DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Manoel Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by recalling for the record the Secretary- General's statement of yesterday evening when he had said, "it was a sad day for the United Nations and for the world". The Secretary-General had gone on to say, among other things, that "what had happened could not be reversed", nor could anyone foresee the future. All that could be known was that tomorrow, as yesterday, "there will still be an acute need in Iraq and in the wider region for humanitarian relief and healing diplomacy". In both those tasks, Mr. Almeida e Silva said, the Secretary-General had affirmed that the United Nations would be ready, as ever, to play its part.

Mr. Almeida e Silva then said information had come in with regard to colleagues in Baghdad. "As we speak, it is now about 8 p.m. in Baghdad", he began, stating that the 134 international United Nations staff in Baghdad had spent last night and today in the main United Nations office, a converted hotel in a Baghdad suburb. The Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan, who was also the United Nations Security Coordinator, had been in contact with the Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, Hans von Sponeck. When the bombing had started last night, United Nations staff had moved to a ground-floor corridor judged to be safest. During the first few hours, the explosions had occurred in other parts of town, but at about 3 a.m. three very loud explosions had occurred apparently near the United Nations building.

Following a cold and restless night, Mr. Almeida e Silva continued, international staff had woken this morning to find that their local colleagues, including those in charge of the building's cafeteria, had come to work despite their own problems. Relations continued to be warm between international and local staff, and Mr. von Sponeck had thanked both for their support and extraordinary resilience under the difficult circumstances.

On the oil-for-food programme, Mr. Almeida e Silva said "oil exports continue normally". A ship had berthed this morning at the Mina Al-Bakr platform in southern Iraq and was loading oil. Operations were continuing at Ceyhan on Turkey's Mediterranean coast. The Saybolt Company's oil monitors remained in place. With the withdrawal of the Lloyds Register inspection agents it was likely humanitarian supplies into Iraq would be held up since those agents, charged with authenticating and certifying arrival of supplies, had left Umm Qasr port and the border crossings with Syria and Jordan. Seven agents remained on duty at Zakho, on Iraq's border with Turkey.

However, Mr. Almeida e Silva emphasized, there were stocks of food, medicine and other supplies within Iraq. In the 15 governorates of central and southern Iraq where supply distribution was carried out by the Iraqi Government while the United Nations carried out a detailed observation

process, the observations had been suspended. Mr. Sevan was keeping the Secretary-General informed of all developments and the situation was under continuous review.

Still on Iraq, Mr. Almeida e Silva said that at 3:30 p.m. today, the Security Council would hold informal consultations on the current situation there, being briefed by the Secretariat particularly on the consequences of the military action, the fate of humanitarian workers and the impact of the military action on the humanitarian situation in the country. Mr. Sevan, along with the Deputy Chef de Cabinet, Rolf Knutsson, was expected to brief the Council.

The Council this morning was holding consultations on Western Sahara, Mr. Almeida e Silva went on to say, and the Council was expected to take action on that item since the current mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) would expire today. A draft resolution was before the Council and a formal meeting was expected to take place this afternoon. Under other matters, the Council would be briefed by the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Bernard Miyet, on the situation in Angola. The open meeting begun yesterday on maintenance of peace and security and post-conflict peace-building had been suspended once the 15 Council members had spoken. With 22 speakers left to address the Council on that matter, the meeting would be resumed at a date to be determined.

A number of additions had been made to the Secretary-General's agenda for today, Mr. Almeida e Silva announced. At 12:50 p.m. the Secretary-General would see the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov. At 2:45, he would see the Acting Permanent Representative of the United States, Peter Burleigh, and the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom, Sir Jeremy Greenstock. Both those meetings were at the requests of the ambassadors. At 3:50 p.m. the Secretary-General would see the new Associate Administrator-designate of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Zephirin Diabre, whose appointment had been announced at the noon briefing just days ago.

