DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960503
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told correspondents at today's noon briefing that the Secretary-General's first appointment had been with Dame Margaret Anstee, a former Under-Secretary-General, and they had discussed post-conflict peace-building issues.
The Secretary-General's next appointment was with Major-General Joseph W. Kinzer, Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in Haiti (UNMIH), who paid him a farewell call. At noon, the Secretary-General was due to receive Ambassador Tommy Koh of Singapore; and at 12:45 p.m., he would receive the new Permanent Representatives of Senegal, Ibra Deguene Ka; Mozambique, Carlos dos Santos; and Zimbabwe, Machivenyika Tobias Mapuranga, who would present their credentials.
The Secretary-General would receive the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Irakloi Menagarishvile, at 4:30 p.m. At 5:15 p.m., he would meet Prince Haji Al Muhtadee Billah, of Brunei Darussalam; and at 6 p.m., he had a meeting scheduled with the Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories, Terje Larsen, with whom he would be following up his discussions of yesterday with Chairman Yasser Arafat.
The Secretary-General took a look at the Review Conference of the 1980 United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, Ms. Foa said. "While he welcomes the progress towards such items as the extension of the scope of the Convention, the inclusion of provisions restricting the transfer of land-mines, the clear attribution of responsibility for mine clearance and the prohibition of non-detectable anti-personnel mines, he feels he has to register his deep disappointment that the progress achieved falls so far short of what he had hoped."
"The reviewed Protocol fails to resolve some of the crucial issues. It will disappoint international public opinion and, in particular, the hundreds of thousands of mine victims worldwide.
"There will be widespread disappointment that the international community recognizes the need for the eventual elimination of anti-personnel mines, but is not ready to prohibit their supply."
A declaration from the Secretary-General on this issue was available at the Spokesman's Office and would be out on the racks, as well (see Press Release SG/SM/5977-DC/2555).
"Yesterday we were hopping along, today we are hopping and slithering along", Ms. Foa said. Letters with individual contributions towards covering the United States debt to the United Nations from American families "are not stopping", she added. The day before yesterday, the United Nations received more than 100 letters, and they just keep "flowing in. Today, apart from dogs, cats, rabbits and toads, we got contributions from two lizards. A family with three people, three cats, one dog and two lizards have sent in their full contributions for all". There was also "another cute letter from a rabbit" called Minu in Palo Alto, California, she noted. The letter read: "UN, UN, rah rah rah"! The rabbit's family added that Minu, being a peace- loving animal, "is terrified of loud noises or abrupt movements, and is especially adamant about the importance of keeping the UN afloat. He worries that too many countries will become prey, like him, to rapacious bullies without a strong UN". Ms. Foa thanked both animals and families, and urged "please keep those letters coming".
The Secretary-General's report on Angola was out today, Ms. Foa said. Progress in implementing the Lusaka Protocol, he said in the report, had been "disappointingly slow" and many of the tasks which the parties themselves had agreed to carry out remained unfulfilled. The overall achievements "fall well short of what the Security Council had been led to expect". The Secretary- General recommended the extension of the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III) for only two more months, until 8 July. There would be a meeting at 3:30 p.m. at Headquarters with the troop-contributing countries for Angola, she said.
As of yesterday, she continued, 912 soldiers belonging to the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) had registered; the total number registered was 27,928 out of an expected number of over 60,000 soldiers.
"Today is World Press Freedom Day", Ms. Foa said. The fact that 3 May had been designated World Press Freedom Day expressed the dedication of the United Nations to free and pluralistic media. The Secretary-General wished to pay tribute "to the many brave journalists who have died or been imprisoned in the defence of this precious freedom", and those who risked danger to report the news "are on the front line in defending all the freedoms to which the United Nations is dedicated", he said. "Having been a journalist myself, I know how vital it is that we recommit ourselves to the goal of guaranteeing this freedom to fostering an independent and pluralistic media as a prerequisite to freedom of the press and to strengthening the information potential of the less open and less privileged of the world."
At 3 p.m. today, the Chairman of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Rumen Gechev, would give a press conference in room 226 on the results of the Commission's fourth session and the progress made since the Earth Summit. Mr. Gechev would
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 3 May 1996
be accompanied by three environment ministers attending the Commission's high- level meeting today -- John Gummer from the United Kingdom, Rene Castro from Costa Rica, and Christine Amoako-Nuamah from Ghana.
The World Chronicle programme for today would feature the President of the General Assembly, Diogo Freitas do Amaral, at 2:30 p.m.
On Monday, the African Ministers in charge of Economic Development and Planning, United Nations specialized agencies, and non-governmental organizations would gather at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa to discuss the challenges of Africa's development in the twenty- first century and, in particular, the role of ECA.
A correspondent asked whether there was anything to announce on the next round of the food-for-oil talks. "As of this morning, the negotiations were still ongoing regarding the date, and we still do not have a firm date", Ms. Foa replied.
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