DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19961024
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
"Today's our birthday", Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told correspondents as she began today's noon briefing. "Happy United Nations Day." Children from the "United Nations family" were in the building as part of the celebration, she said. She drew correspondents' attention to the presence at the briefing of Adam, the son of Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for the General Assembly President. "We're happy to have him with us today."
She announced that tomorrow Sadako Ogata, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, would brief the Security Council at 10:30 a.m. Her briefing would include information on various crises, including events in the Great Lakes region of Africa. Barring her being detained in the Council, Ms. Ogata would attend the noon briefing to update correspondents. The Security Council was not holding consultations today.
At 10 a.m. this morning the annual United Nation Day Observance had been celebrated in the General Assembly Hall, Ms. Foa said. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali had spoken to the Assembly, as had General Assembly President Razali Ismail (Malaysia). Children from around the world had also taken part.
The Secretary-General was now meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh. At 1 p.m. the Secretary-General would host a luncheon in honour of heads of State and government attending the fifty-first Assembly session. A text of the toast to be made by the Secretary-General at that event would be available in the Spokesman's office after the luncheon, she said.
At 3 p.m. the Secretary-General would attend the Assembly to hear the addresses of President Paul Biya of Cameroon and Prime Ministers Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh.
At 8 p.m., Ms. Foa continued, the Secretary-General would present an address on terrorism to the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. A text of the remarks, embargoed until 8 p.m., was available on the racks. The Secretary-General would appeal for a more global approach to that problem. Terrorism had grown from a national to a global threat, while responses have been provincial and national. International coordination is crucial. The Secretary-General would call for a general international anti-terrorist instrument. All existing legal instruments were aimed at specific categories of terrorist actions, weapons or persons. Appended to the speech of the Secretary-General would be a list of all 14 international instruments on terrorism deposited with the United Nations.
An audio file of the Secretary-General would be available on the Internet at the "live from the forum" World Wide Web site at www.ksg.harvard.edu, Ms. Foa said.
Information on the situation in eastern Zaire was sketchy, Ms. Foa said. The situation was tense and volatile and the movement of United Nations staff had been very restricted. Fighting was taking place 30 kilometres south of Bukavu along the escarpment road, and Bukavu itself had been reported calm but tense this morning. Some 80 international staff -- half from United Nations agencies and half from non-governmental organizations -- were gathered in the United Nations compound there. A number of United Nations vehicles had been seized by persons fleeing the town, she said.
United Nations staff in Bukavu were safe, but running out of fuel for generators, she added. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 21 out of the 50 refugee camps in eastern Zaire had been affected and some 300,000 persons were "fleeing in all directions".
Yesterday, the Secretary-General had met with President Paul Biya of Cameroon, in his capacity as Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), she said. They had discussed the current tension in eastern Zaire between the Banyamulenge and Zairian forces. They had noted with grave concern that the tension was further damaging relations with neighbouring countries, and therefore had a very negative impact on the stability of the whole region. They both called upon all the parties involved and regional leaders to take all necessary measures to end the violence. They had encouraged authorities there to resume dialogue and to strive for a lasting and peaceful solution in order to ensure the stability of that area of strategic importance for the African continent as a whole. They had also declared their readiness to assist all the parties concerned in achieving peace and security, including the convening of a conference for peace, security and development in the Great Lakes region.
An advance team from the Saybolt company of oil inspectors had departed for Baghdad this morning, she said. They would remain in Iraq for as long as necessary and would be discussing logistics, and the deployment of staff with Iraqi officials. They would also be testing equipment such as pipeline meters. They would likely be in Iraq for one week to 10 days.
Sri Lanka this morning became the 128th signatory of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), Ms. Foa announced. Fiji had deposited the sole ratification of the Treaty thus far, she added. They hoped for a signature this afternoon from among the 44 States required for its entry into force, she said.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina today, in honour of United Nations Day, civilian staff and police monitors of the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) had collected funds to hold parties for local children under the theme "The United Nations is There for All People", Ms. Foa said. They had screened an animated film entitled "People" in nine cities and there had been troupes of puppeteers. Some 25,000 children had taken part. There had also been visits to children in hospitals, and a raffle for a ticket to Eurodisney, in Paris.
