DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19961022
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 chairmen of the regional groups, the permanent representatives of Burundi, Lithuania, Haiti, Austria as well as the Charge d'affaires of Malaysia. "As you know, he holds these meetings regularly with the chairmen of the regional groups to brief them on the issues of the day", she added.
Later this morning, the Secretary-General had met with the Permanent Representative of Burundi separately, Ms. Foa said. He had then held a meeting with the Deputy Chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Group of the Russian Federation. "Right now the Secretary-General is in the Security Council and later today he will meet with the former Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Fraser", she said. Later on, the Secretary-General would attend the monthly luncheon of the Security Council hosted by Ambassador Gerardo Martinez Blanco (Honduras).
In his meeting with the chairmen of the regional groups, the Secretary- General "went over hot spots around the world", Ms. Foa said. He had specifically spoken about Afghanistan, Burundi, Angola, Liberia and the Sudan. He had also spoken about the implementation of Security Council resolution 986 (1995), on the "oil-for-food" formula. However, the situation in eastern Zaire had dominated the discussion. "The Secretary-General is very anxious and preoccupied and is following it closely", Ms. Foa said. He considered the situation in that area very precarious and volatile. "The Secretary-General feels we need to do everything we can to prevent a grave humanitarian crisis", she said. For that reason, he had sent his Special Envoy to the region, Ibrahima Fall, "to try to defuse tensions in the area and report back to the Secretary-General on what the United Nations could do to help in that area", Ms. Foa said. The Secretary-General had asked Mr. Fall to remain in the region for a few extra days because his presence there was being helpful.
Today, 58 United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations and other humanitarian aid groups had been flown out of Uvira and into Bukavu, the Spokesman announced. Some had gone on to Entebbe in Uganda. Two planes had been utilized for the transportation of those people -- one had taken 48 persons and the other one 10. Of the 1.2 million refugees in eastern Zaire, 143,000 were from Burundi and the rest from Rwanda and were scattered in about 50 camps across eastern Zaire. "We are talking about serious logistical problems", Ms. Foa emphasized. Of the 1.2 million refugees, about 300,000 were in the Bukavu area, 715,000 were in the Goma area and 220,000 were in the Uvira area. "As you know, over the last couple of days all of the camps around Uvira, with about 220,000 people, have emptied", she said. Those people were currently around the hills, hiding in banana plantations, and on the road heading to Bukavu.
Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 22 October 1996
"Today, thousands of people are heading to Bukavu and about 10,000 are camped on the outskirts of Bukavu", Ms. Foa said. "We have just received reports that about 20,000 refugees are moving south from the Kibymba camp towards Goma", she added. There were about 400,000 people in the camps north of Goma. The 194,000 refugees in Kibymba had started to move. "We have a horrible situation where people are starting to move south of the Goma camps and then north from the Uvira area", she said. Getting food supplies into that region was virtually impossible.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had expressed great concern over the worsening situation in eastern Zaire, Ms. Foa said. According to the UNHCR, fighting was continuing in the Uvira region. "In fact, before they left, our staff said there was gunfire in the streets of Uvira itself", she said. All 12 camps in the Uvira area had been completely abandoned. People were heading to Bukavu, about 75 kilometres north of Uvira. Many of those people were women, children, sick and elderly. Currently, they were getting little or no assistance. The UNHCR would try to help those people once they get near Bukavu. However, aid supply lines had been cut for several weeks.
The departure of the international staff from Uvira had been made possible, in part, by the intervention of Ibrahima Fall with the governor in Bukavu, Ms. Foa said. Evidently, local people in Uvira had sat on the runway so the two planes could not land. It was a very serious situation and the Secretary-General had requested to be kept up-to-date.
Today, the Security Council had adopted a resolution on Afghanistan which called on all Afghan parties to immediately cease all armed hostilities and renounce the use of force, Ms. Foa said. It also called upon all States to immediately end the supply of arms and ammunition to all parties in the conflict. In addition, it denounced the discrimination against girls and women and other violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Afghanistan. Furthermore, the resolution "noted with deep concern possible repercussions on international relief and reconstruction programmes in Afghanistan", she said. It further requested the Secretary-General to report on the implementation of the text by 30 November.
