In progress at UNHQ

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

25 June 1996



Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

19960625 FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY

Sylvana Foa, the Spokesman for Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, began today's noon briefing by announcing that he had arrived in London today, where he would be meeting with the British Prime Minister, John Major. They would discuss events in the former Yugoslavia, Burundi, Angola and Nigeria as well as the upcoming "Group of Seven" summit in Lyon and the situation in Cyprus, among other topics. Tomorrow, the Secretary-General would meet with the British Foreign Secretary, Malcolm Rifkind.

On Thursday, the Secretary-General would return to Geneva to chair the eighth series of talks on East Timor, Ms. Foa continued. The schedule for those talks would be as follows: On Thursday, at 10 a.m. the Secretary- General would meet with the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Ali Alatas, and at 10:30 a.m., he would meet with the Portuguese Foreign Minister, Jaime Jose Matos da Gama. At 11 a.m., the Secretary-General would meet with both Foreign Ministers. The talks were expected to last for most of the day. Headquarters was expected to get a good briefing on the talks from the Secretary-General's Special Advisor, Ismat Kittani, who had already begun meeting with delegations from the Indonesian and Portuguese Missions.

Responding to questions posed previously by correspondents, Ms. Foa said that the head of the Iraqi delegation to the oil-for-food talks, Abdul Amir Al-Anbari, was expected at Headquarters on Thursday afternoon to meet with the Secretary-General's Senior Adviser, Chinmaya Gharekhan.

She also announced that the cable sent by the Secretary-General to South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu on the occasion of the latter's retirement would be available in the Spokesman's Office later today. Apologizing for the delay in making it available to correspondents, Ms Foa said, "it is not a secret United Nations document, it is just an elusive United Nations document".

Reporting on the status of assessed contributions, Ms. Foa said that as of today, 73 Member States had paid in full. "Hats off to Lebanon!" she said, noting that that country had just paid its 1996 contribution of $108,770. She then apologized for giving incorrect information on Mexico's payments to the regular budget for 1996. "The measly sum I told you about yesterday was just the last payment." The actual total payment had been $8,565,655. "No, Mexico you don't get a refund; we are sorry for only giving the amount of the last cheque."

In response to requests, Ms. Foa said that the Spokesman's Office had prepared an informal note to correspondents providing information on Member States that had paid their 1996 assessed contributions. The note contained

population data, the percentage of the budget assessed, the actual assessment and the assessment per capita. The table showed that to date, 58 per cent of the 1996 regular budget has been paid.

Also available in the Spokesman's Office was a chart showing the Organization's actual expenditures on relief and development programmes and on peace-keeping operations, Ms. Foa said. It had been difficult to obtain the figures because many agencies did not agree on the classification of some programmes. For example, whether escorting humanitarian convoys was considered a peace-keeping or a relief activity was open to question. The figures provided were the best available. "The bean counters who helped with the figures suggested that we add about 15,000 pages of footnotes." Such footnotes were available to interested correspondents.

The note shows that, of about $10 billion spent by the United Nations system in 1995 on relief and development as well as on peace-keeping, 73 per cent went to the former and 27 per cent to the latter. In 1996, peace-keeping costs were expected to be about half the amount spent in 1995.

Ms. Foa then announced that the Secretary-General's report on the human rights situation in Croatia had been sent to the Security Council. The report found an absence of concrete initiatives to encourage the return of Croatian Serb refugees to their homes, which suggested that there was continuing hostility to the presence of a significant Serb population on Croatia's territory. The report expressed concern about the Government's failure to provide reasonable security to those wishing to return to their homes in the former sectors. The Secretary-General had recommended that the professional police presence be strengthened and stated that lawlessness could be contained.

The report notes that about 200,000 Croatian Serbs were estimated to have been displaced, Ms. Foa continued. Only 7,065 had received approval to return and a much smaller number had actually returned to their homes. On the other hand, a major programme existed to return displaced Croats. About 50,000 Croat refugees and displaced persons had received approval and returned.

