DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19961007
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
The United Nations Television was playing Gilligan's Island instead of the noon briefing, Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told correspondents at today's noon briefing, adding "I must say there are days I'd rather watch Gilligan's Island myself".
The correspondents would be happy to know that the Secretary-General was in fine form this morning, she said. "He came in a fighting mood and has only about 500 appointments." He had met the Foreign Minister of Togo this morning and would be seeing the Foreign Ministers of Uganda, Comoros, Cape Verde and the Republic of Seychelles. In the afternoon, he would meet with the Foreign Ministers of Tajikistan, Gabon, Guinea and Jamaica.
The Secretary-General would meet with Justice Louise Arbour, the recently appointed Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, at 6 p.m., she said. A press conference had been scheduled for Justice Arbour at 2 p.m. tomorrow, in room 226.
The Head of the United Nations Special Mission for Afghanistan, Norbert Heinrich Holl, had been engaged in extensive shuttle diplomacy to try to promote a peaceful dialogue towards what was hoped would one day be a broad- based government acceptable to all the Afghan people, she said. He had been talking to everybody he could get in touch with. Yesterday he had held a two- hour meeting with Acting Foreign Minister Mohammad Ghaus, in Kabul.
The issue of United Nations concerns about gender equality had come up repeatedly during Mr. Holl's discussions, Ms. Foa said. She announced that a statement by the Secretary-General addressing concerns expressed in recent days on the status of women and girls in Afghanistan was available in her office. The statement was basically a reminder to States to abide by their commitments. There had been some alarming reports from Afghanistan that women would be denied access to education and employment. The Secretary-General said, in his statement, that restrictions such as those reported would directly contravene the spirit and letter of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action to which Afghanistan had subscribed.
Such restrictions could also have serious repercussions on the ability of the United Nations to deliver programmes of relief and reconstruction to that country, Ms. Foa said. The Secretary-General had consulted in recent days with heads of agencies, programmes, funds and offices and other officials throughout the United Nations system in Afghanistan. They had decided that it was time to re-state the United Nations single, system-wide policy
on the question of gender equality. Their goal had been to dispel any misunderstanding or obstacles which might arise as the United Nations carried on its activities in various sectors.
The single system-wide policy was derived from the principles of the United Nations Charter which were morally and legally binding, especially the preambular statement of determination "to reaffirm faith in human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small", she said. The United Nations operated under the proviso that its activities were for all, without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.
In his statement, the Secretary-General reminded people that in the performance of their duties the United Nations officials sought to cooperate closely with governments in the delivery of all sorts of programmes and assistance, Ms. Foa said. However, at the same time the United Nations was obliged to be guided by the norms and requirements stated in the Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the related resolutions of the General Assembly.
Speaking on Angola, Ms. Foa said the Secretary-General's report on the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III) had been issued today. He had expressed serious concern about the lack of significant progress in the peace process in the last three months. The Mission's mandate would expire on 11 October, she said, adding "we have only a few more days". Nearly two years after the signing of the Lusaka Protocol, the continuing delays and unfulfilled promises, particularly on the part of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), in implementing the successive timetables for the completion of key military and political issues, were no longer acceptable.
The report stated that the implementation process was substantially behind schedule and the lack of mutual trust between the Government and UNITA continued to jeopardize the attainment of lasting peace in Angola, she said. The Secretary-General had called on UNITA to make a counter-proposal, as soon as possible, if it felt that its leader, Jonas Savimbi, could not assume a vice-presidential post. He had also called on UNITA to ensure the earliest arrival in Luanda of all its generals for integration into the National Army.
The idea behind UNAVEM III had been that it would complete its mission by 8 February 1997, which, she said, was "tomorrow practically, especially for the purposes of the United Nations". However, despite all the obstacles it should be possible for UNAVEM III to complete its mandated task by that date if everybody cooperated. The Secretary-General intended to begin downsizing the UNAVEM III Mission by withdrawing some infantry and support units by the end of December. He had recommended that the Security Council at this point consider only a short extension of the mandate, perhaps until 11 December, so
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 7 October 1996
that it could keep the situation under close review and respond appropriately to continuing delays in compliance with the Lusaka Protocol.
The Secretary-General had stated that if certain commitments were honoured in the next few days, particularly the commitment relating to the arrival of all UNITA generals in Luanda and their incorporation into the National Army, the Security Council might wish to consider a longer extension of the mandate, Ms. Foa said. "The mandate is up on 11 October, we envision that UNAVEM III should be able to complete all its tasks by February", she said, adding "He is saying 'let's give them a nice short extension of the mandate so that we can really keep tabs on what is going on'".
Ms. Foa informed correspondents that there were 6,670 troops working with UNAVEM III. In addition, there were 253 military observers and 340 civilian police. At tomorrow's briefing, the Special Representative for Angola, Alioune Blondin Beye, would address correspondents. Simultaneous translation would be provided in English and French.
