DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960419
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told correspondents at today's noon briefing that Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's senior military adviser, Major-General Frank van Kappen, had arrived in Beirut today. His mission was to work with the Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Major-General Stanislaw Wozniak, to identify steps to prevent a reoccurrence of yesterday's tragic incident. He would also examine security arrangements for the 5,200 civilians who had taken refuge at UNIFIL compounds in southern Lebanon and for United Nations personnel. A full accounting was expected of the shelling of the UNIFIL compound for which there were absolutely no excuses, Ms Foa added.
There was still not an accurate casualty figure, she continued. Yesterday, 75 body bags left the headquarters of the Fijian battalion, but some of those bags contained several bodies and parts of bodies. It was going to be very, very difficult to ever have an accurate number. A number of people were blown to bits or completely burned. After the dust had settled and communications were restored with the Fijian battalion, it was learned that there were probably a lot more than 560 civilians inside the headquarters. Evidently, when things first started to get ugly, a lot of people had run into the compound and now it was estimated up to 800 civilians were there at the time of the attack. When the shooting stopped, a lot of people took their wounded relatives either to hospital or home and now it was believed the number of wounded was probably several hundred rather than the 100 reported yesterday. The four wounded Fijian peace-keepers were still in hospital; one was in intensive care but his prognosis was good.
There had been a lot of questions as to why the United Nations, who had 4,500 peace-keepers in the area, had not tried to prevent Hezbollah from sneaking up and using its compounds as a shield to fire rockets at Israel, Ms. Foa said. She then described three confrontations between United Nations peace-keepers and the Hezbollah guerrillas in the last week.
On Monday, she reminded correspondents, a Fijian soldier had been shot in the chest when he had confronted armed elements who were about to fire a rocket at Israel. "He went up to them and said 'Hey halt', and they shot him in the chest and he is still in the hospital", she said. On Wednesday, two Nepalese peace-keepers were wounded when a grenade was thrown over the wall of their compound in retaliation for Nepalese attempts to stop a similar launching. On Thursday, a grenade was thrown at a Nepalese battalion convoy by Hezbollah guerrillas who were also angry at what they considered was UNIFIL interference.
Today, UNIFIL had reported that the level of firing was lower but it was still heavy, she continued. Israeli-controlled radio in southern Lebanon was still warning inhabitants to leave their villages or expose themselves to danger. An estimated 400,000 people had left the region since the latest Israeli action had begun. Yesterday, the Security Council had passed a resolution calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities by all parties and called on all concerned to respect the safety and security of civilians, as well as of UNIFIL.
The Department of Humanitarian Affairs had launched its consolidated inter-agency flash appeal for internally displaced persons as a result of the emergency in Lebanon. It asked for $8.5 million for 120,00 people who were in the most need and would go to pay for food, medical needs, shelter and particularly water tanks. Water was always a problem, she added.
Turning to the subject of United Nations reform, Ms. Foa said that the Secretary-General had authorized the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Rubens Ricupero, to initiate new organizational arrangements to restructure UNCTAD and improve its effectiveness. "In other words, to make it a leaner, meaner organization", she added. The restructuring would involve streamlining administration and management, and the number of divisions would be reduced from nine to four. On Monday, 22 April, at 11 a.m., an UNCTAD official would brief correspondents on the forthcoming UNCTAD conference and answer questions on the restructuring, which was one of the United Nations' major efforts to streamline.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia has announced that the indictment against General Dorde Djukic would be withdrawn on the grounds of his rapidly deteriorating health, and the matter would be considered by Trial Chamber one Monday, 22 April, at 4:30 p.m. in The Hague, Ms. Foa said.
The situation in Liberia was still tense, Ms. Foa continued. The United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had met with the Krahn forces that were still concentrated at the Barclay Training Centre in Monrovia. Some of the civilians who were being held hostage at the Centre attended the meeting. The hostages in the Centre were being used as human shields and described conditions in the Centre as "desperate" with food and water in short supply, many sick and wounded, and even some deaths from cholera.
An informal note to correspondents giving details on the United Nations Compensation Commission was available in the Spokesman's Office, Ms. Foa said. The Commission was created under Security Council resolution 687 (1991) to administer a fund to pay for "any direct loss, damage, including environmental damage, and the depletion of natural resources, or injury to foreign
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governments, nationals and corporations, as a result of Iraq's unlawful invasion and occupation of Kuwait".
