DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960517
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Ahmad Fawzi, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told correspondent's at today's briefing that the Secretary-General had addressed the Summit of the Heads of State of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Moscow today. It was the first time ever that the Secretary-General had been invited to address a Summit of the CIS. Calling the CIS, "the cornerstone of the post-cold-war system", the Secretary-General said that its international role would be "ever more important in the future". The Secretary-General's speech was available on the racks, with no significant changes in the text (SG/SM/5987).
In the afternoon, following the meeting, the Secretary-General had a couple of bilaterals, Mr. Fawzi said. He first met the President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma. He thanked Mr. Kuchma for his country's contribution to United Nations peace-keeping missions. Currently, Ukraine was participating in the operations in Eastern Slavonia, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in Croatia, Tajikistan and Angola. Also discussed was President Kuchma's suggestion to establish an economic security council, and they both agreed that the United Nations economic activities should be strengthened. They also discussed the Chernobyl nuclear accident, and efforts by the international community to mitigate its consequences.
The Spokesman said the Secretary-General's other meeting, later this afternoon Moscow time, was with the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rakhmonov. During their 45-minute meeting, they had an in-depth discussion of the situation in Tajikistan. The President briefed the Secretary-General in light of recent developments in the Tavildara region where there were recent reports of cease-fire violations. The Secretary-General emphasized the need to guarantee the safety and freedom of movement of all United Nations observers throughout Tajikistan. The President, in thanking the Secretary- General for the United Nations assistance to achieve a comprehensive political settlement, promised his country's full cooperation with the Organization. A summary of the Secretary-General's activities was available in the Spokesman's office as usual. The Secretary-General was expected in New York on Saturday afternoon (SG/T/2054).
Mr. Fawzi then replied to a question of yesterday about whether there were any more details on a third international peace conference, and what the first two conferences were. The Secretary-General, in his meeting with the Russian Federation President, Boris Yeltsin, had supported Mr. Yeltsin's initiative to hold a third international peace conference on the eve of the twenty-first century. This would be the 100th anniversary of the conference that was held in The Hague in 1899. Indeed, it was Czar Nicholas II who had
convened the 1899 Conference with a view to the development and codification of international law.
The Secretary-General had endorsed the idea for the conference in a speech he made in Lisbon before the Institute of International Law in August 1995, Mr. Fawzi said. In that speech, the Secretary-General suggested that a major world conference be convened to celebrate the anniversary and to re- examine all the legal mechanisms for the peaceful settlement of disputes between States. Several governments had already proposed a conference of that kind, and he expressed his support for such an event. One such proposal was made by the delegation of the Russian Federation in the Sixth Committee (Legal) of the General Assembly. That Russia should support the proposal was scarcely surprising, when it was recalled that it was Czar Nicholas II who convened the Conference in 1899 and a subsequent Conference in 1907.
Turning to the situation in Sierra Leone, Mr. Fawzi said there were still problems with refugees. In Freetown, authorities had returned approximately 142 Liberian refugees to the ship "Victory Reefer". They were allowed to disembark for about 11 hours, and then they were put back on board. As of midday today, the vessel still was at the Freetown dock, but Sierra Leone authorities had given indications that the ship would be turned away, and its 142 Liberian passengers, including women and children, would be denied asylum.
Mr. Fawzi said the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had written to the President to ask that asylum for the refugees be granted, and had offered to participate in their screening; those who did not qualify for refugee status would be dealt with in accordance with Sierra Leone's immigration laws. Mr. Fawzi hoped the authorities would reconsider their decision to send those refugees back to sea.
Reports indicated the situation in Liberia was still tense, but calm, he said. Fighting was reported yesterday in Mamba Point, Central Monrovia and Scheifflin camp area. Heavy fighting was reported at the Freeport area yesterday. Six United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL) and United Nations agency personnel were caught in the crossfire while loading vehicles at the port, but they managed to board the ship which took them to the Riverview compound.
Mr. Fawzi said there was news from Vukovar. The Transitional Administrator in Eastern Slavonia, Jacques Klein, and the Head of the Croatian Government office for the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) would be signing a trade agreement. He recalled last week's first exchange of mail. The trade agreement was yet another step on the road to normalizing and the opening up of the UNTAES region and Eastern Slavonia to world commerce and
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 17 May 1996
communications. Under that agreement, to be signed today on the trade of fertilizer and wheat, Croatia would provide 50 thousand tons of fertilizer for local agriculture and would receive grain from the area in return.
Lakhdar Brahimi, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy who had undertaken a mission in Nigeria to mediate over the Bakassi Peninsula, was returning to Headquarters next week, Mr. Fawzi said. He would be available to be debriefed and to brief the Secretary-General and his aides on the situation regarding the Bakassi Peninsula. As a result of his mission, agreement was reached between Nigeria and Cameroon to hold a high-level meeting in the near future on the Bakassi issue in Togo under the auspices of the President of Togo, Gnassingbe Eyadema.
