DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19961002
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told correspondents at today's noon briefing that this morning, the Secretary-General had met with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Burundi, Luc Rukingama. Later, he met with the Foreign Minister of Nigeria, Tam Ikimi and they discussed the situation on the Bakassi Peninsula. A report by the United Nations Goodwill mission to the region should be submitted next week.
At the time of the briefing, the Secretary-General was meeting with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, Ms. Foa said. He thanked her for her Government's contributions to United Nations peace-keeping missions. Pakistan was the "No. 1" troop contributor and currently had forces serving with 11 United Nations operations. The Secretary-General then had to apologize to Prime Minister Bhutto because the United Nations owes Pakistan "a big chunk of money", Ms. Foa added. The Organization kept running by borrowing money from the peace-keeping budget and it owed Pakistan approximately $60 million. The Secretary-General and Mrs. Bhutto discussed the situations in Afghanistan and Kashmir.
Later today, the Secretary-General would meet with the Foreign Minister of Oman, Yousef Bin Al-Alawi and the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Shaikh Jameel Al-Hegailan, Ms. Foa said. He would also meet with a group of Arab artists who were visiting the United States.
Ms. Foa said the heads of States of 11 countries belonging to the Southern African Development Community were currently holding a summit in Luanda, Angola, as part of an initiative to "kick-start" the political aspects of the 1994 peace accord for Angola -- the Lusaka Agreement. Unfortunately, the leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Jonas Savimbi, had failed to show up. The Secretary-General was very disappointed, because he had been in communication with Mr. Savimbi several times about the very important meeting. Mr. Savimbi had missed a unique opportunity to attend a gathering of all the regional heads of State that was specifically called to advance the implementation of the peace process. His presence would have helped to accelerate the implementation of the peace accords signed in 1994 to end two decades of civil war. It also would have been Mr. Savimbi's first meeting with the President of Angola, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, on Angolan territory since 1992.
"It is not a happy day here today", Ms. Foa continued. Referring to reports yesterday from Liberia, she said the Secretary-General was truly shocked when he read the report from the United Nations Special Envoy to Liberia Anthony Nyakyi about an attack on Sinje, a village in Grand Cape Mount county, about 45 miles west of Monrovia. The attack evidently took place on
28 September when at least 17 people -- possibly as many as 42 -- mostly women, children and old men were killed. Some were shot and others were hacked to death. The Secretary-General had condemned the heinous crime, which was being investigated by the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL). He wanted to stress, once again, that continued international support for the peace process in Liberia was contingent on the factions demonstrating a commitment to resolving their differences peacefully and achieving national reconciliation in accordance with the Abuja Peace Agreement of 17 August. The Secretary-General also wanted to stress that the assault on defenceless civilians was a violation of international humanitarian law. "The worst was the story of a little eight-month-old baby -- they just hacked off one of her legs. Talk about an act of total, senseless brutality", Ms. Foa added.
"We do have some good news, thank goodness", she continued. The United States had given the United Nations a cheque for $150,798,916 towards its peace-keeping assessment. That cheque lowered America's debt to about $1.5 billion and outstanding contributions to the United Nations to about $2.5 billion -- $.7 billion for the regular budget and about $1.8 billion for peace-keeping. "We have not seen it that low for a long time, so we are very grateful for the cheque", she said, adding "Thank you, USA".
There had also been a partial payment of $199,916 for a prior year from Equatorial Guinea thus removing it from Article 19 of the United Nations Charter by which Member States in arrears in the payment of their financial contributions to the Organization lost their voting rights in the General Assembly, Ms. Foa continued. Only seven States -- Central African Republic, Chad, Gambia, Iraq, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia and Yugoslavia were still under Article 19 -- compared with 21 countries at the beginning of the year.
Yesterday, Mongolia, Cape Verde, Monaco, Armenia and Liberia had signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) bringing to 101 the number of countries that had signed the Treaty, Ms. Foa said, adding that 17 more countries, including two today, "had signed up to sign". Thus far, 118 States had signed or had said they would sign the Treaty, she added.
