DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19970123
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Juan Carlos Brandt, Associate Spokesman to the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by providing correspondents with an update on the itinerary of Ambassador Mohammed Sahnoun, the nominated Special Representative of the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to the Great Lakes region of Africa. The nominee would arrive in New York tomorrow evening and stay for the whole of next week for briefings by Secretariat officials and meetings with the Secretary-General, Security Council and the Foreign Minister of Zaire, Gerard Kamanda wa Kamanda, who was due at Headquarters for consultations and unofficial discussions with Council members.
Before going further, he introduced the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Great Lakes region, Martin Griffiths, who would also speak to correspondents.
Bringing up a question asked yesterday as to whether the Taliban of Afghanistan would send a delegation to New York, Mr. Brandt said the only information he had on the issue was based on press reports that a delegation from the group would be in New York and Washington, D.C., today or tomorrow. Stating that he did not have any official confirmation of those reports, he promised to relay to correspondents whatever information he could confirm.
Mr. Brandt then informed reporters that the Secretary-General's report on the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) (document S/1997/56) was available. He highlighted some of the recent developments regarding the country, such as the summit between Tajik President Emomali S. Rakhmonov and S. Abdullo Nuri, leader of the United Tajik Opposition (UTO), and the inter-Tajik talks held in Tehran from 6 to 19 January. At the latter, the two parties had made progress on the statute of the commission of national reconciliation, despite the fact that two important elements were unresolved: the allocation of seats on the commission to the parties and independent persons and appropriate security guarantees for the UTO members.
The two parties had signed a protocol on refugees and discussed another, on political problems, he continued. Regarding the protocol on political problems, the parties had initialled their agreement on three out of four substantive issues: mutual forgiveness and amnesty; participation by the UTO in the central electoral commission; and a mechanism for integrating UTO representatives to the Government during the transitional period. The parties would meet again on 26 February in either Moscow or Tehran, where they would discuss the remaining political issues and a protocol on military issues.
The Associate Spokesman then turned to the Secretary-General's letter to the Security Council, dated 21 January, on recent developments concerning the
United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES), in which he stated that the mission's political focus had been to resolve outstanding issues on the holding of elections. The Secretary-General's letter followed one sent last week by the Croatian Government on the completion of the reintegration of the region and on plans to hold elections in the region in March. Mr. Brandt recalled that since the Croatian letter, the local Serb Executive Council and Regional Assembly had written jointly to the Transitional Administrator, Jacques Paul Klein, seeking several additional guarantees.
In his letter on the matter, Mr. Brandt continued, the Secretary-General said: "The political package, taken in conjunction with the Basic Agreement and Security Council resolution 1037 (1996) and the guarantees contained in the Affidavit of Employment signed by the Government of Croatia on 16 December 1996, constitute a comprehensive framework of guarantees for Serbs who choose to stay in Croatia as equal citizens enjoying full rights under the Croatian Constitution in accordance with international law and under international monitoring."
The Secretary-General had called for the Council's favourable consideration of the Croatian Government's letter, according to the Associate Spokesman.
Regarding Security Council matters, Mr. Brandt said the Security Council Committee established by resolution 661 (1990) concerning the situation between Iraq and Kuwait would hold a closed-door meeting in Conference Room 7 at 3:30 p.m. The meeting would be followed by a briefing to the media by the Committee's new Chairman, Antonio Victor Martins Monteiro (Portugal). The time of the briefing, which was usually held at about 5:30 to 6 p.m., would be announced later.
Turning to developments regarding the Great Lakes region, Mr. Brandt informed correspondents that, at about 11 a.m. New York time today, the four indicted suspects held by Cameroonian authorities had arrived at the headquarters of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha. The Chief Prosecutor, Justice Louise Arbour, welcomed the transfer of the four indictees who had been held in a prison in Yaoundé, Cameroon. So far, 21 individuals had been indicted by the Tribunal, of whom 13 were in custody.
Meanwhile, he continued, the Security Council did not plan to hold any consultations or meetings today. But its President, Hisashi Owada (Japan), would hold consultations on Monday, 27 January, on the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Troop-contributing States would meet on UNOMIG at 3:30 p.m., and on UNIFIL at 4:15 p.m. on Friday, 24 January. A meeting of the Council's working group on documentation and other procedural questions had been scheduled for Monday afternoon, 27 January.
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Turning to the Secretary-General's first official trip to Washington, D.C., also the first official visit of a foreign dignitary to the second term of President William J. Clinton, the Associate Spokesman said Mr. Annan had met this morning with the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Cesar Gaviria. Their discussions had centred on Guatemala, on the question of electoral assistance and on the relations between the two organizations. They had also discussed the OAS experience with reform in the 1980s, and environmental issues. After the meeting, Mr. Annan told reporters that he intended to hold meetings with regional groups as an important part of the reform efforts, since the reforms would spread to regional organizations as well.
Continuing, he said the Secretary-General had indicated his pleasure with yesterday's positive start to his trip, hoping that such a response would continue today and tomorrow. Mr. Brandt cited the Secretary-General as having responded to a question on the need for reform thus: "It will go forward but we cannot do it on a shoestring. The focus is not just on arrears but on the future." The Secretary-General had also said he expected a new beginning, since the United States Administration had stated that it would make payments.