Mr. Fawzi said talks between the Sierra Leone Government and the Revolutionary United Front, which began approximately three weeks ago in Abidjan under the auspices of Cote d'Ivoire, were continuing. Berhanu Dinka, the United Nations Special Envoy in Sierra Leone, was acting as a facilitator of the talks, along with representatives of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the Commonwealth.
The Secretary-General's report on the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) in The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, whose mandate would expire at the end of May, was being finalized, he said. That operation had been in effect since 1992 and was currently at a strength of 1,050 peace-keepers. On the political side, Mr. Fawzi recalled that the last round of talks between Greece and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, under the auspices of the Secretary-General's Representative, Cyrus Vance, on 17 April in New York, produced agreement by the two sides to continue their discussions in early June under Mr. Vance's auspices. Under discussion was the one sticking point in the agreement -- the name.
Regarding Tajikistan, the Secretary-General's new envoy in the region, Gerd Merrem, was continuing his mission and today was leaving for Teheran for consultations with senior Iranian officials. He had already visited Moscow, Ashqabad and Dushanbe during his current mission.
There was no good news on the financial front, he said. Nobody paid up today. The last payment was yesterday, by Benin, bringing the total to 62 Member States that had paid their budget assessment. There was an honour role in the office. The Organization was still owed $2.8 billion by Member States; $1.7 billion for peace-keeping operations, and $1.1 billion for the regular budget.
Speaking of money, he said the long-awaited report of the Secretary- General to the General Assembly regarding the financing of operations of a non-peacekeeping nature, "Programme Budget for the Biennium 1996-1997" (A/C.5/50/67), due to be submitted on 15 May -- had been submitted. It was
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 17 May 1996
being presented in response to a request by the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) that would have the Secretary-General enter into new commitments for new mandates to be carried out in Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador and Rwanda. The Committee did not give him the funds to carry out the mandates, but asked him to carry out those mandates from existing resources.
He said the gist of the Secretary-General's report was summarized in paragraph 19 on page 6. After submitting the entire financial situation to the Assembly, including the fact that the budget for the biennium as requested by the Assembly would be reduced by $154 million, the Secretary-General said in the report that Member States might wish to reflect on whether it was feasible for him to meet both the objectives: of delivering all mandated programme (and he was committed to delivering programmes mandated by Member States); and containing expenditure levels "`within existing resources'". He could not do it. According to the report, new mandates could be implemented within existing budget appropriations only if the Assembly were to decide which programmes should be terminated or eliminated from the regular budget. In popular jargon, Mr. Fawzi said, "the ball was back in Member States' courts".
To a question about when the Secretary-General would be briefed by the Under Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, Hans Corell, Mr. Fawzi said he expected the Secretary-General to be back Saturday afternoon. He also expected that Mr. Corell would suggest the briefing for Sunday. For correspondents' planning purposes, nothing was going to happen tomorrow at Headquarters. Most probably, Mr. Corell would be meeting with the Secretary-General on Sunday. He might also meet with Abdul Amir Al-Anbari, the chief Iraqi negotiator in the oil talks. To a follow-up about whether Mr. Al-Anbari and Mr. Corell met yesterday, Mr. Fawzi said it was possible. He, too, had seen Mr. Al-Anbari come into the building yesterday, but there was no official statement. No announcements were expected over the weekend either. The Secretary-General had to be briefed first by Mr. Corell, and he would probably meet with Mr. Al-Anbari.
Regarding the Secretary-General's report to the Fifth Committee, a correspondent asked if Mr. Fawzi had any indication of how that ball might be played. Mr. Fawzi said it was very difficult to predict. It was a very complex system; the financing of mandated programmes, especially those. There was something called the "commitment authority" which was the Fifth Committee saying, "yes, go ahead, perform an operation in Haiti even though you don't have the funds; enter into commitment; we'll give you the money later". So, the Secretary-General had to find the money from existing resources. What he was saying was, "I'm sorry. I don't have the money. I have to cut to find the money. So, tell me where to cut". It was very possible that they might go back to him again and tell him to use existing resources. But it just was
Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 17 May 1996
just not feasible. The Member States should tell the Secretary-General where to perform cuts; which mandated programmes they thought they could do without.
Another correspondent asked about a call yesterday for a United Nations peace-keeping mission to Liberia by the Congressional Black Caucus, particularly the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG). Mr. Fawzi referred to yesterday's briefing by James Jonah, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Liberia, and added that the reports in Liberia were being followed very carefully. They had observers there for a while working with ECOMOG through the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Liberia had had a very turbulent history. If the international community decided that it was going to back such a proposition, the United Nations would implement the will of the international community. But, the Security Council had to make that decision.
Asked how many United Nations military observers were in Liberia, he said that at the moment there were only 5 observers in Liberia, with 13 standing by in Freetown. Just to repeat, Mr. Fawzi said the Secretary-General was expected in New York Saturday afternoon. Mr. Corell would brief him. No announcements were expected. The Office of the Spokesman would be staffed as usual with the weekend duty officer and a backup spokesperson, who happened to be himself.
* *** *