DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19961212
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told correspondents at today's noon briefing that she would be joined by United Nations Under- Secretary-General for Administration and Management, Joseph E. Connor, who would be giving an update on the Organization's financial situation. "I have a feeling that it won't all be good news", she said.
The most important group of people in the United Nations had finally succeeded in electing a new chief, the Spokesman went on, and the Secretary- General had asked her to convey his congratulations to Raghida Dergham, the new President of the United Nations Correspondents' Association. "I'm sure she'll be very, very effective." And while on the subject of elections -- "despite the rumours you guys are spreading and all the phone calls I'm getting" -- it was absolutely not true that Security Council members had requested electoral assistance from the Secretariat.
The biggest story of the day was unfolding in northwestern Tanzania, Ms. Foa said. More than 300,000 Rwandan refugees had fled the camps into nearby forests. They were moving south into a very heavily forested area, where it was almost impossible to get to them. There had been a two-week food distribution in some of the major camps in the Ngara area. After the food was distributed, there was a very well-organized diversion of the refugees out of the camps by the Interahamwe. Whole camps were now on the move. The camps most affected were the Ngara area, where there were 410,000 Rwandan refugees. The rest, the other 124,000 Rwandans, were in another area called Karagwe, whose camps were not affected. The Ngara area camps included Benaco, which held 159,000 refugees; Lumasi, which held 113,000 Rwandan refugees (that camp was now 80 per cent empty); Musuhura, with 80,000 Rwandan refugees; Lukole, with 800 Rwandans but also 19,000 Burundian refugees; and Kitale, "a real camp on the move", with 34,000 Rwandans and another 38,000 Burundian refugees. There were also three smaller camps.
The refugees were saying that they were heading for Malawi, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia. Of the 15,000 or so who had fled the Tanzanian camps over the weekend, most seemed to be headed towards Uganda, and according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), about 560 had actually reached that country. Obviously there were many task-force meetings being called on the situation; more news of developing events would be coming in.
This morning, Ms. Foa went on, the Secretary-General had addressed the Human Rights Day Conference. He said that "it was with memories of world war fresh in their minds that the framers of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirmed that `recognition of the inherent dignity of the equal and
inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world'. These words are as relevant today as they were in the 1940's. It seems to me that the urgency is for States to adopt existing texts and to apply them effectively rather than to define new rights".
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) had declared that it had quartered all its soldiers and handed over all its armaments to the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III), the Spokesman said. However, UNITA still had 463 police personnel who had to be quartered. They expected that to happen in the next few days. UNITA had also disclosed the existence of elements of the UNITA President's guard, which needed to be given special consideration in connection with the special status of the UNITA President. As of yesterday, the total number of soldiers quartered was 65,691, of whom 15,129 had deserted and 155 had died of various causes. She expected to get more information later this afternoon on the number of weapons surrendered to UNAVEM.
Turning to Security Council resolution 986 on Iraqi oil sales, the Spokesman said that as of 10:45 a.m., one contract had been approved, while four were under active consideration. She expected an update today. She told correspondents that, subject to their approval, she had decided not to continue giving details on contracts sent back for redrafting. She would merely announce what had been approved and what was under consideration. "Otherwise it gets too complicated." This morning, for example, she had already had 20 requests for details on the progress of contracts. "It just gets too crazy", she said. "If it's OK with you, we've decided not to try and play that game any more."
"It's a big day for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Security Council", said Ms. Foa. As correspondents knew, the Council was expected to adopt an omnibus resolution on that country this afternoon. The resolution would establish for a period of 18 months a multinational Stabilization Force, or SFOR, as the legal successor to the Implementation Force (IFOR). The Council would also extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH), which included the United Nations International Police Task Force (IPTF), for one year.
It would also endorse the strengthened mandate, endorsed at the London Conference earlier this month, she said. That mandate had been to monitor, advise and train local law enforcement personnel. The strengthened mandate that emerged from the London Conference requested IPTF to carry out investigations of human rights abuses by local police authorities. If that required an increase in the authorized IPTF strength, which stood at 1,721, the Secretary-General would submit a proposal on that to the Council at a later date. Until then, we were still sticking with 1,721, and would see if the strengthened mandate could be managed with the current strength. "If not, we'll let them know."