The Security Council had also taken up the report of the Secretary- General on Georgia, Ms. Foa announced. They had issued a resolution and a presidential statement. The resolution was on the establishment of a human rights office in Georgia. The Security Council had accepted the Secretary- General's proposal to establish that office as part of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG). The office would promote respect for human rights, protect the human rights of the population in Abkhazia, contribute to a safe and dignified return of refugees, and report on human rights developments.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 22 October 1996
The presidential statement on Georgia "noted with deep concern that no significant progress has yet been achieved towards a comprehensive political settlement of the conflict", Ms. Foa said. It further called on the Abkhaz side to call off the so-called parliamentary elections scheduled for 23 November since they believed the time was not appropriate. It also requested the Secretary-General to make proposals to re-invigorate the stalled peace process. Under other matters, the Security Council had taken up the Sudan, Ms. Foa said.
On Afghanistan, "our dynamo, Norbert Heinrich Holl, just does not call home but our spies tell us that he is actively engaged in talks with the Afghan parties", Ms. Foa said. He was presently in Islamabad and would travel to Mazar-i-Sharif tomorrow, where he would meet with General Abdul Rashid Dostum. Later, he would travel to Kunduz where he would meet with President Rabbani. Yesterday, Mr. Holl had held an intensive discussion with the Acting Head of the Taliban National Shura, Mullah Mohammed Hassan in Kabul. So far, there had been no sign of a cease-fire in Kabul. It had been reported that several rockets had hit that city today. "There is still no cease-fire but we are keeping our fingers crossed and Norbert 'the dynamo' Holl is moving along from town to town", Ms. Foa said.
"There is good news; 94 Member States have now paid", Ms. Foa announced. There were 91 left who had not done so. Mongolia had paid its dues which totalled $108,770. With that, the outstanding contributions owed to the United Nations totalled $2.5 billion.
On the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), Djibouti had signed yesterday, bringing the total to date to 127, Ms. Foa said. But four of the 44 core countries had still not signed. Those countries were Bangladesh, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, India and Pakistan. There was still only one ratification, from Fiji.
Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for General Assembly President Razali Ismail (Malaysia), had not been able to be present at the briefing and had asked her to make two announcements, Ms. Foa said. The first was that the Assembly President would speak at an informal meeting of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this afternoon. He would be addressing issues relating to the special session of the General Assembly to review the implementation of Agenda 21.
The second announcement was that on 24 October in the afternoon, the President of Cameroon and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh would address the General Assembly, Ms. Foa said. That Assembly meeting would also consider items on cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS), the Universal Congress on the Panama Canal, observer status for the International Seabed Authority and international assistance to Nicaragua.
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 22 October 1996
Starting today until Friday, the seventh annual Inter-agency Information Fair was being held at the Public Lobby, Ms. Foa announced. Thirty participants representing United Nations agencies, programmes and departments were taking part in the event. The fair offered visitors to Headquarters the opportunity to pick up free information about the work of the participants and meet one-on-one with some of their representatives. The Secretary-General as well as the President of the General Assembly would visit the fair on Thursday right after the conclusion of the observance of United Nations Day.
The World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) would hold a candlelight vigil to protest the United Nations financial crisis on 23 October, Ms. Foa announced. In New York it would take place from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Ralph Bunche Plaza -- directly across from the United Nations. According to the World Federation, the United Nations "is on the verge of financial collapse since national governments now owe the Organization $2.5 billion", she said. The event in New York was part of a worldwide candlelight vigil that would take place in 27 cities around the world on 23 October, the eve of United Nations Day. "Every one is asked to wear a blue ribbon to show support to the United Nations and to say we want Member States to pay up without any conditions", Ms. Foa said. There were free blue ribbons available in the Spokesman's office.
The candlelight vigil would take place all over the United States, Ms. Foa said. It would also take place in Tokyo, Penang (Malaysia), Ottawa, Victoria and Vancouver (Canada), Nancy (France), Copenhagen, Guatemala City, The Hague, Geneva, Christchurch (New Zealand), London, Grahamstown (South Africa) and Milan (Italy).
Tomorrow, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Liberia, Anthony B. Nyakyi, would be present at the noon briefing, Ms. Foa announced. Also tomorrow, the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) would hold its awards dinner.
Asked how much did the United States owe the United Nations, Ms. Foa said it was $1.4 billion. According to WFUNA, it owed more than all other States combined, she added.
Had the United States started paying its dues already? a correspondent asked. Ms. Foa replied that the United Nations had been getting cheques from it. "We've gotten some pretty nice cheques", she said. "But more is always welcome, don't feel constrained in any way", she added.
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