DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960924
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by saying "it's a big day at the UN corral today". At 9 a.m., the Secretary-General had met with the President of the United States, William Clinton. Also present at the meeting on the American side were the Director of the National Security Council, Anthony Lake; Secretary of State, Warren Christopher; the Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, Madeleine Albright; and the White House Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta. On the United Nations side were Under-Secretary-General Marrack Goulding and Under-Secretary-General Joseph Connor.
She said that in their 15 minutes together, they "did a tour of Africa" and talked about the Initiative on Africa and the work of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization for that Initiative. They discussed Burundi, talking about how they could best get both sides together to start negotiating an end to the violence. They also discussed the progress that was being made in Angola. There was good news in the world and that was Angola; and, as the Secretary-General had remarked, also Guatemala. They also touched on the situation in Zaire. Their main topic in the rest of the meeting was the new era ushered in by the signing of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).
She said the problem of arousing public interest in long-term problems was also discussed. Seventy per cent of the problems dealt with by the United Nations were long-term problems, not immediate crises. The question was how to get people to really take an interest in problems that were not going to be solved tomorrow, and in treaties that were not going to go into effect tomorrow, despite being signed today. The Secretary-General then attended the signing in the Trusteeship Council. Ms. Foa said she had never seen him so happy, really feeling so good about the work accomplished by the United Nations. Sixty-five Member States were scheduled to sign the Treaty today, and another 14 signatures were expected in the coming days.
She said that the Secretary-General in his speech to open the Treaty for signature had said that "a major milestone had been reached on the road to making the world a safer and more secure place for generations to come. The adoption of this Treaty meets the demand of the great majority of the world's people for a clear signal that the nuclear arms race is coming to an end. I am grateful and proud to be Secretary-General of the United Nations at this historic moment". He added that "actions speak louder than words, and deeds will speak even louder than Treaties", and he appealed to all signatory States to ensure that their actions always conformed to the purposes of the Treaty.
Continuing, Ms. Foa said the Secretary-General had also thanked the governments which had worked tirelessly to put an end to nuclear testing. Their resolve, said the Secretary-General, had been strengthened by "a constant and passionate flow of petitions, appeals and support from the peoples of the world". He saluted all those who had struggled for so long to achieve the Treaty and thanked them for making the world a safer place for our children and grandchildren. Ms. Foa added that it was a very important Treaty for the Secretary-General, who had spent much of the month of June in Geneva working behind the scenes with the delegations that were drafting and negotiating the Treaty. It was really a big day for a lot of people at the United Nations who had put a lot of effort into it. "We're thrilled to death", she added.
Turning to other meetings of the Secretary-General, Ms. Foa said that he had met yesterday with Graca Machel, his Expert on the Impact of Armed Conflicts on Children. The Secretary-General expressed his appreciation for the valuable work produced by Ms. Machel and her team. He stressed the importance of keeping the momentum generated by the study on the effect on children as a distinct and priority concern of the international community. He referred to the study in his annual report on the work of the Organization, and he would make a statment in the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) on 11 November. The Secretary-General was asked by the General Assembly to contribute a study on the impact of armed conflicts on children (GA/res/48/634). He had then asked Ms. Machel to serve as his expert in its preparation.
Ms. Foa said the Security Council had "a real full plate" this afternoon. Beginning at 3:30 p.m., they had consultations of the whole -- first on Afghanistan, about which they would be briefed by Mr. Goulding on his recent mission to Afghanistan. Obviously, today was a very bad day to ask Mr. Goulding to come to the briefing, but Ms. Foa said she would ask him to come tomorrow. The Security Council also would be briefed on Cyprus by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Cyprus, Han Sung-Joo. They would then take on the former Yugoslavia and other matters. Tomorrow, the Council was scheduled for consultations of the whole and a briefing by Carl Bildt, the High Representative for the Implementation of the Peace Agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina. She also said she was trying to get Justice Richard Goldstone to the briefing next week.
Things were not too good in eastern Zaire around Bukavu right now, she continued. Field reports said that renewed conflict broke out there at approximately 7:30 p.m. local time yesterday. There was constant incoming and outgoing firing, including mortars and rockets, which continued for about four hours. In view of the deterioriation of the situation, the designated official, the person in charge of security for Bukavu, had recommended that non-essential staff in the area be relocated to Nairobi, and that was going on now. More than 50 people had to be relocated, most of them from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme, the
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 24 September 1996
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the non-governmental organizations that worked with the United Nations in those camps. The camps around Bukavu had some 300,000 refugees, and essential staff would remain in order to maintain services there.
There was a press release from the UNHCR on Rwanda in the Spokesman's office announcing the decision today to exclude from refugee status 20 Rwandans who were indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in connection with the 1994 genocide there. The UNHCR was urging governments to take the same measure if those Rwandans sought asylum. Some of those 20 people were currently in the custody of the Tribunal, including three who had been arraigned in Arusha; the others were known to be in other countries in Europe and Africa. Meanwhile, the Tribunal was preparing to start its first trials in Arusha. So far, four of the 20 indicted were detained in special cells of the Tribunal. Three of the four were detained in Zambia last year, and extradited to Arusha last May. The fourth was arrested in Kenya last Friday and extradited to Arusha last Sunday. There were now three judges who constituted a trial chamber there.
