DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19970203
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Juan Carlos Brandt, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by informing correspondents that the Secretary-General had written to the President of the General Assembly and the Security Council informing them of his decision to appoint Jean Arnault of France as his Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala, effective 1 March 1. David Stephen, who had led the mission since June, would return to an as yet unnamed position in the office of the Secretary-General.
Continuing, Mr. Brandt said the Secretary-General's letter also proposed that the new mission, now called "The United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala", subsume the functions of the existing mission for the verification of human rights and of compliance with the commitments of the comprehensive agreement on human rights in Guatemala, also known as MINUGUA. Mr. Brandt emphasized that while the United Nations Mission acronym MINUGUA did not change, it now included a military component to monitor the peace agreements. He reminded reporters that Jose Rodriguez of Spain was appointed Chief Military Observer of the mission last week.
"There is a saying that bad things happen in threes", Mr. Brandt told reporters. But, over the weekend, bad things happened in more than three occasions in United Nations peace-keeping operations. On Saturday, a helicopter contracted by the United Nations crashed into a lake in The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, killing three Finnish peace-keepers and the Canadian civilian pilot. The helicopter apparently hit a power line. An investigation of the crash was under way.
Also on Saturday, Mr. Brandt continued, an American police monitor was seriously injured in a road accident in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The day before, a police monitor of the International Police Task Force (IPTF) had been killed and another injured in a separate accident. In the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission (UNIKOM), one Bangladesh peace-keeper died and three others were injured in another car accident over the weekend. In the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III), one Dutch civilian police observer was attacked by a crocodile while bathing in the river and died soon after.
Mr. Brandt said that a total of 173 fighters, including 17 child fighters, were disarmed and demobilized today at four demobilization sites in Liberia. That development brought the total number of demobilized soldiers in Liberia to 19,279 -- including 3,956 children and 215 adult female fighters -- since the process began last November.
Mr. Brandt urged correspondents to pick up a report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Field Operation in Rwanda, which was now available. The highlight of the eight-page report was information about 64 separate incidents in which an estimated 227 genocide survivors and their associates were killed and 56 injured. From January through December 1996, the period covered by the report, the office received information about more than 1,575 killings, occurring in the course of more than 522 separate incidents. In the majority of cases, members of the former Rwanda armed forces and others opposed to the Government of Rwanda were held responsible for the killings. In a number of cases, after the arrival of more than 1 million Rwandan refugees from camps in Zaire and the United Republic of Tanzania, recent returnees were implicated in attacks against genocide survivors and witnesses to the genocide. There were also reports of land and property disputes between recent returnees and genocide survivors.
In view of the report, Mr. Brandt continued, the Office of Human Rights in Rwanda recommended that the Government of Rwanda take appropriate measures for the protection of genocide survivors and their associates, particularly in light of the start of trials against genocide suspects. With increased material and financial assistance from the international community, the Office of Human Rights also recommended that the Government take further steps to construct and rehabilitate housing, especially in the case of property disputes between genocide survivors and recent returnees.
Mr. Brandt announced that six Member States -- Italy, Czech Republic, Thailand, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Malta -- had paid their 1997 regular contributions to the United Nations regular budget in full, as follows: Italy $55,916,639; Czech Republic $2,562,697; Thailand $1,384,603; Luxembourg and Slovenia, each $745,555; and Malta $106,508. He added that to date 27 Member States had paid their full assessment for the 1997 budget.
Mr. Brandt said that the deployment of the 151 observers in Iraq had begun. Some observers had already arrived in Baghdad and deployment was expected to be completed by the end of February. He said that half of the observers were expected to be deployed by mid-month.
The activities of the Secretary-General at the World Economic Summit in Davos, Switzerland, over the weekend had been made available (see Press Release SG/T/2085 issued today). On Friday evening, 31 January, the Secretary-General had dinner with a group of about 50 journalists where he discussed his concept of reform at the United Nations. On Saturday morning, 1 February, the Secretary-General met with the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Malcolm Rifkind, at 9:15 a.m.; the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Janez Drnovsek, at 10:15 a.m.; then addressed the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum and afterward held a press conference. Later, at 11:50 a.m., the Secretary-General met with the President of Kazakstan, Nursultan Nazarbaev; at 12:10 p.m. with the President
of Poland, Alexander Kwasniewski; and, at 12:30 p.m. with the President of Cyprus, Glafcos Clerides.
