DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19970117
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Fred Eckhard, Acting Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by announcing that the Secretary-General was moving closer to a final formulation of his proposal to the Security Council regarding the Great Lakes region of Africa. He held consultations yesterday with Salim Ahmed Salim, Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), and met again this morning with Lakhdar Brahimi, his Personal Representative in support of preventive and peacemaking efforts. He expected to finalize his proposal by early next week.
This morning Maurice Strong had his first meeting with the Secretary- General in his capacity as Executive Coordinator for United Nations Reform, Mr. Eckhard said. "I mentioned yesterday that he was disengaging from his responsibilities at the World Bank. He will, however, retain a relationship with the Bank, but he has no other executive responsibilities except those to the United Nations, and has his full commitment made to the Secretary-General in this capacity."
He went on to say that Mr. Strong and the Secretary-General would meet tomorrow morning with James Gustave Speth, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Joseph Connor, the Under-Secretary- General for Administration and Management, and Ismat Kittani, Under-Secretary- General in the Secretary-General's office, to begin work on the reform agenda.
The United Nations had begun receiving money from Iraqi oil sales, Mr. Eckhard said. Some $68.8 million had been deposited in the escrow account at the Banque Nationale de Paris on 15 January. Another $44 million was deposited yesterday, bringing the total to $113 million as of today. A further $16 million was to be deposited on Tuesday, 21 January.
He said the revenue from the oil sales would be used for the purchase of humanitarian supplies, for compensation to the Persian Gulf war victims, to pay for the operating expenses of the United Nations Special Commission set up under Security Council resolution 687 (1991) in connection with the disposal of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, which was headed by Rolf Ekeus, and to pay for the monitoring of the implementation of Security Council resolution 986 (1995), the "oil-for-food" formula.
Mr. Eckhard drew attention to a press release issued yesterday in Geneva on the Committee on the Rights of the Child. In preliminary oral comments on a report of Myanmar, the Committee called for urgent efforts to end child military conscription, as well as forced use of children as porters for the army. Copies of the press release were available in the Spokesman's office.
He also drew attention to a press release issued today by the World Food Programme (WFP) on its efforts in eastern Zaire. Catherine Bertini, the Programme's Executive Director, had called for an urgent political solution to the refugee crisis, in which hundreds of thousands of Rwandans had sought refuge. "In the absence of a political settlement", she says, "it's difficult to see how relief agencies like WFP can sustain such an expensive and complicated relief effort over a long period of time." Copies of the release were also available in the Spokesman's office.
Mr. Eckhard announced that cheques had been received today from Canada (for $33.1 million) and Singapore ($1.5 million), in full payment of their dues to the United Nations. That brought to nine the total of Member States now paid in full.
He also announced that there would be a press briefing on Tuesday, 21 January, by Under-Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development Nitin Desai. He would brief correspondents on two major forthcoming reports. They address "Comprehensive Assessment of the Freshwater Resources of the World" and "Global Change and Sustainable Development: Critical Trends".
When would the report on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda be completed? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said he had checked with the office of the Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, Karl Theodore Paschke, who said he had a good week's worth of work left on it. So the report would not be ready until the end of the month, when it would be submitted to the Secretary-General. He, in turn, was free to take action on it if he wished. However, for him to submit it to the General Assembly would then involve translation into six languages, which could take up to a month. "So I'm not sure at what point we'll be able to release it to you, but it will be a public document eventually."
Asked if those attending the meeting tomorrow on reform were members of "the reform group", Mr. Eckhard said "No, this is just a preliminary meeting among some of the principals, to begin formulating thoughts on the way ahead". To another question, he said the meeting had been called by the Secretary- General, who would be participating in it.
A correspondent said he said understood that Canada was taking strong disciplinary action against a Canadian officer accused of human rights violations in Haiti. How did one distinguish Canadians under United Nations command from Canadians under Canadian command in the same operation? he asked. Did they wear the same uniform, the United Nations uniform? he added.
"As you know, this is a rather unorthodox arrangement", Mr. Eckhard said. "It was forced by a division of opinion within the Security Council as to what the strength of the United Nations mission in Haiti should be. And the solution was that a lower number of troops should be funded by the United
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 17 January 1997
Nations, and these would be supplemented by additional troops from Canada, who would be under Canadian national command but who would work in an integrated way with the United Nations mission. And it's worked reasonably well ... but it's also a very unusual arrangement, and not our preferred way of doing things, but in this case, it was necessary."
Responding to another question, Mr. Eckhard said the meeting on United Nations reform would be held at 10 a.m. in the Secretariat building.
A correspondent said there was a long list of Member States which had not as yet paid their dues for 1996 and earlier years. "Do they get a grace period before they are added to that Article 19 list?" Mr. Eckhard said the suspension of voting rights for non-payment of dues, under Article 19 of the United Nations Charter, kicked in after a Member State had fallen behind in its payments by two years' worth of assessments.
With money starting to come in from Iraqi oil sales, when did the food monitors go out there? a correspondent asked. When did the purchases begin? Mr. Eckhard said the recruitment of the distribution monitors had been hindered because of a lack of funds. "Once there is enough money to pay their salaries, we'll start deploying them." During the interim period, candidates had been identified for the monitoring job. The plan called for a total of 151 distribution monitors. Subject to the availability of funds, it was intended to begin deploying them either at the end of the month or in early February, with deployment to be completed by the end of February. Responding to further questions, he said he would try to get additional details by later today.
Can you confirm that the Director of the United Nations Human Rights Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) was now in New York, as well as the purpose of his visit? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said he had forgotten to mention yesterday that David Stephen was in New York for consultations.
Were there any new developments with respect to a coalition government in Angola involving Jonas Savimbi of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA)? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Alioune Blondin Beye, was in the final stages of that mission and was pushing hard to conclude it on time. The date set for the launching of the new government was 25 January. "As far as I know, that's still on schedule."
* *** *