DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

18 February 1997

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

19970218 FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY

Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by informing correspondents that the Secretary-General was grateful to President Emomali Rakhmonov of Tajikistan for his successful intervention with Tajik rebels, which had resulted in the release of the five remaining United Nations hostages from the village of Obi Giarm yesterday. He was also appreciative of the cool competence of his Special Representative, Gerd Merrem, in managing the tense affair.

The hostages were currently being debriefed in Dushanbe, Mr. Eckhard said. They were also being given stress-management counselling, which was now a pretty standard practice in peace-keeping operations. At present, 15 United Nations personnel remained in Tajikistan and, while the security situation was under review, it still stood at phase IV.

Commenting on the situation in Zaire, he said the Secretary-General was not pleased with the escalation of the war there. Such an escalation had occurred yesterday as a result of the bombing of Bukavu by Government planes. However, reports from Goma of additional bombing runs today could not be confirmed. "We spoke to the World Food Programme (WFP) office just before the briefing and they said there had been no bombing runs over Bukavu today", he said. The casualties from yesterday's bombings were innocent civilians and the Secretary-General had deplored that.

Meanwhile, the Secretary-General had received a report from the United Nations/Organization of African Unity (OAU) Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, Mohamed Sahnoun, outlining elements of a peace agreement that he was negotiating with the parties, Mr. Eckhard said. Ambassador Sahnoun was in Kinshasa today, he was expected to go to Kigali tomorrow and eventually to Geneva on Thursday, where he would meet with humanitarian agencies.

Yesterday, a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff member in Tingi-Tingi, Zaire, had received assurances from a military commander in Kisangani that efforts would be made to stop military activities in Tingi-Tingi, Mr. Eckhard said. Both the UNHCR and the United Nations Secretary-General had issued statements on the subject on Friday.

Stating that correspondents had been curious about the visit of United States Congressional staff members to the United Nations, he said they would be arriving today on a visit arranged through the United States Mission to the United Nations. They would meet at 3:30 p.m., at a working level, to discuss

reform efforts. The group of United Nations participants at the meeting would be chaired by Jean-Pierre Halbwachs, the new United Nations Controller. The United States Mission had provided a list of about 11 aides who would be coming from Washington today. That list would be available to correspondents.

Turning to developments in Guatemala, Mr. Eckhard said there were now 17 countries contributing a total of 155 military observers to the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA). The Secretary-General had proposed that list of 17 countries to the Security Council on Friday. For the record, those countries were Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Germany, India, Norway, Russian Federation, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela. As of today, 104 of the military observers, as well as 12 medical personnel, had arrived in the mission area.

The Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission concerned with the disarmament of Iraq, Rolf Ekeus, would visit Baghdad on Thursday, he said. His visit was a part of a regular "every two month" consultation.

A UNHCR press release on the repatriation of Somali refugees in Ethiopia was available in the Spokesman's office, Mr. Eckhard continued. About 200 Somali refugees had returned to north-west Somalia today, at the start of voluntary repatriation for about 290,000 refugees currently in Ethiopia.

He announced that Mali had signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) today, bringing the total number of signatories to 142.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jose Ayala-Lasso, had arrived in Kigali, Rwanda, yesterday and was today meeting with that country's Foreign Minister, the Vice Prime Minister and the Interior Minister, as well as the Justice Minister, Mr. Eckhard said.

Bringing to the correspondents attention an announcement that had been made in Geneva on Friday, he said the Secretary-General had approved on Friday the recommendation of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to appoint a new board of trustees for the Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations. That board was composed entirely of indigenous persons and had a majority of women among its members. Three out of five of its members were women. It was the first time that any United Nations body of such importance had an entirely indigenous composition. The board's next meeting would be in April. He reminded correspondents that the General Assembly, in 1990, had proclaimed 1993 as the "International Year of the World's Indigenous People" and at the end of that year, had proclaimed 1994 to 2004 as an International Decade of the World's Indigenous People.

The list of Secretary-General's appointments for the day was available, Mr. Eckhard said, adding that correspondents had shown interest in the presentation of credentials by Ambassador Bill Richardson of the United States and Ambassador Ivan Simonovic of Croatia, both of whom had presented credentials this morning. At 11:15 a.m., the five permanent members of the Security Council had met with the Secretary-General at the members' request to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. At 3:30 p.m., the Secretary-General

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would meet with Gennadi Zyuganov, a member of the Russian Duma. That had been described as a courtesy call and Mr. Zyuganov would be accompanied by the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, Sergey V. Lavrov.