Tomorrow, Ms. Foa said, the Under-Secretary-General for Peace-keeping Operations, Kofi Annan, would begin a mission to the Middle East. He would be consulting with the concerned countries on the mandate of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) which would expire on 31 July. On his arrival in Beirut tomorrow, he would visit the various UNIFIL compounds, including the compound at Kana, which had been attacked by Israel in May. On 30 June, Mr. Annan would travel to Damascus. On 2 July he would visit the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) in Jerusalem. He would then confer with Israeli officials in Tel Aviv. The Under-Secretary-General was expected back in New York on 4 July.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 25 June 1996

Ms. Foa then announced that a press release from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was available (Press Release REF/1147). The UNHCR's Comprehensive Plan of Action for Vietnamese boat people that had begun 21 years ago was being closed at the end of June. Today, the UNHCR had closed the last Malaysian camp for Vietnamese boat people. More than a quarter million people had migrated to Malaysia after crossing pirate- and shark-infested waters.

The press release reported that since 1975, 840,000 Vietnamese asylum- seekers had arrived in the countries of South East Asia and Hong Kong, Ms. Foa continued. About 755,000 had been resettled in the West and 81,000 had returned to Viet Nam. It was expected that when the Comprehensive Plan of Action ended, about 24,700 people would still remain in camps. That included about 15,000 in Hong Kong. "The end of an era", Ms. Foa noted.

She then announced that at 11.15 a.m. tomorrow in room 226 the Secretary of State for Internal Affairs of the Netherlands, Jacob Kohnstamm, who was attending the high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council, would brief correspondents about Dutch policy on narcotic drugs.

She said that another press conference would be held at 11:15 a.m. on Thursday in room 226 by the Secretary-General of the World Food Summit, Kay Killingsworth. The Summit would be held at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome from 13 to 17 November.

Asked when the Secretary-General's report on Cyprus would be issued, Ms. Foa said it should be out this afternoon.

When was the Secretary-General expected back in New York? a correspondent asked. Ms. Foa said he would either return on 11 or 12 July, following his attendance at the "Group of Seven" summit and meetings of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

Noting that the contract of E. J. Electric, which provided the radio broadcasting services for the United Nations for 50 years, was being considered for renewal, a correspondent said that a "non-union company" might get the contract. She asked if it was the Organization's policy to hire non- unionized staff. The correspondent said it was her understanding that Robert Murch had replaced unionized workers with non-unionized personnel when he had been with another company (WPIX). She said that if it was not United Nations policy to hire non-unionized personnel, it was advisable for the Organization, in the interest of efficiency, to continue to hire people who had the requisite expertise, and not ill-equipped temporary workers.

The correspondent then asked if there was anything that the Department of Public Information could do regarding the award of the contract. Ms. Foa said the workers of E.J. Electric were very popular in the Spokesman's Office because they had been among the first Americans to send in contributions to

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 25 June 1996

pay the United Nations dues. "They are some of our favourites." The Associate Spokesman, Juan Carlos Brandt, added that the contract in question was due to expire on 30 June. The office of the Assistant Secretary-General for Conference and Support Services, Benon Sevan, had informed him that negotiations on the matter were still ongoing. A decision on the contract would most likely be taken close to 30 June.

In response to another question, Ms. Foa said that she could not confirm if the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Antonio Cassese, would come to the noon briefing tomorrow. "I have a hook and a net waiting for him." The only problem that might arise was the timing of his meeting with the Security Council. "Otherwise, we have traps laid out for him."

Asked if the Secretary-General had been affected by all the negative publicity about his bid for another term as Secretary-General, Ms. Foa said anyone would be adversely affected under the circumstances. But, she said, she had talked to the Deputy Spokesman, Ahmed Fawzi, who was travelling with the Secretary-General, and he had said that the Secretary-General had "gotten off the plane with a click of his heels and a twinkle in his eyes". "The guy is feisty", Ms. Foa added.

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For information media. Not an official record.