DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

19 December 1996

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

19961219 FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY

Ahmad Fawzi, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told correspondents at today's noon briefing that Spokesman Sylvana Foa was attending to personal matters this morning and had asked him to do the honours. It was a great honour to do the honours, he said.

The Secretary-General had written a letter to the President of Peru, Alberto Fujimori, expressing his concern at the situation in Lima. Copies of that letter were available in the Spokesman's Office. The Secretary-General had written: "I have the honour to write to you in order to express my most profound concern about the situation created by the taking of hostages in the residence of the Ambassador of Japan. In these tense moments, I would like to express my solidarity with the people of Peru, and my support for all your efforts to bring about a peaceful solution of the crisis through the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. It goes without saying that I utterly condemn the taking of hostages, as all acts of terrorism in any circumstances."

In answer to a correspondent's question, the Deputy Spokesman said he could confirm that there were United Nations personnel among the hostages at the Japanese Ambassador's residence in the Peruvian capital. However, out of concern for the safety of those personnel and of all the other hostages, he could not go into further details.

A correspondent asked what form of support the Secretary-General had envisaged in his letter to President Fujimori. What kind of role could he be expected to play in the hostage situation in Lima? Mr. Fawzi repeated that he could not go into details, except to say that the Government of Peru was doing its utmost to secure the safe release of hostages. What the Secretary-General was saying was simply that he supported the efforts of the Government of Peru, and that he condemned the taking of hostages. As far as the Deputy Spokesman knew, there had been no request -- either from Lima or from the United Nations in New York -- for the Secretary-General's mediation in the situation or for United Nations involvement.

At 10:30 this morning, said Mr. Fawzi, the Secretary-General had inaugurated the Department of Public Information-Non-Governmental Organization (DPI-NGO) research centre mentioned at yesterday's briefing.

At 11 a.m., he met the Foreign Minister of Indonesia, Ali Alatas, who had come to say goodbye and thank the Secretary-General for all his efforts, especially on the East Timor question. The two had discussed the planned meeting on East Timor, originally scheduled for 21 December. The Secretary- General told Mr. Alatas that he thought it would be prudent to postpone that meeting because he felt that more preparation was needed. The meeting would, therefore ,be held at a later date in the New Year.

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As he spoke, said the Deputy Spokesman, the Secretary-General was meeting the Permanent Representative of Kuwait, Mohammad A. Abulhasan. At 12:30 p.m., he would meet with the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), James Gustave Speth. He would be having a number of meetings with senior officials this afternoon.

The Security Council had begun consultations this morning on Somalia. The Secretary-General's Special Adviser, Chinmaya Gharekhan, was briefing Council members on the question. The Council had "other matters" on its agenda, as well.

A press release from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was available in the Spokesman's Office, said Mr. Fawzi. It concerned events in Chechnya. Having assessed the situation of its operations in the Chechnya region after the killings of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) staff members early last Tuesday, the UNHCR had decided to keep on hold its programmes for the delivery of assistance inside Chechnya. It would, however, continue its operations in the neighbouring republics of Daghestan, Ingushetia, and North Ossetia, assisting persons displaced by the Chechnya conflict.

Also available to correspondents today was the Secretary-General's report on his good offices mission in Cyprus. In the report, he indicated that the decision of the European Union to open accession negotiations with Cyprus was an important new development which should facilitate an overall settlement. That decision, and the time-table that flowed from it, provided an additional important reason for both sides in the Cyprus question to redouble their efforts. An urgent effort was required next year to bring about early direct talks between the leaders of the two communities to negotiate an overall settlement. Both leaders should clearly and publicly commit themselves to such a process.

There had been no change since yesterday in the number of contracts approved by the overseers in the oil-for-food programme. Thirteen contracts had so far been approved, with none pending. Mr. Fawzi said there was a feeling that many more would be coming in, but at the moment 13 had been approved.