The first trial was scheduled for Thursday, 26 September, though the trial chamber would have to make a final ruling on it, Ms. Foa continued. The second trial was scheduled for 17 October, and the third for 7 November. The date of the fourth trial had not yet been decided, pending arrival of the indicted in Arusha. Justice Goldstone would be at Headquarters on Monday to brief the Security Council under the Arria formula (an informal consultation process initiated by Diego Arria of Venezuela, which gives Council members the opportunity to hear persons in a confidential, informal setting). Mr. Goldstone's term of office would end on Monday, and Judge Louise Arbor would take over that function as of 1 October. She was already in The Hague and preparing for office. Mr. Goldstone was briefing the Security Council around 4 p.m. Monday, and she would put in her bid to have him at noon, but "you know how these guys are -- they always want to tell it to the Security Council before they tell it to us".
The list of press conferences was never ending, she said. At 12:45 p.m. today, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom, Malcom Rifkind, would be in room 226. Also, in room 226, at 1:15 p.m., would be the spokesman for the Prime Minister of Japan, who would brief on the meeting between the Prime Minister of Japan, Ryutaro Hashimoto, and President Clinton, and his statement in the General Assembly. At 3 p.m., the spokesman for the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Yukihiko Ikeda, would brief on the Foreign Ministers meeting with Viet Nam, Indonesia, eastern European countries, Luxembourg, and the dinner for African countries held yesterday. At 4 p.m., the President of Poland, Aleksander Kwasniewski, would brief; at 5 p.m., the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Canada, Lloyd Axworthy, would brief; and at 6:15 p.m., the spokesman for the Foreign Minister of Japan -- this time on the Foreign Ministers' meeting with the Philippines, China and the Republic of Korea. That was a pretty full plate today, she said.
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 24 September 1996
Tomorrow at 10:30 a.m., the President of Colombia, Ernesto Samper Pizano, would brief with interpretation available in Spanish and English, she said. At 11:30 a.m., the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Tansu Ciller, would brief.
Asked what was said in the meeting between the Secretary-General and Mr. Clinton, and whether the issue of Mr. Boutros-Ghali's candidacy arose, Ms. Foa said no, the question of re-election did not come up, nor did the questions of finance or reform. Asked in a follow-up whether it was a little odd considering that someone who determined your fate was sitting next to you, she said they were two men with very important roles in the world who had a lot of substantive issues to discuss, and in the 15 minutes they had, they decided to use the time to discuss issues of real substance. Asked how she would characterize the meeting -- cordial, friendly, formal -- she said it was "fruitful, warm, it was a warm meeting". Businesslike? a correspondent asked. Ms. Foa said it was "substantive, they sat down and went straight to work. There wasn't a lot of chit chat. It was right down to Burundi, which is something, as you know, near and dear to the Secretary-General's heart". She added that both President Clinton and the Secretary-General have the same problems, particularly in building public interest in problems that were back-page problems, or ones that did not fit neatly into a 40-second soundbite.
Another correspondent asked whether the issue of a second term comes up in the Secretary-General's meetings with Foreign Ministers. Not that she knew of, said Ms. Foa. The meetings were usually focused on the problems of the region. She then reviewed the schedule for the Secretary-General's meetings that afternoon: the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, Lakshman Kadirgamar, with whom she imagined there was a great deal to discuss. Also scheduled was the Prime Minister of Latvia, Andris Skele, and the President of Poland, Aleksander Kwasniewski. He would also attend the commemoration of the thirty- fifth anniversary of the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement, followed by meetings with the Foreign Minister of China, Qian Qichen, the Foreign Minister of Georgia, Irakli Menagarishvili -- again "big UN operations; big UN concerns"; the Foreign Minister of Belgium, Erik Derycke; and the Foreign Minister of Guinea-Bissau, Delfim da Silva. So, she said, there were enough regional issues to discuss.
To a follow-up about whether the topic of his re-election was being avoided, given that it was not part of those discussions, Ms. Foa said there were enough substantive issues to discuss. The issue was something that would be decided by Member States. Asked how many meetings the Secretary-General and the President had today, she said they had one. President Clinton's limousine arrived; he came out and walked down the red carpet -- "faded red carpet" -- he got to the door and the Secretary-General was there. They shook hands and said glad to see you. Then, they went over to the flag for a flag photo-op. Then, they got in the elevator and went up. They went into a meeting and, after that, President Clinton went into a meeting with the
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President of the General Assembly, Razali Ismail. Then, they went to the Trusteeship Council for the signing. Asked in what room they had their meeting, she said it was in GA-200, "kind of a little room and you know what, it doesn't have a keyhole".
