DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

18 March 1997

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

19970318 FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY

Juan Carlos Brandt, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's briefing by reading out the following statement, attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General:

"The Secretary-General has learned with disappointment and deep concern that, despite international appeals, the Israeli authorities have decided to proceed with construction at Abu Ghneim/Har Homa. He calls on the parties to do their utmost to find mutually acceptable solutions and proceed with the peace negotiations". Mr. Brandt said that copies of the statement would be available after the briefing.

He then read out the following statement, also attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General:

"The Secretary-General followed Sunday's legislative and municipal elections in El Salvador closely, and welcomes the orderly fashion in which the elections were conducted as a positive step forward in the consolidation of the peace process in El Salvador.

"The United Nations had no formal role in the observation of this process, but is informed that only a few minor irregularities were reported. The full deployment and exemplary conduct of El Salvador's National Civil Police, established under the UN Peace Accords, was especially effective in ensuring that no serious incidents occurred."

Turning to Angola, Mr. Brandt quoted the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) as announcing that at least two Government members and up to 49 deputies had been sent to Luanda from Bailundo yesterday aboard two United Nations flights. According to UNITA, the first flight arrived with 29 deputies, two government members and 49 family members. UNITA said a second flight had arrived with 17 UNITA deputies on board. With the addition of Isafas Samakuva, Abel Chivukuvuku and Brigadier Chassanha, all of whom are deputies, this would bring the total number of UNITA deputies present in Luanda to 49 out of the 70 expected.

Mr. Brandt said that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Angola, Alioune Blondin Beye, welcomed the new arrivals and said he would be ascertaining exactly who was present in Luanda from UNITA later, before travelling to Bailundo for talks with UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi. The Spokesman quoted the leader of UNITA's delegation on the Joint Commission as telling reporters that the deputies who had not yet arrived would be coming in the next day or two and UNITA's designated members of the Government of

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National Unity and Reconciliation would arrive in Luanda after certain issues had been sorted out with the Government.

Still on Angola, Mr. Brandt said the Secretary-General's progress report on the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III), due on 20 March, was still being prepared.

Mr. Brandt said a statement in Geneva by the Officer-in-Charge of the Centre for Human Rights, Ralph Zacklin, had been distributed yesterday. In it, Mr. Zacklin appealed to the authorities and people of Albania to ensure respect for all fundamental rights as enshrined in the six major international human rights conventions which Albania had ratified. Yesterday afternoon Mr. Zacklin was scheduled to meet with the Permanent Representative of Albania in Geneva. He said copies of the appeal were available in the Spokesman's office for interested correspondents. Also available were copies of a statement by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) entitled "Albania: ICRC Launches Appeal for 15 million Swiss francs".

Still on Albania, Mr. Brandt said that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in its latest briefing notes stated that the agency was continuing to watch with concern the situation in the country. UNHCR offices in Italy and Greece were in close contact with the respective Governments. They estimated that 1,000 people had been leaving Albania each day for about a week. They were concerned in particular with the vulnerable, citing as an example a four-month-old baby who was found without a guardian on one of the ships that arrived on Sunday. UNHCR had indicated that the number of Albanian refugees who had so far fled to Italy appeared to total more than 7,000; in Greece, the number was estimated to be 3,500. The figure had yet to be confirmed, however.

On the Great Lakes, Mr. Brandt said that UNHCR briefing notes indicated that the agency was encouraged by reports from non-governmental organizations in the Kisangani region that the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo/Zaire had authorized the transport of remaining food and other relief supplies to Ubundu for distribution to the refugees. The agency said 150,000 refugees in the area were in desperate condition and that the five-day food rations given them would run out today. "So, it's extremely urgent that these people get the assistance and the aid UNHCR is planning for them", he said.

Mr. Brandt quoted UNHCR as calling on refugees in the area not to continue crossing westwards over the Zaire river. The agency said it had heard yesterday that about 15,000 people had crossed the river and that more were also trying to do so. UNHCR also said that yesterday a joint United Nations mission had found 197 unaccompanied children in a school in Kindu. Mr. Brandt described the situation as "very serious" and urged correspondents to read the UNHCR briefing notes.

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He also informed correspondents that the Organization of African Unity (OAU) meeting on the Great Lakes region would start in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi tomorrow and would continue the following day. Heads of State of the following five countries were scheduled to attend the meeting: South Africa; Zimbabwe; Congo; Cameroon (also in his capacity as current Chairman of the OAU); and Kenya. The Prime Minister of Zaire would also be present, as well as OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim. The UN/OAU Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, Mohamed Sahnoun, was in Nairobi today and had met with Kenya President Daniel Arap Moi and the Foreign Minister. He would also meet with the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Benjamin Mkapa, who was returning home from a meeting with Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. Ambassador Sahnoun would participate in the Nairobi meeting.