Yesterday, the Permanent Representative of Germany, Tono Eitel, Chairman of the Security Council Committee to monitor sanctions against Iraq, had announced that 19 goods inspectors were now deployed in Iraq, out of the 32 Lloyds inspectors who would finally be working there. They were currently deployed at the port of Om Qasr, at Trebil crossing-point between Jordan and Iraq, and at the Zakho entry port between Iraq and Turkey. It was expected

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that the full contingent of 32 goods inspectors would be deployed by Christmas. As correspondents were aware, there were 14 Saybolt monitors already on the ground, 10 in Iraq and four in Ceyhan, Turkey. On the question of humanitarian observers, there was a mission from the United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs in Iraq now. They were finalizing arrangements for the deployment of those observers. Humanitarian supplies were not expected to begin reaching Iraq before the second half of January.

A press release by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), available in the Spokesman's Office in both English and Spanish, gave a preliminary overview of the economy of Latin America and the Caribbean for 1996. It was quite an interesting review of the region's economy. Average growth in the region as a whole was some 3.5 per cent. Average inflation had fallen to 20 per cent.

Information on Rwanda today indicated that 15,540 Rwandan refugees had crossed the border from the United Republic of Tanzania, bringing the total since Saturday to 252,000. The number of those returning home to Rwanda since 1 December was 257,000. That was out of a total of 540,000 Rwandan refugees who had originally sought asylum in Tanzania. In other words, nearly half had already returned to Rwanda. The UNHCR field reports said that more than 100,000 Rwandans were on the road and headed for the border, in a solid column 40 kilometres long of "very, very tired people". Many of them were among those who had fled earlier this month into hiding in the forest, and were now extremely exhausted. The column was currently some 20 kilometres from the border, so the refugees were not expected to cross into Rwanda before tomorrow.

In Angola yesterday, said Mr. Fawzi, the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Alioune Blondin Beye, had met with the leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Jonas Savimbi, in Bailundo. They had reviewed the peace process, including: the status to be accorded to Mr. Savimbi; the extension of the State administration throughout the territory of Angola; the return of UNITA deputies to the National Assembly; and the formation of a government of national unity and reconciliation. The Joint Commission, composed of both sides and chaired by Mr. Beye, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, would be finalizing the time-table for the remaining tasks today. Tomorrow, they would give a document to both parties to finalize the methodology for the extension of State administration throughout Angola.

Things were also moving ahead in Guatemala. Yesterday, that country's Congress had approved legislation based on the agreement signed in December in Madrid. It would be known as the Law of National Reconciliation.

(Within the context of the Guatemala peace process, Mr. Fawzi reminded correspondents, the Government of Guatemala and representatives of the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) had signed an agreement on

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12 December on the basis for the reintegration of the URNG into "Legality". The agreement contained provisions to reconcile the needs of national reconciliation with the needs of counteracting impunity and ensuring reparation to victims of major human rights violations. The agreement had established that a law for national reconciliation must be passed before the final signing in Guatemala -- on 29 December -- which Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali would be attending.)

Thus, according to the law passed yesterday by the Guatemalan Congress, crimes committed in Guatemala before 1988 had already been covered by an amnesty promulgated in that same year. The new law, therefore, covered crimes committed after 1988. Although it provided amnesty for a range of political and connected crimes, it could not be considered a blanket amnesty, since it did not contemplate amnesty for crimes of genocide, or enforced disappearance, or of torture. Through its office in Guatemala (the United Nations Human Rights Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA)), the United Nations had closely monitored the parliamentary debate on the new law. The Mission was now assessing the text to ensure that it was a faithful representation of the agreement -- and to ensure that it was compatible with the comprehensive agreement on human rights signed by the parties in March of 1994. Once that assessment was made, MINUGUA would be issuing a statement on the matter.

According to the Security Coordinator's Office, said Mr. Fawzi, fatalities over the last five years among United Nations international and local civilian staff working throughout the United Nations system worldwide were as follows: 10 deaths in 1996; 12 in 1995; 64 in 1994 (the year of the genocide in Rwanda); 23 in 1993; and 11 killed in 1992. The Deputy Spokesman specified that those were deaths due to hostile action or malicious acts, and did not include fatalities due to natural causes. The figures were, of course, in addition to the many peace-keepers who had given their lives in the service of peace.

