DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960906
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, started today's noon briefing saying that the Secretary-General had "a very packed schedule" today.
At 10 a.m., the Secretary-General met with the Permanent Representatives of Egypt, Nabil A. Elaraby; and of Guinea-Bissau, Alfredo Lopes Cabral; as well as the Deputy Permanent Representative of Botswana, Mothusi D.C. Nkgowe. The meeting was part of the Secretary-General's regular consultations with the African members of the Security Council; in the afternoon, he would have his regular briefing with the leaders of the African Group. The Spokesman noted that the Secretary-General briefed both this group and the Non-Aligned Caucus on a regular basis.
At 10:30 a.m., the Secretary-General met with the Executive Director of the African Centre for Development and Strategy Studies, Adebayo Adedeji. "They talked about preparations for a conference in January, which will focus on the peaceful settlement of inter-African conflicts, which should be very interesting."
The Secretary-General was now meeting with the Minister for the Environment of Spain, Isabel Tocino. Afterwards, the Secretary-General was scheduled to meet with the Chief of Mission of the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Henryk Sokalski. However, Mr. Sokalski was still briefing the Security Council, so it was likely that their meeting would be delayed.
At 12:30 p.m., the Secretary-General was due to meet with the Permanent Representative of Belarus, Alyaksandr Sychou. "Discussions will evidently centre around the Belarus suggestion that a nuclear-free zone be created in Central and Eastern Europe. As you may recall, Belarus was the first former republic of the USSR to renounce nuclear weapons", Ms. Foa said.
The Secretary-General would then attend a working luncheon with the high-level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development, "which will focus on the preparation of a report to the special session of the General Assembly that is scheduled for June 1997 on the implementation of the commitments made in Rio".
After the African Group briefing, the Secretary-General would receive the Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories, Terje Roed Larsen, also a regular consultation.
"I know you like my good news before I go on to all the boring bad news", Ms. Foa continued. There had been no full payments to the United
Nations regular 1996 budget, "but two countries managed to get off the Article 19 list" on which there were now only 14 countries. Latvia had made a payment amounting to $100,000 and Madagascar had given a check for $73,943, "so we're happy to see the list" getting smaller. Member States on the Article 19 list were those who were more than two years in arrears [in their payments to the regular budget] and who, thus, lost their right to vote in the General Assembly unless an exemption, based on the country's real inability to pay, was made. "Right now, there are five countries who have received that temporary exemption: Rwanda, Liberia, Tajikistan, Georgia and the Comoros", Ms. Foa stated. The list of countries on the Article 19 list was available in the Spokesman's Office.
On the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III), Ms. Foa said that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Alioune Blondin Beye, delivered a letter from the Secretary-General to the leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Jonas Savimbi, in Bailundo yesterday. He also presented a mediation document to the UNITA leader. In his letter, the Secretary-General talked about the progress made in the peace process to date, but also raised concerns that needed to be urgently addressed. The mediation document, she added, "outlines the outstanding questions that have to be resolved by UNITA. These questions include the completion of the quartering process and handing over of heavy armaments, the formation of a national army and the necessary steps for the government of national unity and reconciliation". In response, the UNITA leader had indicated that the quartering of UNITA troops at the last quartering site will restart and continue until it is completed. UNITA's heavy armaments in the north region will be handed over to the United Nations on 14 September and those in the east region on 16 September, Ms. Foa noted. War materials in the central region, already stockpiled in Andulo, Quibala, Vila Nova and Londunbali, would be handed over to those quartering sites.
The UNITA generals would return to Luanda before 20 September; UNITA would also return some of the 10,000 deserters. "Remember we told you we had so many thousands quartered, but people were getting bored sitting in the quartering sites and had been deserting; but they will be returned" to the quartering sites, she added. The selection of UNITA soldiers for the new national army would restart immediately and would be stepped up. Mr. Savimbi also indicated that he would like to meet with Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos before the 20th of September, but the location of the meeting has not yet been determined. "We had some questions yesterday about the exhumation of mass graves by teams from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. They've sent us a note, and copies of it are available in my office. Basically, the purpose of the exhumations is threefold: to corroborate witness testimony, to recover evidence related to events reported in Tribunal indictments and to document injuries, and identify the cause and date of death", Ms. Foa said, adding that the Tribunal conducts exhumations only in connection with its investigations.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 6 September 1996
"There has been a series of exhumations in Srebrenica since July", she continued. "The grave site at Cerska was completed, followed by the exhumation in Nova Casava. In those two sites, they exhumed a total of 187 bodies. They are now exhuming bodies at Lazete. So far, they have exhumed 58 bodies there. After this, they will move on to a fourth site". The IFOR [the multinational implementation force] was providing security for the Tribunal personnel, Ms. Foa said.
In Croatia, there was no time table or schedule for exhumations. As was said yesterday, it may take from four to six weeks to complete the exhumation at Ovcara. An exhumation taking place in Packracka Poljina (Croatia) had been completed, Ms. Foa said. "But now my understanding is that some of these exhumations are being done by other human rights groups, and not just by the Tribunal", she added. Hiro Ueki, of the Spokeman's Office, said that Physicians for Human Rights was one of the main non-governmental groups conducting exhumations of mass graves on behalf of the Tribunal.
