DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960626
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 the Secretary-General was on his way to Geneva. Before leaving London this morning, he had met with the British Foreign Secretary, Malcolm Rifkind. Much of their meeting was spent discussing the situation in Burundi and the need to encourage international efforts to develop contingency plans aimed at preventing further bloodshed there. The Secretary-General and Foreign Secretary Rifkind also discussed the situations in Rwanda, Nigeria, Zaire and Cyprus.
The Secretary-General also met this morning with the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Ms. Foa said. They had discussed the situation in Nigeria, the forthcoming elections in Gambia and the recent elections in Sierra Leone.
Ms. Foa then announced that the Secretary-General's report on his good offices mission in Cyprus was available today. The report concluded that the negotiations on Cyprus had been at an impasse for far too long and that, 32 years after the United Nations began its involvement in that conflict, the international community could reasonably demand evidence that the parties were seriously pursuing an overall settlement.
The report also noted that the Security Council had repeatedly stated that the status quo was unacceptable, she continued. A lasting settlement would not be achieved unless the two leaders could persuade their communities that their interests would be better served by flexibility and compromise rather than by continuing confrontation. The Secretary-General had called on the parties to work with the United Nations and the many countries that supported the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) and the Secretary-General's good offices to break the present impasse and establish common ground on which direct negotiations could be resumed.
Ms. Foa informed correspondents that the Secretary-General's Special Representative to Cyprus, Han Sung-Joo, was presently in Cyprus and would be there until Sunday. Yesterday, he met with Glafcos Clerides. Today, he met with Rauf Denktash.
The Secretary-General's statement on the terrorist attack last night on a United States Air Force base in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, was available in the Spokesman's Office, Ms. Foa said. In that statement, the Secretary-General condemned in the strongest possible terms this latest act of terrorism and
called on the international community to strengthen its efforts to combat international terrorism. Today, the Secretary-General had sent condolence messages to the King of Saudi Arabia and to the President of the United States.
Responding to questions asked yesterday about the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), Ms. Foa said that her homework had concluded that UNTSO was "the oldest and the most unnoticed of all United Nations peace- keeping operations nowadays". It has been compared to the heart -- constantly working but unnoticed until a problem arose. The operation now had 178 military observers from 19 countries and maintained cease-fire observation posts along the Israeli-Lebanese borders in areas where troops of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were not deployed. It also had observation posts in the Golan Heights -- in the Israeli-Syria sector -- as well as units in Damascus, Beirut and Ismailiya.
Elaborating further on UNTSO, Ms. Foa said its cease-fire observation functions go back to past wars and armistice agreements in the Middle East. Those functions were closely tied to the current Middle East peace process. It was expected that UNTSO's observation role would be completed once a more permanent peace was established in the region. The mission was one of only two peace-keeping operations financed from the regular budget, the other being the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP). There was no periodic mandate renewal process for UNTSO. The operation had been hard hit by the current downsizing exercise, with a reduction of its military observers from 220 to the present number of 178. It might be further streamlined to make it more cost-effective.
Referring to a "hoax" press release that had appeared yesterday pretending to be from the United Nations Human Rights Commission, Ms. Foa said it had reported that a human rights rapporteur had arrived in New York to investigate allegations of brutality in the New York City Police Department. Inquiries had been made in Geneva and it was ascertained that the Special Rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia, Maurice Glele- Ahanhanzo, was currently in Benin and, hence, had not arrived in New York yesterday in "a black helicopter".
Ms. Foa said that the Human Rights Commission's Special Rapporteurs received numerous communications from a variety of sources which reported on violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms around the world. Such communications were examined closely and, if the governments concerned agreed, an investigator would visit a country to verify the facts. As an example, for his last report, the Special Rapporteur was invited to France, Germany and the United Kingdom to look at problems of racism. It was possible that a report containing allegations of malpractice by the NYPD had been sent to the Special Rapporteur. If so, he would look into it and then forward it to the United States Mission in Geneva for a response. However, it was confirmed that the
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 26 June 1996
Special Rapporteur had not come to New York City yesterday to carry out such an investigation.
Responding to queries on the report of the Commission of Inquiry looking into events in Burundi, Ms. Foa said the Commission had received an extension and still had a lot of work to do to complete its report. The report was not expected to be issued until 15 July.
Regarding the contract for the electrical and telecommunications services, Ms. Foa said the Organization had received a number of proposals from companies interested in providing those services to the United Nations. The technical and financial aspects of the proposals had been evaluated and would be presented to the Committee on Contracts tomorrow. Despite the rumours at Headquarters, no consideration would be given to a non-unionized agreement. Furthermore, the Secretariat was doing its utmost to ensure that the technicians, engineers, electricians and other staff who were currently providing such services would be protected under new contracts.
Ms. Foa then announced that the Secretary-General's progress report on the peace-keeping operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina would be issued today. In that report, he summarized the mission's activities during the last three months, including those of the International Police Task Force (IPTF), the United Nations Mine Action Centre, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as well as civil affairs, human rights and reconstruction activities. The report raised the crucial question as to whether the signatories of the Dayton Agreement remained committed to their undertakings or whether one or more continued to pursue the aim of separation. It pointed out several trends that might give rise to the dangers of separation.
The seventh report on the operations of the Implementation Force (IFOR) by the Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Javier Solana, was also available today, Ms. Foa continued. The report stated that there had been many successes during the past six months but the peace remained fragile, and many hurdles had to be overcome. Since the period leading up to the elections would be crucial, it had been agreed that IFOR would be maintained at approximately its current force level until after the elections, and would retain its overall capability until its mandate expired in December.
Ms. Foa then announced that the Secretary-General of the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), Wally N'Dow would speak on the challenges that Habitat II presented for Africa. The forum would be held at 12:45 p.m. today in Conference Room 2.
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 26 June 1996
Asked if she knew the source of the hoax press release, Ms. Foa said she did not. The Spokesman's Office had been alerted to it when a number of telephone inquiries came in from persons residing in New York and other parts of the United States.
A correspondent asked why the status of negotiations on the contract for electrical and telecommunications services had not been communicated to the concerned personnel. Of special concern was the status of their medical benefits. The Associate Spokesman, Juan Carlos Brandt, said that problems had arisen because too much credibility had been given to rumours in the Secretariat. It was customary for bizarre rumours to be spread when the dates for contract renewals drew near. It was important to await the official decision on the contract.
Ms. Foa agreed that rumours of that type were usually excessive. However, in the present case, luckily, correspondents had brought them to the attention of the Spokesman's office.
Asked about the status of medical coverage for the concerned personnel, Mr. Brandt reminded correspondents that the persons concerned were employed by a company that was responsible for ensuring the continuity of medical and other benefits until the company's contract was renewed.
Asked if the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Antonio Cassese, would speak to correspondents, Ms. Foa said she was still awaiting a response from him on the matter. However, Mr. Cassese would be talking to the Security Council, under the Arria formula, at 3:30 p.m. today in Conference Room 7. [The Arria formula is an 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. The meetings are presided over by a member of the Council serving as facilitator for the discussions, and not by the Council President.]
* *** *