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1 October 1999

The General Assembly is in the penultimate day of its general debate. President Emomali Rakhmanov of Tajikistan was the first speaker. Another 19 speakers will be heard today. Assembly President Theo-Ben Gurirab is presiding.

The Assembly concludes its general debate tomorrow morning, after hearing a further 11 speakers. There will be no briefing tomorrow. I will be here to answer any Assembly-related questions. Again, my number is 963-0755.

This is a reminder that on Monday and Tuesday, the Assembly will hold four meetings in a follow-up to the International Year of Older Persons. The central theme of the International Year is "Towards a society for all ages". The Assembly will have before it a report of the Secretary-General entitled "International Year of Older Persons, 1999: activities and legacies". A related draft resolution, A/54/L.6, will be available Monday morning.

Also next week, on the morning of Wednesday, 6 October, the Assembly will take up the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization (A/54/1). You will recall that the Secretary-General introduced the report ahead of the general debate on 20 September. That afternoon, the Assembly will consider item 37, on implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development. As you know, a special session to review and appraise the implementation of the recommendations of the Social Summit will be held in Geneva next June.

Copies of the President’s appointments for today are available in room 378 and on the Internet. This morning, he met with the Foreign Minister of Iraq, Mohammed Said Al-Sahaf. The Iraqi Minister briefed the President on Baghdad’s position regarding Security Council action on Iraq. He reiterated that Iraq would accept nothing less that the full lifting of sanctions. He pointed out that the Council was constantly rewriting its own resolutions on Iraq in order to prolong the sanctions, and he said Iraq was against France’s proposal of financial transparency. It had been introduced, he said, under the pretext that the Council should know what was happening in Iraq, but Baghdad’s perception was that the Council’s intention was to control Iraq’s budget. Mr. Al-Sahaf also said that it was important to encourage dialogue between Iraq and Security Council members, because if the Council was dealing with the Iraq question, it should talk to Iraq.

The President then met with Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun, Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region in Africa. Mr. Sahnoun briefed the President on the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which he called the most devastating war in Africa in terms of the number of people killed. He was optimistic that progress was being made in the negotiations; Eritrea had accepted the proposals, but Ethiopia still needed clarification on certain issues, especially on the withdrawal of forces. Ambassador Sahnoun also said he was encouraged by the progress in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but stressed the need for stability before any initiative could be implemented successfully.

The President also met with Foreign Minister Augustin Kontchou Kouemegni of Cameroon. Later today, he will attend a viewing of the Islamic Art Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, hosted by Ambassador Mokhtar Lamani, of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Question: Iraq has complained to the President of the General Assembly about the action of the Security Council. Is the President of the General Assembly going to do something or is it just a remark?

Spokeswoman: There are several items on the agenda of the General Assembly dealing with Iraq, so I’m sure the President can make comments in that connection. But, obviously, when the Security Council is seized of an item, under Article 12 of the Charter, the Assembly refrains from also considering that item.