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, said the Security Council had met this morning and was still holding informal consultations on the Secretary-General's report on Kosovo, issued earlier in the week. Consultations would then continue on the two draft resolutions prepared by the Council's ad hoc working group on the Secretary-General's report on Africa. The question of the Sudan was expected to be raised under other matters, and following those consultations, the Council would hold a formal meeting to adopt the two resolutions, one on the illicit flow of arms to and in Africa and the other on the security and neutrality of refugee camps.

As had been announced that he would, the Secretary-General would be returning to North Africa to resume the visit to the Maghreb countries that had been interrupted due to the crisis in Iraq, the Spokesman said. The Secretary-General would first visit the Tindouf area on 30 November. He would have an official programme in Tindouf on 1 and 2 December, and that would be followed by a visit to Tunisia on 3 and 4 December. From Tunis, the Secretary-General would travel to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, where he would attend a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Just before the trip and just after it, Mr. Eckhard added, the Secretary-General would have programmes in Paris. Before, on 27 and 28 November, he would attend the Franco-African Summit in Paris. On the second of those days, he would also receive an honorary degree from the Sorbonne University. He would go to Paris again on the way back from the Maghreb, arriving in the early hours of 8 December. Later that day he would address l'Assemblee Nationale and would close La Reunion Paris, a human rights meeting held at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Secretary-General would then receive petitions from Amnesty International at the Palais de Chaillot.

Mr. Eckhard then said the United Nation humanitarian programme in the Sudan, known as Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), had signed two agreements with the Government of the Sudan and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement. The agreements were aimed at improving the security of relief personnel and increasing access to people in need of emergency assistance. The second such accord among the three parties in 10 years had been signed on Wednesday at the end of a three-day Technical Committee on Humanitarian Assistance meeting in Rome.

One agreement, Mr. Eckhard explained, had been a security protocol pertaining to the United Nations and international non-governmental humanitarian relief workers operating within Operation Lifeline Sudan. The second agreement had been on a set of minimal operational standards for use of train and road corridors in the delivery of aid. Under the Operation, the World Food Programme (WFP) was currently delivering 17,000 tons of food to

some 1.5 million people per month, mostly in the southern part of the country. Copies of the communique were available in the Spokesman's Office (Room S-378).

The Secretary-General had written two letters to the President of the Security Council issued as documents dated 17 November, Mr. Eckhard then announced. In one letter, the Secretary-General had informed the President of his intention to extend the office of his Personal Representative in Cambodia for a period of 12 months in view of a new government having been established. In the other letter, the Secretary-General had informed the Council President of his intention to extend the mandate of the United Nations Office in Burundi until the end of December 1999.

The Spokesman then said closed consultations would be held this afternoon in Conference Room 7 beginning at 3 p.m. between Security Council members and countries contributing troops as well as civilian police to the United Nations Civilian Police Mission in Haiti (MIPONUH) and to the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). The Secretary-General had already recommended the extension of the mandates of the two missions, both due to expire at the end of this month. The Security Council was expected to hold consultations on both peacekeeping operations early next week with a view to taking formal action on Wednesday, 25 November.

"The United Nations is sending a demining expert to Nicaragua by this weekend to assess emergency needs on demining and to prepare a United Nations response", Mr. Eckhard said. Approximately 70,000 mines were believed to be in Nicaragua, he added. Much of those had been laid along the border with Honduras and around bridges. The floods caused by Hurricane Mitch had washed away a number of bridges, along with the mines. Nicaragua had set up a good demining programme and had planned to rid the country of mines by the year 2002. The floods, however, had complicated the problem and the United Nations was looking into the emergency requirements.

The United Nations system would seek funding for a major United Nations Inter-Agency Relief and Recovery effort for Central America in an appeal to be launched next week as a result of Hurricane Mitch, Mr. Eckhard said. A joint press release on the subject by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was available in Room S-378.

The joint trial of Clement Kayishema and Obed Ruzindana had come to a close following the conclusion of final oral submissions by the prosecution and defense on 17 November, Mr. Eckhard said. That news had come in a press release from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which was available in Room S-378.

Also, Mr. Eckhard said, staff members of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia had met with

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representatives of Human Rights Watch this week and had been given a copy of a report made public today on the alleged use of chemical weapons during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly in Srebrenica. The event had been in relation to an ongoing investigation being conducted by the Prosecutor, who would use any relevant information without further comment on the matter.

