DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960716
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by announcing that the Secretary-General was briefing the Security Council and that correspondents would be alerted about his departure from the Council Chamber so as to provide them with time to talk to him.
She told correspondents that his first appointment today had been with his Special Representative for Cyprus, Han Sung-Joo. Attending the meeting were Deputy Special Representative Gustave Feissel and Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Marrack Goulding. Mr. Han would talk to the press tomorrow. Before going to the Council, the Secretary-General had met with its President, Alain Dejammet of France. He would later meet with the Chairman of the United Nations Association of the United States (UNA-USA), John Whitehead, and Germany's Federal Minister for Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Claudia Nolte.
The Secretary-General had met at 5 p.m. yesterday with the head of the Iraqi delegation to the "oil-for-food" talks, Abdul-Amir Al-Anbari, who had given him the Iraqi Government's food distribution plan in relation to the 20 May memorandum of understanding on the implementation of the oil-for-food formula. The Secretary-General was studying and comparing the plan to that memorandum, and some developments might follow in the very near future.
"Today is a very, very, very sad day for those of us on the third, fourth and fifth floors", said Ms. Foa, adding, "because today, we are losing one of our favourite people". Cathy Toups of The Washington Times was going on a fellowship in Latin America studies. "It is going to be a big loss because she's been a very clear, very honest reporter and we really are going to miss her."
The Spokesman said that the second report of the High Representative for the Implementation of the Peace Agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Carl Bildt, had been transmitted to the Security Council. Covering developments during March to June, the report describes the record of the parties' compliance with the Peace Agreement as a mixed bag. In it, Mr. Bildt stated that while the daily lives of ordinary people and the economy were generally improving, the political tensions that had caused the war were still evident. The triple task of reconstruction, reintegration and market reforms was daunting. Of the $1.8 billion in assistance sought to rebuild the country, only some $1 billion had so far been pledged, Ms. Foa cited the High Representative as reporting. While some refugees were returning, they were mainly going to areas where their ethnic groups were in the majority. New flows of refugees and internally displaced persons were being generated by the transfers of territories and the parties were not implementing their
commitments to human rights, with a pattern of encouragement or tolerance of ethnic harassment.
According to the report, Ms. Foa continued, no party was cooperating fully with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in handing over indicted persons. About 50 of such individuals were likely to be found in the Republika Srpska, 15 in the Federation, with some also seen in Croatia, and three in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro). The organization of the nation-wide elections scheduled for 14 September was very difficult, with half the electorate still displaced and the freedom of movement and communication restricted. However, the elections were crucial.
Despite the problems, Ms. Foa said, the High Representative was confident that the Peace Agreement's goals could be achieved, even though it could take more than one year.
Turning to other matters, the Spokesman said that the United Nations was watching with irritation the threats to take members of the International Police Task Force (IPTF) hostage if attempts were made to arrest Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. The threats had come from several sources and had been broadcast on a local radio station. "We are not amused and hope that this will be settled very, very, very fast."
Meanwhile, she added, the IPTF had reported that the Republika Srpska's Minister for Internal Affairs had so far refused a reduction in the size of that State's 22,000 police force. The IPTF believed that a force of 8,000 to 9,000 would be sufficient.
On the food situation in the Sudan, Ms. Foa said that the Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), Catherine Ann Bertini, had welcomed the Secretary-General's announcement that the Sudanese Government had permitted the WFP to resume food drops into southern Sudan with C-130 aircraft. However, Ms. Bertini had stated that, unless a longer period than just July was granted, the new permission would have little impact on the danger of starvation staring 700,000 people in the face. That was because only two weeks were left in July and that period would be too short to prepare the ground for the air drops to be carried out successfully. One week was needed to clear, mark and prepare the drop zones and place monitors to guide the planes. Only about 224 tons of food could then be delivered in the second week due to the limited number of flights the aircraft could make. The WFP joined the Secretary-General in appealing to the Sudanese Government to continue abiding by the terms of the principles essential for continuing Operation Lifeline Sudan and extend the period to a couple of months.
On the General Assembly's activities, Ms. Foa informed correspondents that it was holding its 121st plenary meeting on, among other things, a Belgium-introduced resolution on the implementation of the United Nations New
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 16 July 1996
Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s. It was also taking up the issue of building a better world through sports and the Olympic Ideals and urging all States to observe the "Olympic Truce" during the games to be held in Atlanta from 19 July to 4 August. Messages of sympathy were also sent on the natural disasters in Bangladesh, China, Guyana, India and Yemen.
The report of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on the shooting down by the Cuban air force of two civil aircraft was being finalized today or tomorrow and could be taken up by the Security Council on Monday, 22 July, the Spokesman said.
In a subsequent question-and-answer session, the Spokesman was asked where the C-130 aircraft were based and why more time was needed. In response, she said they were based in Lokichokio, Kenya. However, the big logistical problem was due to the fact that some time would be required to demarcate the drop areas and place monitors in order to prevent the recurrence of accidents in which food drops had injured people on the ground.
Asked whether the Chinese fact-finding team in Haiti was there at the Council's behest, she said that, while it was led by the Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, it was a bilateral mission. The team had met yesterday with Haitian President Rene Preval and the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Enrique ter Horst.
In response to a question as to what the United Nations or the Secretary-General would do to follow up on the 1996 Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Ms. Foa said that this year's launching of the $25-billion United Nations System-Wide Special Initiative on Africa and the priority given to the "Agenda for Development" were examples of the importance given by the Secretary-General to the problems of the developing countries.
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