Relative to today's Council consultations on Angola, Mr. Almeida e Silva read as follows from a statement attributed to the Secretary-General's Spokesman.

"The Secretary-General is deeply concerned that, despite his several public appeals, it has not been possible to avoid major fighting in the central part of Angola. The current hostilities represent a further setback to the efforts of the international community to reactivate the peace process and have resulted in a rapidly spreading humanitarian crisis.

"The Secretary-General continues to believe that a lasting solution to the protracted conflict in Angola can be achieved only through full and unconditional implementation of the Lusaka Protocol and a process of genuine

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dialogue. In the meantime, he strongly urges the warring parties to desist from the present military confrontation and to ensure respect for human rights and humanitarian principles, including access to those who are in need.

"In this connection, the Secretary-General is dismayed at the public statements attributed to senior Angolan Government representatives blaming the United Nations for the recent aggravation of the security situation in the country and the failure by the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) to demobilize all its forces. It is appropriate to remind the parties that all major decisions concerning the implementation of the Lusaka Protocol, including those on disarmament, were made by consensus between the Government, UNITA, the United Nations and the three observer countries to the peace process. The United Nations will soon have to decide whether it can still play a useful peacekeeping role in the present rapidly diminishing security and political space".

The full text of the statement was available at the Spokesman's office, Mr. Almeida e Silva said (see Press Release SG/SM/6843).

Mr. Almeida e Silva then announced that the Personal Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor, Jamsheed Marker, was currently on a visit to Indonesia and East Timor, accompanied by the Director of the Asia Division of the Department of Political Affairs, Francesc Vendrell. The purpose of the visit was to pursue at a higher level the tri-partite discussions held in New York and to intensify consultations with East Timor representatives.

Today, Mr. Almeida e Silva continued, Ambassador Marker had held a very useful meeting at Tipinang Prison in Jakarta with the jailed leader of the East Timor resistance, Xanana Gusmao, serving a 20-year sentence. Ambassador Marker was expected to call on President B.J. Habibie and to hold meetings with Foreign Minister Ali Alatas as well as Defence Minister and Armed Forces Commander General Wiranto. During a visit to Dili, East Timor, from 19 to 20 December, Ambassador Marker would meet with the two Bishops of East Timor, Carlos Ximens Belo and Basilio Nascimento, as well as with Indonesian military and civilian officials and a cross section of East Timorese political and community leaders. Ambassador Marker and Mr. Vendrell were expected back in Jakarta on Sunday and would conclude their visit on 22 December.

"As we speak now, the Secretary-General should be unveiling a plaque donated by the Association of Former International Civil Servants bearing the human rights emblem", the Deputy Spokesman announced. In his address at that ceremony, the Secretary-General had said that "over the past 24 hours", his thoughts had been with the people of Iraq, with the United Nations humanitarian workers who remained in the country, and with all others whose lives were in danger. "But", the Secretary-General had added, "these recent developments should not detract from the fact that the world has genuine cause

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for celebration in the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights". (Full text of statement available in room S-378.)

Mr. Almeida e Silva said the staff member of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Vincent Cochetel, who had recently been released from captivity in North Ossetia, would give a press conference in Geneva tomorrow at noon. Mr. Cochetel, the Deputy Spokesman recalled, had headed the UNHCR office in North Ossetia and had been held captive for 317 days before being freed last weekend.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean had released its annual report today, Mr. Almeida e Silva said. Summaries in both Spanish and English were available in room S-378. According to the report, the countries of the region had faced an extraordinary degree of volatility this year in both the finance and trade sectors, and yet despite the external shocks they had had to absorb, the region's economies had performed reasonably well. Still, the report concluded, the future outlook for the region remained uncertain.

Also, Mr. Almeida e Silva said, the World Health Organization (WHO) today had issued guidelines for reducing the transmission of tuberculosis during air travel. WHO had said that while the risk was low, tuberculosis transmission to airplane passengers had been documented. More information was contained in the press release available in room S-378.

