DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960730
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 had met this morning with the Permanent Representative of Germany, Tono Eitel, who would take over the Security Council presidency in August. They had discussed the various crises and issues that the Council was expected to take up in August, including Western Sahara, Burundi, Rwanda and the implementation of Council resolution 986 (1995), which concerns the "oil-for-food" formula.
At the time of the briefing, the Secretary-General was receiving a farewell call from the Permanent Representative of New Zealand, Colin Keating, "who we are all sorry to see leave", Ms. Foa said. Later today, the Secretary-General would meet with Gambia's Permanent Representative, Momodou Kebba Jallow. He would also meet with Belgium's Foreign Minister, Eric Derycke.
Reporting on the Secretary-General's meeting with his senior aides yesterday, Ms. Foa said they had discussed ways by which the United Nations resources and expertise could be used in the global battle to eliminate terrorism. They had identified three elements for the task. One element was that a comprehensive review of all conventions related to terrorism should be undertaken to determine their status, as follows: those implemented; those ratified but not implemented; and those not even ratified. In addition, the Organization should initiate a process to convince Member States that had not signed important conventions to do so. It also needed to determine what new machinery or mechanisms were necessary to implement conventions to stop terrorism at its source. Among questions that should be addressed, she included: what could be done to ensure that there was no safe haven for terrorists; how could terrorists be stopped from abusing political asylum to fund and plan their despicable activities; and, most importantly, how could coordination of anti-terrorist action be effectively improved.
The Secretary-General was expected to present a position paper on the matter to the fifty-first session of the General Assembly, Ms. Foa continued. Senior aides were continuing to participate in the working group that was formed at the Summit of Peacemakers in Sharm El-Skeikh, Egypt, in March. The United Nations Legal Counsel, Hans Corell, had attended the most recent meeting of that group, which had been held in Washington, D.C.
The Spokesman then announced that Uganda and Zambia had become the eighty-first and eighty-second Member States to pay their 1996 regular budget dues in full, in the amounts of $108,770 each. Contributions were still owed by 103 Member States. A total of $2.9 billion was still owed to the
Organization -- $0.8 billion to the regular budget and $2.1 billion for peace- keeping. "That can be paid by the end of the month", Ms. Foa added.
In response to a previous query about the cherry trees in the north garden at Headquarters, Ms. Foa said that they were maintained by a professional gardening company, Alpine - the Care of Trees. Subsequent to the complaint about the trees, the company resprayed and had stated that the trees were healthy and had had the best cherry blossoms in the area. It had also reported that any perceived degradation was a normal change in appearance for the season and no further treatment was necessary. "Sleep easy, the cherry trees will survive", Ms. Foa added.
The Secretary-General had asked his Special Representative for Burundi, Marc Faguy, to represent him at the summit meeting to be held in Arusha tomorrow on the situation in Burundi, Ms. Foa said. The summit was the initiative of former United Republic of Tanzania President, Julius Nyerere, and of the Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Salim Ahmed Salim. Among others, the leaders of the United Republic of Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Zaire and Ethiopia were expected to participate.
Also on Burundi, Ms. Foa said that yesterday the Security Council had condemned the actions that led to the overthrow of constitutional order in Burundi and urged the country's military leaders to restore constitutional government and processes, including the continuation of the elected National Assembly, civil institutions and respect for human rights. The Council had stressed that the present situation required utmost restraint and reiterated its support for regional mediation efforts, including those of former President Nyerere and the OAU.
This morning, Ms. Foa continued, the Council had taken up the extension of the mandates of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES). Both mandates had been extended for six months, she added.
The Spokesman then reported that the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Liberia, James Jonah, had left Abuja after attending the summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Liberia had been a major item of discussion at the summit because ECOWAS countries supplied over 10,000 troops for peace-keeping in that country. Following some other travel, Ambassador Jonah would return to New York to report to the Secretary-General on the summit's outcome, particularly regarding the discussions on the next steps in the peace process for Liberia.
On Haiti, Ms. Foa said that the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Enrique ter Horst, had organized a meeting in Port-au-Prince of foreign donor institutions and United Nations agencies to study ways to optimize international assistance to the country. Haiti's Prime Minister and
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Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance and Planning had also attended the meeting. It had been agreed that sectoral meetings would be held regularly to coordinate action and assess progress in all fields involving the donor community, such as health, the environment, education, public works, trade and agriculture. "We are hitting up on donors yet again to come through with all the promises they made to Haiti", Ms. Foa added.
The Spokesman then elaborated on the United Nations current mandate in Haiti in response to a question asked yesterday, stating that the mission was now called the United Nations Support Mission in Haiti (UNSMIH). Its mandate, which would expire on 30 November, was limited to the following tasks: to assist Haitian authorities in the professionalization of the Haitian national police; to assist the Haitian authorities in maintaining a secure and stable environment conducive to the success of the current efforts to establish and train an effective national police force; and to coordinate activities by the United Nations system to promote institution-building, national reconciliation and economic rehabilitation.
