DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960913
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing saying that the Special Political Adviser to the Secretary-General, Chinmaya Gharekhan, would join the briefing to update correspondents on the status of implementation of Security Council resolution 986 (1995), on the "oil-for-food" formula. (Mr. Gharekhan's briefing is being issued separately.)
Today was United Nations Staff Day, Ms. Foa continued. The Secretary- General had asked that she begin today's briefing by saying: "Happy Staff Day to everyone at the United Nations". Unfortunately, the Spokesman's office had learned too late that this was the day that staff members were supposed to wear their national costumes. "So, if you see a lot of people out there in a very colourful dress, it is because it is national costume day", Ms. Foa said. "If I had known, I would have avoided these very uncomfortable high-heeled shoes and come in sneakers, jeans and a T-shirt. But, they didn't tell me in time because I think they knew what I would do."
The Secretary-General was in Washington, D.C., today and his first appointment had been an address, at 9 a.m., to the United States Congressional Black Caucus Forum on "Conflict Resolution in Africa: Diplomacy and Action" (See Press Release SG/SM/6051). The Secretary-General had told the Black Caucus that "African-Americans are an inspiration for all who seek to live in liberty, dignity and in justice". He also spoke about the rich contribution that African-American's had made to the United Nations and to international diplomacy. He urged the members of the Caucus, as leaders of the African- American community, to continue to be vocal on behalf of Africa, especially to engage actively in the resolution of African conflicts before they escalated and exacted a terrible toll on human life.
He listed the following four ways that could be done: through diplomacy; encouragement of disarmament; regional cooperation; and peace- building. Under disarmament, he particularly called upon them to focus on micro-disarmament. He said that a comprehensive international ban on land- mines was urgently needed. He called upon them to continue their diplomatic efforts to mediate the conflicts in Liberia, Rwanda and Burundi.
At the close of the address, he paid a special tribute to the late United States Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown, who died recently in a plane crash in Croatia. He said that Mr. Brown had opened the eyes of the United States business community to the possibility of profitable investment in Africa. The Secretary-General said, "I salute the memory of Secretary Ron
Brown. He gave his life on a peace-building mission. He was a true peace- builder".
The Secretary-General would return to New York this afternoon and, at 4 p.m., he would meet with the staff of the United Nations in the Trusteeship Council Chamber. He was expected to say to the staff that as international public servants, they had a right to be proud of their work for the world community. He would talk a bit about the current financial crisis at the United Nations and the streamlining necessary due to that crisis. He also would discuss the possibility that the streamlining might have to continue for some time. However, he would say that he and the United Nations senior management remained committed to mitigating, to the fullest extent possible, the hardship that further post reductions might imply for certain staff. He had given instructions that measures be taken to reinstate promotion and placement opportunities for deserving staff, where circumstance permitted. "A lot of people have been on hold for a very long time", Ms. Foa said.
The Secretary-General's last official appointment would be a meeting, at 5:45 p.m., with the President of the Supreme Court of El Salvador, Jose Domingo Mendez.
"There is more good news today", Ms. Foa said. "Number 89 has come through. The eighty-ninth Member State to pay its 1996 regular budget contribution in full is Mauritius. That Member State paid $108,770. The United Nations is still owed $2.8 billion. There are only 96 countries left. I know the checks are all in the mail, but we are not even half way through our list of 185 Member States."
The profile of the President of the fifty-first session of the General Assembly, Razali Ismail, was available at the documents counter, in English and French, the Spokesman said.
There had been many questions this morning regarding the overpayment to members of the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission (UNIKOM), Ms. Foa said. The United Nations auditors had discovered an overpayment of the mission subsistence allowance to international staff and United Nations military observers. Of the approximately 1,100 serving on that Mission, 188 were affected. The overpayment amounted to approximately $800,000 over a period of two years, between 1994 and 1995. The rules concerning calculation of that allowance appeared to have been misinterpreted. Following the discovery, the United Nations had begun recovering the overpayment by deducting the amount from the salaries of the United Nations staff and military observers concerned. Regarding military observers who had left the Mission, the United Nations was asking the contributing governments concerned to recover the money. The local staff had not been involved, as they did not receive subsistence allowance.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 13 September 1996
The Department of Peace-keeping Operations was still looking into the matter, as was the Office of Internal Oversight Services, Ms. Foa added. All records were being reviewed to discover how that error had occurred and to ensure that it would never happen again. "As we say: This is the United Nations", Ms. Foa said. "If we didn't make a mistake every now and then, no one would write about us. But, we are now fixing it."
Replying to several questions from correspondents regarding the overpayment to UNIKOM members, Ms. Foa said that money was being deducted from pay checks on a percentage basis. They did not take all the money back at once, but they attempted to retrieve it as quickly as possible.
A correspondent asked if there would be a briefing by the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Alvaro de Soto, regarding the upcoming General Assembly session. "There will not be a briefing", Ms. Foa said. "Unless you beg. Then we can go up and put a butterfly net over someone's head and drag them down here. We've done it before."
Ms. Foa said that attempts had been made to reach the Under-Secretary- General for Political Affairs, Marrack Goulding, who was on mission in Afghanistan. However, those attempts had not been successful and it was hoped that he would "phone home" soon. Also, the Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management, Joseph E. Connor, would hold a press briefing on Monday, 16 September, to present the first report of the United Nations Efficiency Board. Hopefully, advance copies of the report could be made available to the press.
Leona Forman, Spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly, said there were 47 items to be considered during the concluding meeting of the Assembly's fiftieth session, to be held on Monday, 16 September. They were listed in today's Journal. The items included consideration of reports of the Assembly's high-level working groups, three of which already had document numbers while two others remained to be numbered pending the completion of the groups' work today. Correspondents who had questions regarding those items should call her at 963-1170. After the consideration of all items, the Assembly President, Diogo Freitas do Amaral (Portugal), would make a concluding statement summarizing the work of the fiftieth session. She confirmed that the President would hold a press conference on Monday, 16 September, at 1 p.m. in room 226.
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