One hundred and fourteen countries had signed the Comprehensive Nuclear- Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), Ms. Foa said, adding "that's not bad. There were three this morning, Gabon, Lithuania and Tajikistan". San Marino was expected to be signing the Treaty "right now", even as the briefing continued. Saint Lucia and Zaire had signed on Friday and, with San Marino's signature, there would be 115 signatories to the Treaty. "Probably one of the fastest signings I have ever seen", she said.
The Secretary-General had asked the Department of Humanitarian Affairs to organize an interagency mission to help determine how the United Nations system could respond most effectively to the terrible humanitarian situation in Tajikistan, Ms. Foa said. That mission had left over the weekend and would be in Tajikistan until 16 October.
It comprised the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO) and a few other agencies, and would take a look at what was being called a chronic emergency situation, which had deteriorated in the last three months, she said. Thousands of people had been displaced there and the World Food Programme (WFP) and international non-governmental organizations had identified about 620,000 who were the most vulnerable and urgently required relief food assistance.
Ms. Foa drew correspondents' attention to a press release from Hamburg issued over the weekend. It announced the election of Judge Thomas A. Mensah to serve as the first President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and Judge Rudiger Wolfrum as its Vice-President. The release was available in her office.
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 7 October 1996
Also available was a press release from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), she said. In the release, Sadako Ogata warned that despite international commitments to uphold the right of asylum, standards of refugee protection were being eroded in many countries.
Ms. Foa announced that there would be a five-mile walk called "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" in Central Park on 20 October. Brochures relating to the walk were available in her office. For the walk, the United Nations was putting together a team, coordinated by the Medical Service. So far about 30 Secretariat members had signed up for the walk.
The Medical Service was looking for more people who would like to walk to help fight breast cancer, she said. It was also looking for people who wanted to sponsor their colleagues. The media was, of course, welcome. The Medical Service could provide more information and could be reached at extension 3-7090. "Please sign up to either walk with us or be a sponsor", she said.
Was the sixty-fifth ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention anywhere on the horizon? a correspondent asked. Ms. Foa replied that she had not seen it. "We have 64 countries, we need only one more. Come on, one more country", she said.
Asked about last night's Presidential debate, she said "I thought the United Nations got off rather easy last night. I expected some scathing attacks". Who had the whistle that Bob Dole said was blown here and that the United States supposedly responded to? another correspondent inquired. Ms. Foa said, "It must be my whistle".
The United Nations had been somewhat attacked by one of the contenders in the Presidential debate. What was its response? a correspondent asked. Ms. Foa said she thought the United Nations had been treated quite well. "I was quite pleased to hear what United States President William Clinton said about Somalia. This was the first time in a long time that people had put their cards right on the table on Somalia." She added that she had not talked to the Secretary-General on the debate, but she would.
Would the United Nations be able to guarantee the safety of the Serbian President when he travelled from Pale to Sarajevo, a correspondent asked. Ms. Foa said she did not really see that the United Nations would have a role in that particular provision of security. It might place the International Police Task Force officers there as observers. However, any kind of security that would involve armoured personnel carriers or carrying of weapons would be up to the NATO Implementation Force (IFOR).
Had the United Nations made all its payments to troop-contributing nations around the world? a correspondent asked. Ms. Foa responded in the
Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 7 October 1996
negative and said "we still owe about $900 million. We went down a little -- as you know, we got some chunks of change in for peace-keeping -- in fact, we got another $800,000 from the United States today. So we are getting some money in, but the bills keep mounting up". She explained that the governments paid their troops and the United Nations repaid the governments at a set rate. However, some governments were facing great difficulty meeting those expenses. Unfortunately, the poorest governments suffered the most.
Would Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management Joseph Connor be addressing correspondents sometime this week? Ms. Foa was asked. She replied that he felt that he had to face the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) first, which would be on Wednesday morning. Following that, he would brief correspondents on Wednesday at noon. He had promised a clear and beautiful presentation with charts.
Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for General Assembly President Razali Ismail, said the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) this morning had elected Walid Doudech (Tunisia) as Rapporteur, and had granted requests for hearing to three petitioners on Guam, one on New Caledonia, and four on Western Sahara.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) would meet this afternoon to consider the financing of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL) and the scale of assessment, she said. As an aid to those interested in the issue, she had prepared a one-page background note, currently available in her office and on the third floor.
The Assembly today had continued its debate with 13 speakers -- Cape Verde, San Marino, Jordan, Bahamas, Sudan, Lithuania, Tajikistan, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Uganda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Gambia and Antigua and Barbuda, she said. In a change in the plenary programme, on 24 October, cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS), and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) would be discussed. Also, it would discuss the item on Universal Congress on the Panama Canal.
The Assembly President today would meet with the Foreign Minister of Kyrgyzstan and the Deputy Foreign Minister of Afghanistan.
A correspondent asked who would represent Afghanistan in the general debate today? Ms. Abdul-Majid said the Deputy Foreign Minister was listed to speak in the general debate. Whom did he represent? the correspondent asked. The spokeswoman said the question of representation was an issue for the Credentials Committee, which would meet soon.
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