Mr. Brandt said that according to unconfirmed reports, the leader of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo/Zaire, Laurent- Desire Kabila, had announced a localized, limited cease-fire in Kisangani. The cease-fire was for a week and was limited to a radius of 20 kilometres outside Kisangani. The rebels had started to move refugees from Tingi Tingi to Amisi, and the first group of some 200 were now on their way there.

Mr. Brandt added that UNICEF and UNHCR were also moving unaccompanied children from Tingi Tingi and Amisi to Goma, on their way to Rwanda and 16 and 20 minors had been transported by air yesterday and today, respectively, from Tingi Tingi. Another 30 had been transported today from Amisi. Information about the humanitarian assistance situation in Kisangani remained sketchy and contradictory. CARITAS, a relief agency, was reported to have distributed the remaining quantity of food to internally displaced persons in the city. CARITAS had also reported the looting of 15 metric tons of food while being transported from Kisangani to Ubundu.

In all cases, Mr. Brandt said, no more food was available in Kisangani. United Nations agencies had not yet received authorization to resume their airlift of food from Mwanza to Kisangani. Some 15,000 refugees were reported to have crossed the Zaire river to date. UNHCR had reported that between 75,000 and 80,000 were on the eastern side of the river in Ubundu. Also, yesterday the plane of an inter-agency mission to Shabunga, Kalima and Kindu was not able to land in Shabunga and Kalima. The mission identified 200 unaccompanied children in Kindu, and missionaries had reported that 2,000 refugees remained in Shabunga and 600 in Kalima.

On Iraq, the Associate Spokesman said that the United Nations had yesterday provided the Iraqi Government with its fourth weekly report on the implementation of the "oil-for-food" provision of Security Council resolution 986 (1995). As of mid-Friday last week, 39 oil contracts had been submitted, with 37 being approved. The thirty-eighth contract was approved late on Friday, followed by the thirty-ninth yesterday. All 39 oil contracts had therefore now been approved. The total oil proceeds were $719 million, as of Friday last week. Of that amount, $473 million was allotted to humanitarian

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supplies, $216 million to the United Nations Compensation Fund and the rest to other programme elements.

With regard to sales applications, Mr. Brandt said that as at Friday last week, 324 applications had been received, out of which 56 had been submitted to the Iraqi Sanctions Committee. Thirty-four applications had been approved and 11 put on hold. The Department of Humanitarian Affairs had reported that preparations for the distribution of humanitarian goods and for the monitoring of the process by United Nations observers was now entering the operational stage. One vessel carrying 13,000 tons of rice was expected in the middle of next week, and nine ships carrying more than 200,000 metric tons of wheat were expected during the first half of April.

The geographical and multi-disciplinary observers, already in Iraq, had gone through a training programme, Mr. Brandt added. Four groups of six observers each had left Baghdad last Sunday as part of a "dry-run" to visit central and southern Iraq and six governorates around Baghdad. All the observers had been provided with special identity cards by the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which should facilitate their total freedom of movement as they carried out their tasks.

The Associate Spokesman said that, despite some difficulties with the existing communications system, the observers had been able to keep in contact with central United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. The four groups were expected back in Baghdad later today. The provision of adequate transport was also at an advanced stage; 20 motor vehicles had been placed at the disposal of the office and the operation and 18 more vehicles were expected this week. Additional communications and office equipment, including computers, were also being sent to Baghdad this week. "Things are finally moving in the right direction", he observed.

Turning to the Security Council, he said that today it had started discussing the Secretary-General's report on the situation of human rights in Croatia. After that, they were expected to hear a briefing on Somalia from Assistant Secretary-General Ibrahima Fall of the Department of Political Affairs. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Tajikistan, Gerd Merrem, would also brief the Council. Mr. Brandt said that the Council would, under "other matters", pronounce itself on the question of the occupied Arab territories.

The Secretary-General had decided to appoint Major-General Ahn Choung- Jun of the Republic of Korea as the new Chief Military Observer for the United Nations Military Observer Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), Mr. Brandt announced. The appointment was effective from 28 March. Major-General Ahn would replace Major-General Alfonso Pessolano of Italy, who served as Chief Military Observer from December 1994 to the present. The exchange of letters on the appointment could be found on the racks and copies of Major-General

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Ahn's biography were available in the Spokesman's Office. There were currently 45 military observers from eight countries serving with the Mission.