To date, the Commission had received 2.6 million claims with an asserted value of $190 billion, she continued. There were six different claims categories: the first category covered people who were forced to flee Iraq or Kuwait; the second was for personal injury or death; the third category was for individual losses up to $100,000. The note listed the categories down to the last, which was for claims by governments and international corporations, she added.
Claims had come from 89 countries which were listed in the note, with Kuwait making the biggest claim of a little over $100 billion. Ms. Foa continued. Claims had also come from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who had filed a total of 3,248 claims on behalf of Palestinians and other people who were not in a position to have their claims submitted by a government.
So far, 2 million claims had been processed under the first three categories because they were considered the most urgent, Ms. Foa said. And the Commission had given priority to the payment of awards to successful claimants in category "B" for personal injury and death. There were 5,979 claims in that category, 4,000 were successful and received a total of $13.4 million. Currently, the Compensation Fund held only about $7 million and an estimated $600 million would be added to the Fund in 1996 should the "oil-for-food" talks be successful.
Next week, the Security Council would take up the report of the Secretary-General on Rwanda (document S/1996/195) regarding the arrangements for the protection of the personnel and premises of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, as well as arrangements for maintaining the United Nations political office. According to the report, negotiations with the Rwandan Government on those matters had been difficult. Under-Secretary- General Marrack Goulding had arrived in Kigali for discussions and was being assisted by Secretary-General's Special Representative in Rwanda, Shahryar M. Khan, who would leave Kigali on 20 April.
As the last troops from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) pulled out, Mr. Khan had prepared an inventory of what UNAMIR had done -- over and above its mandate -- to help with Rwanda's reconstruction, Ms. Foa said. The UNAMIR had rebuilt four large bridges and 10 smaller ones; repaired 13 roads; made Kigali airport operational again; provided solar panels, antennas, repeaters and other equipment to get the telephone system back up; treated about 1,600 patients a day at its medical unit; vaccinated 62,000 people and supplied medicines and trained hospital staff all over the
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country. The mission had also provided transport to a million refugees and displaced persons, distributed food, seeds agricultural tools and even cattle. The UNAMIR had also helped relieve prison over-crowding, creating new space for 20,000 inmates and relocated 10,000, cleared over 1,400 mines and disposed over 1,500 pieces of unexploded ordinances. Recently, UNAMIR had been taking it a little hard in the shins and maybe it deserved a pat on the back, Ms. Foa added.
The Department of Humanitarian Affairs was asking for $139 million to support peace and reconstruction in Angola, she continued. It would assist 200,000 refugees who were expected to return home this year, as well as 700,000 displaced persons.
Also on Angola, 22,345 soldiers from the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) had been registered, and 20,373 had been quartered. Desertions accounted for the difference in figures. Some 1,957 had decided they did not enjoy the quartering, and there had been 15 deaths from malaria. On the Government side, 3,364 rapid reaction police personnel out of a declared strength of 3,511 had been quartered in six cities.
Ms. Foa reminded correspondents that the "oil-for-food" talks between the United Nations and Iraq had resumed at noon today.
On Monday, 22 April, there would be a noon ceremony for the crew of the second space-shuttle MIR docking mission, STS-74/Atlantis, in the Trusteeship Chamber, to which journalists were invited. Ms. Foa proposed that, unless there was something important on Monday, the noon briefing could be cancelled and her Office would make printed information available and answer any questions individually. She asked for the representative of the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) to let her know what correspondents wanted. She said the ceremony should be fun.
Ms. Foa then announced that the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, in cooperation with the Centre for International Health and Cooperation, would hold a high-level symposium on "Preventive Diplomacy: The Therapeutics of Mediation", from 23 to 24 April starting at 9:30 a.m., in the Economic and Social Council Chamber. The Secretary-General would speak on "The Challenges of Preventive Diplomacy: The Role of the United Nations and its Secretary- General". For further information, contact Nora Benary on (212) 963-6934.
A correspondent asked what precisely was wrong with the health of the alleged war criminal. Ms. Foa said, "The Prosecutor believes that the progressive nature of his medical condition was such that he would very soon be unable to meaningfully participate in his defence. A trial under such conditions would be inherently unfair. The defendant is suffering from a terminal disease".