So, their private time was in the elevator? asked a correspondent. Ms. Foa said, they were together in GA-200 for 15 minutes. If he meant, were they ever totally alone where nobody could watch them, she did not think so. Asked whether President Clinton left that cordial meeting saying he would see the Secretary-General next year, she said no, but he said something like "it was really nice to see you". Asked where the United Nations had found the money to repair the General Assembly's sound system, she said she thought it was repaired the same way most things were repaired here, "i.e. with spit and scotch tape", so it did not cost anything. But, the United Nations needed a new one and it only cost $20,000. Asked again whether Mr. Clinton and the Secretary-General had met alone in GA-200, she said Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Ambassador Albright, Leon Panetta and Anthony Lake were there. Also present were Under-Secretary-General Marrack Goulding and Under- Secretary-General Joseph Connor.
Asked about the Special Initiative for Africa that was discussed, Ms. Foa reiterated that she was not present, but evidently the Secretary- General was briefing the President, and they were discussing the work of the World Bank, the IMF and the World Trade Organization and how they put that Initiative together and what its prospects were.
Asked whether the Secretary-General thought President Clinton was snubbing him by not being at the lunch, Ms. Foa said that the lunch was yesterday and President Clinton had had a scheduling conflict. The lunch on Monday was for heads of government, heads of State and heads of delegations, and on Thursday there would be a lunch for Foreign Ministers and Secretaries of State of the P5 (permanent members of the Security Council). Asked whether yesterday's lunch could have been postponed until today to accommodate the host country, she said the lunch was set up a long time ago, and a lot of other commitments had been made around that schedule. Those were not tête-a-tête lunches.
To a question about Mr. Goldstone's schedule, Ms. Foa said he was briefing the Council at 4 p.m. on Monday, and she had requested him for noon on Monday, but there was a feeling that he would not want to brief the press before he briefs the Council, in which case she would try to grab him for Tuesday. Had any Secretary-General given a lunch like yesterday, at which the host country was not represented? a correspondent asked. Ms. Foa said the host country had been represented; Ambassador Madeleine Albright had attended. "Nobody was snubbed", she said. "Everybody was invited and people who could come did."
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The spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly, Samsiah Abdul-Majid, told correspondents that the audio system had been repaired Friday afternoon and a back-up was installed. The General Assembly continued its general debate today. Yesterday, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) elected Syed Rafiqul Alom (Bangladesh) and Klaus-Dieter Stein (Germany) as Vice-Chairmen, and Igor V. Goumenny (Ukraine) as Rapporteur.
Ms. Abdul-Majid said that Assembly President Razali Ismail would have five meetings today. The first, with Foreign Minister Ali Alatas of Indonesia, was followed by a meeting with United States President William Clinton. At the time of the briefing the Assembly President was meeting with the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
At the meeting with President Clinton, the Assembly President had made a special point about how much the United Nations needed the contribution and interest of the United States in all its activities, she said. Ambassador Razali also had underlined that the image of the United Nations was directly related to how the American public looked at it. In that regard, this Assembly would attempt to improve its image.
On specific issues, the spokeswoman continued, the Assembly President had underlined those concerning disarmament, development, global poverty, social justice, and the environment. He sought early and full support of the United States for the forthcoming special session of the Assembly to review Agenda 21 so as to produce concrete results.
President Clinton and the Assembly President discussed United Nations reform in all its aspects, she said. On selecting a Secretary-General, Ambassador Razali emphasized the role of the General Assembly and the intention to work constructively with the Security Council.
She said that, at his meeting with the Indonesian Foreign Minister, the Assembly President had sought his advice on carrying out his duties, discussed reform and the issue of selecting a Secretary-General. The President expressed confidence that in the spirit of the Association of South- East Asian Nations (ASEAN), issues to be dealt with in the Security Council and the Assembly in November during Indonesia's presidency of the Council would be carried out smoothly.
The President had a series of meetings yesterday, she said. In his meeting with the Foreign Minister of Brazil, the President sought the Foreign Minister's help in addressing the issue of dynamism of the Assembly and the United Nations. At his meeting with the Prime Minister of Andorra, the importance and vulnerability of small States was underlined, along with the role that those States could play in the world body. Taiwan was not discussed at the meeting with the Vice-Premier of China. The President underlined the need for China as a permanent member of the Security Council to help establish an equitable relationship between the Security Council and the General
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Assembly. Besides political security issues, development issues were also discussed. As China understood the aspirations of third world countries, it should play a role in enhancing the Organization's ability to deal with issues of concern to those countries. He also called on China to assist in the reform of the Organization, especially of the Security Council.
The Foreign Minister of Slovenia, in his meeting with the President, expressed support for efforts to help improve the negative public image of the United Nations, she said. In the meeting with the Foreign Minister of Germany, the importance of Germany's support in restoring the credibility and delivery capacity of the United Nations, especially on sustainable development and the environment, was emphasized, along with issues of marginalization and global poverty. The Foreign Minister, in return, expressed Germany's readiness to play an enhanced role in the United Nations and its interest in becoming a permanent member of the Security Council. With the Foreign Minister of France, the President underlined the constructive role that permanent members of the Security Council could play in helping restore the image of the Organization. The Minister expressed support for the role of the Assembly in assisting with the selection process for a Secretary-General. In his meeting with the Foreign Minister of Italy, issues concerning development and United Nations reform were among those discussed. On peace enforcement, they exchanged views on the United Nations as the legitimate player in any effort to defuse a given situation.
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