The Secretary-General's report on the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia would be issued this afternoon and some advance copies were available in the Spokesman's office, Ms. Foa said. The progress report covered developments and activities in the last four months. It noted positive developments in the region, including the recent elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina and improving bilateral relations between the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and its neighbours. However, the report also noted that inter-ethnic tensions continued to pose a threat to the country's social fabric and its integration and long-term stability. In the Secretary-General's view, the compelling arguments related to the still uncertain situation in the wider region that led to the extension of the UNPREDEP mandate were still valid, she continued.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 2 October 1996
The UNPREDEP's mandate expired at the end of November and the Secretary- General would present his recommendations on its future in his next report to the Security Council.
The Foreign Minister of Myanmar, U Ohn Gyaw, and the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Alvaro de Soto, were meeting at Headquarters today, Ms. Foa said. The Secretary-General and the Myanmar Government had agreed, two years ago, to undertake a dialogue. Such a dialogue was requested by the General Assembly in its resolutions on the human rights situation in Myanmar. Mr. De Soto had travelled to the country twice in 1995 as the Secretary-General's Special Envoy. But, so far, it had not been possible to arrange visits this year as proposed by the Secretary- General.
Ms. Foa said the Department for Humanitarian Affairs in its consolidated appeals this year had asked for a total of $2.3 billion to fund humanitarian relief for 22 million people. The appeals were a little over 50 per cent funded. Half of the amount requested would go to meet situations in Africa. Copies of the Department's chart were available in the Spokesman's office, she added.
Tomorrow, 3 October at 12:30 p.m., the first gift from women from any country or region to the United Nations since its founding in 1945, would be presented to the Secretary-General, Ms. Foa continued. The gift, a sculpture from Arab women to women of the world, symbolized sisterhood solidarity. The sculpture of brushed stainless steel was about 12 feet high, weighed 3,000 pounds and was mounted on a pink marble base. The ceremony would take place in the North Garden at Headquarters. A press release was available.
Ms. Foa then announced the following press conferences which would be held in room 226 later today: the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Burundi, Luc Rukingama at 1 p.m.; and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, Georgi Pirinski at 3 p.m. (It was later announced that the press conference by the Bulgarian Minister had been cancelled.)
On Thursday, 3 October, at 11:15 p.m., the Minister for Foreign Affairs for the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernandez Reyna, would hold a press conference in room 226 and Spanish and English interpretation would be available, she said.
In answer to a request made at yesterday's briefing for a gender breakdown of the number of people seconded and paid by governments to provide special expertise to the United Nations, Ms. Foa said a full count was not yet available. It turned out that not everyone was willing "to fess up" that they had such specialists working in their back rooms, she continued. Of the numbers that had been "fessed up to" about 13 per cent were women, which was higher than she expected, Ms. Foa added.
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 2 October 1996
A correspondent asked for an overall figure. Ms. Foa said 13 per cent applied to 325 people that had been counted so far -- 283 of them were men and 42, or 13 per cent were women. She said she believed the total number would be higher, "because I noticed in the list they didn't have the ones I hide in my back room".
Referring to another question yesterday on the gender breakdown of those who had been downsized, Ms. Foa said it was hard to get those figures but it was generally being found that about a third of the professional staff who had taken part in early separation were women. Which meant that two thirds of those who took part in early separation were men, she added.
The President of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, would not be visiting the United Nations this week, she said in response to another question also asked at yesterday's briefing.
A correspondent asked whether the report of the United Nations goodwill mission to the Bakassi Peninsula would be made public. Ms. Foa said if the whole report was not made public, she would certainly get a read-out on it for correspondents. The report was being prepared and should be available some time next week. The mission had returned to New York last Saturday, 29 September.
