DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19961030
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by telling correspondents she hoped they had tough questions ready for the Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, Karl Theodore Paschke, who would meet with them directly following the noon briefing.
Referring to an article in this morning's Wall Street Journal, Ms. Foa said everyone in the room should remember that they were "controlled by a Boutros-Ghali appointee". She said everyone got a good laugh over the nonsense that "Mr. Boutros-Ghali had his loyal Egyptian, Palestinian and Iraqi minions in the United Nations Secretariat enlist the Libyan Mission to the United Nations to persuade Mr. Farrakhan to hold his rally in front of the world body's headquarters. The Libyans also invited Mr. Farrakhan into the United Nations, where the United Nations Correspondents Association -- whose officials are controlled by a Boutros-Ghali appointee in the United Nations Department of Public Information -- asked Mr. Farrakhan to hold a press conference". The only correct line in the article was, "you don't mess with Boutros", Ms. Foa said.
For the record, the Secretary-General was in Europe on the day of the Farrakhan rally, Ms. Foa said. The Secretary-General learned of it -- along with everyone else -- from the New York City Police Department, who told them not to dawdle over their coffee on 16 October because of the massive traffic jam expected in front of the United Nations. The Wall Street Journal piece "certainly did provide some comic relief for all of us this morning".
The Secretary-General met this morning with Peter Hansen, Commissioner- General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Ms. Foa said. Mr. Hansen had taken over provisionally as Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories, with the departure of Terje Roed Larsen back to Norway. The Secretary-General would also meet see the Chairman of the International Commission of Inquiry for Rwanda, Mahmoud Kassem. The Secretary-General had asked the Permanent Representatives of the Great Lakes region to meet with him later in the day about the continuing crisis in Zaire. (Ms. Foa later announced that the meeting with the Permanent Representatives of Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire would take place at 1 p.m. in the Secretary-General's office.)
On Friday, the Secretary-General briefed the Security Council on the situation in Zaire, Ms. Foa said. After hearing the views of Council members, he decided to appoint, as soon as possible, a special representative for the Great Lakes region, who would have the staff and resources needed to carry out
a variety of functions. The Secretary-General would be sending his proposals to the Council, along with a cost breakdown. Meanwhile, he had decided to appoint a Special Envoy to travel to the Great Lakes region in the first days of November and to remain there for about one month.
Ms. Foa said that the Government of Canada had offered to make available the services of its Ambassador to the United States, Raymond Chretien, and also agreed to provide an aircraft to facilitate his travel in the region.
The Special Envoy would have three main tasks, Ms. Foa said. The first would be to consult with all concerned parties to establish the facts relating to the present conflicts, and develop urgent plans for defusing the tension and establishing a cease-fire and a process of negotiations. The second would be to explore the possibilities for the early convening of a regional conference. The third would be to advise the Secretary-General on the mandate and resources needed by the Special Representative. Ambassador Chretien would be in the house tomorrow.
The situation in eastern Zaire did not look great, Ms. Foa said. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the 194,000 refugees who fled Kibumba camp and were now in the Mugunga area were packed like sardines on 101 hectares of volcanic rock. Before their arrival, the camp was about 575 hectares large and held 150,000 refugees, and they were pretty tightly packed in. Another space of only 101 hectares held almost 200,000 people. There were now 74 teams digging latrines. Four hundred had been dug, and a lot more were needed. Disinfectant was being sprayed.
Evidently, an hour of heavy rainfall yesterday had created enormous misery, Ms. Foa said. The rain, combined with logistics problems, made food distribution impossible yesterday, but it was going ahead today. There were only 70 tons of food for 400,000 people, so half-rations would be distributed for the next seven days -- just enough to keep them alive.
Meanwhile, there was word from the Kahindo and Katale camps, Ms. Foa said. The UNHCR and the other United Nations agencies had access to only 400,000 refugees. However, they did have radio contact with Katale and Kahindo. Today it was learned that a mortar round hit Katale hospital over the weekend, and its medical supplies were looted.
Not too much good news from Goma, Ms. Foa went on to say. Evidently, an announcement was made on local television and radio stating that the Zaire military could requisition any equipment on vehicles that they required. Since this morning, two non-governmental organizations lost eight trucks, while the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) lost one jeep. Field staff had reported artillery exchanges again today between Bukavu and Cyangugu, which was in Rwanda.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 30 October 1996
An emergency meeting on the crisis in eastern Zaire, set up by France's Secretary of State for Humanitarian Action, Xavier Emmanuelli, was held in Geneva on Tuesday night, Ms. Foa said. The Ambassadors of the European Union and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the WFP and the UNHCR attended. The Secretary-General welcomed that meeting, the show of interest and the realization that the situation was very, very serious.