Mr. Eckhard added that as announced yesterday by the spokesman for the General Assembly President, the President of the Former Yugoslavia Tribunal this morning had addressed the General Assembly while presenting her annual report. Copies of her address were available in Room S-378.

Next, the Spokesman said officials from about 150 countries would meet in Dakar, Senegal, from 30 November to 11 December for the second session of the Conference of the Parties (COP-2) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, which would be the first time that all members of the Convention would formally report on the actions to fight land degradation and reduce the effects of drought. A press release on the subject from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was available on the racks.

Today, the World Television Forum had opened in the Economic and Social Council Chamber, Mr. Eckhard said. In his opening address to the Forum, the Secretary-General had referred to the unprecedented challenge of imbuing shared values and principles in the global village and had said, "We need the power of television as a partner of knowledge." The full text of the Secretary-General's address was available in Room S-378.

Events in the Forum would include a panel discussion this afternoon at 3 p.m. on "A Century of Images which have Moved the Soul", Mr. Eckhard said. At 4 p.m. today, there would be another panel discussion on "The Controversy on Audiovisual Training". At 9:45 a.m. tomorrow, the panel would be on "Consumption and Abuse of Reality in the Multimedia Environment", while at 11:20 a.m. tomorrow, the panel would be on "The Convergence between Television and the Internet". By the way, the Spokesman added, the United Nations website was providing a live webcast of the Forum, the first live webcast of an event covered by the new high-definition television system.

There would be a press conference tomorrow at 3 p.m. on the Universal Networking Language (UNL), an electronic language enabling people speaking different native languages to communicate with each other, Mr. Eckhard said. A background note on that issue was available in Room S-378.

"And finally", Mr. Eckhard said, "this is a last reminder that this evening there will be a chance to taste this year's Beaujolais Nouveau, an event that probably isn't a perk for the White House press corps", he added. The rules for the annual "degustation" were very strict, Mr. Eckhard continued. No bottle could be opened before the third Thursday in November, which was today, and the time was 5:30 p.m. in the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) Club. Thanks to the French Mission, all

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were invited to sample the '98 vintage, listen to the Nicolas Rageau Quartette, and sample cheese offered by the "Roquefort Societe". "See you there", the Spokesman said and opened the floor for questions.

A correspondent asked about an alleged wire service story from an Arabic news agency purporting that the Executive Director of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), Richard Butler, had last week offered to resign if it would help resolve the stalemate in Iraq. Could that be confirmed? he asked. Mr. Eckhard said he had not heard of any such offer from Mr. Butler to the Secretary-General but he would confirm with Mr. Butler that no such statement had been made.

In response to another question, Mr. Eckhard said the Human Rights Day celebrations would be on 10 December, although celebrations would start a few days earlier and last a few days beyond that date. There was a long list of activities in observation of the day to be held around the world, but the observances in Paris, Geneva and New York would be the major ones. The Department of Public Information (DPI) was expected to produce a compilation of the events which should be ready soon.

Mr. Eckhard also confirmed, in response to a question, that the Secretary-General would return from the resumed Maghreb trip on a morning flight of 9 December, when he would have a full day at Headquarters.

Had there been any further action, the correspondent asked, with regard to the elephant given as a gift to the United Nations by the Governments of Kenya, Namibia and Nepal. "Has anything been done, cut, hidden away, anything?"

Mr. Eckhard said he had not seen the elephant this morning but he had noted that the Secretary-General had said he did not want to tamper with nature.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said that in his opening statement this morning at the third World Television Forum, the President had said the audiovisual media had a moral duty to provide their services in a way that was guided not only by material considerations but with a view to furthering the social good, by providing the audience with the material, the content and form capable of helping to develop the intellect and enhance the spirit of the audience. For that reason, he had said, "television must not confine itself to satisfying the demands of the market, but should steer the market towards the achievement of social and ethical values by which societies are organized and function". The full text of the statement was available on the racks in both English and Spanish.

