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, began today's noon briefing by informing correspondents that the Secretary-General had travelled from Dublin to Geneva on Saturday. The Secretary-General's official programme in Geneva had started this morning, when he had met with Cornelio Sommaruga, the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), at a ceremony. Both Mr. Sommaruga and the Secretary-General had made statements.

In his speech, the Secretary-General had said that the humanitarian work carried out by the United Nations and the ICRC had come under unprecedented stress in recent years. Civilians had become the preferred target of combatants, and breaches of humanitarian law and human rights had become an almost routine means to an end. "Humanitarian assistance had been used as a fig leaf", the Secretary-General had said, "hiding a lack of political will to address the root causes of conflict". He had expressed hope that the emerging body of law and norms could be used to fight the problem. Specifically, he had said that it would be fitting to use this year to reach the 60 ratifications needed to establish the International Criminal Court.

Following the ceremony, Mr. Sommaruga had hosted a lunch in the Secretary-General's honour.

This afternoon, the Secretary-General would go to the newly refurbished Palais Wilson on Lake Geneva, which housed the offices of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson. The text of a speech he would make there would be available later, the Spokesman advised. A press release on the first half of the Secretary-General's programme, produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, was available now.

Mr. Eckhard said that the Security Council would hold consultations on Iraq today, starting at 3:30 p.m. Council members would continue discussions started last week on how to proceed. The Spokesman then drew attention to consultations the Council had held on Friday afternoon, on Sierra Leone on Ethiopia/Eritrea, after which the Council President, Celso L.N. Amorim (Brazil), had made statements.

On Sierra Leone, the President had said that "Council members expressed grave concern, in particular with the humanitarian situation and the number of refugees". They also "expressed support for the democratically elected Government of President Kabbah and for the efforts that are being made by the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG)".

On Ethiopia/Eritrea, the President had said that Council members reiterated their "concern over the continuing military build-up along the common border" between the two countries, and reaffirmed their "support for the mediation efforts of the Organization of African Unity" urging "both

parties to cooperate fully with such efforts". Council members considered it of primary importance that the Organization of African Unity Framework agreement be accepted and put into practice without further delay.

Moving on to Iraq, the Spokesman advised correspondents that the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) Executive Chairman, Richard Butler, would submit documents -- relating to the status of disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and to long-term monitoring of Iraq -- to the Security Council President this afternoon. Those documents had been initially requested for the comprehensive review.

A United Nations search team had arrived at the site of the second United Nations plane crash in Angola today, the Spokesman said. It had landed in Bailundo, a stronghold of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), and had then moved to the crash site. The team, consisting of 25 members, was expected back in Bailundo by the end of today. Mr. Eckhard was expecting information from the search team as to what they might have seen at the site, after their return to Bailundo.

As had been anticipated, Burundi's neighbouring countries meeting in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, over the weekend had decided to suspend regional economic sanctions against that country, Mr. Eckhard said. The Secretary-General had welcomed that decision in a statement issued in Geneva on Sunday. The World Food Programme (WFP) had also made a statement, noting that the suspension would help Burundians meet their food needs. Both statements were available in the Spokesman's Office.

Mr. Eckhard then reminded correspondents that the United Nations had established a pilot project for the collection of small arms from the civilian population in Albania last June. There had been a number of positive developments since then, he said, and a new report, available in his Office, had been prepared on the status of the project. That report would be considered at a special meeting to be held on Wednesday, 27 January, at Headquarters. The Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament, Jayantha Dhanapala, would attend the meeting, along with a representative of the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other interested parties. The meeting would be held at 3 p.m. in Conference Room 7.

Mr. Eckhard drew journalists attention to a note by the Secretary- General concerning the appointment of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (document A/53/700). In the note, the Secretary-General had proposed extending the appointment of Rubens Ricupero as Secretary-General of UNCTAD for another four-year term, to finish in the year 2003. General Assembly approval was required before the reappointment could take effect.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 25 January 1999

There would be two troop contributors meetings at Headquarters this afternoon, Mr. Eckhard advised. The first would be closed consultations among members of the Security Council and troop contributors to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), to be held at 3:30 p.m. in Conference Room 5. The second meeting, on the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), would be held at 4:15 p.m. in the same room. He pointed out that the mandates of those two operations would expire at the end of this month. The Secretary-General had recommended both operations be continued for an additional six months. The Security Council was expected to consult on the Missions tomorrow, with a view to taking formal action on Thursday.

The Spokesman then drew journalists' attention to an oral briefing that had been given by the Security Council Committee concerning Sierra Leone sanctions in Conference room 7 at 10:30 this morning, after which the press were to have been briefed outside.

Continuing on Sierra Leone, Mr. Eckhard said that a joint United Nations, donor and non-governmental organization mission had travelled to Freetown, Sierra Leone, on Friday, 22 January. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had learned that there were now a total of 150,000 internally displaced persons in Freetown alone, of which 70,000 were in the east of the city and 80,000 were in the west. The latter group included 40,000 people seeking refuge in an open stadium. Immediate humanitarian assistance was required to provide health, water, sanitation and shelter.

Staff of the World Food Programme (WFP), CARE, World Vision and Christian Relief Services were now running 11 food relief distribution centres in the accessible parts of the city to address the most urgent needs of the population, Mr. Eckhard added.

The OCHA had also informed him that Martin Griffiths, the United Nations Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, had now completed his mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. United Nations agencies had agreed to establish a common United Nations office in Goma, in the east of that country, to coordinate the delivery of aid. The resumption of United Nations humanitarian activities would depend largely on the security situation and on the return of confiscated United Nations equipment.

There were some 100,000 internally displaced persons in need of humanitarian assistance in North and South Kivu in the eastern section of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Spokesman added.

Moving on to Kosovo, Mr. Eckhard said that some 30,000 people had fled fighting since late December in some 25 villages in Kosovo, according to the latest humanitarian update compiled by United Nations agencies working there. A report issued today in Belgrade was available in the Spokesman's Office.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 25 January 1999

Also available was a 14-page statement by Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), in which she mapped out what she described as a survival strategy for the whole of humanity. Her remarks, entitled "The Way Ahead", had been delivered in Geneva at the first WHO Executive Board meeting since she had taken over the organization last July.

Under way at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris, and continuing until this Thursday, was a meeting designed to obtain the return of works of art to their countries of origin, the Spokesman said. It was expected that the meeting would discuss a request by Greece that the United Kingdom restitute the Parthenon Marbles, and Turkey's wish to reclaim the Boguskoy Sphinx from Germany. A background press release was available.

Mr. Eckhard then explained that 97 countries were gathered at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) headquarters in Nairobi today, for the second round of negotiations on a treaty to control hazardous organic pollutants such as dioxin and DDT. Mr. Eckhard read correspondents a quote from a statement made by UNEP Deputy Executive Director Shafqat Kakakheb at the opening of the one-week session. "These persistent, toxic pollutants harm the ecological support system on which life depends... No country is safe from their effects. No person is protected against their presence. They pose risks to the unborn and endanger generations to come. No country can act alone to meet this challenge", the Deputy Executive Director had said. A UNEP press release was available from the Spokesman's Office.

Finally, Mr. Eckhard advised that the honour role had grown to 27 Member States, with on-time regular budget payments from Canada ($28,616,552) and Hungary ($1,246,909). The report on the status of contributions as of mid- January was available in his Office.

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