Asked about a protest by a United States congressman concerning the actions and mandate of the American troops that had landed in Haiti last week, Ms. Foa said that since that was a bilateral issue, the question should be addressed to the United States Permanent Mission.
Ms. Foa then announced that Carl Bildt, High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, would brief the Security Council at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow, 31 July. She would try to arrange for him to meet correspondents at the noon briefing.
Regarding the International Police Task Force (IPTF) in Bosnia, Ms. Foa reported that its spokesman in Sarajevo had declared today that the Force "would no longer carry on as 'Mister Nice Guy' with the chiefs of police who obstruct the work of the United Nations Police Monitors". The United Nations Police Commissioner, Peter Fitzgerald, was expected to send a letter today to the Minister of the Bosnian Croat Federation, Abdul Habib, demanding the removal of two local police officials in Bugojno for their involvement in the attempt to evict a local Croat family and the subsequent threat to kidnap and shoot the United Nations Police Monitors who tried to help the family. "No more", Ms. Foa said.
In another letter to the Deputy Minister of the Interior, she said IPTF was demanding the removal of the chief of police of west Mostar who was responsible for the kidnapping of the police chief of Jablanica even though he was eventually released after IPTF launched a protest. In that incident, the Police Monitors had been used to fool the Jablanica police chief to go to west Mostar where he was arrested in their presence. Currently, IPTF was assisting in the selection of police officers for the new Federation police force. To date, they had certified 1,300 out of the 2,300 officers required for Sarajevo. "They found 1,300 guys who seemed to fit the bill and have all the
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qualifications. We will not let the bad guys mess with us any more", Ms. Foa added.
The Department of Humanitarian Affairs had a five-member technical mission on its way to Burundi to undertake contingency sectoral planning in all humanitarian sectors, Ms. Foa continued. The team had arrived in Nairobi, where they would meet with other United Nations officials, and was expected to arrive in Bujumbura on Friday, 2 August. Ms. Foa also informed correspondents that an updated list of humanitarian appeals put out by the Department was now available in the Spokesman's office -- how much was needed, the target group and how much had not been received.
Turning to the impact of the most recent hurricane, Cesar, Ms. Foa said that the Nicaraguan Government had requested the Department of Humanitarian Affairs to launch an appeal for international assistance in the wake of flood damage caused by the hurricane on Sunday, 28 July. The Department was prepared to serve as a channel for cash contributions to be used for emergency relief.
In response to a previous query about the Solomon Islands' request for a good offices mission, the Spokesman told correspondents that consultations at Headquarters with countries from that region were continuing and would probably continue for a few more days. A reply would then be sent to the Solomon Islands.
Ms. Foa then announced that the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) Club would hold two briefings tomorrow. The first would be at 12:30 p.m. and was entitled: "Hot line to Bujumbura". It would be a telephone briefing with Burundian parliamentarians taking refuge following the coup and would be carried out with the help of the non-governmental organization Parliamentarians for Global Action. At 5:30 p.m., France's Permanent Representative and President of the Security Council for July, Alain Dejammet, would hold a briefing on the Council's work during his presidency.
Asked to elaborate on the idea of a safe haven for terrorism and to comment on what was the Secretary-General going to do that had not been done before, Ms. Foa said the idea was to put all "the ducks in a row". The Organization had to look at all the means to ensure that terrorists did not find safe havens anywhere. Although there were a number of existing mechanisms to do so, one needed to determine how effective they were. Recommendations on those issues would be presented in a report to the Assembly's next regular session.
Citing Sudan and Libya as safe havens for terrorists, a correspondent asked if such countries had signed the relevant conventions and, if they had not signed, how the United Nations would get them to do so. Ms. Foa said there were a multiplicity of bilateral, regional and international agreements that needed to be evaluated which required a great deal of work. The
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Organization would look at all such agreements and conventions as requested by the General Assembly.
Asked if the United Nations was participating in the anti-terrorist conference for foreign and security ministers being held in Paris today, Ms. Foa said it was a "Group of Seven" plus the Russian Federation ministerial conference. However, the Organization would be "getting reports from the frontline there".
Citing a 17 June report that the Sudanese Government had dropped 12 cluster bombs on the civilian population in a town in Sudan, a correspondent asked if the United Nations or the World Food Programme (WFP) had information on that incident. Ms. Foa said she was unsure but would find out.
Asked if the closure of the Office of the Secretary-General in Afghanistan (OSGA) would lower the status of the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan, Ms. Foa said it would not. The idea was to put all the support behind the Special Mission and consolidate all resources into it. Asked further if the United States and the United Kingdom were likely to assume a role in the Special Mission, Ms. Foa said that at this point the team's composition had not been completed. But the Organization needed all the support it could get to deal with the situation. Today, she added, a rocket had hit the headquarters of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Kabul. Luckily no one was hurt.
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