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 stating that the Security Council was consulting on its programme of work for the month of February. That would be followed by two briefings by the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, Hedi Annabi -- one on Central African Republic and the other on Western Sahara. As had been mentioned yesterday, the President of the Council, Ambassador Robert R. Fowler of Canada, was recovering from an operation he had undergone over the weekend and "we would like to wish him a speedy recovery". The Under-Secretary- General for Disarmament Affairs, Jayantha Dhanapala, had also had surgery unexpectedly over the weekend. "We wish him a speedy recovery as well", the Spokesman said.

Under other matters, the Council was expected to take up a letter from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia calling for an emergency meeting of the Council in connection with the situation in Kosovo.

The East Timor talks in a tripartite format had resumed this morning at 10:30, under the chairmanship of Jamsheed Marker, the Personal Representative of the Secretary-General. The Spokesman said that, in response to a query, Ambassador Marker had informed him that he would brief correspondents when the current round of talks ended later this week.

On the racks today was a report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINURCA). Stating that MINURCA had been and remained a source of much-needed stability, both in that country and in the sub-region, the Secretary-General said that he remained convinced that the United Nations Mission should stay in the Central African Republic until the presidential elections scheduled in the latter half of the year. The Secretary-General went on to say that the Government's commitment to carry out a number of necessary reforms was an indispensable condition for further progress and welcomed a letter addressed to him by President Ange- Felix Patasse outlining those commitments. The letter was attached to the report.

The Secretary-General therefore said that the Security Council might wish to decide on an initial extension of the MINURCA mandate for six months, until 31 August, subject to a further determination by the Council after three months that the Government had made acceptable progress in carrying out the reforms outlined in the President's letter.

The Spokesman said that Mr. Annabi's briefing to the Security Council on Western Sahara was expected to cover the status of negotiations with Morocco concerning a package of United Nations-proposed protocols, a status of forces agreement and repatriation of refugees. The Secretary-General's Special Representative for Western Sahara, Charles Dunbar, and the Chairman of the

Identification Commission, Robert Kinloch, would return to Rabat tomorrow to resume talks with their Moroccan counterparts.

The Spokesman said his Office had two notes on Iraq -- one was a regular weekly update on the implementation of the oil-for-food programme and the other was on the completion of emergency repairs to Derbendikan Dam in northern Iraq. He said correspondents might recall that on his return from a visit to Iraq last July, Benon Sevan, the Executive Director of the Iraq Programme and United Nations Security Coordinator, had warned in a briefing to the Security Council, that the Derbendikan dam was in bad shape. He had also told the Council that there was a risk of flooding that could reach all the way to Baghdad. Contractors who had arrived in the country last October had had to wait for the dam's water level to fall before beginning the repairs. Fifteen tonnes of equipment and $3.2 million later, the contractors, last Friday, 29 January, had completed their work, the Spokesman said. A release describing the repairs in more detail was available at the Spokesman's office.

The United Nations Foundation which oversaw Ted Turner's one billion- dollar gift in support of United Nations causes had just announced a new round of grants, the Spokesman said. The Foundation had approved 27 grants with a total value of more than $31 million. Among the projects were those dealing with the eradication of female genital mutilation in Kenya, AIDS prevention in Ukraine, responsible fatherhood in Central America, conflict resolution in the southern Caucuses, legal empowerment for indigenous peoples in Central America, and a United Nations atlas of the oceans.

The United Nations Foundation worked in collaboration with the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships (UNFIP), the central coordinating mechanism established by the Secretary-General for that purpose, Mr. Eckhard added.

The Spokesman said there were a number of reports on the racks today which might interest correspondents, including the Secretary-General's preliminary assessment of progress achieved since the 1995 World Summit for Social Development (document E/CN.5/1999/4). The news was not all bright, the Spokesman noted. He quoted the Secretary-General as noting that progress in the fight against unemployment and poverty had been eroded by severe economic difficulties precipitated by the Asian financial crisis. On the positive side, the crisis did provoke an intense debate about what should constitute sound policy. Governments and international financial institutions were becoming increasingly aware of the need to have a comprehensive approach to development, and were starting to translate that awareness into action. "If the seeds of change are nourished", the Secretary-General observes, "then there will be a greater chance that the Summit's goals will be fulfilled".

