DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960927
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told correspondents at today's noon briefing that the Secretary-General was in the Security Council, and a full schedule of his day would be prepared as things began to take shape. Thirty-two speakers were so far inscribed in the Council, and the Foreign Minister of Israel, David Levy, was speaking at the time of the briefing.
The Secretary-General had been a negotiator of the Camp David Agreements, she said, and he remained "gravely concerned about the situation in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem", including the clashes which took place today at Al-Haram al-Sharif. The escalation of violence of the last three days, which had produced the highest number of Palestinian casualties since June 1967, and the armed confrontation between Israeli and Palestinian security forces, only served to undermine all that had been accomplished in the last three years since the signing of the Declaration of Principles. The Secretary-General renewed his call for "maximum restraint by both sides and for a rapid resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization". "Rapid resumption", she underscored.
Turning to events in Kabul, Ms. Foa said that at 4 p.m. yesterday, government soldiers guarding the compound of the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan had fled. The soldiers had been placed there by President Burhanuddin Rabbani who had repeatedly promised the Secretary- General that he would make sure former President Najibullah was protected. He had placed government soldiers outside the compound for that purpose. When they left at 4 p.m., there was only one person in the compound besides Mr. Najibullah and three people in his entourage, and he was what was called a "chowkidar" or nightwatchman, an unarmed man. The compound was comprised of offices, and there was no one there. At 1:40 a.m., five armed men walked through the gates of the compound, brushing past the chowkidar and heading straight to Mr. Najibullah's room. Evidently, they knew exactly where he was. They talked to him for several moments, and then they took him away by force.
Meanwhile, she noted, after the government soldiers had fled, a United Nations coordinator in Kabul had tried calling around town to anyone that had a vehicle in the area and who was actually functional, but "there was nothing anybody could do to get there; there was total chaos in the city, it was a very dangerous situation. We just couldn't get there". At approximately 6 a.m., another group of armed men, who were believed to be Taliban, returned to the United Nations compound and took Mr. Najibullah's younger brother. At approximately 8:30 a.m., they returned again -- by this time, two United Nations coordinators had been able to get there. Over their protest, the group began searching the compound, but they did not find the other two
members of the Najibullah entourage, who evidently had already fled. Shortly thereafter, the bodies of former President Najibullah and his younger brother were found in a park, hanging. United Nations sources said Mr. Najibullah had evidently been shot in the head, and his brother was hanged.
The Secretary-General "deplores the terrible loss of life in the battle for Kabul", and he found it particularly regretful that a person who had sought sanctuary in United Nations premises was abducted from there, which was a breach of the inviolability of those premises, she said. The Secretary- General had for a long time been personally engaged in efforts with the Government of Burhanuddin Rabbani to try and get them to allow former President Najibullah to leave the country. Unfortunately, those efforts were not successful. The Government had responded that it was a national problem and that the former President's fate was up to the Afghan people. Intensive efforts by the Secretary-General and the rest of the Secretariat in that regard were outlined in the last report on Afghanistan.
Since the fall of Sarobi, United Nations personnel had spoken to former President Najibullah about getting permission of the Government to move him outside the compound, she said. His presence there was well known; it was not felt that he was safe. He was approached about that several times, the last time being the afternoon of 25 September. He repeatedly rejected suggestions that he be moved, saying that he felt safer in the compound than being driven to another point in the city. He asked United Nations personnel to keep him there. Regarding the whereabouts of other United Nations staff, the three international staff members remaining in Kabul were at the United Nations guest house there, five to 10 minutes away from the compound. She added that "it's a terrible blow".
Other reports from Kabul had indicated that the city was relatively calm just now, she said. The World Food Program (WFP) warehouse that contained approximately 8,400 metric tonnes of food was looted by what were being called "uncontrolled elements". In addition, the office of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (HABITAT) was broken into. Some local security guards there were severely beaten, and a number of items, including radios, were stolen. The Department of Humanitarian Affairs was extremely concerned about what was happening in Kabul, and reiterated its commitment to deliver humanitarian assistance to those in need and to that end, was maintaining its presence in Kabul. There were currently three international staff there from the Department, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and WFP. They were working to facilitate assistance with non-governmental office personnel who had not yet left. The Department of Humanitarian Affairs had urged "all concerned to ensure the safety and security of the humanitarian personnel to enable them to assist a vulnerable population".