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The correspondent then asked what if he improved? Would they haul him in again? He added that he was asking the question because at the time the suspect was transferred to The Hague there were rumours that there was a deal in the works. His arrest almost stalled the whole peace process and there were rumours of a deal that he would be transferred to The Hague and then later released. So, the correspondent said, he was curious about his medical condition.
Ms. Foa said she would check with The Hague and get back to the correspondent.
Another correspondent asked if the Katyusha rocket attacks yesterday were 300 metres or three kilometres beyond the UNIFIL compound. Ms. Foa said that the information had been very clear. Apparently, UNIFIL had ways to track such attacks and said the one yesterday was up to 300 metres away.
A correspondent asked how legal it was for a high-ranking Bosnian Serb army officer who had been released by the International Criminal Tribunal For the Former Yugoslavia to be held in custody later by the Muslim authorities in Sarajevo. Ms. Foa said such legal questions would be better answered by the Spokesman for the Tribunal, Christian Chartier. She understood that the suspect had been returned by the Tribunal to the Bosnian authorities who still had charges of their own against him. She said she would get back to the correspondent with further information.
Another correspondent asked, had there been any ongoing effort by the Secretary-General to ensure that UNIFIL fulfil its mandate? Ms. Foa said the situation had been constantly under discussion, but the Department of Peace- keeping Operations had admitted repeatedly that UNIFIL had not been able to fulfil its mandate because the parties did not cooperate.
The correspondent then asked, was there an ongoing diplomatic effort to demilitarize the buffer zone in southern Lebanon and was UNIFIL talking with the Hezbollah? Ms. Foa said she could not comment on that question which was one she had also asked. She said 99.9 per cent of what the United Nations did was quiet diplomacy, and it was as frustrating to her as it was to the correspondents that she could not discuss it.
Had the Israelis previously complained about the closeness of Hezbollah posts to the UNIFIL compounds? a correspondent asked. Ms. Foa said it was not a matter of complaining. Periodically, especially during the last week, there had been several firing incidents close to UNIFIL compounds as civilians were being used as shields by Hezbollah to fire into Israel, thinking there would not be retaliation. But there had been retaliations. Several times, Israeli artillery fire had come too close for comfort to UNIFIL positions, and the United Nations had spoken to Israel about it sternly. As she had mentioned yesterday, the United Nations had been given very strong assurances that the
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Israelis were under strict orders to avoid any UNIFIL casualties and that the Israelis had precision weapons, able to fire with pin-point accuracy and that nothing was going to come near the United Nations compounds.
Had the United Nations complained that there was a Hezbollah position here and another one there and it was dangerous? a correspondent asked. Ms. Foa said that a "position" became one when someone set up a rocket and fired it. However, guerrilla positions were mobile.
The correspondent then asked what Ms. Foa had meant by her earlier comment that there was "no excuse for the shelling" when the Israelis said it was an accident. Ms. Foa replied that she did not think one could say, "Gee I'm sorry that this happened". Something really horrible happened and to say it was an accident or an equipment failure or that it was a tragic mistake was not enough of an excuse for what happened. "When you play with big guns, you have to be more responsible", she added.
Would the Secretary-General be making a formal protest? a correspondent asked. Ms. Foa replied that the Secretary-General had issued a strong statement yesterday. The correspondent then asked if there would be a formal protest other than the statement. Ms. Foa replied that "99.9 per cent of what goes on in this building is not discussed in this room unfortunately". She did not think that the Secretary-General's protest yesterday that he deplored and condemned what had happened was a quiet protest.
In reply to another question, she said she could not confirm another rumour that the former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea had been appointed as the Secretary-General's Special Representative to Cyprus. Such an appointment would first go the Security Council for endorsement and that had not happened.
A correspondent asked whether Israel or Hezbollah was still blocking UNIFIL positions today. Ms. Foa replied that there was still firing going on which did not make the United Nations situation any easier.
Another correspondent said that 10 days ago a major mass grave had been discovered in the town of Mirkonjic Grad in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and representatives from the Implementation Force (IFOR) and the International Tribunal had been present. Why had there been no reaction by the international community? she asked. Ms. Foa said that many mass graves were being discovered and would be documented and brought to the attention of the international community. She reminded the correspondent that when she had asked at an earlier briefing if only Serbs would be brought in front of the Tribunal, a few days later a Bosnian had been indicted.
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