 1999. Haiti's President, Rene Preval, had requested the continuance of such cooperation in a letter dated 22 October, and that position had been supported by senior management of the Haitian National Police. The Secretary-General had also reiterated his appeal for Haitian political leaders to negotiate an end to the political crisis, which had left Haiti without a functioning Government since June of last year.

A World Food Programme (WFP) staff member had been shot and killed on Saturday night while on duty in Kuito, Angola, where a new wave of insecurity had caused a large number of internally displaced persons to seek refuge, Mr. Eckhard said. The Executive Director of the WFP, Catherine Bertini, had said "this is a senseless crime", on hearing of the murder of the 38-year-old Angolan national, Elias Sayala. She said the WFP would use all its resources to aid the police in identifying those responsible. The weekend murder had brought to eight the number of WFP staff killed this year. There would be a briefing tomorrow on the humanitarian situation in Angola by a senior staff member newly returned from a week-long mission to that country.

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In the Central African Republic, Mr. Eckhard said, 40 United Nations electoral monitors had arrived in the capital of Bangui by the past weekend. They, along with other United Nations monitors already in the country as members of the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINURCA), or as staff of agencies, totalled 107. They would monitor the first round of parliamentary elections on 22 November. The second round had been scheduled for 13 December.

"Today is the International Day for Tolerance", Mr. Eckhard said, adding that in his message marking the occasion, the Secretary-General had noted that the battle for tolerance and against intolerance still needed to be waged. "Without question", the Secretary-General had said, "the conflicts of the post-cold-war world -- from Bosnia to Rwanda -- were all rooted in the absence of tolerance and the demonization of groups and ethnicities". Those innocent and defenceless men, women and children who lost their lives were the ultimate victims of intolerance, he had added, calling for education and knowledge to be used as the tools for winning the battle for tolerance. Teaching tolerance would be a priority for the United Nations in the next century. The full text of the Secretary-General's message had been issued as Press Release SG/SM/6795.

Mr. Eckhard then said the team appointed last August by the Secretary- General to evaluate existing evidence on crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge leaders in the years between 1975 and 1979 had arrived in Phnom Penh today and had begun its work. The team would also look into the feasibility of bringing Khmer Rouge leaders to justice, he added.

Today in the Hague, the Spokesman said, the Judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) had pronounced a judgment in the Celebici case, involving four persons standing trial, three Bosnian Muslims and one Bosnian Croat, accused of killing, torturing, beating and sexually assaulting Bosnian Serb detainees in the Celebici prison camp during 1992. One of the Muslims had been acquitted and immediately set free while the three other detainees had been sentenced to 7, 15 and 20 years in prison. A press release with further details was available in room S-378 from the ICTY.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) had published the latest edition of its Encyclopedia of Occupational Health and Safety, Mr. Eckhard said. It showed that workers today faced many of the same dangers as in 1930, when the First Edition of the encyclopedia had been published. Traditional threats ranged from factory fires to catching tuberculosis in hospitals. New workplace concerns included eye and hand strain from working on computers, jet lag in business travel and radiation leaks at nuclear power plants.

In the developing world, Mr. Eckhard said, the 4,231-page study had stated that one of the grimmest hazards faced by workers was entrapment in a

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factory catching on fire. Two deadly fires attested to the continuation of the threat. The Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in New York City in 1911 had killed 146 workers, a dismal record that had lasted until 10 May 1993, when the Kader Toy factory in Thailand had burst into flames and killed 188 workers, making that the world's worst accidental loss of life incident in an industrial building during this century. Despite the 82 years between those two disasters, the study pointed out many similarities between the two incidents. More details on the ILO publication were contained in the press release available in room S-378.

The Fourth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change had concluded at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday with the adoption of a "Buenos Aires Plan of Action", Mr. Eckhard said. A press release with further details was available in English and Spanish in room S-378. Another press release available was one issued today in Geneva by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to announce that Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo had paid a visit to United Nations Headquarters in Geneva today to lend support to international efforts on behalf of young people and children around the world.

Among the documents on the racks today was a report of the Secretary-General describing steps taken within the United Nations system to resolve the year 2000 date-conversion problem for computers, also known as the "millennium bug" (document A/53/574), Mr. Eckhard said.

One payment had come in today, the Spokesman continued. He added that Benin's payment of $21,000-plus had given it the standing of having paid in full, which had brought to 108 the total number of Member States that had paid their contributions in full for 1998.

With regard to signatures, Mr. Eckhard said, Peru had signed the Kyoto Protocol on Friday, bringing the number of signatory parties to a total of 61 on the Protocol to the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change. Also, Indonesia had ratified the Convention on chemical weapons, becoming the one hundred twentieth party to that Convention.

Tomorrow there would be a press conference at 11:15 a.m. in room S-226 on the reintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords, Mr. Eckhard said. There would be three guests at the conference, which was sponsored by the Bosnia and Herzegovina mission to the United Nations.

