DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

20 November 1996

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

19961120 FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY

Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told correspondents at today's noon briefing that she had little news for them. The day's "major" item was the opening of the nomination phase for the United Nations Correspondents Association election. The deadline for submission was 27 November.

Today, said Ms. Foa, was Africa Industrialization Day. The Secretary- General told the General Assembly this morning that the theme selected by the Conference of African Ministers of Industry for this year's celebration -- mobilization of financial resources for industry -- was both timely and appropriate. He said that over the years developing countries had registered remarkable economic progress -- their share of world industrial production, for example, had grown from 17 per cent in 1980 to around 20 per cent in 1995. But while the economic prospects of many countries in Africa had improved, Africa's overall industrial performance continued to lag behind other regions in the developing world. Africa's share of global industrial output had declined from 0.85 per cent in 1980 to 0.74 per cent in 1995.

"So what can we do about it?", she asked. What the Secretary-General told the Assembly this morning was that the international community should improve the level and scope of official development assistance. It should extend and enlarge trade concessions and preferences to African countries, particularly the least developed countries. It should take additional and decisive measures to alleviate Africa's external debt burden, and encourage and facilitate foreign direct investments. "In its endeavour to build a brighter future for itself", said the Secretary-General, "Africa deserves the unfailing support and encouragement of the international community. But while international support is essential, the fate and future of Africa lies, in the ultimate analysis, in Africa's hands".

This morning, the Spokesman continued, the Secretary-General was seeing Dr. Gary Allen, President of the Christian Mission to the United Nations, Joelle Tanguy, Executive Director of Médecins Sans Frontières, and the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary and Summary Executions. Those were the only official appointments on the Secretary-General's schedule, but the agenda always seemed to fill up by the end of the day, and correspondents would be kept posted.

"A bit of good news before we get to the bad", said Ms. Foa. Turkey had become the ninety-sixth Member State to pay its 1996 regular budget dues in full, with a check for $4,091,684. "Thank you very much, Turkey". Estonia had signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty today, bringing the total

number of signatories to 135. Fiji's was still the only ratification. Three of the 44 "core countries" were still holding out: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, India and Pakistan.

The Canadian Mission to the United Nations was today hosting what was essentially a political meeting on the Rwanda-Zaire problem. Fifty-six interested countries were attending [the meeting in the Economic and Social Council Chamber], plus just about every international organization. They were still meeting as she spoke, said Ms. Foa. Today's meeting was actually one of three on the question this week: a meeting on military and operational aspects was tentatively scheduled for Friday in Stuttgart; and a donors' meeting would be held on Saturday in Geneva.

The Spokesman went on to say that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had recently conducted a census in eastern Zaire, among the 50 or so camps scattered along that country's frontier with Rwanda. The census had come up with the figure of 1,246,895 refugees. Of those, about 145,000 were from Burundi; the rest were from Rwanda. With 500,000 refugees now back in Rwanda, there was still the problem of the 746,895 left behind.

Some of those still in eastern Zaire, she said, were former members of the Rwandan army, Interahamwe and various militia groups with their families. They were moving as far west into Zaire as they could go. There were constantly changing reports of a large group of refugees moving north from Bukavu along the western side of Lake Kivu towards Goma. Estimates of their numbers rose and fell, because although some satellite photos were available they were not very good, and were difficult to read. The figures coming in varied from 100,000 to 300,000. The problem was still very much there. At this morning's meeting, Canada said that the Security Council mandate for the multinational force was still valid. It might need some adjustment and the meeting was discussing that now, but obviously things there were moving very fast.

As for the Trust Fund, the Spokesman went on, there was not yet any money as of this morning's count -- not even any small change. However, several countries had indicated their willingness to contribute to it. What they were asking from the Stuttgart meeting was a more exact figure on how much would be needed. The answer to that question, she believed, would emerge from Stuttgart.

The Security Council met at 10:30 a.m., the Spokesman continued, and was briefed by the Head of the Special Mission for Afghanistan, Norbert Holl. It would then be taking up the question of extension of the United Nations Special Mission in Haiti. So far there was no word on when the Council would be returning to the question of the Secretary-General. She would keep correspondents posted.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 20 November 1996

At 3 p.m., the World Peace Foundation of Cambridge, Massachusetts, would hold a press conference in room 226. The conference was sponsored by the United States Mission, and its subject would be the Foundation's new study of United Nations fiscal reform, entitled "The United Nations: Policy Formation, Reform and Reorganization".

At 3:45 p.m., said the Spokesman, the Deputy Minister of the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Gordon Smith, and Robert Fowler, Canada's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, would brief correspondents on humanitarian operations in eastern Zaire and the evolving situation there. She believed that the meeting going on in the Economic and Social Council Chamber would be over by then and there would be a clearer idea of what countries were still willing to do and where the situation was headed.

