DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960612
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Ahmad Fawzi, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told correspondents at today's noon briefing that the high-level segment of the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) had started today at Istanbul. The Secretary-General had addressed the session, as had President Suleyman Demirel of Turkey. A list of appointments of the Secretary-General in Istanbul was available at the Spokesman's office.
After his address to the session, the Secretary-General had met a number of Presidents and Deputy Prime Ministers, Mr. Fawzi said. He had met the Presidents of Romania, Poland, Burundi, China, Albania and Israel. The Deputy Prime Minister of Uganda had gone to Istanbul to apologize on behalf of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda who had not been able to attend due to domestic commitments. President Museveni would probably meet the Secretary-General when they would both attend the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Summit in Yaounde in early July.
During the meetings with the Presidents of Romania, Poland and Burundi, the Secretary-General reviewed progress of the Conference, the Deputy Spokesman continued. There had been unanimous agreement that the Conference thus far had been a success and that this and other United Nations conferences were worthwhile endeavours. The Secretary-General had emphasized the economic and social work of the United Nations, as opposed to its peace-keeping activities. In meetings with the delegations of Uganda and Burundi, he had discussed issues relevant to the Great Lakes region of Africa, Rwanda and Burundi in particular. He had also discussed the situation in west Africa, including Liberia, Sierra Leone and Angola.
On Angola, Mr. Fawzi said, "I am happy to say that the rapid reaction police personnel were quartered yesterday in four cities." A total of 587 had been quartered in those locations, bringing the total to 5,256. With that, the Angolan Government had completed the quartering of the rapid reaction police as had been agreed to by both parties. A total of 45,295 soldiers of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) had been quartered up to yesterday. "We have just under 5,000 more to go before reaching the pledged target of 50,000 by 15 June", he said.
Back to the Secretary-General's meetings in Istanbul, Mr. Fawzi said the Secretary-General had reviewed the situation in the former Yugoslavia, particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in meetings with the Presidents of Romania and Poland. He had also discussed the future of the region in the post-Implementation Force (IFOR) period. United Nations reform and the financial crisis of the Organization were also discussed. "He doesn't miss an
opportunity to discuss the financial crisis, as you well know." With President Ezer Weizman of Israel, he had reviewed developments in the region.
Concerning Burundi, the Secretary-General had emphasized that he, along with the international community, was concerned at the lack of progress of efforts aimed at bringing peace, stability and national conciliation to Burundi, including those of former President Julius Nyerere of the United Republic of Tanzania. The murders of the three International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) workers in Burundi last week were also discussed.
Mr. Fawzi said the Secretary-General was very pleased with the process of removal of all nuclear weapons from the territory of Ukraine. That had been fully completed now. Correspondents who had attended a press conference addressed by the Permanent Representative of Ukraine, Anatoli Zlenko, an hour ago in room 226, would know that all the nuclear weapons had been removed from that country. The number of weapons involved was considerable. "We are talking about 4,400 warheads", he said. The removal furthered the cause of nuclear non-proliferation and the Secretary-General wished to congratulate Ukraine on transforming itself into a country entirely free of nuclear weapons. A statement on behalf of the Secretary-General was available in the Spokesman's office. He had, in particular, reiterated his call for the successful conclusion of a comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty by the end of the current month as a crucial step towards achieving global nuclear disarmament.
Responding to questions raised at previous briefings about the total number of Presidents and Prime Ministers attending Habitat II, Mr. Fawzi said there were a total of seven Presidents, five Prime Ministers and three Vice- Presidents attending the Conference's summit segment. A number of acting Prime Ministers and Deputy Prime Ministers were also attending. The rest of the attendees were at the ministerial level.
As the correspondents were aware, the Security Council was discussing the stand-off in Iraq, Mr. Fawzi said. The Council had heard the Executive chairman of the United Nations Special Commission, Rolf Ekeus, yesterday and he would be briefing the Council again today on a second stand-off in Iraq. "They have been involved in that stand-off for 10 hours now", he said. Mr. Ekeus would brief the Council on both the incidents. "I cannot go into any further details until the Council adjourns its consultations", he added.