A correspondent asked for clarification on whether the letter sent by the Secretary-General on Friday night had been at the request of the Council, since the Security Council President had said there had been disagreement among Council members regarding the sending of the letter. Mr. Eckhard said the Council had debated sending a letter versus making a phone call and other options, and in the end the Secretary-General had said that under his own

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authority he would send a letter, after which there had been no further debate.

Did the Secretary-General believe he could do business with Saddam Hussein and Tariq Aziz? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said that was a question from last February. That's why he was asking again, the correspondent said, in retrospect of all that had since happened.

"The situation this time has been between the Security Council and Iraq", Mr. Eckhard answered, explaining that the Secretary-General had described his role as "facilitator", and that it was not an issue of whether the Secretary-General could or could not do business with Saddam Hussein himself.

In response to a question about the time-frame for a comprehensive review for Iraq, Mr. Eckhard said that was now up to the Council. With the agreement that the UNSCOM inspectors could go back to work, the Council would presumably now make a decision regarding going forward with the comprehensive review. Did the Council need a message from the Secretary-General that inspections had resumed? "Yes, the Council had said that", Mr. Eckhard answered, "so first let's get the inspectors back to work and then we'll see how long it takes".

Asked for more detail on what the Council would request as a message from the Secretary-General, Mr. Eckhard said that on something of such importance, the message would probably be in writing. Asked whether the Secretary-General had a specific view on how long after resumption of inspections the comprehensive review would take place, Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General did not have a specific view on that.

"Is it fair to say, in effect, that the United States Government was not willing to wait for the Iraqi Government's reply to the Secretary-General's Friday night letter, since President Clinton said he had given the order to launch the Tomahawk cruise missiles"? a correspondent asked. "It is possible that the quickness of the Iraqi response may have taken some people by surprise", Mr. Eckhard answered. People in Washington? the correspondent asked. "And in New York as well", the Spokesman said.

Did that mean the Secretary-General's letter writing skills were vastly underestimated in their ability to convince people? the correspondent continued. Mr. Eckhard said the correspondent could be the judge of that. "So now he doesn't even have to travel to Baghdad, he can just send a note," the correspondent pursued. Mr. Eckhard said that would be some relief for the budget.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said the plenary today was considering agenda item 20, the strengthening of coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance

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of the United Nations, including special economic assistance and several related reports of the Secretary-General.

The spokesman said those reports would be on: assistance to Mozambique; reconstruction and development of Lebanon; rehabilitation and reconstruction of Nicaragua; special assistance to Central African countries receiving refugees; emergency assistance to the Sudan; emergency assistance for peace, normalcy and rehabilitation in Tajikistan; emergency economic assistance to the Comoros; emergency assistance to Montserrat; assistance for the reconstruction and development of Djibouti; assistance for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Liberia; international cooperation and coordination of human and ecological rehabilitation and economic development of the Semipalatinsk region of Kazakhstan; special assistance for the economic recovery and reconstruction of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and assistance to the Palestinian people.

Also, Ms. Mihalic said, eight related draft resolutions would be introduced for action in the plenary today. So far, 27 speakers had been inscribed to address the Assembly.

Tomorrow morning, the Assembly would take up the issue of assistance in mine clearance, Ms. Mihalic said. It would also consider the report of the Secretary-General on that issue, along with a related draft resolution contained in document A/53/L.28. In addition, a number of speakers had been scheduled to address the Assembly on this item.

As for the work of the Main Committees, Ms. Mihalic said, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) had concluded its work for the fifty-third session last Friday as scheduled. The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) would continue this afternoon its general discussion of questions relating to information. The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) was this morning considering the issue of sustainable development and international economic cooperation, as well as programme planning. The Committee was also scheduled to take action on several draft resolutions before it.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) would also take action this afternoon on several draft resolutions before it, Ms. Mihalic said. Those would include a resolution on the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); programme budget implications of the draft on the elimination of racism and racial discrimination; right of peoples to self-determination; and human rights situations and reports of special rapporteurs and representatives. Also, several drafts would be introduced in the Committee, relating in particular to human rights issues.

Ms. Mihalic said the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) had been scheduled this morning to conclude the general discussion of the report of the Secretary-General on the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS),

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and to begin consideration of the financial reports and audited financial statements, as well as the reports, of the Board of Auditors. The Committee would also hold informal consultations on the financing of the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL). This afternoon, the Committee would continue discussing human resources management and would open its discussion of several aspects of the programme budget for the current biennium. It would also begin consideration of the relevant chapters of the report of the Economic and Social Council.

The Sixth Committee (Legal), Ms. Mihalic said, had begun this morning with consideration of effective measures to enhance the protection, security and safety of diplomatic and consular missions and representatives. The Committee had then begun informal consultations on the Convention on the jurisdictional immunities of States and their property, and had been scheduled to see this morning a video presentation on the electronic international treaty database. This afternoon, the Sixth Committee had been scheduled to take action on several draft resolutions regarding the United Nations Decade of International Law, before beginning informal consultations on several draft resolutions related to measures for eliminating international terrorism.

A correspondent then asked whether the item in the Third Committee, the right of people to self-determination, was related to the question of Palestine.

Ms. Mihalic said that it was.

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