There was also a report out today on the review of the Beijing Platform for Action adopted at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women (document E/CN.6/1999/PC/3), which the General Assembly would undertake next year. The

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 2 February 1999

Secretary-General stressed in the report that the Platform for Action was grounded in a human rights framework, with emphasis on a partnership between men and women, Governments and civil society, and donors and recipients.

Mr. Eckhard said the briefing by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva earlier today had included an update on the grim humanitarian situation in Kosovo, the continuing outflow of refugees from Freetown, Sierra Leone and the reported blockage of refugees trying to flee the Democratic Republic of the Congo. More details could be obtained from the briefing note, the Spokesman told correspondents.

On treaties, he said Thailand had today signed the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which Trinidad and Tobago had ratified yesterday. Also yesterday, Italy had ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which now had 28 parties and 152 signatories.

Three more countries had today paid their dues to the regular budget. They were Australia -- $15,399,321; Bhutan -- $10,391; and Italy -- $56,443,396. The Spokesman announced that his Office had just received word from the Contributions Service that the full tally of the "honour roll" of countries which had paid their dues in full and on time was in. He recalled that under the Organization's financial regulations, Member States had 30 days from the date they received their bills -- which went out at the end of December -- to pay their dues. There was a cut off date by which the dues should be paid in full. Thirty-two Member States had done so in full and on time by the end of 31 January -- up from 24 last year.

He said his Office had a release from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, concerning the assignment of a judge to stand in for another who was ill. The details were available for interested correspondents, he said.

The Spokesman announced that Nobel Laureate and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassador Nadine Gordimer, a South African writer and human rights activist, would deliver a speech this evening at the World Economic Forum on the impact of globalization on the poor. She would refer to the world's $24 trillion "spending and devouring spree" in 1998 and would explain how it had hardly benefited the poor and, in some ways, had undermined the "human prospects" for globalization. Copies of her speech would be on the racks as soon as her talk ended, at about 1 p.m. (New York time).

The Spokesman also informed correspondents that Martin Griffiths, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, would be at the briefing tomorrow to talk about the situations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola, where he recently visited.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 2 February 1999

A correspondent, referring to The New York Times story of yesterday about United States citizens at Headquarters not receiving educational grants, asked whether the policy was not discriminatory. In reply, the Spokesman read out the following statement: "Education grants are part of the expatriate entitlement package paid to an internationally recruited staff member who works and lives outside his or her home country. The policy is applied consistently worldwide.

"A United States national working in New York, therefore, is not eligible for education grants. The same is true for other nationals who serve at duty stations located in their home countries. And this is a policy based on a decision by the General Assembly". He added: "So, if you want to change it, you have to talk to 185 Member States".

A correspondent enquired about what was happening on the ground in Central African Republic. The Spokesman said he did not have any specific details. He, however, invited the correspondent to the Spokesman's Office where an officer could provide him with "blow-by-blow" information from the area. He also observed that the Central African Republic was a country that was moving towards presidential elections scheduled for the second half of this year, as he had mentioned. The United Nations presence there was essentially aimed at maintaining an element of security so that those elections could be carried out peacefully.

The Spokesman told a correspondent that the situation in all the countries bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo was influenced by what happened inside that country. "It is one reason why it is such a complicated and such a threatening situation. So, we try to look at that whole region as a package because the fates of all those countries are intertwined".

Asked how the Secretary-General felt about the proposals on Iraq which had been approved by the Security Council last Saturday, the Spokesman said the Secretary-General had been briefed about them by the President of the Council for January, Celso L.N. Amorim of Brazil. The Spokesman did not think there was anything specific about the proposals the Secretary-General would want to comment upon at present. He would welcome "anything the Council itself feels is a move forward", the Spokesman added.

* *** *