Speaking to correspondents yesterday, the President of the Council had said he was going to speak to the Permanent Representative of Iraq and had indeed spoken to Ambassador Nizar Hamdoon last night and to the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, Tariq Aziz, this morning, Mr. Fawzi said. The Council was considering a draft resolution, in which they would note the incident with concern and would call on the Government of Iraq to allow the Special Commission teams immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access to any and
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 12 June 1996
all areas, facilities, equipment, records and means of transportation which they wished to inspect. "This incident, of course, comes at a very sensitive time in relations between the United Nations and Iraq." The international community was very concerned that the incident not affect the recently concluded memorandum of understanding with Iraq.
Following the Secretary-General's report on Cyprus released yesterday, which recommended the extension of the mandate of the United Nations Peace- keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for a six-month period, the Secretary- General would be issuing a further report on his mission of good offices next week, Mr. Fawzi said.
At 5 p.m. tomorrow, the special Envoy of the European Union for the Great Lakes region, Aldo Ajello, would be briefing correspondents in room 226, the Deputy Spokesman said. He would also be briefing the Security Council tomorrow under the Arria formula (a very informal consultation process initiated by Diego Arria of Venezuela, which affords members of the Security Council the opportunity to hear persons in a confidential, informal setting. These meetings are presided over by a member of the Council as service facilitator for the discussion and not by the President of the Council. "We have a mission which would be going to Zaire. You remember I told you about the letter from the Secretary-General to the President of the Security Council yesterday about Zaire and the deployment of United Nations observers there. We have a mission going there to assess the feasibility of deploying these observers", he said. The mission, leaving on Friday evening, would arrive in Kinshasa on Sunday and was expected to be in Zaire for the whole of next week. It would be headed by a Director in the Department of Peace-keeping Operations, Elisabeth Lindenmayer, and would include several other officials of the Department.
The outstanding contributions to the United Nations stood at $2.6 billion, $0.9 billion for the regular budget and $1.7 billion for the peace- keeping budget, Mr. Fawzi said.
The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General with regard to the outstanding problem between the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece, Cyrus Vance, and the representatives of Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, had just concluded a fifth round of talks, Mr. Fawzi said. Both parties had agreed to continue their discussions under the auspices of Mr. Vance towards the end of June.
Mr. Fawzi added that at 2 p.m. today, in the United Nations correspondents Association (UNCA) Club, Dilip Hiro, the editor of the newly published Dictionary of the Middle East would talk about "Israel under Benjamin Netanyahu: Is there still a peace process?"
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A correspondent asked if the quality of weapons submitted by UNITA in the quartering of weapons in Angola had improved. Mr. Fawzi replied that it had improved substantially.
Another correspondent wanted to know if a letter by President Rene Preval of Haiti to the Secretary-General, mentioned in yesterday's briefing, could be made public. Mr. Fawzi responded that he would check to see if it could be made public. He said he did not see why the letter could not be made public, since it had been quoted in the report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission in Haiti mentioned at yesterday's briefing. If made public, the letter would be available as a document. Moreover, if President Preval had requested that the letter be shared with the Council, it would be available as a Council document. However, if it was a personal letter to the Secretary-General, it might not be made public. (It was subsequently announced that the letter would be issued as an official document.)
A correspondent wanted to know if the Secretary-General foresaw disarmament similar to Ukraine's in other countries. Mr. Fawzi said that "foresee was a strong word". However, the Secretary-General strongly hoped that all Member States of the United Nations would move towards the successful conclusion of a comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty and towards achieving global nuclear disarmament.
Could Mr. Fawzi comment on the interview of the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Yasushi Akashi with the German agency DPA about the massacre in Sarajevo's market? a correspondent asked. Mr. Akashi had said that the massacre was perpetrated by the Bosnian Muslims and that there was a secret report to the Security Council on the matter, which had not been published, the correspondent added. Mr. Fawzi replied that he had heard about that story this morning and had not had a chance to discuss it with Mr. Akashi. "So I don't have any information for you at the moment, but we are going to continue to check. I heard those stories, we all did, right after the market massacre in Sarajevo, that there were reports and there were secret reports and that these reports were refuting the facts that the firing came from one side or another. I believe the third report, the final one, was inconclusive. The United Nations could not conclude which side had fired on the market. However, I will check with Mr. Akashi", he said.
Another correspondent asked Mr. Fawzi to confirm if the warheads removed from Ukraine were indeed 4,400. He said the representative of Ukraine, this morning, had mentioned 2,200. Mr. Fawzi said, "I don't know where the additional 2,200 came from, but that is the figure I have -- 4,400." The correspondent inquired if that was the official version and Mr. Fawzi responded in the affirmative.
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