DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960731
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by announcing that the High Representative for the implementation of the Peace Agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Carl Bildt, would brief correspondents immediately after addressing the Security Council. He had briefed the Secretary-General before going to the Council. (Mr. Bildt's briefing notes are being issued separately.)
Other matters to be discussed by the Council today include a letter from Libya's President, Colonel Muammar Al-Qadhafi, regarding Security Council sanctions on that Member State, Ms. Foa said. That letter had been issued as document S/1996/588. In addition, the Senior Adviser to the Secretary- General, Under-Secretary-General Chinmaya Gharekhan, was expected to brief the Council on the one-day regional summit held in Arusha yesterday to discuss the situation in Burundi.
The Secretary-General's Special Representative to Burundi, Marc Faguy, had attended the summit and had now returned to Bujumbura, Ms. Foa continued. The Presidents of Kenya, Rwanda, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda, the Prime Ministers of Ethiopia and Zaire as well as Cameroon's Foreign Minister had also attended the summit. The Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Salim Ahmed Salim, and the former Tanzanian President, Julius Nyerere, were also in attendance.
Further on Burundi, Ms. Foa said the World Food Programme (WFP) had issued a report on the recent flow of Burundian refugees, particularly from Cibitoke, in Burundi, to Uvira, in Zaire. The numbers of refugees had increased sharply this week from about 500 last week. On 29 July, 1,200 people had arrived in Uvira. Yesterday, 1,600 new arrivals had been registered.
The new Head of the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan, Norbert Holl, had "made some good copy today when he had a few choice words for the people who were rocketing Kabul while he was there". He had wound up his visit to the Afghan capital where he had met with President Burhanuddin Rabbani, the new Prime Minister, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, as well as other leaders of the parties of the five-party coalition Government. Mr. Holl was now visiting the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif where he would meet with another principal Afghan faction leader, General Dostum.
Ms. Foa then announced that the eighth report from the Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on the operations of the multinational implementation force (IFOR) had been issued today (document S/1996/600). Sent by the NATO Secretary-General, Javier Solana, the report
stated that during the last month IFOR had placed increased emphasis on support to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in preparation for the Bosnian elections, scheduled for 14 September. Secretary- General Solana was content that IFOR continued to provide a secure environment in which civilian agencies could continue their implementation of the Peace Agreement. However, he expressed concern about recent threats directed against the United Nations International Police Task Force (IPTF). He gave assurances that IFOR remained prepared to ensure a secure environment and would not tolerate any deliberate attacks on the United Nations or other personnel engaged in implementing the Peace Agreement.
Mr. Solana also reported that about 53,000 personnel were now deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina from all the NATO nations and from 16 non-NATO contributors, Ms. Foa continued. Considerable progress had been registered in the cantonment of forces and heavy weapons of the former warring factions over the past month. Demobilization continued at a slow rate and was therefore not expected to be completed until approximately mid-September.
The Spokesman then announced that Nigeria had become the eighty-third Member State to pay its 1996 regular budget dues in full, in the amount of $1,250,857. In spite of such good news, Ms. Foa added that there had been a new peace-keeping assessment for about $103 million which increased the Organization's outstanding debt to $3 billion -- $0.8 billion to the regular budget and $2.2 billion for peace-keeping operations.
Ms. Foa then informed correspondents that a press release from the United Nations Compensation Commission was available in the Spokesman's office. It contained information on the Iraqi request for funds for legal defence in its case on the "well blow-out control claim" -- a claim that was filed by the Kuwait Oil Company for about $950 million. That was the cost the Company said it incurred to put out the oil well fires that were left burning at the end of the Persian Gulf war.
Elaborating further, Ms. Foa said that Iraq had had observers at the Commission's oral proceedings and had asked for a postponement of oral proceedings until its request for funds to enable its Government to hire legal counsel and experts to dispute the Kuwait Oil Company's claim had been resolved. In the press release, the panel of commissioners stated that it currently had no power to grant the request and that even a short postponement of the oil proceedings would disrupt the panel's work plan and prevent it from completing its review of the claim within the applicable time-limit.
In another announcement, Ms. Foa informed correspondents that the briefing by France's Permanent Representative and Security Council President for July, Alain Dejammet, on the Council's work during his presidency, would be held at 3:30 p.m. today in the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) Club.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 31 July 1996
Ms. Foa then announced that the Manhattan Neighborhood Network and Time Warner Cable had agreed to broadcast the ceremonies of the presentation of the Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger, at 3 p.m. today, on Channel 34 and at 9 p.m., on 9 August, on Channel 69. The broadcast would feature addresses by Cameroon's President and current OAU Chairman, Paul Biya, former United Nations Secretary-General and Chairman of the Africa Prize, Javier Perez de Cuellar, and the President of the Hunger Project, Joan Holmes.
A correspondent asked for an update on the status of the procedures to implement the oil-for-food arrangements in Iraq and what else was needed before Iraqi oil could be exported. Ms. Foa said the contracts for the inspectors and monitors still had to be resolved. She would provide more information on the matter.
Ms. Foa then reminded correspondents that the Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 661 (1990) to monitor the sanctions against Iraq, Tono Eitel (Germany), would hold a press conference today in room 226 following a 3:30 p.m. meeting of his committee and a briefing of interested delegations.
Asked about the nature of the threats to the IPTF personnel in Bosnia, Ms. Foa said there had been numerous threats during the last few weeks. In general, they had occurred when the United Nations Police Force had tried to intervene to protect families, as in cases of eviction from their homes. The local authorities had issued violent threats which were cowardly because they were issued to a most vulnerable group -- the monitors -- who were not armed. The IFOR personnel were the ones who were heavily armed. The IPTF's mandate was to monitor, observe and train, Ms. Foa added.
When asked if the threats to the IPTF had come only from the Bosnian Serbs or from other groups, such as the Bosnian Muslims or the Croats, Ms. Foa said that the IPTF's work had been disrupted regularly. She promised correspondents a full list of the recent incidents involving threats to IPTF personnel.
Another correspondent asked if the Organization had responded to statements which questioned the IPTF mandate. Ms. Foa said there was some lack of understanding about the IPTF's mandate, which was to monitor, train and observe. Referring to a note from the IPTF in Sarajevo, Ms. Foa said that the IPTF had been aggressive with the police forces of the entities and on a number of occasions had demanded the removal of the police chiefs. The note stated that the Force was "pursuing a rigid stance with the police forces of the entities in their restructuring", as they had done in the vetting of the 1,300 recruits for inclusion into the Federation Police Force. Regarding the use of force, the IPTF's mandate was to educate, train and advise. It was able to enforce when there was need to do so only with IFOR's backing. The
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 31 July 1996
note stressed that IPTF personnel were unarmed and did not have enforcement powers.
Regarding stories about kickbacks to officers in contributing Member States, she said the note stated that IPTF had not received complaints from individual monitors but had noted that such accusations had surfaced in other missions. Any relevant reports were referred to New York. Ms. Foa added that rumours about kickbacks had existed throughout the war in Bosnia.
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