DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960529
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 had arrived in Geneva and that tomorrow he would be opening the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Conference on massive displacement of people in the CIS. She announced that there was a copy of the Secretary-General's speech in her office, embargoed until tomorrow. In addition, a press release on the CIS Conference from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was also available in her office.
Ms. Foa announced that a press release by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia was available. It stated that the Tribunal had indicted Drazen Erdemovic on charges of crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war committed during the Bosnian Serb take-over of Srebrenica in July 1995. Mr. Erdemovic had been in the Tribunal's custody since the end of March and was the first alleged participant in the mass killings in or around Srebrenica during July 1995 to stand trial. He would make his first appearance before Trial Chamber I at 9 a.m., on Friday, 31 May, when he would be asked to enter a plea.
Today, the Security Council had a very busy day, Ms. Foa said. "They started this morning discussing a draft resolution on Western Sahara and its gone into blue", she said. The Council had agreed to most of the Secretary- General's proposals on the matter. It had agreed to extend the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) until 30 November. It had further requested the Secretary-General to submit a report, on the progress made, by 10 November. "The Security Council is urging the parties to demonstrate, without further delay, the political will, cooperation and flexibility necessary to permit the resumption and early completion of the identification process and the implementation of the settlement plan", Ms. Foa said.
The Council was pleased that the parties to the conflict in Western Sahara had respected the cease-fire, and it had called upon them to continue doing so, Ms. Foa said. However, "it is also reminding the parties that if significant progress is not achieved during this six-month extension, the Council would have to consider other measures including possible further reductions in the strength of MINURSO", she said. Ms. Foa reminded correspondents that the Secretary-General had recommended a 20 per cent reduction in the strength of MINURSO.
Today, the Security Council had also discussed the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Ms. Foa said. However, since the draft resolution on it was not
yet complete, the Council had gone into discussions on the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on the border between Syria and Israel. Preliminary discussions on the Secretary-General's report on an extension of UNDOF had taken place. The Council had decided to postpone discussions on UNDOF "because this afternoon there is a meeting of troop-contributing countries. Once that meeting is done and they have a better idea of who is willing to give, they will continue discussions", Ms. Foa said.
Also today, the Security Council had before it a draft resolution on Liberia, Ms. Foa said. "They seemed to be agreeing to a three-month extension and warning the parties to get back into the peace process", she continued. According to reports from Monrovia, the situation there was "calm and gradually improving as a result of the deployment of the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG)", Ms. Foa said. The Secretary-General's Special Representative, Anthony B. Nyakyi, together with the Chief Observer of the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL), had toured central Monrovia and had reported seeing large crowds of people in the streets. "People are beginning to come out of their homes", Ms. Foa said. Some fighters, from both sides, had been on the streets but were unarmed and "without hostile intentions or activities", she added. "We are afraid some fighters may have hidden their arms and may still be in the city but we hope that is not true", she said. The ECOMOG, which had already taken control of the city's airport, would be fully deployed as of today or tomorrow.
The United Nations Transitional Administrator for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium, Jacques Klein, would be at the United Nations next week, Ms. Foa announced. He was arriving in New York by the end of this week and was expected to brief the Security Council. "He is pretty exciting and well worth listening to; so we will make an attempt to hijack him when he gets into the building", Ms. Foa said.
The State of the World Population 1996 report was being launched today in London, Ms. Foa announced. Copies of it were available in the Department of Public Information (DPI). "It just came to my desk today", she said. The report was being launched simultaneously all over the world. "Evidently DPI has copies in French, Spanish, English and Arabic", she added.
Ms. Foa reminded correspondents that at 2 p.m. today, at the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) Club, Yogesh Varhade, of the AmbedKar Centre for Justice and Peace, would speak about "the 250 million poor untouched by the Commission for Social Development". The presentation at the UNCA Club by the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), James Gustave Speth, who was scheduled to speak at 11 a.m. tomorrow, had been cancelled.
Stating that there seemed to be only media reports but no excavations, a correspondent asked whether there had been any mass graves excavated in Srebrenica. Hiro Ueki, of the Spokesman's office, said that several
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 29 May 1996
investigators of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia had been sent to eastern Bosnia to collect evidence from mass graves in the area of Srebrenica.
A correspondent said that the preparations for the coverage of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) in Istanbul "seemed to be a mess", and that there were rumours that 11 "fictitious information officers" had been hired in Nairobi to cover the Conference. Who was responsible for such misunderstandings? that correspondent asked. Juan Carlos Brandt, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, said that a full office for accreditation would be in place at the Conference. In addition, there would be radio and television people as well as the usual group of persons covering for DPI. At the last minute, there had been a resolution of the impasse that existed due to financial questions, he said. He was not sure of the number of staff attending. Ms. Foa added that due to financial problems the full DPI contingent would not be sent.
A correspondent expressed her frustration over the fact that correspondents had found out about the release of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report only through their bureaus in London. She also wondered how come a public relations firm had offered the UNFPA Executive Director for an interview after the report had been released. Usually, correspondents were first briefed about the release of a report at the United Nations Headquarters. Ms. Foa said a memorandum dated 20 May talking about advance copies of the report had only arrived in her office this morning. "Obviously the report on the day it is being released is of very little use to the press and I apologize for this", Ms. Foa said. She promised to find out what had happened. "The UNFPA is usually on the ball with these things", she added.
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