In conclusion, the Spokesman told correspondents that at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow the Government of Italy would present the United Nations with a sculpture called "Sphere Within a Sphere", by Arnoldo Pomodoro. The gift would be presented to the Secretary-General by Lamberto Dini, the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, at the visitors' entrance to the General Assembly.

A correspondent, citing reports that the authority of the Zairian Prime Minister had been widely questioned, asked the Spokesman, "With whom are we dealing in Zaire?" Ms. Foa replied that she had heard of no difficulties on that score. Ambassador Raymond Chrétien, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy, and Humanitarian Coordinator Sergio Vieira de Mello, had been dealing with the authorities in Kinshasa, while the Secretary-General was quite regularly on the phone with Zairian President Mobutu in France. She had heard of no problems in dealing with the Zairian authorities.

A correspondent, referring to yesterday's report that the National Rifle Association had been awarded observer status in the Economic and Social Council, asked the Spokesman whether that status came under Category I or II. Ms. Foa said that she believed it was Category II, but that she would check. Observing that there were 1,700 non-governmental organizations with observer status at the United Nations, she said she was not surprised that they were allotted categories.

To a correspondent who asked for the Secretary-General's view of the election process for his position, the Spokesman said that she had not had the chance to check. At her morning consultation with him, the Secretary-General had focused exhaustively on events in eastern Zaire.

A correspondent cited a statement in yesterday's New York Times to the effect that in the event of a deadlock in the Security Council over the Secretary-General's election, the Assembly could decide the issue by a simple majority. The correspondent said she understood that indeed such an election

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 20 November 1996

did not require a two-thirds majority in the Assembly -- that it could be put as an "important question" requiring only a simple majority, which meant that the Times statement was correct. But she wanted to know -- "historically" -- when such a situation had occurred before, and how the process had worked, for instance in 1950, in the case of former Secretary-General Trygve Lie.

The Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Ahmed Fawzi, told the correspondent that in the case of Mr. Lie the issue had not been considered as a renewal, but as an extension of mandate. Therefore, none of the provisions cited by the correspondent applied. He promised to discuss it with her after the briefing.

Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for General Assembly President Razali Ismail (Malaysia), welcomed the Humphrey Fellows in journalism from the University of Maryland to the briefing. Among the President's first activities this morning was a meeting with the Fellows.

As the Secretary-General's Spokesman had already indicated, the Assembly had this morning observed Africa Industrialization Day and the Assembly President and the Secretary-General had made statements. Copies of the President's speech had been made available to correspondents, but she wished to highlight one aspect of that address. The President had said "if we need a market rationale to convince us why we should invest in Africa, let me state that assistance to Africa is not welfare. In essence, it is an investment in other people for one's own self-interest. Africa can be, with industrialization, a huge market for the world. The rising economies in Latin America and East Asia have led to world growth. In the same way, a revitalized Africa will enhance prosperity and producing power for the world as a whole".

This morning the plenary had taken up the item on the appointment of members of the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU), Ms. Abdul-Majid went on. After consultations with Member States, the President had drawn up a list of countries which would be requested to propose candidates for appointment to the Unit. Those countries were Algeria, Dominican Republic, Italy, Jordan and the Russian Federation. After consulting with the President of the Economic and Social Council, the Secretary-General -- as Chairman of the Administrative Committee on Coordination -- and the Assembly President would later propose a list of qualified candidates to the Assembly for appointment.

The JIU had begun its work in 1968, she said. It had broad powers of investigation in all matters bearing on efficiency and the proper use of funds, and might make on-the-spot inquiries as it saw fit. The Unit reported to the Assembly. Its members consisted of 11 inspectors with special experience in administrative and financial matters, serving in their personal capacity for a term of five years. The Unit was located in Geneva.

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 20 November 1996

A draft resolution before the plenary, Ms. Abdul-Majid went on, would have the Assembly encourage the Secretary-General to continue to improve the capacity of the Organization to respond effectively to the requests of Member States for support of their efforts to achieve the goal of democratization. A report of the Secretary-General on that issue stated that the term "democratization" denotes a process by which an authoritarian society becomes increasingly participatory. Mechanisms to achieve it included periodic elections, a free press, an independent judiciary, and transparent and accountable public administration.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) also had a series of draft resolutions, she said. One of them, on the rights of the child, recommends that the Secretary-General appoint, for a period of three years, a special representative on the impact of armed conflict on children. That draft was being introduced this morning.

Among other drafts before the Third Committee were those on the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1998 and on the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. According to the draft relating to the Convention, the Assembly would express its deep concern at the growing manifestation of racism, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination and inhuman or degrading treatment directed against migrant workers in different parts of the world. It would call upon all Member States to consider signing, ratifying or acceding to the Convention as a matter of priority. It would express the hope that the Convention enters into force at an early date.

The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) also had two draft resolutions before it, relating to the activities of foreign economic or other interests, and military activities and arrangements by colonial Powers. There was also a draft on the various Non-Self-Governing Territories.

* *** *