Continuing, Mr. Brandt informed reporters that the Secretary-General's next stop was the Department of State, where he met with Peter Tarnoff who was acting as Secretary of State, until the swearing-in of Madeleine Albright, this morning. The meeting, attended by several high-ranking officials, addressed three main issues: the Great Lakes region, Iraq and the Balkans. When the latest piece of information was sent from Washington by Fred Eckhard, the Acting Spokesman accompanying the Secretary-General on the trip, Mr. Annan was about to head for a meeting with the Editorial Board of The Washington Post.
Other activities for today, Mr. Brandt reminded correspondents, included a meeting with President Clinton, which would be followed by a photo opportunity at 1:15 p.m. that would be broadcast live on United Nations in- house television. Then, the Secretary-General would have lunch with the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, Samuel Berger; hold a private meeting with Senator Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina and Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; attend a reception by the Chairman of the United Nations Association of the United States (UNA-USA), John Whitehead; and have a private dinner hosted by the President of the World Bank, James D. Wolfensohn.
Yesterday, the Associate Spokesman went on, the Secretary-General and his entourage had gone directly to the Capitol building, where he met with Congressman Benjamin Gilman, Republican of New York. They discussed several issues, particularly reform at the United Nations. Congressman Gilman had stated that the Congress was happy with the Secretary-General's visit and that he was pleased with "the noises he had started to receive from the United Nations and from the Secretary-General". The Congressman had indicated that
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 23 January 1997
he hoped to see the establishment of a United Nations code of conduct, a salary freeze and procurement reform. He expressed concern over the possibility of the United Nations imposing a global tax and mentioned the possibility of the United States cutting its assessments to the regular and peace-keeping budgets.
In response, Mr. Brandt said, the Secretary-General had stated that he approved of a code of conduct, but countered: "The United States cannot be a delinquent and a leader at the same time". As for the global taxation, he had stated that there was no support for such a system. The Secretary-General invited the Congressman to visit the United Nations frequently and "see the United Nations as home".
Later on, Mr. Brandt continued, Mr. Annan had met with Senator Rod Gramms, Republican of Minnesota, and the rest of that state's delegation in the United States Congress. After being welcomed by Senator Gramms, the Secretary-General had said that he was in Washington to start a new process, and: "The United States needed the United Nations as much as the United Nations needed the United States." Following that, the Secretary-General went to the United Nations Information Centre and held a meeting with all United Nations staff in the city. Mr. Annan was given the opportunity to sign his official portrait, leading to a situation in which the signed pictures of all of the Organization's seven Secretaries-General in that office were now available.
Mr. Brandt went on to say that the Secretary-General's next destination was Blaire House, where he was guest-of-honour at a reception hosted by Vice- President Albert Gore. The Associate Spokesman described the event as a very, very warm reception, with a very large gathering of senior officials. "Everybody wanted to shake the Secretary-General's hands, everybody applauded, everybody cheered. There was a very, very good environment at that reception." Vice-President Gore had stated that, while there would be disagreements between friends, the United States would do its part. He had assured the Secretary-General of the depth of commitment to the United Nations inside the Administration and that his country would pay its dues.
In his reply, the Secretary-General had said that everyone should change with the times, according to Mr. Brandt. In a lighter mood, Mr. Annan had added: "Please tell your citizens that we have no black helicopters and that, in fact, we have no designs on the United States." And, in a serious mood, the Secretary-General had reiterated his commitment to reforming the Organization, adding: "We are in this thing together. We either hang together or hang separately."
Moving on to the Organization's finances, Mr. Brandt told media representatives that the Netherlands had become the seventeenth Member State to pay up its 1997 regular budget dues by paying some $16.9 million. Five had done so yesterday: Austria, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa.
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Outstanding contributions to the United Nations stood at $3.1 billion: $1.4 billion for the regular budget and $1.6 billion for peace-keeping.
Meanwhile, he said, Brunei Darussalam had yesterday become the 140th Member State to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). So far, only Fiji had ratified it.
Two press releases were available at the Spokesman's Office, he said. The first, from the World Health Organization (WHO), provided information on the ninety-ninth session of the WHO Executive Board, which closed on Wednesday after setting an agenda for the World Health Assembly, due in Geneva from 5 to 14 May. The second, a news release from the World Food Programme (WFP), warned that more than 2 million people would go hungry in the next few months in the former Yugoslavia unless food was contributed immediately.
The television programme "World Chronicle" would be shown on in-house television channels 3 and 31 at 2:30 p.m., he said. It would feature the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission charged with disposing of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, Rolf Ekeus.
In a subsequent question-and-answer session, a correspondent asked whether the Libyan Government was involved in eastern Zaire, as reported in the media. In response, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Great Lakes region, Martin Griffiths, said he had no indication of that.
Asked about what kind of code of conduct Congressman Gilman had been talking about, Mr. Brandt said the legislator could have been expressing concern about the need for propriety in the Organization's handling of procurements or money. Those issues had been a matter of concern to the United States Congress even before the establishment of the Office of Internal Oversight Services and the appointment of its head, Under-Secretary-General Karl Theodore Paschke. He, however, said he would seek further clarification on the code of conduct from Mr. Eckhard, who was in Washington.
In response to a question as to whether some of the rebels in eastern Zaire were using drugged youngsters as human shields, both Mr. Brandt and Mr. Griffiths said they had seen no reports confirming that. To another question, the Associate Spokesman said he would later try to provide reporters with the names of the genocide suspects transferred from Cameroon to Arusha for trial at the International Tribunal for Rwanda. Finally, he said that Ambassador Sahnoun would be asked to brief the media next week after his meetings with the Secretary-General and the Security Council.
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