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This morning, Ms. Mihalic then said, the plenary was considering the report of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, contained in document A/53/219. The report had been introduced by the President of the Tribunal, Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, and 11 additional speakers were inscribed on the item. As a second order of business, the plenary was expected to take action on draft resolution A/53/L.34, implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development. The draft would be introduced by Chile and the Assembly had debated the item in early October. The Assembly was then expected to continue the debate on the situation in Central America with 11 speakers inscribed to address the plenary before taking action on two draft resolutions.

This afternoon, the spokesman said, the Assembly would take up the issue of equitable representation and increase in the membership of the Security Council and related matters. Draft resolution A/53/L.16 on the item was before the Assembly, co-sponsored by 27 Member States. The draft would be introduced by Egypt and so far 67 speakers had been inscribed under the item. The Assembly was expected to continue considering the issue all day tomorrow after the first item in the morning was concluded, the financing of the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL).

As for the work of the Main Committees, Ms. Mihalic said the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) would continue all day its consideration of the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories. In the afternoon, the Committee would take action on seven draft resolution on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) was holding informal consultations this morning on several draft resolutions before it, the spokesman said. The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) would continue this afternoon with the introduction of draft resolutions on human rights issues, some of them postponed from yesterday, including two drafts on human rights in Rwanda. The Committee would also continue taking action on draft resolutions, including one on the work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and several on a series of human rights issues, including extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions and human rights situations in Cambodia, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Myanmar, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Ms. Mihalic then said the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) had begun this morning its formal consideration of the item entitled pattern of conferences, and of the reports on United Nations sales publications. The Committee was scheduled to hold informal consultations late this morning on the pattern of conferences and this afternoon it would hold informal consultations on the United Nations pension system.

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The Sixth Committee (Legal), the spokesman said, was this morning holding informal consultations on draft resolutions regarding measures to eliminate international terrorism. Those consultations would resume in the late afternoon following a formal meeting of the Committee when it was expected to take action on a series of draft resolutions, on the following items: the Report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and Strengthening of the Role of the Organization; establishment of an International Criminal Court; report of the International Law Commission on the work of its fiftieth session; status of Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 relating to the protection of victims of armed conflicts; and the convention on jurisdictional immunities of States and their property.

Asked when the A/53/L.16 draft resolution on the Security Council would be put to vote, Ms. Mihalic said perhaps tomorrow afternoon, if all the speakers on the list had been heard by then.

As a follow-up question to the Spokesman, a correspondent asked what would be discussed during today's meeting between the Secretary-General and Anthony Lake and Susan Rice of the United States.

Mr. Eckhard said he guessed they would discuss the Democratic Republic of the Congo, from where Susan Rice had returned recently, and the Eritrea- Ethiopia border conflict in the area from where Mr. Lake had recently returned. "I assume it will be on Africa", he added. Asked whether the United States representative James Baker was still involved in the Western Sahara, Mr. Eckhard said he was.

Asked whether landmines were being re-laid in Angola, Mr. Eckhard said he believe that it had been reported that they were and that the parties had been called upon to refrain from the practice as it as compounding an already terrible problem in Angola. Mr. Eckhard also said he would provide more concrete information on the subject after the briefing.

Then Mr. Eckhard himself asked whether there were any more questions, and a correspondent said he had covered the story two years ago but wanted to hear what the Spokesman had to say on the issue of divorce relative to the United Nations as mentioned on the front page of today's New York Times.

"Thank you for the question", Mr. Eckhard said. "The Secretary-General is fully aware and understands the concerns brought to his attention by the Family Rights Committee", Mr. Eckhard then said, reading a statement. "Over the past few weeks, the Deputy Secretary-General has held a number of meetings, both internally with the Department of Management and the Office of Legal Affairs, and externally with the Family Rights Committee, to examine past and present policies and procedures for handling these cases."

"As a result of these meetings, these procedures are currently being reviewed", Mr. Eckhard said. "As today's article in The New York Times points

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out, specific actions are already being taken by the Secretariat to ensure that staff members comply with court-ordered family support payments. These actions include the release of payroll information to courts upon request, the initiation of disciplinary procedures against staff members who continue to withhold such payments, the immediate withholding of benefits paid to staff based on their dependency status, and a ban on field assignment of such staff. The Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources, Rafiah Salim, would travel tomorrow to Washington, D.C. to attend a meeting at the State Department where the issue is to be discussed".

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