Mr. Brandt also announced that the Secretary-General's report to the General Assembly on the United Nations Human Rights Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) had been published. In his report, the Secretary-General stated that the Guatemala mission had entered a new and challenging phase with the peace accord between the Government and Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG), which put an end to 36 years of armed confrontation. The Secretary-General said that implementation of the agreement would not be an easy task. It would require sustained political will during the coming years and the maintenance of the sense of urgency that prevailed in the search for a negotiated solution to the armed conflict.

Continuing, Mr. Brandt said the Secretary-General described MINUGUA's primary function as guarantor of the accords' full implementation. In doing so, however, the Mission also served another important purpose, namely, to instil confidence within society at large. In that context, the Secretary- General recommended that the General Assembly authorize renewal of MINUGUA's mandate, which will now be known as the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala, for a further period of one year until 31 March 1998 and to provide the Mission with the necessary resources.

Mr. Brandt said the Secretary-General's progress report on the activities of the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina was out today as a Security Council document. Copies should be available in the afternoon, but advance copies could be obtained from the Spokesman's Office.

Mr. Brandt informed correspondents that the Secretary-General had left for his African tour, as had previously been announced by the Spokesman. The Secretary-General would visit South Africa, Namibia, Angola and Togo. The Secretary-General's only appointment today was with Brazilian Foreign Minister Luiz Felipe Lampreia. Mr. Brandt said he would try to obtain details of the meeting for interested correspondents.

The Associate Spokesman drew attention to a fact sheet put out by the World Health Organization (WHO) on child abuse and neglect. The WHO stated that child abuse had been a societal phenomenon for centuries. Although clinical reporting started 30 years ago, the magnitude of the problem was only now beginning to be understood. That, in spite of the fact that several national and international journals, intergovernmental organizations and national societies had dedicated themselves to the problem. The fact sheet said that child abuse and neglect included four distinct conditions: neglect; physical violence; emotional abuse; and sexual abuse.

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On behalf of the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA), he reminded correspondents that the 1997 UNCA Directory party would take place between 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the ex-press bar and not the UNCA Club. All were invited.

A correspondent asked why the office of the spokesman and the public information unit of the Guatemala mission had been separated, as indicated in the Secretary-General's report. Mr. Brandt said the spokesman's office in a mission was an important part of its public information component and they worked "very tightly together". The spokesman's office was tasked with informing journalists about the activities of the mission.

A correspondent asked whether the United Nations Legal Counsel had issued a response on the United States decision to compel diplomatic and consular missions to pay parking fees. Mr. Brandt replied that, when the issue arose at the meeting of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country last week, the Legal Counsel had not indicated when he would respond. He said he would look into it and inform the correspondent accordingly.

Was there a timetable for the merger of the economic and social affairs departments of the Secretariat? a correspondent asked. Further, he did not understand how money saved from the merger would be made available for development. In response, Mr. Brandt said that there were no specific timetables for the implementation of the reforms announced by the Secretary- General yesterday. He said the Secretary-General felt strongly about moving forward with the reforms as soon as it was feasible. Some of the measures would take longer to implement than others. Regarding the savings, they would come from a reduction in administrative costs and would be channelled into economic and social programmes in order to benefit the developing world. In response to further questions, Mr. Brandt said that specific mandates would be sought to do so.

In response to a question on Zaire, Mr. Brandt told a correspondent that the United Nations continued to recognize the Government of President Mobutu Sese Seko. An assessment would have to be made in the future about the kind of government that would emerge in Zaire, considering the magnitude of the military offensive currently under way in that part of the country. "For the time being, Zaire has one Government that is recognized internationally", he said. "That is the Government of President Mobutu". That did not mean, he added, that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Sahnoun, in his quest for a negotiated political solution would not talk to the other actors in that conflict to achieve peace.

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What was the feed back from the General Assembly on the Secretary- General's reform proposals? a correspondent asked. Mr. Brandt said that his understanding was that the proposals had been "positively received in general" by the United Nations membership. Did the Secretary-General brief United States Senator Jesse Helms on the proposals? the correspondent asked. Mr. Brandt said the Secretary-General did have a phone conversation with the Senator yesterday. He had also talked with Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Before those conversations, the Secretary-General had briefed all the relevant bodies of the United Nations, starting with the President of the General Assembly, the Chairman of the regional groups, the United Nations Staff Union and the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary). He had also met the press. Asked whether the Secretary-General had also briefed United States Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, Mr. Brandt said that it was possible that he might have discussed the proposals with her in the context of the warm relations existing between them. He did not think the Secretary-General had initiated a detailed briefing on the subject.

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