DAILY BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, started today's noon briefing by informing correspondents that the second day of the Secretary- General's official visit to Dublin had begun with his laying a wreath at the Royal Hospital in honour of the 75 Irish peacekeepers killed over 40 years of service to the United Nations. The full text of his remarks was available in the Spokesman's Office.

The Secretary-General had then paid a courtesy call on Irish President Mary McAleese. After that, he had met with Justice Minister John O'Donoghue for discussions on the role of the police in peacekeeping. That role had evolved dramatically in this decade, the Spokesman observed.

The Spokesman said the Secretary-General later had lunch with Prime Minister Bertie Ahearn, with whom he had discussed a number of current issues, including Kosovo and Iraq. Afterwards, they had spoken to the press, and a transcript was available. After that he had gone to the National University where he had received an honorary degree. His speech at the ceremony had focused in part on the situation in Northern Ireland and the peace efforts there. While noting that success might not be assured, he had expressed hope that the different communities and parties in Northern Ireland knew that the prayers of all humanity were with them as they struggled to make the Good Friday Agreement work. Were they to fail, the Secretary-General had said, it would be a tragedy for people far beyond Ireland and Britain. If they succeeded, the world would take heart from their achievement. The Secretary- General had added that it was a formidable responsibility. The text of the speech was also available in the Spokesman's Office.

Late this afternoon, the Secretary-General had finished his programme with a meeting with representatives of the United Nations Association and other non-governmental organizations in Ireland. The Spokesman said the Secretary-General was scheduled to leave Dublin tomorrow morning for Geneva, and that details of his programme would be made available on Monday.

The Security Council was holding consultations today on Iraq, Sierra Leone and the border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia, the Spokesman said. Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahima Fall was briefing the Council on that conflict. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Sergio Vieira de Mello and Under-Secretary-General for Peackeeping Operations Bernard Miyet were to follow with briefings on the situation in Sierra Leone. On Iraq, the Spokesman said Council members would take stock of the progress of the discussions being held by different delegations on the question.

Yesterday, the Security Council had adopted a presidential statement on Angola in which the members had shared the "assessment and judgements of the Secretary-General on the political and military situation in Angola", and had underscored the contribution of the United Nations to the past four years of relative peace in that country, the Spokesman said. The Council had welcomed the intention of the Secretary-General to consult urgently with the Government of Angola on a United Nations presence in the country under the direction of the Secretary-General's Representative.

The Council had also "underlined the great importance it attaches to a continued multidisciplinary presence of the United Nations under the direction of the Representative of the Secretary-General in Angola" and had noted that a continued presence "depends on the safety of United Nations personnel and requires the agreement of the Government of Angola and the cooperation of all concerned". It had appealed to the Government to provide such agreement and to the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) to cooperate fully. Responding to a question he had been asked earlier about the reaction of the Secretary-General to the Council's statement, the Spokesman said "He sees no problem with the Council's response to his report" (document S/1999/49).

The Spokesman said a letter had been received from Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia which contained an aide-mémoire on the formula to bring Khmer Rouge leaders to trial. The text was available in his Office. The aide-mémoire was being studied by the Secretariat and would also be looked at by the Secretary-General's group of experts on the issue of putting the Khmer Rouge on trial. The expert group would be in Geneva from 28 to 30 January to wrap up their report to the Secretary-General.

In his latest report concerning the situation in Abkhazia/Georgia (document S/1999/60), the Secretary-General had recommended that the Security Council extend the mandate of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) for six months, through the end of July, the Spokesman said. The Secretary-General said the parties should, during the period, conduct substantive negotiations towards a settlement. He also appealed to the Georgian and Abkhaz sides to expand their contacts in order to help prevent the outbreak of hostilities, and to urgently deal with the return of refugees and displaced persons. "The issue of return is a strictly humanitarian question which should not be used as an instrument to advance political causes", the Secretary-General stressed. Copies of the report were available for interested correspondents.

In his latest report on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) (document S/1999/61), which was out on the racks today, the Secretary-General said that fighting in south Lebanon had continued at an increased pace over the past six months, and that the situation remained volatile and dangerous. The Secretary-General noted that UNIFIL's contribution to stability and the protection it afforded the population in the

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area remained important. He recommended that the Security Council extend the mandate of the Force for six more months, through the end of July.

The briefing note of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today contained an update on the outflow of refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo across Lake Tanganyika to the United Republic of Tanzania, the Spokesman said. The UNHCR said refugees from the town of Fizi were arriving in leaky boats with their belongings. The refugees were quoted as saying they feared new fighting between rebel forces and Mai-Mai warriors, who had told civilians that there would be new clashes in the area. The total number of Congolese refugees who had fled the country since the war had broken out on 2 August now stood at 26,199. The Spokesman also quoted the UNHCR as describing the situation in Kosovo as grave. Tension was high in the Mitrovica area, where more civilians were on the move. The UNHCR estimated that about 5,500 people had fled over the past 48 hours from three ethnic Albanian villages where the Government had launched an offensive. The Spokesman advised correspondents to see the briefing note for more details.

