DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19961010
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 had met this morning with the President of Sierra Leone, Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, as well as the Prime Minister of Swaziland, Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini. Furthermore, she announced that the Secretary-General was currently meeting with the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Navinchandra Ramgoolam. Later in the afternoon, he would be meeting with the Foreign Minister of Nepal, Prakash Chandra Lohani and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Madagascar, Evariste Marson.
Ms. Foa said the Secretary-General would be attending the General Assembly this afternoon and would be carefully following the Security Council's meeting on Angola.
The head of the United Nations Special Mission in Afghanistan, Norbert Heinrich Holl, was continuing his shuttle diplomacy in that region, Ms. Foa said. He had been in Kabul today, where he had held a one-and-a-half hour meeting with the authorities there. Ms. Foa said she was not sure whether he had already made it to Mazar-i Sharif. This morning, there had been very "premature" reports which stated that the United Nations had evacuated staff from Kabul. "The United Nations has not evacuated any staff from Kabul at all", Ms. Foa emphasized.
Ms. Foa said that there were eight United Nations international staff in that city, from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); HABITAT; the World Health Organization (WHO); the Special Mission; the office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs; and the World Food Programme (WFP). "Our people say the situation in Kabul is calm", Ms. Foa said. No rockets or artillery fire had struck the city. However, the United Nations staff was keeping an eye on the situation. The people there had recommended that movement of United Nations staff into Kabul be temporarily suspended. That recommendation would be reviewed on a daily basis. No evacuation would take place, but at the same time, "tens of thousands of new United Nations staffers will not be sent into the city today", Ms. Foa said.
The situation in eastern Zaire seemed to be deteriorating, the Spokesman said. The situation around Uvira remained explosive. The Secretary-General had issued a statement saying that "violence continues to plague the area, with dozens of people reported killed or injured. The refugee problem remains unsolved". The Secretary-General had called on "the parties to do everything in their power to keep the situation calm and under control while solutions are being sought for both the immediate and underlying problems". He had also called on the "international community to work towards defusing tension in
eastern Zaire, and to assist in the resolution of the refugee problem in the area". (The statement is contained in Press Release SG/SM 6074 issued today.)
The situation in the Uvira region was very tense, Ms. Foa said. There were between 250,000 and 400,000 people called the Banya Mulenge who were ethnic Tutsis and who had lived there for several centuries, their ancestors having come from Burundi and Rwanda. There was increasing tension between them and the local authorities. They had been accused of trying to destabilize the region by attempting to raise an army and secede from Zaire. Two days ago, the authorities in the South Kivu province had issued an ultimatum ordering all of them to leave their homes within one week or face a "full-scale war". "This has become very tense", Ms. Foa said. "There has been some movement by the military and the United Nations is watching very closely." The problem was compounded by the fact that there were 1.1 million Rwandan refugees in that area.
The Security Council had issued a presidential statement on the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ms. Foa said. The statement was in regard to the investigation of violations of international humanitarian law in the areas of Srebrenica, Zepa, Banja Luka and Sanski Most, as well as in the areas of Glamoc, Ozren and elsewhere throughout the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. "The Council is insisting that all parties cooperate with the investigations. It condemns all attempts to obstruct the investigations or to destroy, alter, conceal or damage any related evidence", she said. Furthermore, they had stated that everybody had an obligation to cooperate fully and unconditionally with relevant international authorities.
Currently, there were 34 speakers signed up for the formal Security Council meeting on the extension of the mandate of the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III), Ms. Foa announced. The draft resolution before them suggested an extension until 11 December. The draft indicated that continuing delays in promises, in particular on the part of National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), in the implementation of successive timetables for the completion of key military and political issues were no longer acceptable. It expressing deep concern on the lack of significant progress in the peace process.
Also in regard to Angola, yesterday the Secretary-General had met with the five-member Ministerial Mission from the Southern Africa Development Community, Ms. Foa continued. They had briefed the Secretary-General on their summit held in Luanda on 2 October. The Foreign Ministers of Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola and Botswana, as well as the Permanent Representative of South Africa, had attended the meeting. They had discussed the course of action to be taken by the international community in light of UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi's failure to travel to Luanda to attend that summit.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 10 October 1996
There would be a closed meeting of the Security Council Committee established by resolution 661 (1990) concerning the situation between Iraq and Kuwait at 3:30 p.m. today, in Conference Room 7, Ms. Foa announced. Following an oral briefing to the delegations, the Chairman of the Committee, Tono Eitel (Germany), would brief correspondents in room 226 at about 4.30 p.m. (The briefing was later postponed.)
Concerning the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, Ms. Foa said Samoa, Equatorial Guinea, Malawi and Madagascar had signed yesterday, bringing to 122 the total number of signatories to date.
The new summary of outstanding contributions to the United Nations regular budget, to the peace-keeping budget and to the International Tribunals as of 30 September had been released, Ms. Foa announced.
Asked whether the head of the United Nations Special Mission in Afghanistan was trying to negotiate a peace accord, Ms. Foa replied that he was conducting "shuttle diplomacy aimed at a cease-fire". "He would like to get everyone to sit down at the table, help the Afghans establish a broad-base government agreeable to all, but he would mainly like everyone to stop killing each other", Ms. Foa said.
In response to a question relating to the Credentials Committee and Afghanistan, Ms. Foa said that Committee was outside the Secretariat. Thus, questions on the way it conducted its business needed to be addressed directly to it.
Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for General Assembly President Razali Ismail (Malaysia), said the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) this morning had approved the programme of work for its current session. In addition, it had elected Andre Mernier (Belgium) and Andelfo Garcia (Colombia) as Vice-Chairmen. Parfait-Serge Onanga-Anyanga (Gabon) had been elected Rapporteur.
The Assembly had met this morning and would hold the last meeting of its general debate this afternoon, Ms. Abdul-Majid announced. By the end of today's meeting, representatives of 181 States would have spoken, including 12 heads of State, 1 Crown Prince, 17 Prime Ministers, 7 Deputy Prime Ministers and 106 Foreign Ministers.
The Assembly President began his day with a meeting at 9 a.m. with the Eastern European Group, as part of the meetings he was holding with the various regional groups. He would also be meeting with the Prime Ministers of Swaziland and Mauritius.
* *** *