In response to another question, Ms. Foa said the United States would be contributing 25 civilian police officers to the United Nations Support Mission in Haiti (UNSMIH), which had a mandate for 300 civilian police. As yet, there was no date on the arrival of the American police, but there were already approximately 270 civilian police in Haiti from Canada, France, Mali, Togo, Djibouti and Algeria.
Referring to a statement by Ms. Foa at Monday's briefing about United Nations policy regarding people seeking refuge in its facilities, a correspondent asked how was it that former Afghan President Najibullah had been allowed to shelter at United Nations headquarters in Kabul? Ms. Foa replied that when Mr. Najibullah had stepped down from the Presidency there had been an agreement with the Afghan authorities that his presence in the United Nations compound would be tolerated. In the early stages, he did not want to leave the country because he believed he was still a player, still had a role to play in Kabul which he would not have if he left. Later it became impossible for him to do so.
Did the United Nations provide everything? the correspondent asked. Yes, the United Nations supplied food, shelter, everything, Ms. Foa replied. When Mr. Najibullah first sought shelter, the United Nations was confronted with an emergency humanitarian situation and a decision to grant refuge was
Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 2 October 1996
made. It later became a protracted situation and could not be solved, despite many, many attempts to do so. The dossier on United Nations attempts to persuade the authorities to let Mr. Najibullah leave was very thick, she added.
Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for General Assembly President Razali Ismail (Malaysia), said the 15 speakers in the general debate today were the Philippines, Kenya, Syria, Bulgaria, Viet Nam, Belarus, Ecuador, Mali, Qatar, Uruguay, Guyana, Guinea-Bissau, Venezuela, Togo and Iraq. The plenary's programme of work was now available (document A/INF/51/3). The general debate would conclude on 10 October, a day ahead of schedule, owing to better time management. On 11 October the plenary would begin debate on the Secretary- General's report on the work of the Organization. Election of non-permanent members of the Security Council was scheduled for 21 October.
More Committees would meet next week, Ms. Abdul-Majid continued. The Sixth Committee (Legal) had been meeting since 20 September and next week would begin considering the draft articles on the law of the non-navigational uses of international watercourses. Tomorrow, it would consider measures to eliminate international terrorism. The Secretary-General's report on the status of current conventions relating to international terrorism was available (document A/51/336).
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) would also meet next week when it would consider the scale of assessments and the financing of a number of missions, she said. The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) would consider decolonization issues.
This afternoon, the Assembly President would meet with the Foreign Minister of Togo and the Permanent Representative of Canada.
A correspondent asked Ms. Foa for comment on reports that the son of the President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, had critized the Secretary-General, who, he claimed, had used the excuse of security in northern Iraq to postpone the sale of Iraqi oil. The Secretary-General was flattering the United States in order to extend his term in office, Mr. Hussein's son said, the correspondent added. Ms. Foa replied the reports were "nonsense". The United Nations was "rocking and rolling along" with the implementation of Security Council resolution 986 (1995), which permitted the sale of a limited amount of Iraqi oil in exchange for food and medicine. The United Nations was waiting for reports on the situation and "the dust to settle" in northern Iraq and everybody knew that.
Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 2 October 1996
The correspondent then asked about the five-year payment plan from the United States. Ms. Foa said the United Nations was examining the new appropriation and crunching the numbers. She had asked the Under-Secretary- General for Administration and Management, Joseph Connor, to come to the briefing early next week to explain what it meant.
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Note:In the press briefing of the Administrator of the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES), Jacques Klein, issued 1 October, the first sentence of the second full paragraph on page two should read:
"The issue is not up to us, it is up to the Security Council", he said.
The first sentence of the fifth full paragraph on page two should read:
Asked if the UNTAES area could be described as constituting in effect a separate autonomous region, Mr. Klein replied that it could not.
The first full paragraph on page three should read:
Ideally, he said, whatever the ethnic balance of the population in areas of Eastern Slavonia, people should function as part of the administration. "That means the police chief may be a Croat, one of the local Serbs may be a lieutenant", he added. The same principle should be applied in the educational, medical, postal, and communications infrastructure.