The Deputy Spokesman said Kenya had met its obligation to make its full contribution to the regular budget of the United Nations by submitting the balance of its payment in the amount of over $73,000. With that payment, 114 Member States had paid their contribution in full.

Mr. Almeida e Silva said that yesterday Israel had signed the Kyoto protocol to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, bringing to 69 the number of signatory parties.

A correspondent asked why the Secretary-General had not made the decision to withdraw the humanitarian workers from Iraq when he had done so during the last crisis, if even just for reasons of safety.

Mr. Almeida e Silva recalled that during yesterday's briefing, the Spokesman had explained that at the time withdrawal was being discussed it had been too late for the group to undertake a trip entailing night travel. Remaining in place at the hotel had been considered safer. "The situation is under constant review between the Humanitarian Coordinator, Benon Sevan, and the Secretary-General".

Did that mean there was not enough time, or no awareness of possible airstrikes, or even warnings of them, such as Ambassador Butler had been aware of? the correspondent asked. Mr. Almeida e Silva said there had been no

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advance warning that the strikes would take place. Asked by another correspondent whether it was fair to say that the Secretary-General had been surprised by yesterday's development of using force "all of a sudden", Mr. Almeida e Silva said anyone who had been following developments in Iraq could have anticipated the possibility.

A correspondent asked about the "new diplomacy" the Secretary-General had mentioned in his statement on Iraq. Was a new diplomacy being considered and was the Secretary-General ready to jump in as soon as the current action was over? Mr. Almeida e Silva answered that as yet the situation was unclear and it was too early to give any indication of what the "next steps" would be or should be. In response to another request for a definition of the "healing diplomacy" mentioned by the Secretary-General, the Deputy Spokesman said a clearer view of how events were evolving would be needed for the Secretary- General to determine what next steps would be necessary.

What had the Secretary-General been doing this morning? Had he been working the phones? With whom had he been in contact? a correspondent asked. The Deputy Spokesman recalled the Secretary-General's agenda as amended during the morning briefing, adding that the Secretary-General had held some phone contacts with some capitals. When asked which capitals, Mr. Almeida e Silva said that information was unavailable. Asked if the Secretary-General had been in contact with Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz or other Iraqi officials, Mr. Almeida e Silva replied, "Not to my knowledge".

A correspondent asked if there had been any political motive in leaving the humanitarian workers in Baghdad since many, including Ambassador Butler, were stating that the actions taken had been foreseeable. "The situation with regard to keeping the staff in the hotel yesterday had been that it was safer to keep them there than to have them moving during the night"," Mr. Almeida e Silva said.

On another issue, when asked who had been making accusations against the United Nations in Angola, Mr. Almeida e Silva said reports had indicated that Government local media had been making attacks on the United Nations.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) had not concluded its deliberations yesterday as expected and had resumed its work this morning. Following a short formal meeting, it had resumed informal consultations and suspended the formal meeting for an hour at around 11:00 am. Pending the outcome of deliberations, the plenary would take up the Committee's reports later today as scheduled, or at another time before suspension of the fifty-third session.

In either case, Ms. Mihalic said, the plenary would meet this afternoon to take up all other outstanding issues, including consideration of the second report of the Credentials Committee; draft resolution A/53/L.66 on the

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situation in Afghanistan; a draft decision sponsored by Canada regarding interaction of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the work of the United Nations system (A/53/L.68); a draft resolution submitted by the President under the item entitled United Nations reform: measures and proposals, regarding the designation of the fifty-fifth session as the Millennium Assembly of the United Nations (A/53/L.73); and another draft on the coordination of humanitarian and relief assistance of the United Nations, concerning emergency assistance to the Sudan. Also before the Assembly was a draft resolution regarding the dates of closing of the current session and the opening of the fifty-fourth session. "Stay tuned", Ms. Mihalic added.

Asked if there was any move to bring the Iraqi question before the General Assembly, Ms. Mihalic said there was not.

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