DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960510
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, began today's noon briefing by informing correspondents that the Secretary- General had met at 11 a.m. with the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, Sergey V. Lavrov. "I wasn't there but I am sure they discussed the Secretary-General's upcoming trip to Moscow. He will be leaving late Monday. He will be back in New York on Friday. While in Moscow, he will be delivering an address to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) heads of State."
Ms. Foa said that the Secretary-General later saw the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Cornelio Sommaruga. "As we speak, the Secretary-General is meeting with the Chairman of the Party of the Revolutionary Democracy of Mexico."
This afternoon, the Secretary-General would see the Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom, Michael Portillo, she said, adding that they would probably be discussing the situation in Angola. The Secretary- General would have a farewell call from Shahryar Khan, his former Special Representative for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR). He would also see the Permanent Representative of Canada, Robert Fowler.
At 6 p.m., as had been already announced, the Secretary-General would meet with Abdul Amir Al-Anbari, the chief Iraqi negotiator in the "oil-for- food" talks, and with Hans Corell, the United Nations Legal Counsel, regarding the status of those talks. "I asked the Secretary-General this morning how he felt and he said, 'I am less pessimistic and I hope to be even less pessimistic at the beginning of next week.'"
"With apologies to the Diplomatic World Bulletin which doesn't like my hat, I am wearing it again today because the tenth member of the Security Council has paid", Ms. Foa said, in reference to her practice of wearing a United Nations blue beret to the noon briefing each day a Member State pays its assessment to the United Nations budget. She said that today's payment brought to 58 the number of Member States that had paid in full their 1996 budget assessments. The country concerned was Botswana which had paid $108,770. Fifty-eight countries out of 185 had now paid their assessments in full, including 10 members of the Security Council. However, the United Nations was still owed over $2.8 billion. The summary of outstanding contributions as of 30 April was available in the Spokesman's Office, she added.
Ms. Foa then said that, because of popular demand, she had brought to the briefing two letters from American citizens coming in with their own contributions towards the United States' debt to the United Nations. "Here is one from Albany, California which I hope will start a new trend throughout the United States. It says 'I am sending $4.40 for myself and $4.40 for my dog plus $25 for a childhood debt. Growing up in Manhattan in the fifties, I used to trick or treat for UNICEF on Halloween. At the end of the evening, I'd have a bunch of pennies. Being a sophisticated city kid, I rationalized that the United Nations didn't really need small change and you could not mail pennies anyway. So I kept the money for candy. I figure by now, those years of pennies would have accumulated enough interest to be worth at least $25.' So we got the money."
"If there is anyone else in America with pangs of conscience, they would like to assuage -- Brinks bank robbers -- anyone. The United Nations is here to help you."
She then read another letter from Salt Lake City, Utah, which stated, "Please accept the enclosed cheque for $13.20 as a contribution to the fund from me, my husband and our cat, El Gato, who, as an undocumented alien, hiding out in our theoretically pet-free condominium, takes an understandable interest in international concerns."
"So, for anyone else with illegal pets in their condominium, the United Nations is there for you," she said.
Ms. Foa also announced that Nippon Television of Japan came in this morning with 10,000 pencils for the United Nations. "Having read that the United Nations was no longer able to provide pencils, they brought in 10,000 pencils which they very nicely painted a United Nations blue for us."
On yesterday's question about the United Nations Human Rights Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA), Ms. Foa said that the Secretary- General had decided to appoint David Stephen as Director of MINUGUA. He would succeed Leonardo Franco who had headed MINUGUA since its establishment in 1994 and who was going back to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Mr. Stephen was a national of the United Kingdom. He had served in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General since 1992. A press release was available (Press Release SG/A/623-CA/121). His appointment was effective 1 June. "The Secretary-General wishes to express his gratitude to Mr. Franco for the effective manner in which he conducted MINUGUA, allowing it to advance the cause of peace in Guatemala."
Ms. Foa said that the General Assembly would today take up a draft resolution in response to the report of the Secretary-General of 23 April on El Salvador (document A/50/935). That report recommended that the Mission of the United Nations in El Salvador (MINUSAL), whose mandate expired on the 30 April, be replaced by a United Nations office of verification (UNOV)
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composed of five experts who would follow up on the implementation of pending agreements. "We are hoping we'll have a mandate for UNOV until the end of 1996."