The Department of Humanitarian Affairs was also launching a consolidated inter-agency humanitarian appeal for Iraq to cover the period of October to December 1996, she said. It was appealing for $39.9 million to meet the most
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basic needs of the vulnerable population there for the next three months. The Department said that the assistance programme detailed the emergency requirements until such time as Security Council resolution 986 (1995) was implemented. The programme was put together in response to a marked deterioration in the humanitarian situation throughout Iraq. The recent outbreak of hostilities in the north had resulted in the displacement of about 20,000 people, and another 39,000 people had fled to Iran. Many of the displaced returning to their homes needed immediate assistance, and schools, hospitals, water and sanitation systems had been damaged or looted. At present, the majority of the civilian population in Iraq were living below the poverty line with family incomes generally not more than a fraction of pre- 1991 levels. Malnutrition was rampant with well over 50 per cent of the children and women receiving less than half their caloric needs. International donors had given only $12.5 million to the United Nations and about $17 million to non-governmental organizations and other bilateral programmes in Iraq this year. "It was not much", considering they were asking for $39.9 million just for the next few months, she added. The appeal was available in the Spokesman's office, and a press release was on the racks.
Updating matters relating to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, (CTBT), she said five countries had signed yesterday: Sao Tome and Principe, Mozambique, Cambodia, Senegal and Jordan, bringing the signings to 85 so far, with six more expected to sign today.
She said her office had issued a note yesterday on the ministerial meeting of the "Friends of Rapid Deployment" for peace-keeping operations, which included the statement made by Under-Secretary-General for Peace-keeping Operations, Kofi Annan. There were 26 countries that participated in that meeting. The Secretary-General had decided last July to establish the United Nations Rapidly Deployable Mission Headquarters for peace-keeping operations within the Secretariat in order to be able to deploy a skeleton peace-keeping mission quickly. Once a more permanent headquarters was firmly in place, the mobile team would be sent back to headquarters to get ready for a new mission. The headquarters would be financed by voluntary contributions of the interested governments until a more permanent arrangement within the Department of Peace-keeping Operations budget could be found. The Department had as its goal to get the operational headquarters in gear by the end of the year.
Ms. Foa reminded correspondents that a memorial service was being held in the Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium today at 4 p.m. for Erskine Childers, the former Secretary-General of the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA). Julius Nyerere, the former President of the United Republic of Tanzania; Sir Brian Urquhart, the former Under-Secretary- General for Peace-keeping Operations and Scholar-in-Residence in the International Affairs programme at the Ford Foundation; Djibril Diallo,
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Director of the Division of Public Affairs of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Annabelle Wiener, Deputy Secretary-General of WFUNA, would be "talking about our friend".
Regarding the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), there was a report of the Secretary-General available in room 390, embargoed until 30 September, on "Promise and Progress -- Achieving Goals for Children", she said. The Secretary-General's report outlined the progress made for children since the World Summit for Children in 1990, and would be presented in the Trusteeship Council Chamber at 9 a.m. on Monday, 30 September, marking the sixth anniversary of the Summit. Expected to attend were the Secretary- General, Carol Bellamy, UNICEF Executive Director, and Ministers from the six countries that had initiated the Summit: Canada, Egypt, Mali, Mexico, Pakistan and Sweden. There would also be a press conference at 10:30 a.m. on Monday in room 226 by Ms. Bellamy and Dr. Juan Ramon de la Fuente, Minister for Health of Mexico.
At 12:30 p.m. today in Conference Room 6, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, would brief the press and at 4:30 p.m., the Foreign Minister of Bolivia, Antonio Aranibar Quiroga, would brief the press on the Tenth Declaration of Heads of State of the Rio Group, and on the Sustainable Development Summit to be held in Bolivia in December. Spanish and English interpretation would be available. In addition to Ms. Bellamy, at 1 p.m. the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia, Ung Huot, would also brief the press on Monday.