"A couple of weeks ago, we were only four ratifications short for the process to begin on the United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans the use of chemical weapons around the world. We now have the ratification of India. It was the sixty-second country to ratify the Convention, but we are still short of three", Ms. Foa said. She reminded correspondents that the Chemical Weapons Convention had been signed by 160 nations, "but they also have to have it ratified by their Congress or Parliament. The Convention will take effect 180 days after we've reached 65 ratifications, and now we are only three countries short".
One year after Beijing, a special event marking this first anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women would be held on Monday, 9 September, in Conference Room 4. ("Monday will be a killer day, you will all need at least five people in your bureaus", she remarked to correspondents.) The Secretary-General would open the event at 2 p.m.; key speakers included Donna Shalala, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Ugandan lawyer and activist Florence Butegwa. Also speaking were Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). CNN anchor Judy Woodruff will moderate the discussion, Ms. Foa said.
Also on Monday, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., a film forum on the Beijing Conference would take place in the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium; films on the Conference would be screened and the film makers would take part in the forum, Ms. Foa said. For more information on that subject, correspondents could contact Graciela Hall, extension 6923.
"We're starting to get our marching orders for the general debate", Ms. Foa told correspondents. "As of 9 September and till 11 October, the
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 6 September 1996
Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit will have an area assigned to it in the visitor's lobby, right next to the Zeus sculpture. It will help journalists obtain their media accreditation passes right away. Please tell your colleagues to come straight to the Visitors Entrance, look for Zeus and sign up there. It will be a lot easier than trying to wander around the building without it."
Also, the same security procedures that will apply during the general debate of the General Assembly would be applied on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, the Spokesman said. "We have a lot of VIPs around next week, so we're using the same procedures. These procedures restrict access to the second floor at certain times. On Monday, restrictions will be in force all day; on the other days, we're not sure just yet. The exception is the stake-out area in front of the Security Council, that's available for journalists any time you want", she added. "Once the heads of State leave the building, restrictions will be relaxed. Also, there will be an area at the delegate's entrance for television crews during those three days, behind the barriers. Nobody should be outside the delegate's entrance, so try to stick to the two stake-out positions on Monday anyway, and we'll see what happens on Tuesday and Wednesday." [These instructions would be posted on the bulletin board and copies would be available in the Spokesman's Office.]
Press conferences for the day included, in the morning, that of the Secretary-General of the Socialist International, Luis Ayala, at 11 a.m. Later at 1 p.m., the Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mohammed Sacirbey, would be talking to correspondents on elections in that country. At 3:30 p.m., the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Henryk Sokalski, together with Brigadier General Bo Lennart Wranker, Force Commander of the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP), would hold a press conference "to brief correspondents on what they told the Security Council".
On Monday, the United States Mission was sponsoring a press conference at 10 a.m. in room 226 by a New York-based non-governmental organization called the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), which was going to release its progress report on the implementation of the Beijing platform for action, entitled "Beyond Promises: Governments in Motion, One Year after the Beijing Women's Conference". Bella Abzug, President of WEDO, and Susan Davis, Executive Director, would be present.
The Security Council was in consultations, hearing Mr. Sokalski's briefing, Ms. Foa said. "Then, we expect them, yet again, to take up Iraq. We got off easy last night" [referring to the early adjournment of consultations].
The United States Mission had requested that President Clinton's speech to the General Assembly be moved to 24 September, instead of the initial 23 September, Ms. Foa told correspondents in response to a question.
Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 6 September 1996
"Normally, the President of the host country would be the second speaker on the first day, after Brazil. Instead, he is going to be the first speaker on the second day." The Mission had made the request, due to a conflict in the President's schedule for that day.
The United Nations goodwill mission on the Bakassi peninsula, which was supposed to leave today, had been delayed due to the fact that a delegation from the Commonwealth was heading to Nigeria at the same time, Ms. Foa said. "It was decided that it would be better not to have the two delegations there at the same time. We're waiting to hear from the Nigerian Ambassador for about a new date."
The Steering Committee for the implementation of Security Council resolution 986 (1995) would meet this afternoon. "I hope, after that meeting, to have more details about where we stand at the moment", the Spokesman said.
The signing ceremony scheduled for this afternoon of the Memorandum of Understanding on stand-by arrangements for peace-keeping operations between the United Nations and Malaysia was postponed a half hour, from 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., the Spokesman said. It would take place on the 37th floor, in the conference room of the Department of Peace-Keeping Operations.
During the question-and-answer session, a correspondent asked for more details on the postponement of President Clinton's speech before the General Assembly. "It was a scheduling conflict. I think you should check with the U.S. Mission. We didn't do it. They requested it."
Did the United Nations have any other responsibility regarding the Socialist conference at Headquarters next week, other than providing the space? a correspondent asked. "We will provide paper and pencils, water and some interpretation, all totally at their expense. They already gave us $75,000 up front, just in case. This is not the first time a big group like this has used the facilities of the United Nations. We had the Inter Parliamentary Union, we've actually had college and high school graduations renting facilities from us."
Ms. Foa added that with so many groups coming in, so many non- governmental organization conferences, the United Nations was starting to resemble "a five-star hotel that's full, and their best guests are saying, what about us?". The Socialist International would meet in the General Assembly Hall on Monday, morning and afternoon. The 123rd plenary meeting of the General Assembly will meet on Monday in Conference Room 3, at 3 p.m.
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