The Russian Federation had today made a payment of $569 million to the peace-keeping budget. That brought the overall debt of Member States to the United Nations down to $2.2 billion -- $500 million to the regular budget and over $1.6 billion to peace-keeping. As correspondents knew, Sylvana Foa would be leaving Headquarters on 31 December, Mr. Fawzi concluded. She had asked him to invite all members of the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) and all members of the press with whom she had worked over the past year to a farewell party -- "the party of the year" -- at the UNCA Club at 5:30 p.m. next Monday, 23 December. As an added incentive, none other than Boutros Boutros-Ghali would also be there to express his appreciation to UNCA members and to the journalists who had been covering the work of the United Nations over the past five years. The Secretary-General had promised that he would be there; he was very disappointed that due to other pressing engagements he had been unable to make it to UNCA's Christmas party yesterday. But he would be at Sylvana's party on Monday.

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Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for General Assembly President Razali Ismail (Malaysia), said she came to the briefing to specifically announce to sceptics among correspondents that the Assembly had indeed concluded its business for this year. It met at about 5:30 p.m. yesterday, and then again at 10:30 p.m., concluding at about 20 minutes before midnight. The Assembly would recess for now, and the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) would resume its work some time in the middle of March.

Among the items covered by the Assembly last night was approval of the medium-term plan for 1998-2001, which the President had referred to as the principal policy directive for the United Nations to address and respond to persistent problems, as well as address emerging trends and challenges of the future. The new medium-term plan set eight priorities: international peace and security; promotion of sustained economic growth and sustainable development; development of Africa; promotion of human rights; coordination of humanitarian assistance efforts; promotion of justice and international law; disarmament; and drug control, crime prevention, and combating international terrorism.

The Assembly, said Ms. Abdul-Majid, had adopted the budget outline for 1998-1989, set at $2.48 billion, slightly less than the present budget. It had also adopted a resolution under the administrative and budgetary aspects of financing of peace-keeping operations, regarding assignment of countries to the groups in which they would be assessed for peace-keeping operations. As correspondents knew, the peace-keeping operation had a different assessment system. That particular resolution affected Zambia, Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.

The Assembly had also adopted resolutions on the pension system and on the agenda of the Fifth Committee's resumed session. Other recommendations of the Fifth Committee she had referred to at yesterday's briefing had also been adopted by the Assembly last night.

In an overview of the session, said Ms. Abdul-Majid, the Assembly President said that 265 resolutions were adopted, against 282 last year. Significant strides had been made to enhance efficiency, increase productivity and reduce wasteful practice. "We have done this by practising effective time management." Notional savings of $410,000 had been made for plenary meetings alone; it excluded notional savings for Main Committees, and did not include overall overtime and related costs of support services.

She said the President had also elaborated on some of the resolutions adopted, including those relating to the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons, the fourth special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament, the external debt problem of developing countries, trade and development (endorsing the results of the ninth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD IX)), the General Assembly special session to

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review the implementation of Agenda 21 of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), rights of the child, action to combat drug abuse, women, human rights, the Middle East, Palestine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, peace-keeping, elimination of terrorism, the international criminal court, the medium-term plan and the budget.

Looking to the future, he said that 1997 would see a full calendar, with meeting of all five Assembly working groups, the resumed session of the Assembly and the Fifth Committee, and the special session on Agenda 21. The Assembly working groups would be meeting between January and June, with the first meeting scheduled for 23 January. A major challenge, he said, was to translate the overwhelming will of Member States to make progress in the working groups dealing with reform, restructuring and the financial situation of the United Nations.

In his review, the President mentioned that the current session of the Assembly had successfully begun the process of reaching out to civil society through various informal sessions held in the plenary, Second (Economic and Financial) and Third (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) Committees. The session had accorded high priority to the issue of non-governmental organization participation and expected an urgent, focused and result-oriented action on the question of such participation in all areas of work of the United Nations.

Copies of the President's statement had been made available yesterday, said Ms. Abdul-Majid. This would be her last briefing of the year, and she wished correspondents the best for Christmas, Hanukkah and for the coming year. She advised them to keep a happy and healthy attitude -- and, above all, not to drink and drive.

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