DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

The following is a near verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Fred Eckhard:

Death of King Hussein

The Secretary-General yesterday expressed his deep and personal grief upon learning of the death of King Hussein of Jordan early Sunday morning. The full text of his statement is available in the Spokesman's Office.

On Sunday afternoon, the Secretary-General departed for Washington, D.C., where he was the guest of United States President William Clinton aboard the President's plane en route to Jordan.

The Secretary-General attended the memorial service today in Jordan for the late King Hussein, and was expected to return to Washington on the President's plane tonight, and arrive early in the morning tomorrow.

The Secretary-General's programme in New York for today and tomorrow has been adjusted accordingly.

Security Council

The Security Council has no consultations scheduled for today, but Council President Robert Fowler of Canada, is holding bilateral meetings with Council members.

The Secretary-General was scheduled to brief the Council tomorrow on a number of issues in Africa and on Kosovo, but given his trip to Amman, that briefing would be postponed most likely until Thursday.

East Timor Talks

Before tripartite talks resumed this morning in New York, the Secretary-General's Personal Representative for East Timor, Ambassador Jamsheed Marker, met with East Timorese resistance leader, Jose Ramos Horta, for about half an hour.

The tripartite talks at the ministerial level resumed at 11:15 a.m. whereupon Ambassador Marker met with Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, and Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime

Gama. A working luncheon and a continued afternoon meeting is planned.

At the end of today's talks, Ambassador Marker and the two Foreign Ministers will brief correspondents in Room 226 at 5 p.m.

The Secretary-General had intended to attend the ministerial meetings. Before leaving for Washington yesterday, he and Ambassador Marker met with the two Foreign Ministers for approximately one hour.

Discussions between the two delegations and the United Nations team, led by Ambassador Marker, continued Sunday afternoon.

Ethiopia/Eritrea

Heavy fighting between Ethiopia and Eritrea started on Saturday. Nine dependants of United Nations staff and 21 consultants were relocated on Saturday and Sunday from Asmara, Eritrea, to Sanaa, Yemen. Three staff members were also part of the group to accompany their infant children.

The three staff are expected to return to Asmara after they take their babies to their families in Europe. The consultants, who all had short-term assignments, will return to their home base of operations.

Also on Saturday, the Secretary-General said in a written statement that he was distressed that these two countries -- which have so much to gain from working together towards economic prosperity in the Horn of Africa -- should instead be locked in battle over their border dispute. Regardless of who initiated the current fighting, he called on both parties to cease hostilities immediately.

The full text of his statement is available in the Spokesman's Office.

The Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Africa, Mohamed Sahnoun, who concluded his mission to Eritrea and Ethiopia, is en route to New York, where he intends to brief the Security Council and the Secretary-General probably by the middle of this week.

UNIFIL(United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon)

On Sunday, armed elements carried out attacks against the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), also known as the de facto forces (DDF) in the Irish battalion sector of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The IDF/DFF retaliated with artillery and mortars.

One mortar round fired by the IDF/DFF impacted inside a United Nations position

located in the suburbs of Haddatha, while eight other rounds impacted nearby. Two Irish soldiers were wounded by shrapnel. The were evacuated to the UNIFIL hospital in Naquora and they are not in any danger. There was also considerable damage to the equipment and building.

UNIFIL is gravely concerned at this incident as well as at the pattern of firing, and has strongly protested to the IDF.

In the aftermath of the Qana incident, UNIFIL obtained a commitment from IDF to respect a safety zone around UNIFIL positions. Later, it also received assurances from the Islamic Resistance, which accounts for the vast majority of operations against IDF/DFF, that it would not operate in the vicinity of UNIFIL positions.

These commitments and assurances were made unilaterally to the United Nations and they are not mutually conditional.

As reported in the recent report of the Secretary-General on UNIFIL, there has been some slippage, however. Incidents of armed elements operating close to United Nations positions became more frequent, while the number of firings at or close to United positions by both IDF/DFF and armed elements increased.

Although there have been no fatalities since the Qana incident, there were several potentially serious incidents, including this one. UNIFIL is vigorously pursuing the matter with both sides.

[The so-called Qana incident refers to the bombardment in 1996 of UNIFIL's Fijian battalion, which killed more than 100 Lebanese civilians.]

The Hague Forum

The Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, today addressed the opening session of The Hague Forum. The Forum was organized by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in collaboration with the Government of the Netherlands as part of the review process for the implementation of the Programme of Action adopted at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development.

A full text of the Deputy Secretary-General's statement is available in the Spokesman's Office. Addressing that event, the UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Nafis Sadik, said that progress since 1994 to implement the Programme of Action has set the stage for changes in social

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attitudes, including moves towards women's empowerment and the acceptance of the right to reproductive health.