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 12 December 1996
There were lots of documents on Bosnia and Herzegovina on the racks today, Ms. Foa went on. There was the Secretary-General's report on UNMIBH, the conclusions of the London Conference, the exchange of letters between the Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the parties to the Dayton Peace Accords concerning SFOR. To a correspondent who asked what that exchange had been about, the Spokesman said they concerned the creation of SFOR as IFOR's legal successor.
There was a press release from the UNHCR in her office, the Spokesman said. It concerned the emergency relief efforts for the 100,000 Rwandan and Burundian refugees now in Shabunda in eastern Zaire. "Don't forget we still have about half a million refugees lost in eastern Zaire who have not gotten much help."
At 1 p.m. today the Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Muhamed Sacirbey, would be in room 226 to discuss United Nations resolutions on Bosnia and Herzegovina and the International War Crimes Tribunal.
At 4:30 p.m., also in room 226, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region, Raymond Chretien, would discuss his mission. The hour was of course tentative, since Ambassador Chretien was briefing the Council at 3:30 p.m.
Tomorrow, at 1:15 p.m., the Secretary-General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Giancarlo Aragona, would be at the briefing to talk about cooperation between the United Nations and the OSCE, which was being considered today among other agenda items in the General Assembly plenary.
Teresa Albanez, Special Adviser on Child Rights for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), would be on in-house channels 6, 23 or 38, World Chronicle TV, at 2:30 p.m., said the Spokesman. There would be no briefing on 25 or 26 December, she added, although someone would be in the office on both days in case correspondents had problems. As for briefings through the weeks of Christmas and the New Year, she said she would play it by ear, according to such factors as the Secretary-General's election and the presence or absence of correspondents during the holidays.
A correspondent asked which of the past six elections to the post of United Nations Secretary-General had been pushed closest to the 31 December deadline. The Spokesman said she would check and get back to the questioner.
Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for General Assembly President Razali Ismail (Malaysia), said that the Assembly was considering a number of items today, in addition to the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) reports before it this afternoon. At the time of the briefing, discussion was still going on over cooperation between the United Nations and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). There was a draft
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 12 December 1996
resolution on that item (document A/51/L.52), plus an amendment (document A/51/L.54) by Azerbaijan to new operative paragraph 9. By the terms of that paragraph, the Assembly would fully support the activities of the OSCE to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict in and around the Nagorny Karabakh region of the Azerbaijan Republic. The two drafts were still before the Assembly, and no action had yet been taken. [LATER: The drafts were approved by recorded votes -- see Press Release GA/9199.]
The other draft was on cooperation with the Organization of African Unity (OAU). It called on United Nations organs, particularly the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, to continue to involve the OAU closely in all their activities concerning Africa. It also called upon the United Nations to coordinate its efforts and to cooperate with the OAU in the pacific settlement of disputes. It invited the United Nations to assist the OAU in strengthening its institutional and operational capacity in the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts in Africa.
There were a couple of other resolutions, she said, relating to humanitarian relief and economic rehabilitation. One draft was on Somalia. By that draft, the Assembly would appeal to all the Somali parties concerned to terminate hostilities and to engage in a national reconciliation process that allowed for transition from relief to reconstruction and development, and called on the Secretary-General to continue to mobilize international humanitarian, rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance for Somalia. It also urged all States and relevant intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to continue to assist the Somali people to embark on the rehabilitation of basic social and economic services.
The Assembly also had a draft resolution on the Comoros before it, Ms. Abdul-Majid said. It urgently appealed to all States and all appropriate international organizations to provide assistance to the Comoros in repairing the damage caused by the act of aggression.
The last draft she wanted to bring to correspondents' attention, she said, was on special assistance to front-line States. That text would have the Assembly urge the international community to continue to provide, in a timely fashion, assistance necessary to enhance the collective capacity of the countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in their efforts to reconstruct, rehabilitate and develop their economies.
This morning, the Credentials Committee had accepted the credentials of representatives of 59 Member States to the General Assembly, bringing the total accepted to 182.
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