DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960919
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by announcing that correspondents in Vienna would be participating in the briefing via video-conference. "Hi Vienna", she said, "you're about to find out how boring briefings can be."
Ms. Foa then said that the Secretary-General was meeting at noon today with the Vice-Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan, Boris O. Shihmuradov. At 12:30 p.m. he would receive credentials from the new permanent representatives of Mongolia, Kenya, Algeria and Bangladesh.
She said the Secretary-General had decided to dispatch Assistant Secretary-General Ibrahima Fall to Zaire as his Special Envoy to clarify misunderstandings on the role and operations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in that country. Last week, she recalled, the Secretary-General had expressed concern at accusations by Zaire that the UNHCR had provided logistical support to armed groups infiltrating from Rwanda and Burundi. The mission, which would depart as soon as possible, would include representatives of the UNHCR and the International Organization on Migration. A broadcast on Zairian television had implied that the UNHCR had been transporting the rebels, she added.
Ms. Foa then announced the availability of a new list of countries under Article 19 of the Charter, by which countries more than two years behind in the payment of their assessed contributions were denied voting rights in the General Assembly. Niger, Burundi, Mali and the Dominican Republic had been taken off the list in recent days, she said.
Concerning Guatemala, she said that at 1 p.m. Mexico time, 2 p.m. New York time, the Government and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) were scheduled to sign the Agreement on the Strengthening of Civilian Power and the Role of the Army in a Democratic Society. "You've been hearing about those negotiations for weeks; they're signing it today." That agreement would be a major step towards the signing of a final peace agreement, which had been promised by the end of the year. By the terms of the accord being signed today, the Government would carry out a redefinition of military doctrine, education and deployment. The agreement provides for a 33 per cent reduction in troop strength in 1997, and a 33 per cent in the Army's budget by 1999.
Following the agreement, the Government and the URNG would begin considering bases for the reintegration of the URNG into the political life of Guatemala and a definitive cease-fire, Ms. Foa said. The Secretary-General congratulates the parties on their achievement and pledges his continued support to the two parties in fulfilling their pledge to conclude the
negotiating process in the course of the year, she added. A Spanish text of the agreement would be available in the Spokesman's office after 2:30 p.m.
On Tajikistan, she said that the Security Council yesterday considered the report of the Secretary-General (document S/1996/754). The Russian Federation was preparing a draft presidential statement. Council members had expressed support for the Secretary-General's proposal to send an inter-agency mission to Tajikistan, and a delegation composed of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) was scheduled to travel at the end of next week.
Regarding results of the recent elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ms. Foa said that following completion of the elections, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the multinational Implementation Force (IFOR) must certify to the Security Council as to whether the 14 September proceedings were free and fair. Based on that certification, the Council could, either through a statement or a resolution, pronounce itself on the lifting of all or some sanctions. The lifting of sanctions was not automatic, she said. The Council had to make a determination. That action was expected in the next few days. In that connection, she said that a statement by Carl Bildt, High Representative for the Implementation of the Peace Agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina, was available in the Spokesman's office. The statement dealt with the establishment of common institutions following the elections. Mr. Bildt stated that the Presidency should meet in Sarajevo at the latest four days after the certification of the election results.
Also in Bosnia, Ms. Foa said, the Commissioner of the United Nations International Police Task Force, Peter Fitzgerald, had formally requested the removal of Dimo Drljana, the Chief of Police of Prijedor, within 48 hours on the grounds of unprofessional conduct. Last Monday, she recalled, Mr. Drljana had threatened IFOR troops and fired a weapon into the air.
Regarding the recent report of the United Nations Efficiency Board, Ms. Foa said that if every meeting of the United Nations in New York began 10 minutes late, it would cost the Organization some $875,000 per annum. The problem was that interpreters were idle in their booths, conference staff was waiting around twiddling their thumbs and Member States, particularly those with small mission staffs, had to leave for other meetings, thus creating a "domino effect".
Ms. Foa then announced that the New York Police Department would be closing a section of First Avenue next Tuesday, 24 September, from 9 to 11 a.m. to allow for the passage of motorcades of dignitaries. Delegates, staff and media would only be allowed to cross the avenue at forty-second, forty-fifth and forty-ninth streets, and only with valid grounds passes. First Avenue would be closed to all pedestrian traffic from 9 to 10 a.m., she
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added. Anyone wishing to enter the building during those times would have to do so through the forty-eighth street garage entrance. She recommended that everyone arrive at Headquarters by 8:30 a.m. at the latest, "otherwise, you'll be like that chicken trying to cross the road".
"And once you get here", she continued, "there will be strict security regulations inside the building. Tuesday is going to be a very tough day to move around in this building."
She then reminded correspondents of the 3:15 p.m. press conference with the Permanent Representative of Bulgaria, Slavi Pashovski.
Ms. Foa announced that all correspondents were invited for cocktails at 7 p.m. on Monday, 23 September, at the United Nations Visitors Entrance, for an exhibition of sculptures by Jacques Zwoboda. The exhibition was being presented by the Foreign Minister of France. The Secretary-General and the Prime Minister of Morocco would attend.
Ms. Foa said that at 11 a.m. on Monday, 23 September, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) would release its 1996 World Investment Report. She also announced that at 3 p.m. tomorrow, 20 September, the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, Sergey V. Lavrov, would brief correspondents at the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) Club.
To a question on the signing of the Guatemala Agreement, Ms. Foa said that the biggest aim was to have a final peace agreement by the end of 1996.
Ms. Foa was then told, by a correspondent in Vienna, that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had spoken of elections in Bosnia being as "free and fair as can be expected". Would the General Assembly take that idea into consideration? she was asked.
She answered that the OSCE would be reporting to the Security Council. It was the Council, not the General Assembly, that would make any determination regarding the election results. She had been seeing "mixed reviews" on the election, depending on who was commenting. That was why she was waiting for all the different opinions to come in. Hopefully, certification by the OSCE, IFOR and the United Nations would be forthcoming.
Did she have any comment on reports that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea had refused to consider a protest from the United Nations Command regarding an infiltration of the Republic of Korea?
Ms. Foa said that, like 99 per cent of what she knew, she had seen those reports over the wire services. She expected that more information would be available from the Government of the United States. Hiro Ueki, of the Spokesman's office, added that the Unified Command in Korea was under the
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direction of the United States. It was the United States which would report to the Security Council on the work of the Unified Command. There was no United Nations representative there that could report on the situation. "We'll have to get our information from the United States", he said.
Asked if, given the added security measures, there would be a noon briefing next Tuesday, Ms. Foa said, "Darn right." There would be some restrictions on access to the second floor, but the details were being negotiated.
Another correspondent from Vienna then asked what was being done regarding countries which, because of events beyond their control, were unable to pay their dues. Ms. Foa answered that the General Assembly had addressed that problem for some time. There were now five countries -- Rwanda, Libya, Tajikistan, Georgia and Comoros -- that had been exempted from Article 19 by the Assembly because they had been unable to pay due to conditions beyond their control. "It's not just because they're too cheap, or they don't want to pay, or they don't like the United Nations. They have troubles at home." The eight countries which were being denied their voting rights were the Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Iraq, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro). "By the end of the year, I'm convinced that not only these eight countries, but the 95 States that haven't coughed up their 1996 dues will all have paid. Otherwise, we'll put a big blinking neon sign up here saying how much they owe."
The spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly, Samsiah Abdul-Majid, told correspondents that a transcript of this morning's press conference with the President, Razali Ismail (Malaysia), would be issued as a press release (GA/9093).
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