DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960308
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, began today's press briefing by announcing that in honour of International Women's Day, the guest star would be the Secretary-General's Special Adviser on gender issues, Assistant Secretary-General Rosario Green. (Notes of Assistant Secretary-General Green's briefing are issued separately.) Ms. Foa said she had been able to obtain the comparative figures on the status of women in the United Nations for the year 1991, which were available in her office. "Have we come a long way? Maybe not", she said. "But we're doing better."
Ms. Foa said the Secretary-General met this morning with Sergey Lavrov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, and with Alain Dejammet, Permanent Representative of France. This afternoon, he would be meeting with a delegation from the Institute of Arab-American Women, Inc. He would also be meeting with Mahmoud Kassem, Chairman of the International Commission of Inquiry on Rwanda. That meeting would probably concern the timing of the Commission's final report mentioned in the interim report, as well as the future of the Commission.
In the former Yugoslavia, "the reports from the field are really distressing", Ms. Foa said. Ilidza would be transferred to Federation control on 12 March. Field workers were reporting a large number of ethnic Serbs fleeing. The rate of property destruction had also increased quite a bit. It was estimated that since 15 December, 53,000 of out the estimated 70,000 Serbs in Serb-controlled Sarajevo, had left.
She said the United Nations International Police Task Force (IPTF) monitors had so far registered 1,400 people in Ilidza who would stay after the transfer of authority. There was a general upsurge in crime, particularly in Vogosca, Ilijas and Rajlovac. That was attributed to youths from Sarajevo entering the new transition areas. At present, there were 505 IPTF monitors deployed in Bosnia, 332 of whom are in the Sarajevo region. There were another 176 who were undergoing indoctrination in Zaghreb.
"So we are moving along a little bit better, but ... the idea of `too fast' doesn't exist in this case", Ms. Foa said. "We don't want to see more people being driven from their homes in peace than we had during the war."
Regarding questions on the current military exercises being conducted by China, Ms. Foa said the Secretary-General hoped that all concerned would exercise restraint, so as not to interfere with the rights of other States under international law, and to avoid tensions in the area. The issue of Taiwan, province of China, was an internal one, on which the General Assembly
had ruled unequivocally in its resolution 2758 (XXVI). The Secretary-General noted China's firm and long-standing position that the issue would be resolved solely by peaceful means.
At 3 p.m. today in Kigali, a ceremony was held to close the operation there of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), Ms. Foa said. The Secretary-General's Special Representative, Shahryar Khan, delivered a speech, which was available in the Spokesman's office. Rwanda's Foreign Minister joined other officials at the ceremony. There were currently 1,252 UNAMIR soldiers and 146 UNAMIR military observers in Rwanda -- total of 1,398 personnel -- who would be phased out over the coming days.
Regarding Rwanda, Ms. Foa said the provisional Security Council draft resolution encouraged the Secretary-General to maintain a United Nations office in Rwanda. Its purpose would be to promote national reconciliation, strengthen the judicial system, facilitate the return of refugees, and rehabilitate the country's infrastructure. That office had won the consent of the Government of Rwanda. The resolution would also call on States to urgently come up with the funds to pay the costs of the human rights field operation in Rwanda. That operation was "just about without any money" and owed several million dollars. The operation was jeopardized by a lack of funds.
Chinmaya R. Gharekhan, Special Political Adviser to the Secretary- General, today briefed the Security Council on the situations in Afghanistan, Western Sahara and Liberia, Ms. Foa said. On Afghanistan, he said the situation was tense, with the possibility of renewed hostilities around Kabul. However, the humanitarian situation was showing some improvement. A progress report to the General Assembly on the special mission's activities was expected by the end of this month.
Ms. Foa announced that an international advisory group of eminent persons had been appointed by the Secretary-General to provide him with advice on the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II). Its first meeting would take place on Monday at Headquarters. A press release would be issued on the matter. (See Press Release HAB/112, issued today.)
Responding to an earlier question regarding Haiti, Ms. Foa confirmed that at least nine people -- one woman and eight men -- were killed in Cite Soleil on 6 March "in unknown circumstances". They were all shot to death. The United Nations had asked the Haitian authorities for a quick investigation of the incident. Enrique ter Horst, the Secretary-General's Special Representative, was taking up the matter with President Rene Preval. The International Civilian Mission to Haiti (MICIVIH) was also looking into it. The United Nations was confident that the Haitian national police would be able to conduct a thorough investigation.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 8 March 1996
A correspondent said the United Nations operation in Rwanda had been characterized as "a catastrophic and shameful failure" in preventing genocide. Asked who was to blame, Ms. Foa said "all of us are to blame". Every country should look into its heart and say, "What did we do? How much did we do beforehand? What did we do in time?"
A correspondent drew attention to Ms. Foa's written statement on Cyprus, in which she cites "internal strife". Asked what she meant by that, Ms. Foa said the paper was discussing "intercommunal strife". That referred to the time prior to 1974, and in particular to 1963. The intercommunal strife then had led, in 1964, to the establishment of the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).
Who was to blame for another catastrophe: the huge exodus of Serbs from Sarajevo in the middle of winter? a correspondent asked. "Again, I think we can all take a lot of the blame", Ms. Foa said. Ethnic Serb leaders had been broadcasting propaganda, putting out fear reports, telling people they would be killed, harassed, tortured or subject to revenge attacks. There had been roving gangs of youth, destroying property, and intimidating people. "We're also to blame here, because we haven't been able to get the civilian police monitors on the ground in time. They would have given people the confidence to remain in their homes."
Asked if the Secretary-General's meetings with the Permanent Representatives of the Russian Federation and France was a routine matter, Ms. Foa said he met with Ambassador's quite regularly.
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