She then said that the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General, Lakhdar Brahimi, was expected in Lagos today from Paris. Following his meetings with senior Nigerian Government officials in the next few days, he would return directly to New York to report to the Secretary-General. He did not plan to visit Cameroon as he had met with that country's President, Paul Biya, yesterday in Paris. The Spokesman reminded correspondents that Mr. Brahimi's mission was a follow-up to the recent United Nations fact-finding mission to Nigeria and was also connected to the dispute over the Bakassi Peninsula.
Turning to the subject of Liberia, she said that James Jonah, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to that country, was expected to arrive at Headquarters on Monday to report to the Secretary-General. "We will attempt to kidnap him for room 226 because the situation in Liberia, as you all know from press reports, is getting worse."
Ms. Foa then announced that a press statement from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was available. Reading from it, she said that it states that "Today, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) concluded a memorandum of understanding which codifies practical arrangements for the detention and transfer of persons indicted for war crimes by the Tribunal and for support by the NATO Implementation Force (IFOR) to the Tribunal". She said that the statement went into some detail. It said that the text of the memorandum of understanding would not be released and that it codified interim arrangements which were already in place.
Referring to questions asked during previous briefings with regard to the staff separation programme, she said that Joseph Connor, Under-Secretary- General for Administration and Management, had said that the United Nations had achieved about 700 vacancies by the end of March at a cost of $25 million. Only 300 had to be bought out. "The rest were natural attrition and we also added the existing vacancies." Yesterday, Mr. Connor signed off on 76 early separation agreements, which would cost about $8 million. "We expect another 75 early separation agreements soon. That would bring the total to over 850. They have all been voluntary. There have been no involuntary separations."
She said that the money for the programme came from savings from common staff costs within the 1994-1995 budget. Hopefully the money for future efforts would come from the same place. The total estimated cost of early separation was $45 million. Those separations were recommended by individual managers worldwide and approved at Headquarters.
On the subject of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ms. Foa said that there had been a serious incident involving a United Nations police patrol yesterday
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 10 May 1996
morning in the area around Doboj. While monitoring the visit of a group of Muslims from Maglaj to a grave site, a United Nations police patrol was assaulted by a group of Serbs who were trying to prevent the visit. People surrounded the patrol car, damaged the car and smashed the windscreen. There was shooting and a distress call was made. "It was not a pretty incident. The United Nations is saying that 'We consider this incident an extremely serious one'. Evidently, there were Serb police in the vicinity who did nothing. The matter was being protested to the Serb authorities at the highest level." More information on that was available.
A correspondent asked why the Secretary-General was seeing Mr. Corell and Mr. Al-Anbari. Ms. Foa responded that in just about every round of the Iraqi oil-for-food talks, the Secretary-General had seen the negotiators. Asked "Why now?', she responded, "Why not?"
A correspondent said that the numbers on the staff separation programme did not add up. Twenty-five added to eight did not equal 45. Ms. Foa said that they were going to be another 75 early separation agreements which could cost as much as another $12 million. There were 700 vacancies, but 400 of them were through natural attrition or vacancies that were already there before the freeze had begun. Three hundred were actually bought out and the 300 buy-outs cost $25 million. Then yesterday, there were 76 early separation agreements or buy-outs and that cost $8 million. "We expect, very soon, another 75."
On the oil-for-food talks, a correspondent asked what would happen if agreement was not reached before the Secretary-General travelled on Monday. Ms. Foa replied, "We have to wait and see."
"On the manhunt that NATO is now going to pursue through Bosnia, isn't that crossing the Mogadishu line that General Rose defined?" a corespondent asked. Ms. Foa said that she was not sure what manhunt was being referred to.
The correspondent said that she was referring to the fact that NATO was now authorized to capture alleged war criminals. Ms. Foa responded that she did not think that that was a new development. There was always the intention that IFOR would assist the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. That was envisaged in the Dayton accords, and it was policy for IFOR to detain and transfer to the International Tribunal persons indicted for war crimes when it came into contact with them in carrying out its duties as defined by the military annex of the peace agreement. The memorandum of understanding was defining the procedures to be followed in such cases, she said, adding "so I don't think its too new".
A correspondent asked if the Secretary-General thought that there would be an oil deal before he went to Moscow. Ms. Foa responded, "We are all keeping our fingers crossed".
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