DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

14 March 1997

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

19970314 FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY

Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan, informed correspondents at the beginning of today's briefing that the Secretary-General would meet with them on Monday, 17 March, at noon in room 226. He would be announcing the next steps in his reform process, including restructuring measures in the Secretariat, and consolidation in the field, among other issues. He cautioned that the briefing would not include any specific personnel announcements.

Before meeting the press, the Spokesman said the Secretary-General would meet with the President of the General Assembly, the President of the United Nations Staff Committee, the Chairmen of the Regional Groups, the Chairman of the "Group of 77" developing countries, the President of the European Union, and members of the Assembly's Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).

Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General had briefed the Security Council this morning on Zaire and the latest efforts of the joint United Nations/Organization of African Unity (OAU) Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, Mohamed Sahnoun, to get the parties to accept the five- point peace plan endorsed by the Council. The Secretary-General had described the three-phase plan to deal with the problems of the region should an agreement be reached, as follows: first, to facilitate the humanitarian assistance to refugees and displaced persons; second, to monitor and verify a cease-fire; and third, to verify the withdrawal of all foreign forces, including mercenaries.

As for Mr. Sahnoun's activities after a visit to Uganda where he met with President Yoweri Museveni, the Spokesman said he had today left Kampala for Kigali. He was scheduled to hold several meetings in Kigali, probably with President Pasteur Bizimungu and Vice-President Paul Kagame of Rwanda. He would then leave Kigali on Saturday evening for Bujumbura, where he would meet with President Pierre Buyoya of Burundi. On Sunday, he would return to Nairobi to meet with President Daniel arap Moi of Kenya .

The Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Yasushi Akashi had announced the appointment of Pierce Gerety as Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Great Lakes Region, Mr. Eckhard said. He replaced Martin Griffiths, who had resumed his functions as Director of the Geneva office of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs. The text of the announcement was available in the Spokesman's office.

The Department had also announced that some 7,000 refugees had now crossed the Zaire river to the west bank from Ubundu, where there continued to be about 100,000 refugees gathering on the east bank, he continued. Fifty thousand more were coming in from the outside, Mr. Eckhard said, pointing out that between 200 and 300 refugees had drowned in a heavy storm during the crossings. Assistance was being provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), CARITAS and other non-governmental organizations.

He added that the WFP had completed one delivery of 30 metric tons of food yesterday using the municipal airstrip of Kisangani; another 40 metric tons had been delivered today.

Mr. Eckhard said there was concern that the security situation, north of Goma, was deteriorating. Interahamwe rebels were reported to have attacked vehicles and villages for food, then retreated into Virunga Park to evade capture. The new Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Great Lakes region, Mr. Gerety, would have his first meeting with the United Nations/OAU Special Representative, Mr. Sahnoun, today to discuss the situation of the refugees in Ubundu.

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had closed all its border crossings with Albania, the Spokesman said, following an incident yesterday in which seven Albanian soldiers who were trying to cross into the country near Struga exchanged gunfire with border guards of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. No casualties were recorded. The United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) did not have an observation post at that specific crossing point, but maintained three posts along the Albanian border. They were continuing to monitor the situation.

He added that UNPREDEP was discussing contingency planning with UNHCR and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in case there was a sudden influx of a large number of refugees into the country. In that connection, the High Commissioner for Refugees had recommended that persons or groups leaving Albania in the present circumstances and seeking international protection should be admitted to the territory of neighbouring countries, that their protection needed to be ascertained, and that they be allowed to remain there as long as necessary.

The Spokesman announced that the Secretary-General was scheduled to visit South Africa and attend a meeting of the Central Organ of the OAU Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution, in Lome, Togo. He would leave New York on Tuesday next week, travelling directly to Cape Town, where he would meet with President Nelson Mandela and other South African officials. He would also visit Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 14 March 1997

On Saturday, 22 March, the Secretary-General would travel to Namibia for a six-hour visit, which would include a meeting with President Sam Nujoma, Mr. Eckhard said. He would then go on to Angola for three days, and hold meetings with President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and other Angolan officials. He would also visit the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III). The Secretary-General would leave Angola on Tuesday, 25 March, for the OAU summit in Lome, and return to New York on 28 March.

Mr. Eckhard said the Security Council this morning was reviewing sanctions against Libya. It had then heard a briefing of the Secretary- General on the Great Lakes region. It was expected to hold a formal meeting on the situation in Tajikistan.

On Haiti, the Spokesman said that the International Civilian Mission to Haiti (MICIVIH) had today strongly deplored the increasing crimes and acts of violence, particularly in Port au Prince. In the view of the mission, the Haitian National Police was trying to deal with the problem in a responsible manner, and it urged the force to continue to track down the criminals, and the judicial system to try to deal more quickly with those detained. The MICIVIH had also urged the population to support the efforts of both police and judicial officials. Copies of the statement were available in French in the Spokesman's office, Mr. Eckhard said.

He told correspondents that this morning at 11.15 a.m., the Secretary- General had participated in the signing of an agreement on the relationship between the United Nations and the International Seabed Authority. The Authority, which was based in Kingston, Jamaica, was established by the Convention on the Law of the Sea, which was adopted in 1982, but came into existence only last year with the appointment of Satya Nandan of Fiji as its Secretary-General.

On behalf of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Mr. Eckhard announced that at the organization's biennial meeting of the Committee on Fisheries, which would begin in Rome on 17 March, the FAO would release the "State of the World's Fisheries and Aqua-culture" 1996 report. Among its findings was that fish production had reached a new record, owing to aqua- culture, but it warned that likely increase in future demand called for sound management measures. The report would be issued at the opening of a four-day meeting of the Committee which represented about 100 nations. It would also be posted on the FAO World Wide Web site by the afternoon of 17 March (New York time). Press releases on the report would be available in the Spokesman's office on Monday morning.