A press release from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said the educational system of many countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union were under severe threat as economic and social crises engulfed the region. Tens of thousands of schools had closed and massive teachers' strikes loomed, according to the release, copies of which were available in the Spokesman's office.

There had been one payment in full today to the 1999 United Nations regular budget, the Spokesman said. Latvia's contribution of $249,382 brought to 25 the number of Member States "on the honour roll", he added.

The Spokesman highlighted scheduled events for the week ahead, saying the full text was available in his Office. He said the Secretary-General would be in Geneva, Brussels, Luxembourg and then Davos (Switzerland) next week.

A number of board meetings of various United Nations agencies would take place next week, including a joint meeting of the Executive Boards of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP). The meeting would take place in New York beginning on Monday, 25 January.

The next round of senior officials meetings on East Timor would start in New York on Thursday, 28 January, and was expected to last for about a week. The session was a continuation of the tripartite talks involving Indonesia, Portugal and the United Nations, that had been held last November.

The Spokesman said the Secretary-General's report on Western Sahara, originally due today, was now expected to be delayed until next Thursday. He

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explained that discussions were under way with Morocco regarding the United Nations package of protocols, the Status of Forces Agreement -- which regulated relations between the host country and the United Nations -- and repatriation of refugees.

The Security Council was expected to discuss the United Nations missions in Georgia, Lebanon and Western Sahara, whose mandates were due to expire on 31 January.

Asked whether he knew the subject of the meeting between Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette and an envoy from the Organization of American States (OAS), Christopher Thomas, the Spokesman said he did not, but would be "happy to ask for a read-out" on it.

Responding to an observation that "there was supposed to be something about Haiti yesterday", the Spokesman said unfortunately the United Nations officials who were to give a press briefing had had to cancel it. They had held discussions yesterday with the Friends of Haiti group -- Argentina, Canada, Chile, France, United States and Venezuela -- and thought they would not be able to meet correspondents before they returned to Haiti.

A correspondent enquired about the recommendations the Secretary-General had made about a future United Nations presence in Angola. The Spokesman said that the Secretary-General had indicated in his report that he would like humanitarian and human rights workers to remain in that country. Furthermore, the Secretary-General did not see the viability of a political presence because the parties no longer appeared to have any commitment to the peace agreement they had signed. In addition, the Government of Angola objected to the United Nations having any dealings at all with UNITA. "So, that's the general framework of what the Secretary-General is looking at, and as he said in his report, as well, he would now ask his Special Representative there to begin consulting with the Government and others concerned to see what shape this continuing United Nations presence might eventually take".

Was the Secretary-General recommending the retention of human rights and humanitarian workers as opposed to observers or peacekeepers? a correspondent asked. The Spokesman replied that the Secretary-General in his report had recommended the retention of "a couple of hundred troops" while the Mission wound up as "a kind of security element to protect personnel and property." On the political side, he had suggested the appointment of a Special Envoy to be based in New York rather than Angola. "So those are his thoughts", the Spokesman said.

A correspondent observed that the Security Council statement yesterday on Angola was not "very specific" on the type of United Nations military or peacekeeping force that would be in Angola. "Do you think this was kind of deliberate on the part of the Council to give the Secretary-General time to try to win back or get back some kind of approval from the Angolan Government,

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which was lacking now, before the February 26 deadline? Has there been some time bought here, in other words?" the correspondent asked. (The mandate of the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) would expire on that date.)

Replying, the Spokesman said the Secretary-General had asked Governments to use their influence with the Angolan Government and with UNITA to try to get them to reverse their position. "But in the meantime, the consolidation of our troops from outlying positions to Luanda continues", he said. "I don't know that time has been bought, but some last ditch effort could be made. What the outcome would be, I don't want to predict", the Spokesman added.

Observing that almost all peacekeeping operations in Africa had failed, a correspondent asked whether the Secretariat or the Security Council had "any concerns about the effectiveness of peacekeeping operations". The Spokesman said: "Mozambique was a distinct success; and Namibia is doing beautifully as an independent nation as a result of our peacekeeping force." There was a strong United Nations presence -- though not as a peacekeeping force -- for the South African elections. "So, I don't think I accept your contention that we have had a wholesale failure in Africa."

Mr. Eckhard said he was not aware that the Council was reviewing the future of United Nations peacekeeping operations at the moment. "I think the Peacekeeping Department is looking at the future of peacekeeping, asking how to make it more flexible, more rapidly deployable, more serviceable, in order words, to Member States". He said that there were still 16 missions. The largest number the Organization had ever had was 17. Most of the big missions, Angola being one, were being shut down. "So, these 16 missions are, for the most part, small ones. The jury is still out on whether Member States would expand United Nations peacekeeping actively or draw it down in the years ahead", he said, adding, "We just have to wait and see."

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