An inter-agency standing committee meeting with the heads of United Nations humanitarian organizations and non-governmental organizations was scheduled today with Yasushi Akashi, Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under- Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Ms. Foa said. Expected were Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); James Gustave Speth, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata; and Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WPF) Catherine Bertini.
Also expected were representatives from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the World Health Organization (WHO), the ICRC, Julia Taft from Inter-Action, and others. The most important item on their agenda concerned measures to ensure an effective response to the humanitarian crisis in the Great Lakes region.
Ms. Foa said there was a press release in her office from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on the four indicted Bosnian Serbs who are reportedly holding public law-enforcement functions in the Republic of Srpska police force in the area of Prisedor. Three of them had been charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes committed at Omarska and another at the Keraterm camp. Arrest warrants were issued against those indicted in 1995. The Tribunal was calling on all parties, including the Republic of Srpska, to comply with their obligation to arrest those persons immediately. It also appealed to the international community to take appropriate measures to see its own decisions enforced.
Asked what the relationship was between the operation in the Great Lakes and what former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere was doing, Ms. Foa said the United Nations was working in very close touch with the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and with President Nyerere.
Another correspondent said criticism had been lodged against the United Nations for not having done enough to break down the camps along the border, thereby providing a breeding ground for rebel forays into Rwanda. Was there any reason to believe a similar situation was now developing, as new camps were being formed farther into Zaire? Was there a long-term strategy to prevent such an eventuality?
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 30 October 1996
Ms. Foa said that when there are 1.2 million refugees in a very, very narrow strip of land, it was always a destabilizing factor. The United Nations realized that. There were former military among those refugees, and there was very little the United Nations could do about it. However, 85 to 95 per cent of them were women, children and old people, and the United Nations had done its best to make sure that those camps were not used for anything other than humanitarian purposes. It was, however, difficult to separate.
The United Nations was not moving people deeper into Zaire, Ms. Foa went on to say. They were going to other nearby camps, all strung out along the border from the north of Goma to the south of Uvira, consolidating into ever- larger camps. Most of the half million people who were driven out of the Bukavu/Uvira area were still missing.
Would the political office be set up immediately after Mr. Chretien's mission? a correspondent asked. Ms. Foa said that had to be discussed. There were financial implications, and certain resources would be needed. The Secretary-General had discussed that with the Council on Friday and would be providing them with a cost breakdown. Asked what would happen if that mission failed, she said the United Nations would just keep trying. She said she had great confidence in Ambassador Chretien, who was an expert negotiator, adding, "don't jinx it".
Asked whether there were any official reports of Rwandan military moving into Zaire, she said that movement of United Nations staff had been seriously restricted. There were now 94 international staff in Goma, and they really had difficulty moving. The only areas they could reach were the Lac Vert and the Mugunga area. All the other roads seemed to be cut, so there was no one on the ground in Bukavu.
Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for General Assembly President Razali Ismail (Malaysia), said the President yesterday attended the ceremony of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) to honour three grass-roots women's organizations, from India, Peru and Somalia.
In his statement, he said women comprised 70 per cent of the world's absolute poor and 80 per cent of the world's refugees, but held only 10 per cent of parliamentary seats worldwide, Ms. Abdul-Majid said. He firmly believed it was the business of men, not only of women, to mainstream women's issues into political discourse and action. The development and progress of societies were intimately linked with their welfare.
The General Assembly yesterday adopted a resolution on the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by a vote of 141 in favour to 2 against, with 8 abstentions, she said. The plenary continued with Security Council reform today.
Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 30 October 1996
The plenary was scheduled to elect 18 members of the Economic and Social Council to replace those whose terms would expire on 31 December. There were five candidates for five African seats (Cape Verde, Djibouti, Gambia, Mozambique and Zambia); seven candidates for three Asian seats (Indonesia, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria and Viet Nam); two candidates for one Eastern European seat (Bulgaria and Latvia); five candidates for four Latin American and Caribbean seats (Chile, Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico and Venezuela); and five candidates for five seats of the Western European and Other States (France, Germany, Iceland, Spain and Turkey).
Bulgaria, Chile, Germany, France, Indonesia, Japan and Venezuela were retiring members seeking re-election, Ms. Abdul-Majid added.
There were several reports already available on the item on refugees, which was coming up in the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), she said. Among them were the reports of the UNHCR -- with an addendum expected soon -- and of the Secretary-General. The Secretary- General's reports included those on unaccompanied minors -- covering such issues as military recruitment and child soldiers -- as well as on assistance to refugees, returnees and displaced persons in Africa, which reviewed the situation there by subregion and reviewed the work of various agencies.
The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) would hear the introduction of three draft resolutions this afternoon, she continued. A draft resolution on measures to prevent smuggling of aliens by sea was introduced by Cuba this morning in the Third Committee.
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