United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-01-06

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From: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Wednesday, 6 January, 1999

HEADLINES

• Secretary-General says he has no evidence UN arms inspectors helped U.S. intelligence in Iraq.
• Chief UN arms inspector denies UNSCOM spied for United States.
• Security Council members condemn outside support for rebels in Sierra Leone.
• Secretary-General condemns reported massacre in Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Spokesman was responding to a story in Wednesday's edition of the Washington Post claiming that the Secretary-General was suspicious that the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), which oversees the dismantling of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, had helped U.S. intelligence.

In a statement, Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General had no operational oversight responsibility for UNSCOM -- that was the Security Council's job. He therefore had little detailed information on day-to- day operations.

"We not only have no convincing evidence of these allegations; we have no evidence of any kind. We have only rumours," the Spokesman said. "Neither the Secretary-General or any member of his staff has access to classified U.S. intelligence, although UNSCOM does," he added.

The Secretary-General, however, had been aware for some weeks that a number of journalists were pursuing the story and had asked the Executive Chairman about the allegations, said Mr. Eckhard. Ambassador Butler had categorically denied that they were true.

Referring to the Washington Post report that the Secretary-General was trying to pressure Chairman Butler to resign, Mr. Eckhard said "this is not so". The issue was not the Executive Chairman, he continued. It was how to get on with the work of disarming Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction.

Speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, Ambassador Butler said the allegations in the Washington Post and the Boston Globe, were not true. He said UNSCOM had received assistance from more than 40 Member States, including technical assistance from the United States, but "we have never conducted spying for anybody."

"We have never accepted or used any of that assistance for any other purpose, not for any Member State's national purposes, only for our purposes of seeking to bring about the disarmament of Iraq," said Ambassador Butler.

The Executive Chairman told the reporters not to believe everything they read in print. UNSCOM had used the resources at its disposal in pursuit of its mandate, which was to see that Iraq was properly disarmed in accordance with the decisions of the Security Council, he concluded.

Speaking to the press at United Nations Headquarters following a briefing of the Council on the situation in Sierra Leone, Ambassador Amorim said that Council members reiterated their strong support for the country's democratically-elected President. They also reiterated their strong support for the efforts of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) to bring peace to Sierra Leone. In this context, Ambassador Amorim added, Council members reiterated their appeal for increased international support for ECOWAS.

Council Members strongly condemned rebel activities in Freetown. They expressed support for diplomatic efforts, particularly regional ones, to restore peace and security in Sierra Leone. The members also expressed their appreciation for the work of the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL) personnel and in particular Mr. Francis Okelo, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy in that country.

Ambassador Amorim said that the Council would follow the situation closely in Sierra Leone, with the view to considering any necessary measures.

In a statement issued by his spokesman, the Secretary-General said that he had read with deep concern reports of an alleged massacre of some 500 civilians at Makobola in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Secretary-General had taken note of the decision by rebel leaders to investigate the allegations and recalled that a similar decision was announced regarding the August 1998 massacre at Kasika, also in south Kivu, the statement said. He regretted that the conclusions of that investigation had not been made public yet.

The Secretary-General reiterated his call on all the parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to respect human rights and international humanitarian law. "The Secretary-General believes there can be no military solution to the conflict," the statement said. It added that he would continue actively to support current regional efforts to broker a cease- fire, the withdrawal of foreign troops from the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a broadening of the democratic space within the country.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo said that his country was sending a letter to the Security Council urging it to open an investigation into the massacre at Makobola.

Ambassador Andr‚ Mwamba Kapanga told reporters that this was the second massacre in his country. He charged that the first one took place last year when more than 1,000 civilians were killed by the same soldiers from neighbouring countries.

From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

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