Asked whether the United Nations could have done more to protect former President Najibullah, she said the United Nations had had very firm assurances, actually promises from the Rabbani Government that it would protect Mr. Najibullah. That had worked quite well for the last few years. "Obviously, things changed. But there was nothing we could do. We don't have any troops in Kabul", no one with guns. The United Nations was basically there as a humanitarian mission, and "feels very badly that someone who had sought sanctuary on our premises has been hurt", she added. Asked in a follow-up why the former President could not have been evacuated with the rest of the United Nations staff, she said that had not been possible. For a long time, the Secretary-General had been pushing to allow him to leave the country, but the Government was adamant that his fate must be decided by the Afghan people. They obviously felt that if they let him go, there would be political ramifications on the Government. We had tried to move Mr. Najibullah to a less well-known place, but he did not want to leave.
Asked whether the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Marrack Goulding, had received assurances from the Taliban about the former President's safety, Ms. Foa said she did not know if that came up, but when Mr. Goulding was there, Sarobi had not yet fallen and Kabul was not in danger
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of falling. Mr. Goulding spoke again with the authorities, and again received assurances that Mr. Najibullah would not be hurt. He also spoke with Mr. Najibullah who again told him he was safer where he was.
Was that an unprecedented event -- a government leader being abducted and killed under the protection of the United Nations? a correspondent asked. Ms. Foa said she did not think it was unprecedented, citing the shelling of the United Nations compound in Qana, and the shelling of United Nations areas in Kabul previously. She would check on other historical incidents. Asked if the United Nations had any channel of communication with Taliban, and was the Mission in Afghanistan finished, she said the United Nations had already stated its determination to remain there and work to relieve the suffering of the Afghan people. It had been a very long war, and there were lots of people in terrible need. Yes, there had been conversations with Taliban for months now, she said.
Asked if there were any more information about control of the Kabul area, Ms. Foa said the city was relatively quiet; the firing seemed to be in celebration, and the streets were fairly busy with some people returning to their homes. There were fewer taxis than usual, but the shops were opening.
Was the United Nations in touch with Mr. Najibullah at all after the fall of Jalalabad? she was asked. Ms. Foa said she would ask, but reiterated that Mr. Goulding had had long discussions with Taliban. In a follow-up about the guarantee in 1992 to bring Mr. Najibullah out of Afghanistan, she said that getting him out was not as easy as it sounded, and in 1992 the situation was quite different than it was yesterday at 1:40 a.m. The same authorities were not in power; the people with whom the United Nations could get such assurances were no longer in power, no longer in the city.
Another correspondent asked about two family members of Mr. Najibullah who were killed. Ms. Foa said he had his younger brother with him who was also taken and hung, and there were two aides whose names were Mr. Jafser and Mr. Tukhy and known as members of Mr. Najibullah's party. She did not know their exact function, but evidently they left early in the morning when the Taliban came back for the third time. It was not known exactly what happened to them and she was still trying to find out.
Was any action planned by the United Nations? she was asked. The United Nations biggest concern right now was to carry on with the humanitarian assistance, she said, because people were in very, very bad shape there.
Referring to the situations in the Middle East and Afghanistan, the spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly, Samsiah Abdul-Majid, said Assembly President Razali Ismail deplored the loss of life in both cases.
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She said the President's activities today included meetings with the Prime Minister of Malaysia; Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom; Foreign Ministers of the Netherlands, Namibia, Sri Lanka and India; and the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Continuing its general debate, the General Assembly this morning heard the Prime Minister of Malaysia, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade of Iceland, the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Republic of Korea, Portugal and Niger, and the Chairman of the delegation of Malta, the spokeswoman said. Scheduled to speak in the afternoon were the Minister of State and Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand; the Foreign Ministers of Greece, Spain, Mexico, Myanmar and El Salvador; and the Deputy Prime Minister of Belize.
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