DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960522
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, began today's noon briefing by announcing that this afternoon, the Security Council Secretariat of the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) would present to the Security Council Committee established by resolution 661 (1990) concerning the situation between Iraq and Kuwait, a nine-page draft paper on the procedures for the implementation of the "oil-for-food" formula. The Committee would "probably take at least one day to sit down and digest this highly technical and complicated document", Ms. Foa said. Then on Friday, they would get together again and go over it line by line.
There was a press release available at her office on the Legal Counsel's briefing to the Iraqi Sanctions Committee on arrangements concerning the implementation of resolution 986 (1995).
Today, the Secretary-General was sending his report on Liberia to the Security Council, Ms. Foa announced. In that report, the Secretary-General said that over the past few weeks the faction leaders had clearly demonstrated their disregard for the aspirations for peace of the Liberian people. They had also shown "wanton disrespect" for the United Nations, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and for the international community.
The Secretary-General was greatly concerned over the possibility that ECOWAS would be compelled to disengage from Liberia, Ms. Foa said. If ECOWAS decided to withdraw the forces of the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG) from Liberia, it could be catastrophic not only for the country but for the whole region. Such withdrawal could also bring into question the future of the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL) which, due to its inability to function, already had a very limited presence in the country. The Secretary-General had strongly urged the Liberian faction leaders to carefully consider the wide- ranging consequences that their actions, during the next two months, would have in the immediate implementation of the measures agreed upon by ECOWAS at the meeting in Accra.
In resolution 1020 (1995), the Security Council had mandated that UNOMIL assist in the implementation of the Abuja Agreement, especially in the disarmament and demobilization process, Ms. Foa said. However, the Secretary- General had said, that in the present insecure and unstable conditions that prevail in Liberia, there was little that UNOMIL could accomplish with respect to these objectives. Nevertheless, the Secretary-General had expressed his belief that UNOMIL continued to play an important role in supporting the efforts of ECOWAS to facilitate the resumption of the peace process. The mission was also helping create conditions conducive to a return to the Abuja
Agreement. For those reasons, the Secretary-General was recommending an extension of the UNOMIL mandate for three months, until 31 August. There were currently five UNOMIL officers in Monrovia, and another 10 were on stand-by in Freetown, Ms. Foa said.
The Security Council was expected to take up again the draft letters from President Jose Eduardo dos Santos of Angola and the leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Jonas Savimbi. "There is finally some progress in the quartering of UNITA soldiers", Ms. Foa said. Yesterday, 256 soldiers were quartered; that had brought the total number of soldiers quartered to 33,941. The Spokesman reminded correspondents that promise had been made to quarter a total of 50,000 by 15 June. Also, military talks between the Angolan Government and UNITA had begun in Luanda on Monday. The talks were being conducted by two delegations, led by top Generals, who were discussing the incorporation of UNITA soldiers into the new national army. They were also discussing the demobilization of troops.
The Security Council would also consider a presidential statement on the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES). The statement called on the parties to cooperate fully with UNTAES and to refrain from any unilateral action which could hinder the process of demilitarization that began yesterday.
A very beautiful publication, put out by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), was available in the Spokesman's office. It had been issued in advance of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Conference to be held in Geneva on 30 May and 31 May. The Secretary-General would attend the Conference which would discuss "the fact that people are on the move because they have to, not because they want to", Ms. Foa said. In the CIS countries, those on the move already numbered 9 million. The new publication explained the reasons for their moving and the effect on regional stability, Ms. Foa said.
A correspondent asked for Ms. Foa's reaction to the insistence of the representative of the United States, in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), that the Secretary-General find the funds to finance the International Civilian Mission to Haiti (MICIVIH) as well as the United Nations Human Rights Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA), within the budget of the Organization. Ms. Foa said that, through the President of the General Assembly, the Secretary-General had written to Member States requesting them to come up with suggestions for programmes and operations which could be either suspended and/or postponed so that funds could be found to finance operations considered to be vital. "In order to find those existing resources we are going to have to curtail, postpone or back-burner other operations", Ms. Foa said.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 22 May 1996
What was her opinion on the alarming reports made at a press conference today, that 30,000 to 40,000 Kashmiri people were jailed in various parts of India? a correspondent asked. Ms. Foa replied that the United Nations had been concerned with the situation in Kashmir for over 30 years. However, in order to be solved, conflicts always depended on the political will of the sides involved. "The United Nations can only do so much", she added.
Presenting as an example the alleged illegal arms shipments from Iran to Bosnia, a correspondent asked what was the point of Security Council resolutions if they could be breached for years, without being punished? Ms. Foa replied that an embargo by the Security Council, represented the Member States' disapproval of a "certain kind of conduct and their efforts to stop it". "If certain States decide to disregard such embargoes, there is very little we can do about it", she said.
The same correspondent asked about the financing of the International Criminal Tribunals. Ms. Foa said the whole question of existing resources was "starting to pop up". First there was MINUGUA in Guatemala, then MICIVIH in Haiti, the proposed United Nations office in Rwanda and Afghanistan. At least $120 million additional funds, which were not included in the 1996-1997 budget, would be needed. In order to pay for operations, the United Nations had been asked to come up with extra funds from what was already a zero-growth budget. Doing so was going to be very difficult unless Member States could find something "that could be dumped", she added.
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