DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960724
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by saying that the Under-Secretary for Administration and Management, Joseph Connor, would brief correspondents on the financial situation of the United Nations and where it stood at present. (His briefing notes are issued separately.)
The Spokesman reminded correspondents that because of the unfolding situation in Burundi, she had asked the Under-Secretary-General for Peace- keeping Operations, Kofi Annan, to brief them at 2:30 p.m. today on exactly what was going on with the contingency plans that the United Nations had been working on. She said the Secretary-General had been on the phone since very early in the morning with his Special Representative, Marc Faguy, and at the time of the briefing had spoken with the former President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere, who had been leading the peace effort in the region. Mr. Nyerere had told the Secretary-General that the international community should not accept another coup in Burundi, and should make it clear that it would oppose any regime which came to power as a result of that. Mr. Nyerere had said that he would call for international action to be taken and sanctions applied against Burundi. He had told the Secretary-General that he was advising leaders in the region and asking them to meet immediately to take a position on what was happening right now in Burundi.
Mr. Nyerere also informed the Secretary-General, according to the Spokesman, that he had contacted the Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Salim A. Salim; Prime Minister of Ethiopia and former Chairman of the OAU Meles Zenawi; and President Paul Biya of Cameroon, the current OAU Chairman, to ask for a quick summit of the organization to review the situation in Burundi. "So we're, of course, watching that situation very, very closely, and hopefully, by the time Kofi Annan gets here this afternoon, we'll have a better idea exactly what is going on", she said.
Officials from the Department of Peace-keeping Operations had yesterday met with representatives of eight countries who were interested in the situation in Burundi. The countries were Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom and the United States. The participants had assessed the progress and preparations for international action in Burundi. They had reviewed the status of the African force and also reviewed United Nations efforts to put together a multinational force under Chapter VII of the Charter. They had also discussed cooperation in view of the developing tragedy, the Spokesman added.
As correspondents were aware, she said the Secretary-General had addressed the Economic and Social Council in the morning. He had talked about the need for the Organization to have money on a timely basis to work on development. His statement was available at the Spokesman's office. (See Press Release SG/SM/6028-ECOSOC/5682 issued today.) At the time of the briefing, the Secretary-General was signing a cooperation agreement between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The text of the agreement was also available at the Spokesman's office.
The Spokesman informed correspondents that she had a press release from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announcing that it had now ended its repatriation programme in Mozambique. It began in 1993 and 378,000 Mozambican refugees had been returned home by UNHCR.
Finally, she said the report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) (document S/1996/575) was being issued today. The mandate of UNIFIL would expire on 31 July. The Secretary- General's report was "very frank and very candid" about what UNIFIL had been able to do and what it had not. The report went over developments of the last six months which, as correspondents knew, were marked by escalation of hostilities. "You all know what happened", she said. The Secretary-General said that it was a matter of regret that the United Nations once again had cause to call on the parties concerned to respect the non-combatant status of civilians and United Nations peace-keepers. He said that despite the Security Council's call on the parties to cooperate fully with UNIFIL in the full implementation of its mandate as defined in resolutions 425 (1978) and 426 (1978), such cooperation had not been forthcoming and there had been no active political pressure on the parties to implement resolution 425 (1978). That left UNIFIL in the same difficult and dangerous situation in which it had been since the Israeli forces withdrew to their present lines in 1985. When either party was bent on confrontation, UNIFIL, as a peace-keeping force, was powerless. In the circumstances, UNIFIL had done its best to limit violence and to protect the civilian population. The Secretary-General said 'this has become its de facto mandate". The Spokesman said the Secretary-General had recommended a six-month extension of UNIFIL's mandate until 31 January 1997 at its present strength.
During the subsequent question-and-answer session, the Spokesman said she did not get a briefing on yesterday's meeting between the Secretary- General and the President-elect of the Dominican Republic, but would try to do so today.
A correspondent asked what the proposed multinational force to be sent to Burundi would do under the Chapter VII provisions. Discussions were still in progress, the Spokesman said. The possibility of a Chapter VII operation had been discussed at the meeting last night between the Department of Peace- keeping Operations and the eight "donor" countries.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 24 July 1996
Asked about the contents of the report of the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry for Burundi which was presented to the Secretary-General by its members yesterday, she said she had not received a copy yet. It was 70 pages long. The Secretary-General was studying it, and more would be heard about it. Asked whether any of the Commission members were still at Headquarters, Juan Carlos Brandt of the Spokesman's office, said they had left for the airport. "Go, stop them", the Spokesman joked, and promised: "We should hear something soon about the report".
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Note: The fourth sentence in the second paragraph of yesterday's noon briefing notes should read:
"She reminded correspondents that the Commission was established to look into the assassination of the President of Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira, in October 1993 and the events that followed it."