At the meeting with Mr. Clerides, Mr. Brandt said, the Secretary-General discussed the need to intensify peace efforts even though tensions in the region were high. Mr. Clerides was receptive, but talked about various concerns that he had. The Secretary-General indicated his desire to address those concerns during proximity talks. Both men agreed on the importance of intensive negotiations this year before Cyprus elections were held in 1998. The Secretary-General urged restraint from actions by any party that would aggravate tensions.
Later, at 12:50 p.m., the Secretary-General met with the Prime Minister of India, Deeve Guada. At 1 p.m., the Secretary-General was the guest of honour at a lunch organized by Professor Schwab, the President of the Forum, and attended by 14 to 15 business leaders from around the world.
After the luncheon, at 3:15 p.m., the Secretary-General met with the Deputy President of South Africa, Tabo Mbeki; at 4 p.m. with the President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma; and at 4:30 p.m. with the Foreign Minister of Indonesia, Ali Alatas. At that meeting, both men discussed the importance of getting the talks on East Timor up and going again and the Secretary-General said that he favoured a sustained United Nations effort in leading those talks.
At the end of the evening, the Secretary-General met Chairman Yasser Arafat. Chairman Arafat expressed his disappointment at the failure of Israel in implementing the accords. The Secretary-General indicated that he would take it up with the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, during their meeting the next day.
On Sunday, 2 February, the Secretary-General met with the President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarek at 9:45 a.m. At 11 a.m., he met with the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. The Prime Minister indicated his pleasure with the appointment of the new Secretary-General. He felt that Israel and the United Nations should "turn a new page". At 3:30 p.m., the Secretary-General met with the Crown Prince and Princess of Luxembourg. At 4 p.m., the Secretary-General and Mrs. Annan met with the President of Hungary, Arpad Goncz. At 5 p.m., the Secretary-General met with the High Representative for the former Yugoslavia, Carl Bildt.
Today, the Secretary-General was scheduled to meet with the President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, before returning to New York this afternoon.
Mr. Brandt announced that there were two press releases on a panel discussion entitled, "Business in the World of HIV/AIDS" held today at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Also available was the text of a speech by the Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. The Executive Director noted in his speech that "Today, with nearly 23 million people infected with AIDS, this disease is increasingly a threat to the global market economy".
During the subsequent question-and-answer segment, a correspondent asked about the answers the Secretary-General gave to journalists at the dinner in Davos. Mr. Brandt said that those remarks were off the record and no transcripts of the question-and-answer session would be available.
A correspondent asked what the United Nations position was on the conflicting reports of the number of Rwanda refugees. Mr. Brandt said that the United Nations had first-hand information from humanitarian missions in the area that there were, in fact, refugees and the conditions under which those refugees existed were bleak. He said it was important to recognize the seriousness of the situation and that the international community do whatever was necessary to help alleviate it.
A correspondent asked about a letter that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea sent about the food crisis. Mr. Brandt said that he had not seen the letter, but was aware that the communication had taken place.
A correspondent asked if the Secretary-General was planning to meet with the Turkish Cyprus leader, since he had met with the Greek Cyprus leader in Davos. Mr. Brandt said that the Secretary-General's Representative on the question of Cyprus was in the region on a two-week tour, where he would meet with all concerned.
A correspondent asked how United Nations workers could be protected against crocodiles. In response, Mr. Brandt said it was not an issue to make fun of, as animals or nature could sometimes pose a serious threat. United Nations workers needed to be cautious in the field and take precautions.
A correspondent asked if it was true that the United States was reportedly not going to pay its debt to the United Nations, as planned. Mr. Brandt said that it was the Secretary-General's hope that the past dues would be paid and that the situation would be solved to everyone's satisfaction.
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