Ms. Foa then announced that the first annual report of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was available on the racks. That report stated that "the cooperation of States played an important role, and was a prerequisite if the Tribunal was to conduct its work effectively. Although they have made great progress during their first year, the Office of the Prosecutor needs greater human and material resources if it is to continue and speed up its work".
"That's a very strong hint", Ms. Foa said. "They need more money and more people."
Also available, she said was a report on the humanitarian situation in Tajikistan. An inter-agency mission had visited Tajikistan from 6 to 16 October. They had made preliminary recommendations on what the United Nations system needed to do in order to meet urgent humanitarian needs. Among those were emergency food aid (some 15 per cent of the population was considered vulnerable) and assistance to a health sector faced with growing epidemics of typhoid and malaria and high infant mortality. Also needed was help with improving the water supplies, and assistance with the reintegration of refugees. There were some 200,000 internally displaced in Tajikistan. Mine-awareness was also needed.
World Food Day, 16 October, was being celebrated tomorrow ("don't ask" Ms. Foa joked) in the Trusteeship Council Chamber at 9:30 a.m. The theme was "Fighting Hunger and Malnutrition". Both the Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly would attend.
Ms. Foa then announced that on Monday, 28 October, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Economic and Social Council Chamber, colleagues would meet to honour Goran Ohlin, former Under-Secretary-General for Development, Research and Policy Analysis in the former Department of International Economic and Social Affairs, who died in June in his native Stockholm.
There had been a change of venue for an event related to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Ms. Foa said. The Director-General of UNESCO, Federico Mayor, would give a presentation on UNESCO's initiatives for a "culture of peace" in the Trusteeship Council Chamber from 2 to 3 p.m. tomorrow.
Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for General Assembly President Razali Ismail (Malaysia), said that the participation of many children in the observance of United Nations Day at Headquarters this morning had been natural and spontaneous, eliciting much applause and laughter. Today's event was held on the initiative of the Assembly President, she added.
In his address at that event, the Assembly President had stated that "the degree to which we meet the challenges of the next millennium will be a reflection of our ability to combat fear of change and to act together for common survival. The path of human development and security can only be complete and sustained if our respect for humanity is matched by an equal respect for our environment and the welfare of our planet". The text of that statement was available as Press Release GA/9139. She also drew correspondents' attention to an earlier message of the Assembly President, dated 18 October, available as Press Release GA/9132.
Following his participation in the observance, the President had visited the seventh annual Inter-Agency Information Fair organized by the Department of Public Information (DPI) in the Visitors' Lobby.
Mr. Razali was now meeting with the Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). He would also attend the luncheon by the Secretary-General in honour of the heads of State and government.
Ms. Abdul-Majid then announced that a revised version of the draft resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS) (document A/51/L.5/Rev.1) was available. That draft would be considered by the plenary this afternoon.
Tomorrow, the Assembly would take up the question of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), along with the item on cooperation between the United Nations and the International Postal Union (IPU), she continued. On the latter, a draft resolution was circulating which would have the Assembly consider the signature of the agreement between both organizations on 24 July as constituting an important step for increased and strengthened cooperation between them. A report of the Secretary-General on that topic states that the agreement aims at strengthening relations between the two organizations and would facilitate the effective exercise of mutually complementary activities.
Yesterday, four working groups of the General Assembly had met to elect their bureaux, Ms. Abdul-Majid said. The open-ended working group on the question of equitable representation and increase in the membership of the Security Council had elected Finland and Thailand as their Vice-Chairmen. The open-ended working group on an agenda for development had elected Lesotho and Sweden as its Vice-Chairmen.
The permanent representatives of Austria and Trinidad and Tobago were elected as Vice-Chairmen of the high-level working group on the financial situation and those of India and Norway for the high-level working group on the strengthening of the United Nations system. By resolutions adopted at the forty-ninth session, the Assembly had established those working groups under the chairmanship of the Assembly President.
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