Also today, the United Nations had launched the consolidated inter- agency appeal for the Sudan calling for $120.8 million for the emergency humanitarian needs of an estimated 4.2 million war affected and displaced persons, Mr. Eckhard said. Out of that number, 630,000 were children under the age of five. Persistent insecurity combined with natural disasters, including crop failures and floods, had worsened the plight of the vulnerable groups who were already living below subsistence levels. The Department for Humanitarian Affairs hoped that donors would be in a position to lend generous support to the appeal. A press release on the appeal was available in the Spokesman's office.

Mr. Eckhard added that the documentation centre on the third floor had asked him to announce that, in keeping with the Secretary-General's mandate on a 25 per cent reduction of paperwork, all personnel were requested to take only one copy of press releases. All press releases were available daily for use on the internet in English (hhtp://www.un.org/news) and in French (hhtp://www.un.org/french/news). "Please use your internet and save us some paper", he said.

In response to a correspondent's question on whether monitors going to Guatemala spoke Spanish, Mr. Eckhard said he assumed that all the military observers did not speak Spanish. However, that would not get in the way of their doing the work. They would either be assisted by interpreters as necessary or be paired with Spanish speaking observers.

Would the continuing fighting in the Sudan stand in the way of the implementation of the humanitarian appeal? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said the relief and humanitarian operations had continued to work in the Sudan, in and around the area of fighting. Therefore, he assumed that the current appeal was for projects that could be carried out despite the war situation there. He added that the specifics would be available with the Department for Humanitarian Affairs.

Was the Secretary-General happy with the Security Council's acceptance and approval of the Brcko decision and particularly with the idea of an United Nations administrator? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard replied that to his knowledge there had been no discussion of the substance of the arbitration decision in the Council on Friday. The Secretary-General was present, but apart from the Security Council taking note of the agreement, they had not discussed the specifics and in particular they had not discussed the administrator mentioned in the decision. Therefore, the Secretary-General had no reaction.

A report leaked in the Washington Post had mentioned the humanitarian impact of potential air sanctions on the Sudan, a correspondent said. Adding that the Council appeared to be considering imposing sanctions on the Sudan, he asked if the Secretary-General was alarmed that such sanctions would cause undue suffering there? Mr. Eckhard responded that the report that the

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Secretary-General would submit to the Council was now being finalized by the Department for Humanitarian Affairs whereas the report leaked to the Washington Post had been prepared by a local official. The Secretary- General's information to the Council would be based on the Department for Humanitarian Affairs' report and not the leaked report. However, he could not say whether that report would come to the same conclusion or would be different. It was scheduled for release on Thursday, 20 February.

Asked if he was sceptical about the leaked report, Mr. Eckhard said he did not want to comment on that report, which was an internal report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Special Representative. The Secretary-General's report, on the other hand, was based on information provided by the Department for Humanitarian Affairs.

Were the Secretary-General and Mr. Sahnoun disturbed by the fact that the bombing in Bukavu had occurred after Mr. Sahnoun's meeting with President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire? a correspondent wanted to know. Mr. Eckhard said he had already reacted to the bombing in Bukavu. Mr. Sahnoun's task was a difficult and complicated one. However, he did not think that the bombing incidents would get in the way of the larger objective of getting a peaceful negotiation under way, as well as the organization of an international conference as part of that process. Those were the Secretary-General's objectives and Mr. Sahnoun was in the thick of trying to negotiate those objectives. While the bombing run of yesterday was a complicating factor, the Secretary-General remained hopeful that a peaceful solution could be found.

Apparently Zaire had told Mr. Sahnoun quite flatly that it was not interested in a cease-fire, a correspondent said. How would that impact upon Mr. Sahnoun's work? Mr. Eckhard said Mr. Sahnoun was working on elements of a peace agreement that would be endorsed by the Security Council. He had a draft piece of paper on those elements, which he had communicated to the Secretary-General. At present, he needed to firm up those elements and then turn it over to the Council.

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Note: In the Daily Press Briefing of Friday, 14 February, the first sentence of the sixth paragraph should read: Mr. Eckhard said that the United Nations/Organization of African United (OAU) Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, Mohamed Sahnoun, was meeting today with Burundi's President Pierre Buyoya in Burundi.

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