DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19970214
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by informing correspondents that there was still no confirmation from Tajikistan regarding reports that a military observer was shot dead yesterday. However, the Special Representative, Gerd Merrem, had spoken on the phone today with one of the hostages who claimed that all 14 of them were still safe. "We are still not sure about the freedom of that exchange, so our position continues to be that we are awaiting confirmation of the situation there", he said.
In the meantime, an additional 12 United Nations personnel had been evacuated from Dushanbe. Also, the field teams of three military observers each that were in Garm and Khorog were temporarily relocated to Uzbekistan yesterday. The Security Council would be briefed on the situation in Tajikistan at this morning's session.
The Council would also take up the item on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Eckhard said, regarding the arbitration decision on the town of Brcko, which was announced in Rome today by the Arbitrator, Roberts Owen. The text had been received and was about 40 pages long. It would not be reproduced, but would be available to correspondents for reference in room 378.
Mr. Eckhard then said that the Secretary-General had today notified members of the Council, in a brief report issued as document S/1997/123, that United Nations verification of the agreement on a definitive cease-fire, which was signed by the Guatemalan Government and the Unidad RevolucionarÃa Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) in December would begin on 3 March, referred to in the agreement as "D-Day". By that day, a United Nations verification mechanism would be in place, with a full operational capacity. The Secretary-General welcomed the development as a positive indication of the will of the parties to the Guatemalan peace accord to see them fully implemented in the interest of a firm and lasting peace, Mr. Eckhard added (for complete statement see Press Release SG/SM/6157 issued today).
Mr. Eckhard further told correspondents that an advance team of seven military observers arrived in Guatemala on 10 February, while 42 arrived yesterday. Another 29 were expected to arrive today, and 54 more over the weekend.
Mr. Eckhard said that the United Nations/Organization of African Unity (OAU) Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, Mohamed Sahnoun, was meeting today with Rwanda's President Pierre Buyoya in Burundi. Ambassador Sahnoun arrived in Bujumbura yesterday, after a meeting the same day in the United Republic of Tanzania with former President Julius Nyerere. The United Nations had today appealed for $11.9 million to address the humanitarian needs of persons who had been displaced as a result of the conflict in Chechnya, in the Russian Federation. A handout on the matter, from the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, was available in his office, Mr. Eckhard said.
Two governments had made financial contributions in support of Ambassador Sahnoun's mission to the Great Lakes region, Mr. Eckhard announced. Germany had contributed almost $114,000 for communications equipment, and Norway $154,000 to meet transportation requirements of the ambassador and his team. "We are grateful for both of those", he said.
In Liberia, the Council of State had met at the ministerial level in Monrovia yesterday and today, and had agreed on a formula for a seven-member electoral commission, Mr. Eckhard said. Three were to be nominated from the former factions, and four from representatives from civil society and other political parties.
Mr. Eckhard said that Samoa had become the thirty-fifth Member State to be paid up in full for 1997, with a contribution of $106,508. In addition, the ambassador of Ukraine had met with the Secretary-General and presented a cheque of $2 million against the country's arrears of $19.5 million. The country was "making progress at reducing its arrears", the Spokesman noted.
Mr. Eckhard announced that a report on means for attaining full employment would be released at a press conference at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday, 19 February, in room 226. It would be chaired by the Under-Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development, Nitin Desai. The 1997 report on the World Social Situation would be presented at another press conference at 11:15 a.m. Thursday, 20 February.
A correspondent noted that while the Spokesman had been saying yesterday that there had been no confirmation of the hostage situation in Tajikistan, the Department of Peace-keeping Operations (DPKO) was on the phone to the Ukrainian ambassador confirming the story and identifying the victim. Mr. Eckhard responded that he could not confirm that DPKO informed the Ukrainian mission. As he understood the situation, the mission had been informed that it would be premature to issue a statement because of the absence of confirmation. He would have to check with DPKO, which, along with the Security Coordinator, had been consistently informing him until just prior to today's briefing that the information could not be confirmed.
Asked about the meeting between the Secretary-General and Vinko Cardinal of Bosnia, Mr. Eckhard said he would have to obtain a read-out for the correspondent.
In response to a question, Mr. Eckhard said he had no reaction from the Secretary-General on the recent events in Mostar. However, he had already said that the Secretary-General was appalled at the shooting incident earlier this week. The Spokesman recalled, as well, that a statement had been issued on behalf of the High Representative concerning the shootings. As for the evictions that followed, that was just not the way to establish the mutual confidence that would be needed to peacefully reintegrate Bosnia as a whole.
In response to another question, Mr. Eckhard said he did not know when the Special Representative to Cyprus, Han Sung-Joo, would be in New York. The latest information available was that he was going back to the Republic of Korea, and not coming to New York. Also, he had no information on a Permanent Five meeting in New York next week.
A correspondent pointed out that the Secretary-General, at his press conference yesterday, had said that in Sierra Leone there would be 60 observers with a security group of about 700 men, a ratio of about 1 to 10. Was that ratio necessary? Mr. Eckhard replied that the Secretary-General said yesterday that he felt that those figures were justified. There had been a greater emphasis in the last couple of years on the need for adequate numbers of troops to guarantee the security of peace-keeping missions, a trend that started with the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) in eastern Croatia, which was a heavily armed peace-keeping mission. The feeling was that the investment in the heavy arms paid off, as the disarmament phase of that mission went well. "I am not surprised by this ratio you mentioned", he added.
Another correspondent drew attention to a TASS report on the situation in Tajikistan, to the effect that the Russian Deputy Prime Minister had had telephone conversations with the rebels and that everybody was alive and was about to be released. Mr. Eckhard commented that the Security Office told him that, despite the press reports that an exchange had begun, there was no confirmation of that either.
Did the United Nations get its information from press reports then, or did it have independent methods of confirming what was going on? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said that in this case the information he was giving to the correspondents came from United Nations sources, which was running a bit behind press reports. He pointed out that United Nations personnel were in Dushanbe, which was 50 miles from where the people were being held. He added that could not say anything about the circumstances in which the shooting might have occurred.
Mr. Eckhard was further asked to confirm information on United States National Public Radio this morning that the Arbitrator on Brcko had put the matter "on hold for a year". Mr. Eckhard said it was not a United Nations matter, but the correspondent would see from reading the text that an international regime was to be established for a minimum of one year in Brcko. The details of the agreement were probably being presented to the Security Council by the United States representative. It called for a police presence, particularly to guarantee safe passage to the east-west road that ran through Brcko. One of the decisions to be made was who would supply the police -- an extension of the International Police Task Force (IPTF) in Bosnia, or a new creation.
Asked what the Secretary-General was doing at the Security Council today, Mr. Eckhard said that he was present for the discussions on Brcko. He wanted to be present in view of the "hypothetical possibility" that the United Nations could be asked to supply the police.
A correspondent wanted to know the views of the Secretary-General regarding United Nations involvement not only in Bosnia, but in the former Yugoslavia, since the Spokesman often said that certain matters were not United Nations matters. Mr. Eckhard said there was a peace-keeping mission in eastern Croatia, a preventive deployment force in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, liaison offices in Zagreb and Belgrade, as well as a police operation in Bosnia that was supporting the implementation of the Dayton Agreement, which was the primary responsibility of the Stabilization Force. In Bosnia, the role of the police was relatively minor. In Croatia, the United Nations was the main actor as peace-keeper and continued to perform important functions at the borders as a preventive force in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Monday was a holiday, Mr. Eckhard reminded correspondents, but his office would have a duty person available, at least in the morning.
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