Media highlights from the Forum, as well as the text of the speech prepared for Dr. Sadik, are available in the Spokesman's Office.

Some changes had been made on delivery. For example, the references to United States First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was removed; Mrs. Clinton was supposed to have been the keynote speaker, but was in Jordan for the funeral of King Hussein. The First Lady is scheduled to return to the Netherlands to address The Hague Forum tomorrow morning at 11:30 local time.

In another message conveyed to The Hague Forum, the Director of UNAIDS, Dr. Peter Piot, said the HIV/AIDS epidemic is the single greatest threat to development in a range of countries.

According to Dr. Piot, in the nine countries most affected by AIDS -- all of which are in Africa -- a child born in the coming years will live an average of only 43 years, rather than 60 years, as in previous years.

A detailed press release from UNAIDS is available in the Spokesman's Office.

Also on The Hague Forum, there is a press release from the World Health Organization on the contribution of its Director-General, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, who discussed adolescent sexuality and reproductive health. The press release is available in the Spokesman's Office.

Science and Technology in Africa

As mentioned last week, there will be a special event tomorrow on science and technology in Africa, organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It will be held in Conference Room 1 at 3 p.m.

Now available in the Spokesman's Office is a background document by UNESCO on efforts under way to promote science and technology in Africa. The document also contains a blueprint for future action.

The Secretary-General was scheduled to address the special event, but in his absence, his statement will be delivered by the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Development, Nitin Desai.

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General Assembly's Working Group on Financing for Development

Also available in the Spokesman's Office is the text of the Secretary-General's speech to the Ad Hoc Open-Ended Working Group on Financing for Development, which will also be delivered by Mr. Desai.

In that statement, the Secretary-General acknowledges the fatigue and frustration resulting from modern-day development challenges. He stresses the importance of multilateral cooperation, which is central to creating a world, not only of competition, but of solidarity.

Official development assistance must be coupled with debt relief, the Secretary-General says. He welcomes recent debt-relief initiatives put forward by Germany and the United States, and expresses hope that these initiatives will translate into tangible results before too long.

Palestinian Rights Committee

As reported in today's Journal, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will meet tomorrow. The Secretary-General was scheduled to open the meeting, but due to his unexpected travel, his speech will be delivered by the Under-Secretary- General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast.

Colombia Earthquake/UNICEF

In light of the recent devastation by an earthquake of two areas in Colombia -- Pereira and Armenia -- the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) today reported that 2,400 children in Pereira have been receiving trauma counselling since last week; a further 7,600 children in the worst-affected area of Armenia will be reached this week by a team of 60 young volunteers from the Colombian Children's Movement for Peace.

The World Food Programme (WFP) was delivering 20 tonnes of milk and 30 tonnes of biscuits for 10,000 children in the affected region.

Last week was the beginning of the new school term, and UNICEF, local non- governmental organizations and community groups will soon begin distributing an initial 4,500 schoolkits containing pencils, notebooks and writing boards. This is particularly important because it gives these children a much-needed sense of normalcy, disrupted by the earthquake.

Payments to United Nations

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Malaysia today paid its dues of more than $1.8 million, becoming the thirty-sixth Member States to be paid in full for this year.

Question-and-Answer Session

Question: Is Ambassador Marker's press conference scheduled for 4:30 p.m. or 5 p.m.? We heard it was for 4:30 p.m.

Spokesman: I was told to announce 5 p.m.

The following is a summary of the briefing by Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly:

Death of King Hussein

This morning, the President of the fifty-third session issued a statement on the death of King Hussein of Jordan, as follows:

"I was deeply aggrieved by the sad news of the passing of His Majesty King Hussein of Jordan, a tireless leader in the search for peace and stability in the Middle East and the statesman of enormous stature and respect. My heartfelt condolences go to the members of His Majesty's family and to the people of Jordan."

General Assembly Schedule

This afternoon, the Assembly will hold a special meeting to pay tribute to the late King of Jordan. The President of the General Assembly, representatives of the regional groups, the representatives of the host country and of Jordan are all expected to address the Assembly.

The text of President's remarks at the meeting will be issued as a press release in English and in Spanish.

The Assembly will resume the tenth emergency special session on "Illegal Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian Territory" tomorrow afternoon.

Security Council Membership

This morning, the Assembly President is chairing the first meeting of the Open-ended Working Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and Other Matters Related to the Security Council. Since his return to

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New York last week, he has continued consultations with a number of delegations and groups of Member States on various aspects of the work of the Open-Ended Working Group.

This afternoon, the President will make a statement at the opening of the second meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-Ended Working Group on Financing for Development, established under the terms of resolution 52/179 of 18 December 1997. The text of his statement will be issued as a press release in English and in Spanish. [It was later announced that the meeting of the Working Group had been deferred until tomorrow.]

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