DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960411
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing with a statement attributable to the Spokesman on the Secretary- General's reaction to the deteriorating situation in Liberia:
"The Secretary-General is shocked by the grave developments in Liberia. He condemns in the strongest terms the continuing escalation of hostilities, the killings, the taking of hostages, the ransacking and looting of United Nations and other properties. He urges that these disturbing actions be brought to an immediate halt.
"He calls on all the parties involved to abide by the Abuja Agreements and to ensure their full implementation.
"The Secretary-General is dispatching a special envoy, James Jonah, to Accra to deliver an urgent message to President Jerry Rawlings, current Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Mr. Jonah will also travel to Liberia as soon as conditions permit." (See today's Press Release SG/SM/5954.)
She went on to say that reports from the scene in Monrovia were a bit sketchy. Communications had been lost with the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL) headquarters. The civilian and military observer staff at the headquarters have been moved across the street into the United States compound. The reports indicate that there is very heavy looting going on, "a frenzy of looting". The gates of the UNOMIL headquarters were broken down at 6 a.m. (EDT) -- 10 a.m. (local time) -- today, and the place was completely looted. Special Representative Anthony Nyakyi, therefore, decided to move all the UNOMIL military and civilian staff to the United States embassy, where everyone is reported to be safe.
There had also been reports of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) buildings being badly looted, she continued. Vehicles had reportedly been stolen from the garages of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Last night, the Secretary-General decided, on the advice of Mr. Nyakyi, to begin relocating UNOMIL non-essential staff members to Freetown, because some of the staff could no longer perform their work with the loss of their communications and vehicles. Those people who were unable to perform their functions would be taken out. The exact number involved was unclear, but it was thought that about seven staff members got out on Wednesday.
Ms. Foa said that UNOMIL had tried to get a food convoy through from Riverview in Monrovia to Mamba Point. She pointed out that Riverview was, along with Mamba Point, one of the two places where international agencies had their offices. Conditions were reported as "a little bit quieter in Riverview", than in Mamba Point. Thus, an attempt was made to get a food and water convoy through to the approximately 20,000 people at Mamba Point, where the food and water situation was really critical. The convoy, however, was ambushed in the centre of the city and came under heavy gunfire. Several troop members of the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG), who were escorting the convoy, were wounded. The trucks were taken and the personnel driving the trucks were able to get back into Riverview. It was, thus, an unsuccessful attempt to get food and water to Mamba Point. Another United Nations scout team did manage to get through the city, she added. They came back with a report of systematic looting everywhere.
Ambassador Nyakyi had met with several ambassadors and the ECOMOG commander. Their assessment was that the faction leaders were not responding to their calls for a cease-fire. The ECOMOG was having difficulty effectively deploying in the city because of the chaos. There was growing indication that some faction leaders might not be in total control of their own fighters. They had, however, agreed to continue to press for a peaceful solution.
Ms. Foa expressed concern about the people in Riverview, because, while there was more food and water than in Mamba Point, they were running very short of fuel. If the fuel runs out, communication with Riverview may be lost as well. At present, there were United Nations personnel scattered all over the city. There were 73 military observers in the United States embassy compound; another 19 observers were up-country. The civilian staff of UNOMIL and of the agencies was scattered around the city. Some were in the embassy compound, while many were in Riverview.
Turning to the Security Council, she said they were taking up the situation in Angola and would also consider the 5 April letter from the Permanent Representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea addressed to the Council President. There would be more information on that letter later.
On the "oil-for-food" talks between the Iraq and the United Nations delegations, she said that today's meeting had been postponed until 11 a.m. tomorrow.
She went on to say that she was not wearing her hat for good reason, but two nice letters had been received in the morning mail which she would share. One letter was from "Sandra" in Renton, Washington. It had a check for $35.20. It read: "Dear United Nations, we'd like to pay the United Nations dues for our family -- two grandparents, two kids, one spouse, two grandchildren, one cat. Our cat thinks he is a person." Ms. Foa noted that
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everyone was getting in with the pets now and added "if anybody has 4,000 goldfish, we'd like you to pay your share". The letter went on to say "thank you for all your good work".
Another nice letter had been received, she said from Salem, Oregon, which was signed by "Lloyd, Diane, Margaret and Karen". They said, "We're embarrassed that our country has failed to pay its dues to the United Nations. We support the efforts of the United Nations and are convinced that payments are treaty obligations which no one has a right to refuse to pay. Enclosed is a check for $37.60 which is for the four persons in our family, plus another family that can't afford to send in their own payment. We hope the United Nations will continue to work towards its lofty ideals and to help people from around the world". Ms. Foa commented that the letter was really very nice and added, "hamsters, we'll take money from hamsters, money from anybody".
When asked if the United Nations received letters from other countries besides the United States, Ms. Foa said she had as yet been unable to supply the answer to that query. She said they were doing a search of the Secretary- General's mail, "ransacking the top of his desk and we're checking postmarks". She thought it was likely that there had been some letters from other countries, but she would get back to correspondents when she had more information.
To a question about the number of civilian staff in Liberia, she said it was difficult to tell the exact number at present. The original figure was a total of 233 staff members, which included 92 military observers. The problem of determining the exact number of staff was complicated by the fact that some staff might have been on "r and r" or home leave. The totals available at present were for the number in Mamba Point and in Riverview. There were 73 UNOMIL civilians scattered in Monrovia, another 12 civilians from other United Nations agencies in Mamba Point, and 43 civilians from agencies in Riverview.
Responding to a query about estimates of losses due to looting, she said that while no clear estimates were available, looters were now "very well- equipped with United Nations vehicles". Efforts were being made through each agency to establish some numbers of losses. The UNHCR had said this morning that they had lost eight vehicles. The United Nations had lost about every vehicle, but it was still unknown what might have remained in garages in residential areas and undetected by looters. It appeared that communications equipment and anything that could be ripped out and carried away was going. It was all being loaded into United Nations vehicles and driven away.
Was it true that the United Nations military observers "cut and ran" and made no attempt to help the civilian staff? a correspondent asked. Ms. Foa said that was not true. In the early stages of the gunfire and looting, there had been a report of a gang of 300 fighters from one faction who were out to kill anybody wearing a United Nations uniform. At one point, people from the
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United Nations compound moved across the street into the United States compound, which had weapons. They later returned to the United Nations compound; the civilian and the military observers had always stayed together.
When asked if the Secretary-General had any reaction to the escalation of fighting around Beirut, Ms. Foa said that the Secretary-General, who was in Washington, D.C., would be sending up a message on the situation in the Middle East. It had not been received at the time of the briefing, but something should be available by early afternoon. The Secretary-General was very concerned about the fighting. (See Press Release SG/SM/5956.)
To a question about the availability of the latest report from Rolf Ekeus, Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission monitoring the disarmament of Iraq, she said she understood that it was currently with the President of the Security Council, but she would confirm its status.
On the "Pelindaba Treaty", she said that it had been signed in Cairo today, and reports indicated that from 43 to 53 States had already signed with others arriving later in the day to add signatures. More information would hopefully be available later on. The Secretary-General's statement on the occasion of the signing and the final declaration were available in the Spokesman's office.
A correspondent inquired if the Secretary-General had received, in addition to the favourable messages, any hostile letters threatening the United Nations. Ms. Foa said she had not seen any such letters, but she would have to ask. "They may be shredding them upstairs and not giving them to me", she said. No one had given her any of those letters. She would think that such letters were received, as there were always two sides to every story. She added that she would check on it and see if she "could come up with some goodies".
When asked if incoming letters were shredded upstairs, she answered no, she was just teasing. "Only the letters from me", she said.
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