Burkina Faso had become the forty-third Member State to pay its 1997 dues in full, with a check of over $100,000, the Spokesman said.

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 14 March 1997

Answering a question, Mr. Eckhard confirmed that there could be a meeting with Jonas Savimbi while the Secretary-General was in Angola, but he could not yet say where that would take place.

Another correspondent said that while the Secretary-General had, during the week, chaired a panel on the development of Africa, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had postponed a badly-needed loan to Uganda. How had that decision affected the panel on African development and the credibility of the Secretary-General himself? the Spokesman was asked.

Mr. Eckhard recalled that he had announced yesterday that the Secretary- General had met with a group of high-level personalities on African development who were meeting at Headquarters, and had also hosted a lunch for them. The Spokesman did not think that their review of the activities, which were for 1996, would have taken into account a decision as recently as the last few days by those monetary institutions, nor did he know the basis, if they had indeed taken such a decision. He was not, therefore, in a position to comment on it.

The correspondent said he had read reports that the decision was on account of pressure from Japan and the United States to postpone the loan. "I can't comment on that", Mr. Eckhard repeated.

On the refugees who had been reported drowned in eastern Zaire, what had happened to the bodies? a correspondent asked. Was the United Nations involved in the process at all, or did it even know whom they were?

Mr. Eckhard replied that the Organization had very few people in the area, recalling his statement yesterday that the refugees had been crossing the river at the rate of about 800 an hour on barges. There were entrepreneurs with dug-out canoes that were also taking people across the river, which was about 350 metres wide at the location. "In stormy conditions, you can see how that situation could lead to casualties", he said.

On the question of United Nations personnel in the area, asked yesterday, the Spokesman said that United Nations security had confirmed that there were 68 staff in Kinshasa, Bukavu, Goma and Lumbubashi. He reiterated that their work was augmented by a significant number of local staff who were engaged in the distribution of the relief supplies being brought in. As for finding the bodies of those who had drowned, he did not think the Organization currently had the capacity. Concerning their identities, he said the situation was "too chaotic" for that to be determined now. At an earlier stage, he noted, UNHCR registered each and everyone of the refugees, and came up with the total figure of 1.1 million. "That was what they were before this fighting began and before people got dispersed in the forest, and before five or six hundred thousand returned."

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He added that the current estimate by UNHCR was that there were still between 350,000 and 400,000 refugees in Zaire; and another 150,000 around Ubundu; 200,000 in the south; and another 30,000 to 50,000 scattered around Tingi-Tingi and other places.

He was further asked about the concerns of non-governmental organizations over the requirement that they pay over $1,000 a year to use the United Nations Optical Disk System (ODS). He replied that he did not know the specifics, but would find out.

Also replying to a question on the distribution of press releases, he said he would look into that as well.

Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly, Razali Ismail (Malaysia), stated for the record that the Assembly had yesterday adopted, by a vote of 130 in favour to 2 against, with 2 abstentions, a resolution expressing deep concern at the decision of the Government of Israel to initiate new settlement activities in the Jabal Abu Ghneim area in East Jerusalem. The resolution had called upon the Israeli authorities to refrain from all actions or measures, including settlement activities, which altered the facts on the ground pre-empting the final status negotiations, and had negative implications for the Middle East peace process. There were 15 additional co-sponsors to the resolution, bringing the total number of sponsors to 57. She reminded correspondents that 33 Member States affected by provisions of Article 19 of the United Nations Charter could not vote.

The Fifth Committee has a revised work programme, she pointed out, available in document A/C.5/51/L.42/Rev. 2. She stressed that the Secretary- General would address the Committee on Monday. Also on that day, the Committee would continue consideration of the issue of gratis personnel, for which there were two reports before it, one of the Secretary-General, and the other, of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ).

Ms. Abdul-Majid said that on Monday morning, the Committee would also consider two draft texts. One of them, for action, was on the Integrated Management Information System (IMIS), which had been conceived to replace the current administrative system which was about 30 years old. She noted that the purpose was to develop an integrated system for the processing of, and reporting on, administrative action in all major duty stations. The draft urged the harmonization of management systems within all organizations, agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations. It also requested the Secretary-General, in the context of his proposed 1998-1999 budget, to present the resource and staffing requirements of the system.

Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 14 March 1997

The second draft text, to be introduced by the United Republic of Tanzania, concerned the scale of assessment for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations. She recalled that the scale of assessment covers a period of three years, and the current scale was in its final year. That session of the General Assembly was to provide guidelines to the Committee on Contributions to develop its recommendations for the scale for the next period, 1998-2000.

One of its highlights, she said, was the reaffirmation of the capacity to pay of Member States as the fundamental criterion for determining the scale. The text also indicated a number of elements and criteria to be taken into account in developing the new scale. They included a ceiling of 25 per cent; and a lowering of the floor rate from the current 0.01 per cent to 0.001 per cent; the use of gross national product (GNP) instead for net national income; a statistical base period of six years, as against the current base period of 7.5 years; and debt adjustment and low per capita income allowance. She noted that if the floor rate was lowered to 0.001 per cent, the rate for some of the least developed countries -- currently set at 0.01 -- could go down. Further, the difference in the two measures -- GNP and net national income -- was the depreciation factor. It was difficult to estimate capital goods; and depreciation rates differed between countries. Thus, GNP was considered more reliable.

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